2024 Conference Presentation Guide

Dr. Susan Dellinger, Keynote Speaker

"A Shadow in the Night", the Unsolved Mystery of the famous 1919 World Series.
Why eight men were banned from baseball for their lifetime is still an unsolved mystery today! You will hear this exciting story in the “voice” of a Baseball Hall of Famer enshrined in Cooperstown NY.

Dr. Susan Dellinger has been an active member of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) for close to 20 years. She has spoken on her book, Red Legs and Black Sox*, for baseball groups from California, Canada, and New York to the Seymour-Mills Chapter of SABR in Ft. Myers, FL. As a member of Hall of Fame “royalty” (granddaughter of Edd J Roush, HOF 1962), Dr. Susan is intimately knowledgeable about the Cincinnati Reds ball club in the early 20th Century. Her grandfather was the Cincinnati star “slugger” pitted against Chicago’s Shoeless Joe Jackson in the infamous 1919 World Series.

Dr. Susan is an author and a professional speaker residing in Tampa, Florida with husband and seventh-grade sweetheart, Dr. Bob. Her books are published in 8 languages including Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. Her hobbies include piano, bridge and collecting frequent flyer points.

Bob Bailey

"Society of Baseball Research's Nineteenth Century Overlooked Legends"
Bob Bailey is the Co-Chairman of the Nineteenth Century Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research. He has been part of the Committee’s leadership for seventeen years. A member of SABR for over 40 years, Bailey has published 24 articles and essays in SABR publications since 1987. His article on the National League dropping four teams in 1900 was selected as one of the 50 best articles published by SABR since its founding.

In addition to about 20 articles on 19th Century baseball he has also written articles about Playing Managers, Charlie Finley, the minor league’s Junior World Series and Dixie Series, Negro Leagues and several book reviews. He served as Associate Editor for SABR’s Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century. His book, The History of the Junior World Series was a finalist for the Casey Award in 2004.

In a career outside baseball, Bailey served as the CEO of three hospitals, managed the development of seven new hospitals, and was one of the first five executives that started Humana’s HMOs in 1984. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and holds a masters degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Kevin M. Doyle

"U.S. Navy Base Ball 1864 to 1910"
During this period, baseball grew in importance as a form of competition between U.S. Navy ships and a source of ship pride. Baseball played by crews in overseas ports, helped spread awareness of the game globally.

Kevin M. Doyle grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania as a Phillies and Reds fan. He played organized baseball through high school. Kevin earned Geology degrees from the University of Dayton (BS 81) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (MS 83). Afterwards he married Alison, a fellow geology student, and raised two sons together while working for Unocal and Chevron in Casper, Los Angeles, London, Bangkok and Houston. Kevin coached Little League in Bangkok!

He retired from full-time work in 2016 and settled in Fort Myers, FL. Kevin currently teaching part-time and online for the Wichita State University Geology Department. He is a Society of Baseball Research member, presenting a poster on WWII Coast Guard Baseball at the 2022 SABR50 Conference. Kevin formed the Fort Myers Vagabonds Vintage Base Ball Club in 2019. Kevin’s interest in both baseball and the U.S. Navy is credited to his father, Edward T. Doyle Sr., who served as a U.S. Navy Gunner’s Mate during World War II.

Dr. Leslie Heaphy

"19th Century Black Base Ball"
Dr. Leslie Heaphy Associate Professor, history at Kent State at Stark. Vice President for SABR and President of Board for the IWBC. Written and edited a number of books on the Negro Leagues and Women’s baseball as well as numerous book chapters, articles and presentations. She has presented for the VBBA at two previous conferences.

Glenn Miller

"A Century of Fort Myers Spring Training"
Glenn Miller believes he attended his first spring training game in 1962 in St. Petersburg’s Al Lang Field. The St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets, in their inaugural season, then trained in St. Pete. At the time, he was a baseball-obsessed kid. Now, he’s a baseball-obsessed senior citizen.

