My wedding anniversary is June 30 - but after 22 years I'm pretty sure I'm good to go anyway.

I'm very excited to go to Minnesota. The ballpark looks beautiful and I've heard good things about the area.

White Sox in town on the 27th.

Day off on the 28th.

Royals come to town from the 29th through the 1st.

This will be our summer vacation. I'm looking to plan something for Paula and me to do from June 22 through 26. We've done Chicago, but anything between there and Minnesota is fair game.

Last summer's trip covered much of Michigan - UP to Munising, Mackinac Island, eastern shore of Lake Michigan, Frankenmuth. Those are the types of trips that we like to do. We could fly to Chicago and drive up through Wisconsin over a period of several days, or fly to MSP and tour Minnesota.

Offbeat suggestions would be welcome. Paula mentioned boat trips (we love them).

-- MWE

Ms. High Standards has tenativly agreed. Friday or Saturday night after a couple cocktails I will bring it up again for confermation. woot woot.

btw: I was in Minn yesterday for business... by god it was cold for September.

btw: I was in Minn yesterday for business... by god it was cold for September.

Major cold wave hit the Midwest just now. Temperature went into the 40s overnight in northern Illinois.

I should attend just to swipe Gleeman's chair

I think I'm going to try to make it this time, which would be my first.

I CAN GUARANTEE!!!! to make my triumphant return. Thank goodness it's not right before the bar exam.

Offbeat suggestions would be welcome.

Go see a game in Duluth -- it is worth the trip.

Is anyone going to the SABR Arizona Fall League convention?

Go see a game in Duluth -- it is worth the trip.

I want to go to Duluth. Whether Paula wants to go to Duluth, on the other hand...

-- MWE

btw: I was in Minn yesterday for business... by god it was cold for September.

Don't coun't on it being cold for SABR, Minnesota summers are typically hot, and can be surprisingly humid.

Duluth and the entire North Shore is beautiful in the summer. There are a variety of trips available on Lake Superior from sailing to tour boats to the ferry to Madeline Island. The St. Croix has boat tours and is closer to MSP. We love meandering from St. Croix Falls through Osceola to Stillwater and Hastings.

MSP has plenty of great museums and good walking trails around the lakes. The Stone Arch Bridge / Mill City Museum / Guthrie Theater area is great and close to the ballpark. There's the Walker, Bakken, MIA, Bell Museums in Mpls and Science, Children's, History Center, Ft. Snelling in St. Paul.

Iowa is full of minor league teams and Field of Dreams. MN has the wood bat Northwoods league which is a good time; I enjoy watching the college kids more than the Saints. Amateur ballparks in Jordan, Chaska and Miesville are nearly perfect (http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-amateur-baseball-parks-in-minnesota/).

If you like beer, WI and MN have several good brewery tours. Summit in St. Paul. Surly in Minneapolis. Schell's in New Ulm. Leinenkugel's in Chippewa Falls.

We could fly to Chicago and drive up through Wisconsin over a period of several days, or fly to MSP and tour Minnesota.

Offbeat suggestions would be welcome. Paula mentioned boat trips (we love them).

The only boat trip I know of is some sort of boat tour on the Chicago River of the city. Supposed to be excellent.

Western Wisconsin is frickin' gorgeous. Can't say anything specific about it other than that. Very pretty land.

Wisconsin Dells. Went there when I was - what? - five years old? Hardly remember it, but apparently it's a thing.

The Galena area of Illinois is pretty - it looks nothing like the rest of Illinois. It looks like western Wisconsin - and with good reason. No iceberg.

Go further south in Illinois and you get all the Lincoln stuff. Springfield, New Salem.

Really want something offbeat? Illinois has an inordinate number of some of the shittiest towns in all America. See how many you can hit. East St. Louis, Rockford, Danville, Decatur. Back when Money magazine's annual list of best places to live was a best & worst places to live list, 4 or 5 of the bottom 15 were from Illinois. See how many you can get mugged in!

Duluth is a 2.5 hour drive from the Twin Cities, so it's not really a day trip. We can definitely find somewhere for another whiffle ball game (are those still happening?). I find Saints games to be horribly uninteresting because the quality of play is so low and the focus is so far away from the game, but YMMV. Lots of great restaurants in the area (it's comical how many "food trends" are already present in Minnesota. For example, I was very amused by the way everyone in DC creamed themselves over Founding Farmers when the food there is pretty much crap and the "only fresh stuff from that day" idea is not exactly an amazingly new concept). Beer drinkers are going to want to try the varieties of Surly.

