Baseball Conference 2012

Agenda for 17^th Annual Conference on Baseball in

Literature and Culture

Friday, March 30, 2012

MTSU, Murfreesboro TN

7.45-8.15              Registration and Breakfast

8.20-8.30              Welcome:            

                                Warren Tormey, Conference Coordinator

                                Dr. Mark Byrnes, Dean, College of Liberal Arts

8.30-9.15              Keynote Address: 

Dr. Dan Anderson, Dominican University:

“Renaissance Men: Sportswriting, Popular Culture, and Negro League Baseball in Harlem"               

9.20-10.20            Concurrent Sessions A

Session A1:  Baseball in Fiction

Location: Hazlewood                                                                          Chair:  

Don Johnson, East Tennessee State University: “The Real Modern Prometheus at the Plate.”

Shawn O’Hare, Carson-Newman College: “Baseball as Narrative Metaphor in Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding”

Steve Andrews, Grinnell College: “Some Thoughts on The Art of Fielding.”  

Session A2:  Baseball in Popular and American Culture

Location: Dining Room C                                                                    Chair: 

Crosby Hunt, Middle Tennessee State University: TITLE TBA

Bryan Steverson, Maryville, TN: “Negro League Baseball and American Culture”

Bob Barrier, Kennesaw State University: "’How 'Bout That!’ Favorite Baseball Announcers--and Why.”

10.30-11.30           Concurrent Sessions B

Session B1:  Baseball in Foreign Lands

Location:  Hazlewood                                                                         Chair:  

Matt Nichol, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia: “Is the Posting Agreement Already Twelve Years Old? The Need for a New Posting Agreement to Facilitate Player Transfers from Japan to Major League Baseball”

Mac Williams, Coker College: “Only Anansi So Far:  Baseball in Costa Rican Literature and Culture”

Michael Pagel, Northeast State Community College: “Lament for Lost Baseball Talent in Brock’s Havana Heat”

Session B2:  Baseball in Media

Location:  Dining Room C                                                                   Chair:  

Matthew Bruen, New York University: “Traditional Fandoms in the Digital Age”

Andy Hazucha, Ottawa University: “The Cubs and Conservatism”; or, Why I Hate George Will”

Nick Bush, Motlow State College: “Judging Others and Laughing at Idols:  The Rhetoric of Humor in HBO’s ‘East Bound & Down’”

11.40-12.05           Concurrent Sessions C

Session C1:  Baseball Back in the Day

Location:  Hazlewood                                                                         Chair: 

Skip Nipper, Nashville, Tennessee: "The Colorful, Quirky Confines of Nashville's Sulphur Dell"

Location:  Dining Room C: 

Session C2:  Baseball and Memoir

Bill Gruber, Emory University: “Pitching Lessons”

12.15-2:00            Luncheon and Tommy John Talk

Tennessee Room

12.15-12.45 Lunch

12.45-1.30  Tommy John (20 min + ~10 min. Q & A;  Autograph Signing to follow)

2:00-3:00  Concurrent Sessions D

Session D1: Creative Baseball

Location:  Hazlewood                                                                         Chair: 

Steven Walker, Middle Tennessee State University: “Civil War.”

Mark Sickman, Baseballbard.com: "Hip Hop, the Blogosphere, and the Emergence of Baseball Poetry."

Session D2: Baseball in Philosophy and Religion

Location:Dining Room C                                                                   Chair: 

Phil Oliver, Middle Tennessee State University: "Baseball and the Meaning of Life."

Warren Tormey, Middle Tennessee State University: “John Milton, Ballplayer: How England’s Pre-Industrial Epic Shaped America’s Pastoral Game”