A dozen chapter members gathered for tasty Mexican food and celebrated Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Tom Thayer brought a fun Black History Month-themed quiz, prompting Ira Siegel to note at outset of the quiz, with some glee, that Tom – winner of many a quiz – would not win this one. In fact, Jim Baker won, capturing the prize of “Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball” by Fran Zimniuch and foreword by Lee Smith. I couldn’t help but remark that the lack of an afterward in the book was a missed opportunity.
Some of the quiz questions included matching the first black player with the MLB team with which he started; identifying the first player who played the majority of his career in the Negro Leagues and was later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; naming the three Giants who made up the first African-American outfield in 1951; and naming all nine starters for the Pittsburg Pirates, the first all-black lineup, which occurred on Sept. 1, 1971.
Our members shared interesting stories, some about legendary players we’ve lost in recent months such as Frank Robinson and Don Newcombe. In fact, Jerry Miller shared that the first ball game he ever attended (as a 3-year-old!) involved Newcombe pitching for the Cincinnati Reds versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1959.
New member Don wore an Orem Owlz shirt, representing the Pioneer League in Utah. He also shared that his daughter was the assistant general manager for seven years for this Rookie League team affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels. Among the players she saw during his time as assistant general manager include Cole Calhoun, Cam Bedrosian and Garrett Richards.
We had other baseball logos represented at the table, including a t-shirt commemorating the 1955 World Series at Ebbets Field; a Newark Eagles t-shirt; a Philadelphia Phillies cap (perhaps foreshadowing a Bryce Harper signing?), a Bronx Bombers shirt; an Oakland A’s cap coupled with a Roberto Clemente No. 21 Pirates shirsey; an Orioles cap; a pair of Astros caps; a Brooklyn Dodger cap (with a handwritten No. 36 in honor of Newcombe); a Fukuoka Daiei Hawks cap; and a “Model 4000” shirt celebrating Ichiro Suzuki’s total professional hits.
The next meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at the County Line on the Lake, 5204 FM 2222. A request for RSVPs will go out on the chapter email list in mid-March.
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