Springfield, New Salem.

That's about 4 hours worth of amusement.

Really want something offbeat? Illinois has an inordinate number of some of the shittiest towns in all America. See how many you can hit. East St. Louis, Rockford, Danville, Decatur.

Joliet and Aurora are offended to be left off this list.

Exclusive Video of Two SABR Members Driving to the 2012 Convention

Will, I loved Founding Farmers when we were in DC, and a girl I know who works for a food magazine went there and loved it too. Okay the concept isn't exactly original, in fact it is the world oldest food concept right? But I liked it. One thing I know is the Minneapolis places seem to show up on Diners Drive ins and dives a LOT.

I'll just assume everyone is staying at my house? Except for Harveys Wallbangers, obviously.

I'll just assume everyone is staying at my house? Except for Harveys Wallbangers, obviously.

Let him stay - just don't give him a chair to sit in.

Just remembered - one of the better day trips in MSP is Ft. Snelling (esp for military history buffs) followed by Minnehaha Falls.

If you have kids Como Zoo is great - stop at Snuffy's afterwards for a burger and a malt. My kids' favorite day trip was the Wabasha area to the Eagle Center and LARK toys.

Music hipsters should enjoy seeing First Avenue - right next to Target Field. There are plenty of Prince / Husker Du / Replacements sites throughout Mpls.

#16 hinted at the most scenic driving - come up the river. Galena, Dubuque, Prairie Du Chien, Effigy Mounds, La Crosse, Wabasha, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings. Follow the Mississippi to MSP or head up the St. Croix. The North Shore is beautiful too but unless you're coming from Canada it's out of your way.

I'll second that it will be hot and humid at the beginning of July. Prepare for 90 degrees and 70 degree dew points.

Minnesota has some fantastic golf courses if you're into that kind of thing. Canoeing and boating can't be beat that time of year.

I probably sound like a brochure now but there's a reason why we hardly ever take summer vacations out of state.

Will, I loved Founding Farmers when we were in DC, and a girl I know who works for a food magazine went there and loved it too. Okay the concept isn't exactly original, in fact it is the world oldest food concept right? But I liked it.

If you're interested in the concept, Heartland and Lucia's are miles better than Founding Farmers.

One thing I know is the Minneapolis places seem to show up on Diners Drive ins and dives a LOT.

Victor's is phenomenal but be prepared to wait for at least 30 minutes for a table. OTOH, you might run into Tony Oliva there.

Music hipsters should enjoy seeing First Avenue - right next to Target Field. There are plenty of Prince / Husker Du / Replacements sites throughout Mpls.

Can also head over to the Electric Fetus to feel good about your supreme appreciation of good music.

Seems like I am heading to my first SABR convention. Great to see it close to home.

I'll just assume everyone is staying at my house? Except for Harveys Wallbangers, obviously.

I call dibbs on a couch.

I probably sound like a brochure now but there's a reason why we hardly ever take summer vacations out of state.

Can't understand everybody else's weird accent? :-D

I like #28. We also would have accepted: Terrified of roads with inadequate shoulder width

Duluth is a 2.5 hour drive from the Twin Cities, so it's not really a day trip.

That's Raleigh to Charlotte, which we normally don't do as a day trip but which we could. It's also Raleigh to Wilkesboro, which we have done as a day trip. As I said, I want to go, so we'll probably figure out a way to do it.

I also need a suggestion for Paula's birthday, which is the Saturday before the convention weekend.

See how many you can hit. East St. Louis, Rockford, Danville, Decatur. Back when Money magazine's annual list of best places to live was a best & worst places to live list, 4 or 5 of the bottom 15 were from Illinois. See how many you can get mugged in!

I've been to Rockford, although that was nearly 30 years ago. Don't need to do that again, thank you.

-- MWE

Don't go back to Rockford
And waste another year

Convention hotel has been posted - will be the Marriott City Center.

Hotel site. As far as I know they are not taking reservations yet.

-- MWE

About a mile from Target Field, that's good.

Man, City Center is ugly.

But it does provide an opening for the first of many(?) Lifter Puller/Hold Steady references:

Swishing through the City Center, I did a couple favors for these guys who looked like Tuscan Raiders.

Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:02:01 -0400
From: Stew Thornley
Subject: Stuff about SABR 42

The 2012 SABR convention will be in downtown Minneapolis, at the
Marriott City Center Hotel, starting Wednesday, June 27.

Most of Minneapolis is on the west side of the Mississippi River
although a smaller but significant portion of the city is on the east
side, including the main campus of the University of Minnesota.

A few miles to the east is St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota. Before
Minnesota achieved statehood, in 1858, the capital was almost moved as
the territorial legislature passed a bill to transfer the capital to
the south-central Minnesota city of St. Peter. However, a member of
the legislature, a fur trader named Joe Rolette, disappeared with the
bill and remained hidden until just before the legislature adjourned,
too late for the governor to sign the bill. So the capital stayed in
St. Paul, but a few years later St. Peter became home to the state
hospital for the insane. Many Minnesotans think St. Peter got the
better end of the deal.

Those wanting to visit the St. Peter landmark will have to do so on
their own, but a capital sighting in St. Paul will be part of a
Saturday morning bus tour of former ballpark sites in the Twin Cities.

One ballpark site, Athletic Park, used by the Minneapolis team from
1889 to 1896, is only a block away from the headquarters hotel. It's
across the street from Target Center, the basketball arena for the
Minnesota Timberwolves, and only a block away from Target Field, where
the Twins now play. The bus won't stop here since conventioneers will
have plenty of chances to walk over there on their own, possibly on
their way to the Twins game on Friday night. Butler Square, a
warehouse turned into offices and retail space, is on the Athletic
Park site, and a good place for a pre-game meal within Butler Square
might be Smalley '87, owned by Roy Smalley, who might even be there
when you dine and drink.

The bus tour will first go to Nicollet Park, where the Minneapolis
Millers played from 1896 to 1955. It is about two miles from the
hotel, just off Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue. There is a b.f.
plaque on the site, in what was right-center field (probably under the
path of a lot of Joe Hauser and Ted Williams home runs). Also, we may
have a ballpark run on Saturday morning to the Nicollet Park site.
It's even possible for people to sign up for the bus tour, run to the
site, and join the tour from there (if the others don't find them too
gamey after their run).

The next stop on the bus tour will be the site of Lexington Park in
St. Paul, on the corner of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue. A
TCF Bank on Lexington has a nice display devoted to Lexington Park,
including a plaque purchased by the Halsey Hall Chapter with donations
from former players and fans. Some of you might want to pop into the
White Castle on the corner of Lexington and University and buy some
sliders; the after-effects of that might help to counteract the
gaminess of the runners. And there's more.

The bus will continue east on University Avenue, sort of passing by an
1890s ballpark, Comiskey Park, off Dale Street, an area that was once
inhabited by a strip joint and the Notorious Faust Theater, which
featured seedy entertainment. Another mile or so will bring you to
the capitol complex and the site of the Downtown Ball Park, also known
as the Pillbox because of its small size, which was used by the Saints
from 1903 to 1909. The capitol was being built when the ballpark
opened, and fans had a good view of the emerging rotunda. You'll see
the completed capitol building, which includes a Quadringa, four
gilded (or gelded, or both) horses at the base of the rotunda.

Finally, you'll go to a shopping center in suburban Bloomington, where
Metropolitan Stadium hosted the Millers and then the Minnesota Twins
from 1956 to 1981. An amusement park inside the mall includes a home
plate in the floor and a chair attached to a wall where Harmon
Killebrew hit a home run into the upper deck in left field off Lew
Burdette on June 3, 1967.

Some people (not me) get really excited about this shopping center,
and those who feel like hanging around longer can take their time and
then take the light rail back to Minneapolis. Others can board the
bus, which we will try to have pass the Metrodome, used by the Twins
from 1982 to 2009, on the way back to the hotel.

I'm going to see if the Metrodome still offers tours, but anyone can
take a stroll through downtown to see the Dome if you want.

We are also planning on a tour of Target Field, which will probably be
on Thursday (the Twins have a game on Wednesday, which will preclude a
tour that day).

I've put together a one-page flyer on some of these ballparks as well
as an 11-page booklet on these and other ballparks. These are now on
our chapter convention page and can be downloaded at:

http://halseyhall.org/National_Convention.html

So that's a little preview of what's coming up at SABR 42. More later.

Stew

Damn, I guess Scott and I need to get up off our duffs and start planning for the research presentations.

And we'll be asking for volunteers to review abstracts and/or judge presentations, so keep an eye out for the announcements.