The latest meeting of the Field of Dreams (Iowa) Regional Chapter took place on Saturday, June 10 at the Waterloo Public Library, in Waterloo, IA. The 12 members and guests were treated to another packed round of presentations.

As we set up, Ralph and Victoria Christian brought along some copies of the Iowa Heritage Illustrated magazine. The Spring, 2006 issue is devoted entirely to baseball in the Hawkeye state, and includes articles by Ralph, as well as John Liepa. For anyone who would like a copy, contact the State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Ave., Iowa City IA 52240 or by phone at (319) 335-3912 (weekdays, 8:00am to 4:30pm, CT). The charge per copy is $11, and includes shipping.

Bob Niemeyer of the Grout Museum in Waterloo, a former publisher spoke to the group about his experiences in the publishing industry. As the chapter ponders whether to produce a book on Iowa's baseball history, Bob gave us a lot to consider.

The project's editor, Steve Smith, gave an update about the Iowa baseball history project. Steve has received 19 proposals for articles, as well as four manuscripts, which he will circulate among the members soon. He also is looking for any sources of photos that may fit in with the project, as well as a good title. The initial goal is to get content onto the chapter web site as soon as is practical.

Tim Rask presented on a topic he hopes to write up for the project: the Three-I League Civil War of 1910-1911. The story was appropriate to our meeting place, as the tale concerns the efforts of the 3-I's "southern" contingent to expel Waterloo, which was opposed by a northern faction. After a tumultuous off-season of 1910-1911, Waterloo won a battle to remain in the circuit, only to lose the war when it was dropped from the Three-I after the 1911 season.

John Liepa brought up the interesting idea of a baseball seminar at the Hoover Library in West Branch. John will provide details as they develop.

Bill Sherman spoke about the career Jackie Collum, Grinnell resident and 1954 All-Star. The diminutive 5'7" left-handed pitcher enjoyed a 9-year career with six franchises, including the Dodgers in both their Brooklyn and Los Angeles incarnations. Bill is still looking for confirmation of two of the more interesting events in Collum's career. The first comes from Jackie's high school days playing for tiny Newburgh High. The ambidextrous Collum supposedly pitched both ends of a doubleheader, one right-handed and the other left-handed. Although eyewitnesses have confirmed the tale, Bill is still seeking a definitive contemporary written account. Collum also is supposed to have picked off a runner from first by unexpectedly throwing the ball with his right hand. This event may have occurred during the 1953 season.

Darrell Hanson capped the meeting with his presentation on the myths of the .400 hitters. Darrell focused on those instances in which batters may have sat out at the end of a season to protect their .400 B.A. Darrel contends that Ted Williams could not have sat out the final doubleheader of the 1941 season to protect a .400 batting average because the majority of contemporary accounts noted that his average had fallen below .400. Of course, Williams put his average comfortably over .400 after the first game of the twinbill. Darrell went on to explore some of the more suspicious instances of batters possibly "protecting" their averages by sitting out-Ty Cobb in 1922, Harry Heilmann in 1923, and Rogers Hornsby in 1925.

To cap the day, a group of five ventured across the Cedar River to take in a Northwoods League game between the Mankato Moondogs and Waterloo bucks. We left after the 10th inning with the teams deadlocked at one run each. As it turns out, the Bucks and Moondogs almost provided some more material for Phil Lowry's "long games" project-the Bucks did not clinch the victory until the bottom of the 16th, just after 11pm local time.

Tim Rask
Umpire-in-Chief
Field of Dreams Chapter