Mike Whelan and the Bluebird Nation
2000 Team Photo. Kneeling left to right: Steve Tibbetts (holding daughter Alice who died talented and young in a teen-age car accident), Hunter Olsen, Spencer Blaw (holding another of the Tibbetts triplets, Joel), Chris Baird, third Tibbetts triplet Miriam with mom Joanie. Second row: Ellen Anderson (holding son Nick), Jan Reimer, Kieran Hughes, Julian Loscalzo, Johnny Hughes, unknown two-some. Third row: Rick Eblen (died young – his mom though still a Bluebird fan), Dave Murphy, Kenny Erickson, Andy Dawkins (with son Jack on shoulders), Steve Cochrane and Karen Plante (holding their daughter Mira), Greg’s Ex and Greg Vanderhei. Far back: Sam Murphy, Paul Wilson, and Maxine Hughes.
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I knew Jane Prince (previous Tribute) even before she married into the Bluebird Nation. The Bluebird Nation is a group of softball players and their fans who have been together since 1981 with some passing and some joining over time. Dave Murphy is an original Bluebird, the owner of Bluebird Landscaping, once our pitcher, now our catcher. Kieran Hughes has been the team manager for most these 42 years, playing shortstop but now our pitcher. After every game Kieran sends out a re-cap. The mailing list includes forty-one players and fans – this is the current Bluebird Nation.
I consider each and every one on the current list and on previous lists a good friend from having done so much together – politics, weddings, raising kids, divorces, memorial services, trips to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and so much more. Some have died; some have moved-on. I could write a paragraph about each of you; suffice to know you’re in my heart and I count Bluebird Nation as a number one reason for finding life enjoyable.
Before Jane met catcher Dave Murphy (at an Irish Ceili dance in 1983) I was Jane’s lawyer in a sex discrimination case. At the time, Dave was living at Mike Whelan’s house, knowing Mike from Irish politics. Remember, Mike Whelan is the guy I first learned about back in Philadelphia in 1974 but didn’t meet until moving back to Minnesota in 1979 (see Spencer Blaw Tribute). And remember, entirely coincidently, Spencer was living at Mike’s when I first met Spencer at the Tenants Union.
Lots of my life connects back to Mike Whalen.
caption: a Ceili dance
Pretty soon after that Ceili, where Mike happened to be the Ceili caller, Jane moves in with Dave, staying a couple years until she and Dave marry. At that time two friends of Dave’s from college days in Marshall, MN were also living at Mike’s – Jane Minton and Maxine Weinandt. Maxine is seeing this guy Kieran and that’s how Kieran got to be the Bluebird’s shortstop. When he proposed to Maxine, we had quite the stag/stagette party at Mike’s. For that story, click <Here> or find “Kieran and Maxine’s Stag/Stagette Party” in the Archives. Lots of Bluebirds have lived at Mike’s and there’ve been lots of great parties at Mike’s. Jane Minton knew everybody who was somebody in the Twin Cities music and film scenes.
caption: Mike Whalen in the 70s with Neil Seiling – Neil was Bluebird Rookie of the Year in 2022
Mike Whalen grew-up Catholic in St. Paul’s strong Irish-American community. After attending Cretin High School, he enlisted in the Army as a Gay man. Upon returning he became active in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements, very pro-IRA, and a socialist. He and others started May Day Bookstore in 1975, for years the go-to place for left wing political literature. For 40 years he made his living as a waiter at the best restaurants in town, and active in the Hotel & Restaurant Workers Union.
Mike has owned a duplex on Iglehart Avenue in Saint Paul since the early 1970s. Each side has six bedrooms as well as a common attic and basement. Over the years, Mike’s guess is that more than three score people have called that address on Iglehart their home, some only transitory, some just for events. In Northern Ireland, it’s got a reputation as a Youth Hostel. When visiting the United States, Bernadette Devlin stayed at Mike’s, ditto for famous Irish-American dancer, Michael Flatley. Jose Lopez – the brother of imprisoned Puerto Rican Nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera – stayed at Mike’s. When Charlie Durenberger (the Senator’s son) lived there, Senator Ted Kennedy asked Sen. Durenberger, “Did you know your son is living in an IRA safe house?” When in town reporting on the 2008 Republican National Convention, Amy Goodman’s producer (of Democracy Now!) stayed at Mike’s.
After Jane Prince got elected to the Saint Paul City Council, she joked she would introduce a resolution to rename Iglehart Avenue as “Whalen Way.”
caption: The house on Whalen Way
And believe it or not, right now I’m living at Mike Whelan’s! Mike is my favorite astute political analyst. At the time I ran for Minnesota Attorney General as the Green Party candidate, he was the Treasurer. All the wonderful things he’s done with me, or for me, and for others, are too numerous to mention. Suffice to say:
“Thanks, Mike, for knowing so many people whom I also got to know, thanks for the place to stay – I enjoy living with you – all our political talk and gossip about friends.”
2021 Bluebirds. Front left kneeling: Dave Murphy, Steve Tibbetts, Spencer Blaw, Andy Dawkins. In back: Al Sickbert, Rob Wilson, Tom Goldstein, Sam Murphy, Julian Loscalzo, Hunter Olsen, Kieran Hughes, Maddy Fors, Katie Lowery, Maxine Hughes, Miriam Tibbetts, Susan Johnson, Bill Olsen, Jan Reimer, Steve Cochrane.
And below – more of us at the team party
