SLAC's Annual
Theory vs Experiment Softball Game began in the 1950s as a Faculty versus
Students game on the Stanford campus. Sid and Burt Richter brought this
tradition to SLAC when it was formed and respectively led
Theory and
Experiment teams to compete for
bragging rights in the Research Division.
With superior numbers,
Experiment prevailed far more often
than Theory.
The 1st Theory win
was in 1974, year of the November revolution. Their 2nd win
came in 1982 and their final win was in 2003.
In 2007, the competing Experiment
and Theory teams merged to form
the Research team and compete against
a new Accelerator team --
leading to lab-wide participation in SLAC's
Annual Softball Game.
The Drell-Richter Trophy was
inaugurated in 1999 to recognize the significance of completing four decades of
this annual tradition and pay tribute to Sid and Burt, who initiated and
fostered the rivalry of competing Theory and Experiment teams. The trophy represents
Theory confronting Experiment at Accelerator Park. The home run fence is
represented by a beam tree, a traditional symbol of the lab.
Photos and story links, featuring Sid, for some of the
annual games follow.
Sid savoring victory in the 1982 game |
Sid pitching in the 1983 game |
Sid enjoys victory in the
1984 game |
Post-game celebration at Sid and Harriet's campus home |
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Inaugurating the Drell-Richter
Trophy at the |
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Sid and
Burt getting ready for the 2000 game (top); and with the Theory Team (bottom) |
More post-game celebrations at the Drell's campus home |
And we have this comment from
a report on the
Drell
Fest dinner in 1998:
"BJ pondered
the meaning of a dinner honoring Sid held at a golf course. Musing, he posited
that golf is a fixed target experiment while softball, Sid's real sport, is
colliding beams."
November 2017
Mike Woods