ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Professor of History William M. Simons of the SUNY College at Oneonta is serving as Director of the 20th annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which runs from Wednesday, June 4, through Friday, June 6. In a panel on "Jews and Baseball," Dr. Simons and sports lawyer and author Robert Ruxin will co-present a seminar entitled "In the Beginning--and in the End: The Genesis and Destruction of the Israel Baseball League" on Friday, June 1, at 1 p.m. in the Education Gallery.
Dr. Simons' presentation will be based on his first-hand experience as well as his extensive research, writing, and teaching about the history of baseball. He traveled to Israel to see games, interview players, and learn about the short-lived league during its only season last year. Ruxin assisted the Israel Baseball League in various capacities, including serving as its Director of Business Development. The league featured six teams in three parks with Jewish-American former major leaguers Art Shamsky, Ken Holtzman, and Ron Blomberg among the managers.
Since 2000, Dr. Simons has served as the editor of annual collections of essays from the symposia entitled The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, which have been published by McFarland and Company Publishers. He has presented at the Cooperstown symposia several times, and he is the only person to participate in all 20 of the symposia.
This year's symposium will begin at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with the keynote address by Ira Berkow, author and prominent sportswriter for the New York Times.
On Wednesday evening, the panel on "Baseball and Freedom: Umpires and the Roots of Order and Freedom" will feature three prominent judges from California, two umpires, and Branch Rickey III, the President of the Pacific Coast League.
Thursday's presentations will include a special session entitled "The Trial of Rube Waddell" in which participants will argue allegations that Waddell accepted a bribe to stay out of the 1905 World Series. The "lawyers"--author Roger Abrams of the Northeastern University School of Law and Alan Levy, history professor at Slippery Rock University and author of Waddell's biography--will argue their cases before Otsego County Judge Brian Burns.
During the symposium, more than 50 papers will be presented by university scholars and baseball researchers from across the country. Co-sponsored by the SUNY College at Oneonta and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the symposium examines the impact of baseball on American culture from multi-disciplinary perspectives.
The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture is open to
members of the community, who can register to participate. Registration
information is available online at
www.baseballhalloffame.org
#####
For more information about the College, please call the Community Relations Office at (607) 436-2748 or send e-mail to Carol Blazina, Vice President for Community Relations.SUNY College at Oneonta - Ravine Parkway - Oneonta, NY 13820 - 607.436.3500
Email the web coordinator if you have trouble accessing this page.
Open the original version of this page.
Lift Assistive is a UsableNet product. Lift Assistive Main Page.