Another great gathering of the Field of Dreams Chapter was held Saturday, April 14 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines . A dozen members and guests enjoyed a program that included two entertaining presentations.

Ralph Christian introduced special guest speaker, Jack Foster, of Fair Play, a Des Moines-based scoreboard manufacturer. Jack presented a slide show that illustrated his company's involvement in constructing the scoreboards at Dodger Stadium and the Astrodome in the 1960's. Foster explained how the development of the Astrodome's famous animated scoreboard was prompted by Judge Roy Hofheinz's complaint that the original design was "too vanilla." Mr. Foster also had plenty of tales about dealings with other baseball notables, such as Walter O'Malley and Charlie Finley.

FoD member, Steve Bennett, presented his research on the bizarre managerial career of Stormy Kromer, a railroad engineer turned self-styled baseball guru. Kromer had to notable stints in baseball, separated by a quarter century. He managed Blytheville , Ark. in 1925 and Vincennes , Indiana in 1951. Kromer proved to be almost laughably unsuccessful with both clubs, as Blytheville was forced to resort to an all-road schedule, while Vincennes ' season was highlighted by a 40-5 loss to Danville . Steve amused the group with Kromer's theories of the "sizzels of baseball," which included such tips as always taking two strikes during an at-bat, and training with sponge rubber balls.

John Liepa and Ralph Christian gave an update on two upcoming events: a Negro Leagues-themed art exhibit coming to the State Historical Museum in June, and the Hoover Library's Iowa Baseball Conference, scheduled for August 17-18 in West Branch and Iowa City . Both events should offer exciting opportunity's to promote both the baseball experience in Iowa and SABR.

For the entertainment portion of the meeting, Tim Rask won the trivia contest, which was prepared by Steve Bennett. Steve presented Tim with an autographed Minnie Minoso baseball cap as a trophy.

After adjourning at 4:30, the group headed over to the ballpark for dinner at Principal Park's Cub Club, and the watched the Iowa Cubs pummel the Round Rock Express, 8-0.

We hope to hold our next meeting in conjunction with the Hoover Library's symposium in August. Stay tuned for details.

Tim Rask

Umpire-in-Chief

Field of Dreams Chapter