The American Association Almanac

I'm pleased to announce a new domain name for my principal website concerning the history of the American Association. Because the registration on the old name (www.aaalmanac.com) expired July 3, I ran into quite a snag, and thought I had even lost my website .... again! Thankfully the problem has been solved and my website is now at http://www.almanacfield.com There you will find a plethora of information on a variety of levels, from stats to ballpark histories to listings on team managers. The site will be under construction for some time, but for now the basics are there. Please pay it a visit soon!

Last week my wife and I returned from a trip to Indianapolis where we both spent considerable time doing research at the city's new public library which is located just north of downtown. It is a marvelous facility, not without its problems, but overall it was a rewarding experience being there and I look forward to my next visit there. The primary goal for my work at Indianapolis was to research the earliest ball park used by the Indianapolis Indians, the city's American Association franchise from 1902-62 (and brought back in subsequent reincarnations of the league). The park was known simply as Washington Park, but in light of the fact that another baseball park was built on Washington Street in 1931, distinguishing the two parks by a term other than merely "Washington" became necessary. The first Washington Park (my current focus) is referred to as East Washington Street Park in Michael Benson's landmark Ballparks of North America (1989) and was the home of th

Just finished the writing and producing the Spring issue (Vol. 8, No. 3) of the American Association Almanac on the topic of Parkway Field in Louisville, home to the Louisville Colonels from 1923-1956. In many way it is a fun and fascinating story. This issue is now on its way to the Almanac 's 87 subscribers and is available to the general public at a cost of $10 postpaid. Researched comprehensively throughout and containing numerous informative graphics, this issue of of the Almanac describes how Parkway Field came into being. Beginning with the early negotiations for land rights,this publication narrates the story of the Colonels’ home park from 1923-56. A variety of pearls were unearthed in the telling of this story. The result is a 25,000-word edition filled with a variety of anecdotes and other "fun facts" sure to please even the most discriminating baseball history enthusiast. This is not a statistical compilation. Neither is it a picture book. It is baseball his

Thought it was time to give a quick run-down on the American Association attendance project I have underway concerning the early years of the American Association. Cumulative team data reflecting paid attendance for the years 1902-1907 were missing in the published league report, and with the exception of 1902 (I found attendance records in the Reach American Association Guide for that year), the remainder of the records are missing. In order to obtain these records, a game-by-game listing of attendance figures must be collected and verified using comparative data from a variety of sources. This process has been rewarding, but it is laborious and time consuming. It promises to become even more so as time goes by. I am using microfilm at Wilson Library on the University of Minnesota campus. Last summer I created a book proposal on the topic of the rivalry between the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints. The proposal described the importance of attendance patterns of the two teams. I