Artist takes research role

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Not everyone who makes baseball history does so on the diamond.

During the next 18 months, Todd Peterson will recreate a slice of baseball history, but the 47-year-old Kansas City resident is well past his athletic prime.

Peterson, who grew up in Minneapolis and moved to the area four years ago, is an artist and never was much of an athlete. He teaches art at Nativity Parish School in Leawood and freelances on the side.

But his passion for the game drove him to apply for and receive a $1,000 Yoseloff-SABR Research Grant from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), one of 10 announced last week by the organization.

Peterson will use the money to fund trips to the New York Public Library and Library of Congress among other places as he scours through decade after decade of microfilm to uncover and compile every Negro Leagues championship box score and game account possible.

“A lot of mainstream papers covered these games, but you just have to find the box scores and chase down the information,” Peterson said.

It’s the second time Peterson has won a Yoseloff-SABR Baseball Research Grant, which is awarded by the Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation and open to any SABR member to facilitate independent research in any aspect of baseball or baseball history.