Call for papers: Hofstra University celebrates the Mets’ 50th Anniversary

The following message comes from Richard J. Puerzer of Hofstra University.

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April 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the New York Mets, one of the most popular and culturally significant baseball franchises.

On Thursday through Sunday, April 26-28, 2012, Hofstra University will host a conference to consider all aspects of the history and culture of the team. This will be the first multidisciplinary conference to consider every aspect of a Major League Baseball franchise.

Expected participants at the conference will include former members of the Mets’ organization; journalists, broadcasters, and analysts; baseball scholars, historians, and cultural critics; and writers, artists, filmmakers, cartoonists, bloggers, collectors, and fans.

Presentations will be accepted on the basis of 300-500 word abstracts submitted by January 10, 2012.

Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes.

Possible topics include:

The Evolution of Mets Fandom
Managers, Myths, and Mascots
Icons and Individuals in Mets History
The 1969 and 1986 Seasons: How They Happened and What It Meant to People
The Mets and the Culture of New York
The Mets and New York’s Ethnic and Cultural Communities
The Mets and the “Other” New York Baseball Team
The Mets in Art, Film, Music, and Literature
Sports Medicine and Baseball
The Lighter Side of the Mets
Sabermetrics and the Mets
Defining Moments in the History of the Mets
Mets Players: Notables and Quotables

Visit www.hofstra.edu/mets for the most up to date information on the conference.

Please feel free to email me abstract submissions, or if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the conference.

Thank you,

Rich Puerzer

Richard J. Puerzer, Ph.D.
Chairperson, Department of Engineering
Hofstra University
104 Weed Hall
Hempstead, NY 11549
516-463-6019

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I just might submit an abstract. It would make for a complete circle: in 1995 I delivered a paper on “The Later Biographies of Babe Ruth” at a Hofstra program on the centennial of Ruth’s birth.