First law of blogging, I am finding out, appears to be that the first post is the toughest. I wanted to start out with something jaw dropping and awe-inspiring. This one won't do it. I figured maybe I'll use this one as sort of a "table of contents" of what will be coming on this blog.
Soon I will be posting a story about Carl Beilke, a man who played on the 1934 Eau Claire baseball team. Why he's so special, though, is the reason for the story. I can't give you much more than that without ruining it. Stay tuned.
As we are now well into Spring, we are also entering flea market season in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I try to go to as many as I can, even when I know exactly what the dealers have and where they are located. Next weekend is the first show at the fairgrounds in St. Paul. A few weeks after that will be Rochester (MN)'s "Gold Rush". If you have never been to Gold Rush, and you enjoy antiquing or collecting, you really, really need to hit this show. It's phenominal. Both those shows will repeat at least one (maybe two, I'm not sure) times later on this summer. Add in the Orinoco (MN) "Gold Rush", too. Orinoco and Rochester are maybe ten miles apart, and between them on one weekend you can see somewhere around 3,000 dealers. Great fun. Let me know if you need more information, or keep checking back here. As you can probably imagine, I collect baseball relics, autographs, etc. These flea markets are where I find most of them.
Speaking of collections, I'm sure we'll spend a few posts talking about collecting baseball stuff. From cards to bats to gloves to autographs, there's a niche for everyone. I'll share my experiences with you and will look for feedback as well.
I'll be discussing my ongoing research to compile a complete record of professional baseball in Eau Claire, WI. It will likely be released to the public in the form of a self-published book within the next few years (if I stay on track). My current project: compiling Eau Claire's stats from the 1911 season. One boxscore at a time. See, the Duluth team that season had some monetary issues and had trouble paying certain people in the organization. One of those people just happened to be the offical scorekeeper. So, he decided to not release the statistics to the league office. Therefore, no league statistics were ever published. I'm not motivated to get any other stats besides ECs right now, but maybe someday.
Brewers, Packers, EC Express...they'll all be part of the blog. And so will you. Please drop me a line if you would like to discuss anything about the topics above. Thanks for reading this. I hope you find it enjoyable.
