Good luck, Norman!

Ten Hornsby Chapter members and guests gathered today to celebrate Norman Macht and bid him a fond farewell before his departure to San Diego later this month.

Many in the SABR community know Norman for his past involvement as a SABR board member and as a baseball historian and author of the definitive biography of Connie Mack. In the Hornsby Chapter, we have been fortunate to have had him as an active member of our chapter since 2006. He was especially involved with our annual winter meetings in January, often contributing creative and fun trivia ice-breakers with a flair for the witty.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that Norman brought a trivia quiz for this special get-together in his honor. Active members of the Hornsby Chapter will notice a special theme of this quiz – the first and last names of the answers were inspired by the names our members! Look for Martinezes, Montes, and a guys named Larson, Cy, Dillion, Bass, Kaufmann, Baker and others. Click here to try your hand at it.

Jim Baker took top prize (a Juan Gonzalez biography) with 10 points and Bill Gilbert was runner-up, scoring 9 points.

Norman also brought two posters depicting the first pitch at Camden Yards in Baltimore on April 6, 1992. One went to one of our newest members, Ryan Pollack, a die-hard Orioles fan.

Norman also shared with us that his most memorable interview was with Ferris Fain, a back-to-back American League batting champion in 1951 and 1952 with the Philadelphia Athletics. Norman said he believes Fain has gone unappreciated.

Steve Braccini brought his signed copy of “Rowdy Richard: A Firsthand Account of the National League Baseball Wars of the 1930s and the Men Who Fought Them,” co-authored by Norman and Dick “Rowdy Richard” Bartell. Steve already had Bartell’s signature and asked Norman for his. Norman kindly obliged.

I know I speak for everyone in the chapter when I say how much we’re going to miss Norman. I’ve noted that we’ll miss Norman’s big bat in our lineup, but after seeing his author’s bio that described his aspirations to be a big league pitcher, perhaps I should be talking about how we’ll miss his big arm in our rotation.

Bat or arm, we’ll certainly miss all of Norman’s contributions to the Hornsby Chapter.

Pictured above are (front) Bill and Evelyn Gilbert, Norman Macht, Raeanne Martinez and Annette Braccini; (back) Ryan Pollack, Jim Baker, Jan Larson, Gilbert Martinez and Steve Braccini.