Thirteen members and guests celebrated SABR Day 2012 on Saturday with good food, fun baseball highlight shows and demonstrations of baseball simulation games.
Hosts Gilbert and Raeanne Martinez served dinner at their home in southwest Austin, while attendees brought appetizers, side dishes, beverages and desserts.
We watched a variety of highlight shows on MLB Network, including ones that featured the 75 greatest catches of all time, the most memorable League Championship Series moments, and baseball bloopers. There was also some viewing of the 40 most overlooked plays/players in MLB history.
We also watched a video of Reese “Goose” Tatum of the Negro Leagues Indianapolis Clowns from 1946 depicting his comedic warm up routine. The SABR national office shared the link on their Twitter account last week. We learned that Tatum later went on to perform with the Harlem Globetrotters, which wasn’t a big surprise considering his antics in the baseball video. Click here to see that video.
Another clip we watched was a video game depiction of the bottom of the 10th inning of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. The video uses footage from R.B.I. Baseball, a Nintendo video game from the 1980s, and matches it with Vin Scully’s broadcast. Click here to see that video.
We also watched a short video of Yoda and Jar-Jar Binks from the “Star Wars” films performing “Who’s on First?” Click here to see that video.
In addition, Cy Morong brought two electronic baseball simulation games with him to share with the group: Main Street Baseball and Starting Lineup Talking Baseball. Both games involved the use of baseball statistics to enhance the simulation. Gilbert Martinez showed a more mechanical baseball simulation from his childhood in Okinawa, Japan. Epoch’s Baseball Game involved a small ball bearing as the ball, a small bat and a playing field. (See photo below with the Epoch’s Baseball Game in the foreground; Cy Morong, seated, and one of his electronic baseball games, and Tom Thayer, left, and Jan Larson.)
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