Convening Baseball Scholars
Test Their ‘Town Ball’ Skills
![The 28th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball & American Culture is underway at the Hall of Fame, and participants are engaging at this hour in the annual game of “Town Ball,” an archaic form of the National Game, in Cooper Park. At top is Peter Young, the 19th-century-style umpire, (and Cooperstown native – his mom, Pat is a volunteer at The Farmers’ Museum – and currently a math professor at St. Rose College in Albany). Below left is Tim Wiles, former of Hall of Fame director of research, who took in a few innings; he’ll be Casey at the Bat at this evening’s symposium banquet. Below right, Bill Simons, SUNY Oneonta history professor and longtime symposium participant, cranks a single toward the James Fenimore Cooper statue. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)](https://www.allotsego.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/symposium-1.jpg)
Advertisement. Advertise with us
COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note: Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…
Killer Knapp Dies In Prison; Guilty In SUNY Coed’s Death ONEONTA – Ricky Knapp, the man convicted of the 1977 death of SUNY Oneonta student, has died in Mohawk Correctional Facility, according to prison records. Knapp, 66, died March 8, having served 40 years of a 25-to-life sentence for a 1978 manslaughter conviction in the death of 18-year-old Linda Velzy, a SUNY student from Long Island. According to reports, Velzy was last seen Dec. 9 1977, hitchhiking in downtown Oneonta.…
1,000 THANKS! Piper Seamon 5th CCS Girl To Hit High Mark The Cooperstown Central student section erupts as Piper Seamon scores her 1,000th career point in the Hawkeyes’ 57-39 win over Waterville at home last evening. Seamon becomes the fifth girl and only the 14th player in school history overall to score 1,000 points. Inset at right, Pipershares a hug with teammate Meagan Schuermann after the game was stopped to acknowledge her achievement. Seamon will play basketball next year at Hamilton College. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com) …