Baseball historian to lecture Feb. 28 at OCCC

Middletown - William Simons, a professor of history at SUNY Oneonta and a specialist in baseball studies, will present a lecture with video entitled “Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg: Ethnic Heroes in Baseball’s Melting Pot” in the George F. Shepard Student Center at SUNY Orange in Middletown at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The lecture is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by Cultural Affairs as part of its Lyceum Lecture Series. Simons serves as the managing director of the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, an annual conference co-sponsored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He has edited four baseball books, and his articles, essays, and reviews on sports have appeared in numerous books, journals, and newspapers. His dissertation for his doctorate from Carnegie-Mellon University focused on “Ethnic America.” Simons will discuss Robinson’s battle to integrate baseball and how that symbolized the collective struggle of blacks against racism. In addition, he will describe the profound meaning that Italian American superstar DiMaggio and Jewish slugger Greenberg had for their respective ethnic groups. Information may be obtained by contacting Cultural Affairs at 341-4891 and on the Web at www.sunyorange.edu/lyceum.