Homemade treats complement hot stove talk and Mexican food

Ten chapter members and guests munched on delicious homemade treats and pondered two surprising moves in baseball — Shohei Otani joining the Los Angeles Angels and Giancarlo Stanton landing with the New York Yankees.

Thanks to Linda Cely, the group enjoyed her homemade desserts before, during and after lunch at Serranos in southwest Austin on Saturday, Dec. 9. Thanks so much, Linda!

We talked about looking forward to Astros-Angels matchups in Houston in 2018, which will give us a chance to see the defending World Series champions and the pairing of Mike Trout and Otani with the Angels.

In addition, Gary McIntosh shared some details of the Great American Fantasy League, a board game adapted from Statis-Pro Baseball that realistically simulates the career performances of baseball greatest players, using only stats with their primary teams. Gary shared with us that in their league, the Los Angeles Dodgers recently won Game 1 of the World Series over the Kansas City Royals. To read a summary of that game, click here: http://www.sabrhornsby.org/2017/12/great-american-fantasy-league-season-3-world-series-game-1/

For more information about the GAFL, check out this WordPress site: https://statispro.wordpress.com/

This led to a discussion about all-time best players for various teams. For example, it would seem that Jose Altuve has surpassed Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio at second base, but Gary pointed out that a GAFL manager of the Astros could place Biggio at catcher or outfield. We also discussed which team might best use Nolan Ryan, as his best years were with the Astros, but not with the Mets or Angels.

The group was also anticipating the announcement from the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, but we had yet to hear at lunchtime about the selection of Alan Trammel and Jack Morris.

Meanwhile, Raeanne and I are still celebrating the Astros’ World Series Championship. I wrote a song, The Twelve Days of Astros! You can read the lyrics on the chapter website by clicking here: http://www.sabrhornsby.org/2017/12/the-twelve-days-of-astros/

For the next meeting, it’s something we’ve been waiting all year for – the 12th Annual Rogers Hornsby Chapter Winter Meeting! It will be on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, in Old Main at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Also, the chapter plans to take part in the 9th Annual SABR Day on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018.

Save these dates! More information to come.