Professor of Rhetoric Todd McDorman led off events marking the Inauguration of Wabash College President Greg Hess with the 34th Annual LaFollette Lecture, 'One for the Books: Rhetoric, Community, and Memory.'
LaFollette Professor of the Humanities Dwight Watson welcomed guests and offered words to the new president: 'May your days be filled with purpose, good fortune, and goodwill.'
Last year's LaFollette Lecturer, Associate Professor of Classics Jeremy Hartnett, introduced McDorman. 'Todd believes in the power of talking, but also of listening,' Hartnett said. ' He approaches baseball as a fan, but also as a discerning rhetorical critic. The very way that baseball has long captured the national imagination and the number of intellects who have grappled with its meaning suggests that Todd's turn to baseball is fun, yes, but serious: This work is about America, how we talk, work, play, and remember together.'
Todd McDorman is the first professor of rhetoric to deliver a LaFollette Lecture.
The poet Donald Hall wrote that 'baseball is a place where memory gathers,' and that place, Professor of Rhetoric Todd McDorman believes, is shaped and re-shaped by the way we write about, talk about, and represent it visually. In the 34th Annual LaFollette Lecture in Salter Hall Thursday, he offered a convincing argument that the study of this rhetoric of baseball offers insights into the ways we shape and re-shape the memories of our own communities.
McDorman?told his Salter Hall audience that baseball and the study of rhetoric became intertwined his own life after a sixth-grade media fair project. 'When I was eight, my father and I began listening to Cincinnati Reds games, and we began collecting baseball cards,'?McDorman recalled. (His first card was of Pete Rose—shown on screen behind him in the above photo). 'Baseball transported me into a different world, and I began devouring information about it, both its numbers and its stories. It was a rich, if imaginary, world.'
Gary LaFollette—son of Charles D. LaFollette, the Wabash trustee for whom the LaFollette Lecture is named—congratulates Professor McDorman on the talk. LaFollette shares McDorman's deep interest in baseball, making the professor's talk especially meaningful to him.
Wabash President Greg Hess congratulates Professor McDorman.
After delivering the lecture, Professor McDorman greeted friends and colleagues in Salter Lobby.
Professor Emeritus of Classics Joe Day congratulates McDorman.
Trustee Andy Anderson ’65 talks with 33rd LaFollette Lecturer Professor of History Stephen Morillo.
McDorman's son, Carter, enjoys the punch on his father's big day.
President Hess listens to Andy Anderson ’65 and Dr. Keith Baird ’56.
Special Assistant to the Dean for Student Success Marta Collier talks with 皇冠足球比分_澳门皇冠体育-在线|平台@s Chamblee ’13.
Professor McDorman takes a moment for a photo with his wife, Kelly McDorman, Coordinator of Inquiries at the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts.
The McDorman Family: Dana, Lilly, and Carter join Kelly and Todd.
Professor McDorman's parents joined Todd, Kelly, and the kids for a family photo.
The poet Donald Hall wrote that “baseball is a place where memory gathers,” and that place, Professor of Rhetoric Todd McDorman believes, is shaped and re-shaped by the way we write about, talk about, and represent it visually. In the 34th Annual LaFollette Lecture in Salter Hall Thursday, he offered a convincing argument that the study of this rhetoric of baseball offers insights into the ways we shape and re-shape the memories of our own communities.
McDorman’s lecture was the first of many events marking the inauguration of Greg Hess as the 16th President of Wabash College, and LaFollette Professor of the Humanities Dwight Watson began the afternoon’s program with a rhetorical moment of his own, turning to President Hess and saying, “May your days be filled with purpose, good fortune, and goodwill.” The audience offered it own good wishes with applause.
McDorman is the first professor from the Department of Rhetoric to be invited to deliver the College’s most prestigious lecture. The former McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Research Scholar has twice presented his work on rhetoric and baseball at the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture. His study of Pete Rose’s attempt to rehabilitate his reputation was published in Case Studies in Sport Communication in 2003. He also teaches a freshman tutorial on Baseball and American Identity.
He told his Salter Hall audience that baseball and the study of rhetoric became intertwined his own life after a sixth-grade media fair project.
“When I was eight, my father and I began listening to Cincinnati Reds games, and we began collecting baseball cards,” McDorman recalled. (His first card was of Pete Rose). “Baseball transported me into a different world, and I began devouring information about it, both its numbers and its stories. I spent hours compiling baseball statistics. I developed a system for evaluating players and my own baseball universe. It was a rich, if imaginary, world.”
Made with his mother’s assistance, McDorman’s grade school media fair project was a slideshow on baseball cards, complete with narration on cassette tape.
“I didn’t realize the meaning of what I was doing until I was in graduate school. Studying speeches, legal decisions, and newspapers from the 19th century replaced analyzing lines of statistics on the back of cards—it was my first exploration into the values and ideals of American culture as seen through baseball.”
On Thursday, McDorman’s exploration focused on the One for the Books exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The popular attraction displays articles, photos, video, and artifacts connected with the most honored records in Major League Baseball, claiming to provide “the stories behind the records.”<