- Presidential Snapshot #48 - pages 7
- The Wellspring of Conservation: Theodore Roosevelt in the Adirondacks by Michael Patrick Cullinane - pages 8-18
- The Theodore Roosevelt Association in the Adirondacks by Michael Patrick Cullinane - page 19-21
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- The TRA Adirondack Bird List, June 21 - June 24, 2024, Franklin, Hamilton, and Essex Counties, New York compiled by Elizabeth Barber and Mike Sacopulos - pages 22-24
- A Fellow Traveler in the Adirondacks by Rod Sullivan - pages 25-29
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Notes from the Editor
Recollections: Baseball and TRA Annual Meetings
I am writing this installment of my editor’s page about six weeks before the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s 105th Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. (Avertissement: If you are not a baseball fan, this editor’s page may not be of great interest to you.)
During my first two decades as a member of the TRA, I was able to attend Annual Meetings only in 1996 in Boston and in 1997 (when I was the keynote dinner speaker) in Newport, Rhode Island. Since I was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2002, however, I have attended all but three Annual Meetings, including fourteen straight from 2006 to 2019.
In the current century, with only a few exceptions, the TRA’s Annual Meetings have occurred either during the World Series or during the two league championship series that precede the World Series. As a lifelong serious baseball fan—the Detroit Tigers were my primary team until the mid-1970s,and the Boston Red Sox have been my primary team ever since then (with the Tigers my second favorite)—I have watched all or part of many World Series games from my (or a family member’s) TRA Annual Meeting hotel room, including in 2002 (Angels-Giants), in 2007 (Red Sox-Rockies), in 2008 (Phillies-Rays), in 2011 (Cardinals-Rangers), in 2012 (Giants-Tigers), in 2014 (Giants-Royals), in 2018 (Red Sox-Dodgers), in 2019 (Nationals-Astros), and in 2023 (Rangers-Diamondbacks). In 2007 and 2008 I had the pleasure of viewing those World Series games with my father Asher Tilchin, a longtime TRA member and a Tigers fan since the era of Hank Greenberg who, God willing, will celebrate his ninety-eighth birthday in October of this year.
My most vivid TRA Annual Meeting World Series memories are from 2007 and 2018, when the Red Sox were participating. (In both of those years I was fortunate to be able to attend game #1 of the World Series at Fenway Park—with my daughter Lizzie in 2007, and with my son Ben in 2018.) The TRA story about game #3 of the 2007 World Series has been recounted previously in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. In summary, our scheduled keynote dinner speaker, passionate Red Sox fan Doris Kearns Goodwin, had her presentation shifted from dinner to the cocktail reception so that she could be whisked home from the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston in time for the first pitch. As for myself, I made it back to my room in time to see the last several innings of the game, with Tweed Roosevelt having provided a welcome mid-banquet announcement that the Red Sox were leading, 5-0 (they eventually won the game, 10-5). In 2018, game #3 of the World Series, which took place on a Friday night, required eighteen innings to complete. One challenging impact of that game on the TRA’s President (me) was having to manage effectively on Saturday a multitude of commitments and responsibilities—including chairing the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees—after sleeping for less than two hours. Then, following the banquet on Saturday evening, I retreated to my room at the Harvard Club of New York City for the final four innings of game #4, with a stirring comeback victory by the Red Sox probably the main explanation for how I was able to remain fully alert despite a post-banquet condition of physical and mental exhaustion.
(Closing note: As in 2010, the 2024 TRA Annual Meeting will coincide with the two league championship series.)
William Tilchin
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