By Town Crier Staff Report

A coach, a writer and a professor will team up to talk baseball Thursday at Stanford.

The Stanford University Continuing Studies Program will present a free panel discussion titled “The Practice of Baseball: A Look at the Economics, Coaching and Reporting of Baseball” 7-9 p.m. in Room 105 of Building 320 (Geology).

Retired Stanford pitching coach Tom Dunton, author Leonard Koppett and economics professor Roger Noll will discuss the practical details of the sport. Topics include lesser-known aspects of baseball, such as how its economy functions, how its players play well and how its narrators tell its story.

Dunton, considered one of the premier pitching coaches in collegiate baseball, spent 25 years at Stanford. His 1968 Stanford pitching staff holds the Pac-10 record for best team ERA in a single season (1.68). He also served as the pitching coach on the Cardinal teams that won the 1987 and 1988 College World Series, compiling a 2.94 ERA in 1987 and 2,38 ERA in 1988.

Dunton’s pupils include Mike Mussina and Jack McDowell. When he retired in 2000, Stanford retired his uniform number.

Koppett, who grew up within a block of Yankee Stadium, covered the Dodgers, Yankees and Giants for the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Post and the New York Times before moving to California to work for the Palo Alto Peninsula Times.

He has authored numerous baseball books including “The Man in the Dugout” and “The Thinking Man’s Guide to Baseball.” He is the 1992 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Noll is the Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor of Economics. He has a doctorate. from Harvard and has authored more than 250 articles and 13 books, including “Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums.”

For more information, call 725-2650.