The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

The Henry and Holly Stephenson story, the two people who told baseball where to go.

What is The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg?

Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.

I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.

OK Solberg:

I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, get you a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, shady spot, bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg:

Spring wheat going up $6.96 a bushel and it's harvest time, I hope to shout. A 550lb steer calf, tapering off a little, but, man, they're good. $4.80 up to $4.95 a pound, fall delivery, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings stops out at $3.15 a pound. But guys there's more, much more.

OK Solberg:

Okay. Question. Have you ever had to organize a schedule? Of course, all of us have. But imagine you have 3 children and a spouse, and you're in charge of getting Betty to tumbling practice, Bobby to his piano lesson, Carol, the volleyball tryouts, and you all have to be home for supper by 06:30. Can it be done? Well, of course. But it's possible you may have to move supper to seven.

OK Solberg:

Now the military uses a word that I rather like. The word is logistics, The careful organization of a complicated activity so that it happens in a successful and effective way. Now, guys, I gave you that setup just so I could talk about baseball.

OK Solberg:

You might think I tricked you. You might think I couldn't possibly make that setup work for baseball, or you might be thinking I'll check another radio station to see if I can find something more interesting than baseball, but don't touch that dial.

OK Solberg:

I think you might find this rather fascinating. I am a baseball fan, as many of you know, but I never asked this question before until just yesterday. I asked myself, who organizes the Major League Baseball schedule? Have you ever wondered that same question? Talk about logistics.

OK Solberg:

So I went online to look it up. You know, marvelous thing in this day and age. We can check things out. Can you imagine if it's hard to get Betty to tumbling, Bobby to piano lessons, and Carol to volleyball tryouts?

OK Solberg:

How hard would it be to schedule all 30 teams in Major League Baseball and each one has to play a 162 games in the regular season, which equates to a total of 2,430 games. When you hear that, do you feel like throwing your hands up and walking out? What a scheduling nightmare.

OK Solberg:

Now understand that the Boston Red Sox have to be home in Fenway Park the 3rd Monday in April for patriots day, and the game has to happen before the Boston marathon so fans can leave the game to watch the race. And, oh, yeah, don't forget that the Toronto Blue Jays have to be in their home park on July 1st to celebrate Canada Day.

OK Solberg:

And the list goes on and on. Yet, the schedule got written. How in the world did they pull it off? Well, I found out that presently computers are so advanced that with a little finesse, they can now basically formulate the schedule without too much grief, but it still takes a human.

OK Solberg:

But understand computers weren't always available in the history of baseball. So I found an interesting something in my search. From 1953 through 1981, Harry Simmons, one man, Harry Simmons largely devised the matchups and dates by hand.

OK Solberg:

Wow. He must have had the patience of a saint. Then something else interesting happened in that year of 1981. Harry's gonna retire, and now Henry and Holly Stevenson were out looking to buy a used car.

OK Solberg:

Really, guys, they were. And the car salesman told him that the NBA, National Basketball Association, was looking for someone to organize the basketball schedule. The Stephenson signed up and they got the contract.

OK Solberg:

Well, lo and behold, the Major League Baseball organization heard about Henry and Holly Stephenson, and that husband and wife team got the contract to formulate the 1982 baseball schedule.

OK Solberg:

Then in 1983, the contract was put out for bids and that same husband and wife team won the contract again competing against services that used computational models from IBM, MIT, and even Stanford.

OK Solberg:

But they got the contract. It was clear to see the husband and wife team could win even over the computers of the day. Henry and Holly Stephenson formulated every Major League Baseball schedule from 1982 through the year 2004. That is 24 consecutive years by hand. And remember now, that's 2,430 games every single year.

OK Solberg:

Henry and Holly did it at home from Martha's Vineyard on their kitchen table, I hope to shout. They used pencils, graph paper, and numbered pattern systems to map out thousands of games while balancing complex travel, stadium conflicts, and team requests. And, guys, now you know the best of the story.

OK Solberg:

Henry and Holly Stephenson, the two people who told baseball where to go. Here's a tribute to the invisible architects of baseball. Now Harry passed away in 2015. Holly is still alive and well. Now that's just amazing to me. I have a feeling that they would think it's simple to get Betty, Bobby, and Carol to their appointments and still have everyone home in time for supper.

OK Solberg:

Now listen to a Bible verse that seems tailor made for this story, 1st Corinthians 14:40 But all things should be done decently and in order, 1st Corinthians 14:40

OK Solberg:

Oh, boy. Did they do things decently, and in order to organize 30 teams to each play a 162 games and fit in all the variables.

OK Solberg:

So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.