The Ottawa University Baseball in Literature Conference was held this past weekend. One of the feature speakers was Bobby Denere, who grew up in the Kansas City area, and is a former professional baseball player. He talked about his time in the big leagues and what it was like to play ball in the ’80s, on a team that was one of America’s favorites, the Chicago Cubs:
Professor Andy Hazucha plans and coordinates the conference every year, bringing in experts in baseball, literature and historical events. The other keynote speaker was David Block, whose 2006 book “Baseball Before We Knew It” sheds light on the origins of the game, and won the Seymour Award, awarded by the Society for American Baseball Research, for the Best Book of Baseball History published during the previous year.
