Baseball History Mystery - LSC-CyFair

Here's all you need to do:

1. Spoiler Alert: As of August 10, 2010, all the chapters have been posted. If you want to make a guess, do so before chapter 8, because the culprit is revealed there.
2. The clues and chapters will remain on this page until the end of August.
3. We hope you enjoyed reading the mystery!

1. Select three words from the hint below – a 2-letter word, a 4-letter word, and a 5-letter word.
   • The 2-letter word is the opposite of “you.”
   • The 4-letter word is a synonym of “wander.”
   • The 5-letter word is a synonym of “excuse.”
2. Rearrange the letters to form one word that is our first clue to the solving the mystery.

The suspect told his lawyer, “Between you and me, my alibi is rock solid.
There’s no way I would roam around alone at night downtown.”

The answer for the June 30 clue is "memorabilia."
NOTE: You needed to rearrange the words - me, roam, alibi - to get the answer.

Clue Hints for July 7, 2010

1. Go to numeric search page of the library catalog at http://bit.ly/an7kJC.
2. Enter this number (9781426200335) in the fifth search box down or the “ISBN/ISSN (Exact Match)” to find a specific title in the library catalog.
3. The last word of the book’s subtitle is this week’s clue.

The answer for the July 7 clue is "baseball."
The book with the ISBN 9781426200335 is Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball by Lawrence D. Hogan who will be visiting the library in August.

Clue Hints for July 14, 2010

1. Go to the Newspaper Source library database at http://bit.ly/dChBw7. NOTE: If you are at home or work, you will be asked to enter your college ID or public library card number after you click on the database link.
2. Search for the article, "Negro Leagues Reunion Offers One Last Dance with Baseball History" by Joe Posnanski from the Kansas City Star newspaper dated 11/17/2000.
3. Using the full text of the article, locate the sentence that begins with “It was all these men.” Now find where the players couldn’t stay and ended up riding buses all night. That word is this week’s clue.

The answer for the July 14 clue is "hotel."
The article includes the sentence, "It was all these men, who rode the buses all night because no hotel would let them stay, who divvied up stale sandwiches because restaurants wouldn't serve them, who played for a few bucks every month (and the checks didn't always clear) because they loved baseball so much."

Today's clue is a bit different from past weeks. You can actually chat, e-mail, call 281.290.3219, or visit the 1st or 2nd floor reference desks to get this week's clue. But it's best if you make a guess from the hints below and then check your answer with the library staff.

1. Last week, a leader of Negro League Baseball received a posthumous honor that has been bestowed upon many famous people.
2. As a result of this honor, the likeness of this person may be seen on the outside of a common object in your home or office.
3. Contact the reference desk staff to get the name of the common object previously mentioned because it is this week’s clue. And discover who received this honor and why he is famous.

The answer for the July 21 clue is "envelope."
Andrew “Rube” Foster is pictured on a postage stamp released July 15 which usually is seen on the outside of an envelope, this week’s clue. Mr. Foster, born in Calvert, Texas just north of Bryan, organized and served as chief executive of the Negro National League in 1920 with seven other African-American ball clubs when he also acted as founder and owner of the Chicago American Giants.
- Information from the USPS, Biography.com, and National Baseball Hall of Fame

Clue Hints for July 28, 2010

1. Go to http://books.google.com/ and search for the title, Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century published by Harvard University Press in 2004.
2. Click on this title in the results list and use the “search in this book” option for “Effa Manley,” co-owner and business manager of the Brooklyn Eagles, a Negro League baseball team that eventually moved and became the Newark Eagles.
3. Find the main entry for her in the book and check the “bibliography” at the end of the entry.
4. Locate the sentence after the first mention of the Newark Public Library. This week’s clue is the first word of the sentence where you find something the Newark Public Library received that was left behind in a house owned by Effa Manley and her husband, Abe.

The answer for the July 28 clue is "boxes."
"Boxes of business records" were found in a house owned by the Manleys
and donated to the Newark Public Library.

Chapter 7 - August 4, 2010 (PDF)

Clue Hints for August 4, 2010

1. Go to Research Databases: News at http://www.lonestar.edu/library/14625.htm.
2. Click on the link to InfoTrac Newspapers database, the second title listed on that page. NOTE: If you are at home or work, you will be asked to enter your college ID or public library card number after you click on the database link.
3. Search for the article, “Belated Praise for the Negro Leagues” from The New York Times, July 30, 2006.
4. Find the paragraph that begins with “Before integration.”
5. In this same paragraph, find the word to complete this phrase:
   Rewritten the record ____________.
6. That word is this week’s clue and the last clue before the mystery culprit is revealed next Tuesday, August 10 at 12:00 p.m. in library meeting room 131.

The answer for the August 4 clue is "books."
From the article listed above, "Before integration, black superstars who could have rewritten the record books spent their careers as barnstormers in a financially precarious league whose marquee teams included the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Homestead Grays and the Kansas City Monarchs."

Chapters 8 & 9 - August 10 (PDF)

NOTE: Clue Hints ended last week since the culprit is named in chapter 8. So make a guess before reading this week's installment and check chapter 8 to see if you are correct.

Contact the LSC-CyFair Library: chat | e-mail | 281.290.3214 or 281.290.3219
Maintained by: M.Norem-Reference Librarian
monica.r.norem@lonestar.edu