Some of the most valuable research begins with a simple question:

Does anyone have the record?

Baseball Heaven research spans decades of youth-sports activity involving public facilities, community leagues, tournament organizations, sanctioning systems, officials, financial models, historical events, and local government decisions.

No single archive contains all of that history.

Important evidence may exist in municipal files, old tournament records, personal collections, photographs, archived websites, meeting minutes, contracts, newspaper archives, organizational records, or simply in the knowledge of people who were there.

This forum is where we ask for help locating it.

What Is an Open Research Request?

An open research request identifies a specific gap in the existing research and asks members to help locate information that may resolve it.

Requests might seek:

Public records — contracts, leases, meeting minutes, agendas, financial records, fee schedules, facility agreements, reports, audits, correspondence, or government presentations.

Tournament records — schedules, brackets, team lists, entry fees, gate fees, sanction information, event flyers, director information, or historical results.

Facility history — ownership, construction, renovations, leases, user-group agreements, operating arrangements, funding sources, or historical usage.

Organizational history — league records, board minutes, policies, newsletters, registration materials, governance documents, or historical leadership information.

Officials and workforce information — historical pay rates, assignment practices, training requirements, scheduling systems, classifications, staffing models, or firsthand operational knowledge.

Photographs and historical materials — facility photographs, team photographs, programs, advertisements, flyers, scorebooks, newspaper clippings, or other materials that help document a particular period.

Archived digital material — webpages, tournament listings, social-media posts, online schedules, registration pages, or other historical internet records.

Firsthand knowledge — information from people who participated in, administered, officiated, coached, operated, funded, or otherwise directly experienced the system being researched.

How to Post a Research Request

A useful request should be specific enough that another person can recognize what you are looking for.

Consider using this format:

Research question:
Organization/facility/event:
Location:
Approximate year or date range:
Records or information needed:
What we already know:
Why the information matters:
Possible source or records custodian:
Related Baseball Heaven research, if applicable:

You do not need to know all of these details before asking for help.

Historical Knowledge Matters

Not every important fact was preserved in a government database or organizational archive.

Former coaches, league officials, tournament directors, umpires, facility employees, volunteers, parents, players, public employees, and community members may remember how a system actually operated.

That knowledge can be extremely valuable.

However, recollection should be identified as recollection rather than automatically treated as documented fact.

A firsthand account may provide the lead that allows researchers to locate the document that ultimately verifies what occurred.

Tell Us How You Know

When responding to a research request, help other researchers understand the basis of your information.

For example:

“I was personally involved and remember…”

“I have a copy of…”

“The city minutes from state…”

“I found an archived webpage showing…”

“I believe this occurred, but I do not currently have documentation.”

Those distinctions make the information substantially more useful.

A Lead Is Not Yet a Finding

Research requests will sometimes produce information that raises new questions rather than answering the original one.

That is part of the process.

A lead should not be transformed into a factual conclusion until the available evidence supports that conclusion.

Particularly sensitive claims involving identifiable individuals or organizations may require additional corroboration and should not be presented publicly as established facts merely because someone submitted a lead.

Appropriate preliminary material may be moved into the restricted Verified Researcher Workspace for additional examination.

Help Us Locate the Original

Whenever possible, the objective is to locate the underlying source.

If someone remembers a city council discussion, can we locate the minutes or video?

If someone remembers a tournament fee, can we locate the registration page, flyer, receipt, or archived event listing?

If someone remembers a facility agreement, can we obtain the lease or user-group contract?

If a newspaper article references a study, can we locate the study itself?

Each step moves the research from recollection toward a documented historical record.

Unsuccessful Searches Are Useful Too

If you searched a particular archive, agency database, records collection, or date range and did not locate the requested material, that information can also help.

Explain what was searched and, when practical, the period covered.

This can prevent multiple researchers from unknowingly repeating the same search.

An unsuccessful search does not prove that a record never existed. It simply documents where researchers have already looked.

When a Request Is Resolved

If the requested record or information is located, the original topic should be updated so future researchers can see that the request was resolved.

Ideally, the resolution should identify:

What was found

Where it came from

What it establishes

What remains unresolved

Whether the finding affects existing Baseball Heaven research

Some answers will close a research question. Others will create the next one.

Preserve Institutional Memory

Youth-sports history is often lost when volunteers leave, organizations dissolve, websites disappear, facilities change operators, or records are discarded.

This forum is intended to help preserve that institutional memory while people and records are still available.

If you have a record, share the record.

If you know where a record may exist, identify the source.

If you were there, tell us what you remember—and distinguish memory from documentation.

If something does not add up, ask the question.

Every credible lead can help build a more complete historical record.