Hornsby group witnesses history: Astros’ first extra-inning win of 2012

081112 Hornsby group photo

 

A group of Hornsby Chapter members traveled to Houston last weekend and watched the Astros win their first extra-inning game of the season.

After the Astros were walk-off winners for the first time all season the night before (4-3 over the Milwaukee Brewers), our group watched the Astros win 6-5 over the Brewers in a hard-fought 10 innings on Saturday, Aug. 11. Most of the group also attended the Sunday afternoon game, but the Astros lost 5-3 .

Most of us shared a rental van to travel to and from Houston, and Cy Morong entertained us with questions from a baseball trivia book that he had won at a chapter trivia contest. As often happens on road trips, we also took our fair number of detours into funny and odd conversations. For example, we discussed an All Animal Team (baseball players with names or nicknames of animals) and came up with a bunch, including Mike Trout, Kevin Bass, John Jay, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and numerous others.

Cy Morong also impressed us with an impromptu rendition of all World Series winners, in reverse order, from 2011 to 1903, in a matter of minutes.

In addition, during the weekend, Jan Larson, Ira Siegel, Cy Morong and Gilbert Martinez met with Marsha Franty of the Larry Dierker Chapter to brainstorm about the SABR Convention when it comes to Houston in 2014. She asked about our convention experiences through the years and sought our input on what Houston can offer during its convention.

Pictured in the photo above, (back row from left), are Tom Thayer, Steve Braccini, Ira Siegel, Cy Morong; (middle row from left) Dung Le (Tom’s spouse), Annette Rothwell Braccini, Gilbert D. Martinez, Jan Larson and Connie Larson; and (front row) Scott Barzilla (Dierker Chapter member). Much thanks to Pat Hareski, a friend of the Larsons, for taking the photo.

This is the second year that a group of Hornsby Chapter members have traveled together for baseball (Click here to read about chapter members enjoying the “owner’s experience” at Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, in 2011). Once again, we had a good time and hope to plan more of these in the future. Stay tuned!