The Institute for Baseball Studies and the Baseball Reliquary are pleased to announce that Nathan Landau is the recipient of the 2017 Paul Dickson Prize. A certificate and cash prize of $200 were formally presented to Nathan at the Whittier College Honors Convocation on Friday, April 28, 2017. The prize was established to encourage and foster student usage of the research materials at the Institute for Baseball Studies, and is named after the renowned author and historian Paul Dickson, whose papers form the centerpiece research collection at the Institute.
Nathan Landau’s senior thesis at Whittier College, “Fanatics, Heartbreak, Tragedy: The Dodgers Move West,” focused on three aspects of the Dodgers’ move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles: the economic incentives and impact of the move; the social distress associated with the dislocation of residents from Chavez Ravine, where Dodger Stadium would be built; and the public relations efforts of the Dodgers to repair their image with a disenfranchised community.
During ten days of field study in San Juan, Puerto Rico in January 2017, Nathan had taken the course “El Béisbol: A Caribbean Religion” that was team-taught by Institute Co-Director and Professor of Religious Studies Joe Price and Professor Emeritus Rafael Chabrán, who served as the adviser for Nathan’s project in the Whittier Scholars Program.
Nathan has applied for a position with the Arizona Diamondbacks. His father, Jerry Landau, is part owner of the Hillsboro Hops (Northwest League), a minor league team located in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Students enrolled at Whittier College are invited to submit an original work inspired by or utilizing the resources found in the Institute for Baseball Studies. The work can be scholarly or creative in nature, for example, a research paper, a poem or short story, an artwork, a photograph, a musical piece, and so forth. The recipient of the cash prize, which is presented annually in the spring at the Honors Convocation for students at Whittier College, is selected by the directors of the Institute for Baseball Studies.
For further information on the Paul Dickson Prize, contact Institute for Baseball Studies Co-Director Joe Price at jprice@whittier.edu or (562) 907-4803.