In between then and now, Miller covered sports for the St. Petersburg Evening Independent and Fort Myers News-Press and in recent years has written spring training preview stories for Florida Weekly and the occasional baseball feature.

He also writes stories for Roy Hobbs Baseball’s programs and newsletter. Roy Hobbs is an amateur adult baseball organization which holds its annual World Series in Fort Myers every fall. More than 300 teams are expected to compete over five weeks of play at spring training venues in 2023.

Jack Pelikan

"Vintage Base Ball's Enduring Legacy"
Jack Pelikan, CPA, CISA, CISSP, is a business professional, university professor, SABR member and author of Vintage Base Ball’s Enduring Legacy (Pocol Press, 2023). While now a resident of Columbia, MO, Mr. Pelikan grew up in St. Louis and witnessed the area’s 19th century base ball revival while living in the city’s Lafayette Square neighborhood, home of one of the first organized base ball clubs west of the Mississippi and now two prominent vintage clubs (St. Louis Perfectos and Lafayette Square Cyclone). Ultimately, the compelling yet unheralded stories behind the vintage game and Mr. Pelikan’s unrivaled passions for baseball history, research and storytelling were the catalysts for Vintage Base Ball’s Enduring Legacy.

John "Stinky" Freyer

"Scraping Henry Chadwick’s Scrapbook"
John Stinky Freyer, former Deep River Grinder player, current Chicago Salmon, former editor of the VBBA’s “The Base Ball Player’s Journal”, Current VBBA Treasurer, SABR member, co-author with Mark Rucker of early base ball history books: 19th Century Baseball in Chicago, 2003; Chicago Sluggers: The First 75 Years (Images of Baseball) 2005; edited Peverelly’s, National Game, introduction by John Thorn, MLB Historian, 2005.

Stephen "Blue Juice" Flanagan

"Base ball during the US Civil War & early (1890-1910) base ball in Florida"
Stephen Flanagan was born in Brooklyn NY and moved to Long Island at a young age. He remembers many stories told by his dad about the Brooklyn Dodgers, who had moved to San Francisco. In 1962, the NY Mets were born. Stephen was among their first fans. He collected baseball cards and played baseball on the neighborhood sandlot, very similar to that depicted in the movie “Sandlot.” He went on to play High School and College baseball. But it didn’t end there. Stephen played semi-pro ball until he was 49 years old and then joined a Senior League for players 40+. He coached his two sons’ teams over a 15-year period and finally discovered the Central Florida Awkwards Vintage Base Ball Team after moving to Florida in 2014. Stephen is a retired small business owner who has six kids and nine grandkids, many of whom play baseball as well.

Al "Honest Al" Stare

Allen __Honest_Al__Stare "Side Line Re-enactor and Umpire"
"Honest Al" served as umpire, first for the Orphans and since 2007 with the Springfield Long Nine at games throughout the Midwest. He also became an avid student of the game as it was played in the 19th century, especially pre-American Civil War base ball.. (The central Illinois teams play by rules that were set down in 1858.)

Holly Shaffer & Matt Andres

"Connie Mack, Thomas Edison and the History of Spring Training in Fort Myers"
The impact of Connie Mack and the Athletics on spring training in Fort Myers and the spring training teams that followed. Plus, a peek at the new spring training baseball exhibit at Edison Ford Winter Estates.

Holly Shaffer is Program Manager at Edison & Ford Winter Estates. She was a longtime volunteer docent at the Joshua Chamberlain Museum and a former educator. She is an enthusiastic baseball fan, particularly of the Red Sox. She enjoys researching the history of spring training in Fort Myers and Civil War history.

Matt Andres is the Curatorial Registrar at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. In this position, he plays an integral role in collections management & preservation, maintaining artifact catalog records, exhibit development and the interpretation of the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. His educational background includes a Master of Arts in Historical Studies and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Museum Studies. He is a member of the American Alliance of Museums, Florida Association of Museums, and Vintage Base Ball Association. He has appeared on historical programming featured on Fox and Wink news.