August 2024 Newsletter
By Gilbert D. Martinez
The August meeting featured a book author detailing how a pitcher’s inspiring dream to play in Major League Baseball was delayed by a tour in Japan. The day after the meeting, the chapter got big, big news about one of our own from SABR 52 in Minneapolis.
Seventeen chapter members and guests joined via Zoom on Saturday to hear award-winning sports writer, editor and multimedia journalist Aaron Fischman tell the story of Tony Barnette, a pitcher who didn’t know if he’d ever achieve his dream to pitch in MLB when he signed a lucrative contract to join the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball (spoiler alert: he made MLB later, pitching for the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs).
Fischman read passages from his book, “A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back,” which was published in June. He also shared how he connected with Barnette, then a minor-league pitcher when Fischman was a student journalist in college. He kept in touch with Barnette and subsequently featured him in a graduate school magazine article, laying the groundwork for this book.
The book goes beyond Barnette’s experience in Japanese baseball, Fischman said, by exploring the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which led to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011, shortly after Barnette arrived in Japan.
Fischman also shared that sports agent Don Nomura, who wrote the book’s foreword, features prominently in Barnette’s story and provides great insight into foreigners who play baseball in Japan.
Here’s the full presentation and interview:
Fischman’s book can be purchased on amazon.com and other booksellers. In addition, Fischman said those who purchase the hardcover edition of the book will be entered for a chance to win two signed baseball cards by Barnette and a second, signed hardcover of the book if they send proof of the book purchase to Fischman (email: aaronfischman519@gmail.com) by Aug. 17.
Many thanks to Aaron Fischman for joining us on Zoom!
SABR 52 and congrats to Bailey Hall!
Congratulations to chapter member Bailey Hall for her poster presentation at SABR 52 in Minneapolis! Her poster, evaluating whether a leadoff walk is worse than a leadoff hit, won top poster presentation at SABR 52! You may recall that she shared her early findings on this topic at the Hornsby Chapter’s 18th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting in January.
Bailey’s poster caught the attention of many attendees and those on social media, including Bill James and Mike Petriello! Way to go, Bailey!
She and fellow member Mike Lassman, who also attended the convention, have been invited to share their impressions and experiences at the conference in next month’s newsletter.
SABR 52: David W. Smith, Bailey Hall win 2024 convention presentation awards
Bailey also let chapter members know that the Hornsby Chapter was recognized for All Star status for achievements by the chapter, which includes chapter governance requirements (such as a leadership election and chapter bylaws adoption), holding regular meetings in-person and online, and publishing a newsletter, among other items.
SABR chapters honored for exceptional performance in 2023-24
The chapter leadership is thrilled with this news and wants to thank all chapter members for their involvement and participation!
New newsletter feature: Cool baseball stories!
Do you have a cool baseball story that happened to you this season? Want to share it with your friends in the Hornsby Chapter and beyond? This may be perfect for you! Please reach out to Gilbert D. Martinez (gmartinez46@mac.com) with a brief description of your cool baseball story (write in first-person and limit your story to no more than 300 words, please) and accompanying photo if available.
Baltimore Orioles superfan Ryan Pollack kicks off this new feature.
Ryan Pollack: I met Colton Cowser, starting outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles!
I was in Houston for a (unfortunate) 5-1 Orioles loss to the Astros on June 22nd. Afterwards, my friends and I headed to El Tiempo for dinner. Who should be there but starting outfielder Colton Cowser? He was sitting one table over with a bunch of his family, many of whom were wearing Cowser jerseys themselves.
Despite being nervous, I was decked out in full Orioles gear so I figured he’d at least see me coming as a “friendly”. As I approached, his family members indeed noticed my O’s gear and waved me over. I ended up chatting briefly with Colton, shaking his hand and complimenting him and the team on the incredible season so far.
The loss of the game (and eventual 3-game sweep) hurt, but meeting and talking with an actual Oriole for the first time in my life is a memory I’ll never forget. Colton currently has a .799 OPS along with 95th-percentile defense. He’s among the favorites for the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year.
Gilbert D. Martinez: In July, I had a great backpacking trip with some longtime friends at Olympic National Park, where we saw bald eagles and momma bear with two cubs (but that’s another story). In addition, we saw the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez hit for the cycle against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, which was pretty cool. But the really cool thing was when Astros first baseman Jon Singleton noticed me in my orange Altuve jersey waving my glove as he returned to the Astros dugout. The Ronel Blanco pitch was grounded by Mariners’ Luke Raley to Jose Altuve who threw it to Singleton for the third out at the bottom of the fourth inning. Then, Singleton tossed it right to me! Score it 4-3-G!
World Series watch party – mark your calendar!
MLB recently announced the postseason schedule which, luckily, does not impact our plan to have the World Series watch party at Jim Baker’s house in Cedar Park on Saturday, Oct. 26.
For the first time, MLB has flexible start dates for the World Series, which is scheduled to begin on Friday, Oct. 25. However, if both the NLCS and ALCS are completed by Oct. 19 (meaning that each series is completed by Game 5), then the World Series would begin on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
So, the World Series watch party would either be for Game 2 or Game 4, depending on the above. NL and AL pennant winners are yet to be determined.
What’s not in doubt is that the watch party, a longtime chapter tradition hosted by Predictatron impresario Jim Baker, is the not-to-be-missed event of the year. Mark Oct. 26 on your calendars now!
Next month’s meeting
In the last full month of the season, we return to an in-person meeting to discuss the playoff races, our Predictatron ballots and awards predictions at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Hurricane Grill & Wings (2701 Parker Dr., Round Rock).
A meeting reminder will go out at the first of the month. Hope to see you at the September meeting! We have a lot to talk about and celebrate!
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