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The top lefthander in the baseball team’s weekend rotation this spring, Tom Soldan ’04 (Fredericksburg, Md.) highlighted his final season by throwing Lafayette’s first no-hitter in 32 years.
He followed that up by earning honors in history for a yearlong research project combining his interest in history and government with his love of baseball.
Under the guidance of Paul Barclay, assistant professor of history, Soldan examined the history of Major League Baseball, transnational labor laws, and the distribution of power within the league.
“Tom looked at the impact of the major leagues on different regional baseball cultures and organizations,” Barclay explains. “Tom’s hypothesis postulated a global hierarchy of power in professional organized sports, with the American major leagues forming a pinnacle, partly though adroit business practices and partly through the attractions of immigration to the States.”
Soldan also cited cases of individual success stories, like that of Sammy Sosa and Hideki Matsui, who have come from different countries to play major league ball in the United States. He dissected the standing of other regional baseball leagues and organizations as impacted by MLB.
“The purpose of the thesis was to try and predict a future for the relationship between Major League Baseball and the Pro Yakyu, Japan’s professional leagues, also known as Nippon Professional Baseball,” he says.
Soldan says he enjoyed working on the thesis because the topics reflected his own interests.
Soldan is now looking to pursue these interests further in graduate school. He is interested in pursing sports law, sports management or sports journalism. Another option is law school, where he would study civil defense.
Soldan’s thesis project was the capstone to his experience at Lafayette, where he majored in history and government & law.
“It really meant something to me to create a new project on my own, and be able to take something from Lafayette that was uniquely my own,” he says. “I really got excited about this project because I learned something new every day, and I could really tailor the project to any specific area of interest.”
Soldan became aware of the connection between Japanese and American baseball as an avid reader of baseball history. Barclay helped him locate additional resources and develop clear ideas. Soldan notes that the professor’s positive attitude and interest in his project helped him through challenging stages of the thesis.
The pair met every couple of weeks to brainstorm ideas and discuss the progress of the thesis.
“Tom brought an encyclopedic and insider’s knowledge of professional sports to the project,” Barclay says. “He is also intellectually curious and quick to understand new material, even if it is quite complex.”
Barclay says Lafayette provides a positive academic environment for its students.
“Lafayette has the right combination of low student-to-faculty ratios, excellent library support, and a tradition of easy access to faculty that makes these projects quite popular and usually successful.”
Soldan agrees.
“Lafayette’s scheduling gives the students plenty of time and opportunity for research and/or thesis projects while still fulfilling their major requirements,” he says. “I think that is the greatest reason why we are seeing lots of students pursuing honors theses and other extraordinary research projects.”
In addition to playing baseball, Soldan was a peer mentor through the Academic Resource Center and a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the academic honor society for history, the Sports Marketing Club, Newman Association, and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Named to Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, Soldan threw his no-hitter against Holy Cross to earn Patriot League Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors for the week ending March 28. He struck out four batters and walked two in the contest.
Over the January interim session, he traveled to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to take a Lafayette course, Medieval Architecture in Northern Europe. He learned first-hand about the accomplishments of medieval builders and Roman architects and studied Roman and medieval history to place the architecture in a societal context.
Honors thesis projects are among several major opportunities at Lafayette that make the College a national leader in undergraduate research. Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty-two students were accepted to present their work at the annual conference last April.
Soldan was a Marquis Scholar while at Lafayette. Chosen from among Lafayette’s most promising applicants, Marquis Scholars receive special financial aid and distinctive educational experiences and benefits, including a three-week, Lafayette-funded study-abroad course during January’s interim session between regular semesters. Marquis Scholars also participate in cultural activities in major cities and on campus, and mentoring programs with Lafayette faculty.