Category: Event Summaries

A dozen Hornsby Chapter members gathered at Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Austin for lunch, to catch up on the off-season player transactions that have been taking place and to theorize how those transactions may help and hurt the various clubs.  The discussion centered on the on-paper improvement of the Chicago Cubs and the recent dealings of the Houston Astros, specifically their trade with the Phillies of former no. 1 draft pick, Mark Appel.

Bill Gilbert provided a quiz on the 2015 season (and more) that was won by Jan Larson with Mike Dillon and Gilbert Martinez sharing the runner-up honors.  Try your luck at the quiz here.

Monte Cely treated attendees to an assortment of cookies that had been prepared by his wife, Linda.  Many thanks to Monte and Linda.

Our next meeting will be the tenth edition of the popular Hornsby Chapter Winter Meeting scheduled for Saturday, January 9 on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos, TX.  All SABR members and guests are welcome.  A detailed schedule of events will be posted in the coming weeks.

 

Twelve chapter members celebrated nine full years of monthly meetings on Saturday, Nov. 14, by returning to the County Line, the scene of the very first chapter meeting in 2003.

 

The current monthly meeting streak of 108 actually dates to December 2006, but County Line on the Lake also holds the distinction of hosting the meeting in January 2006 when the petition for chapter recognition was signed.

 

To help us party like it was 2003, Jim Baker delivered a fun trivia quiz on the ’03 season. Try your hand on the quiz by clicking here and seeing if you can beat Jan Larson’s score of 28.

 

Topics around the table ranged from marveling at the remarkable run the Kansas City Royals had in the post-season to considering the managerial change for the Los Angeles Dodgers and elsewhere. In addition, we talked about the Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus being the first player ever to accept his team’s qualifying offer and what it might mean for the Astros next season. We also talked about whether the strong finish by the Texas Rangers will result in the Manager of the Year for Jeff Banister.

 

We also have noticed that weekend meetings have generally been a big hit for our members. Avoiding downtown Austin on a week night, as was the norm for several years, is proving beneficial for most of us. You can expect more weekend meetings in the future. We’ll also try to rotate meetings to various locations around the Greater Austin metropolitan area.

 

Mark your calendar for next month’s meeting – we plan to have it at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at Macaroni Grill in the Arboretum in Northwest Austin.

Seven Hornsby chapter members spent an enjoyable Saturday afternoon and evening at the home of Gilbert and Raeanne Martinez watching the Kansas City Royals’ 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game Two of the 2015 ALCS followed by the New York Mets’ 4-2 triumph over the Chicago Cubs in Game One of the 2015 NLCS.

The entire time was spent discussing baseball, from the 2015 playoffs, in particular the Houston Astros’ surprising run to the post-season and their disappointing exit to speculation on which curse would be broken – the Cubs’ famous "Curse of the Billy Goat" or the Mets’ not-quite-as-well-known "Curse of Bobby Bonilla."

It was noted that if the Mets go on to win the NLCS and appear in the World Series, this year’s Series will be the first between expansion teams.  There had been 21 previous appearances by expansion teams in the Fall Classic but in each case, their opponent was one of the "original 16" AL or NL clubs.

Thanks to all attendees for their respective contributions to the bountiful assortment of food and snacks, especially Mike McNulty and Ryan Pollack for their homemade contributions.  Although the attendees were not polled when the gathering broke up, it seemed apparent that no one went home hungry.

The next monthy meeting has been tenatively set as a lunch meeting on Saturday, November 14 at a place and time to be determined.  Watch this space for more details.

Eight chapter members and guests gathered to talk about the waning baseball season and playoff chase over a Tex-Mex lunch on Sunday, Sept. 27. It was the 106th consecutive month in which the chapter has met.

 

In addition to discussing the prospect of a Yankees-Astros Wild Card matchup, we also talked about the hard-charging Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, as well as the disappointing season of the Washington Nationals.

 

Ryan Pollack brought a friend and prospective SABR member to lunch. Ryan also talked about how much he enjoyed the Inaugural Fall Forum in Waco last month.

 

Members were also reminded to mark Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, at Texas State University for the 10th Annual SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter Winter Meeting. More details to follow this fall.

 

Also, inspired by my visit to the HOF Induction Weekend, I brought a quiz about the 2015 Class of Biggio, Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz. Jim Baker won a copy of the latest issue of “Memories and Dreams,” the official publication of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It features the 2015 Class. He won by scoring 8 points out of a possible 26. Try your hand at the quiz by clicking here.

 

For October, we are planning a double-header playoff watch party on Saturday, Oct. 17. That day features Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. We usually schedule a gathering for a World Series game, but because Game 4 of the World Series is scheduled for Halloween night, we opted for an earlier playoff watch party. Location to be determined. More details soon.

(Photo by Raeanne R. Martinez)

 

Nine chapter members and guests had a pre-game meal at Dell Diamond’s Intel Club and then watched the Round Rock Express come-from-behind late to win 4-3 against the Salt Lake Bees on Sunday, Aug. 23.

We had some of the best seats in the park, located directly behind home plate. We also had the benefit of the cool air conditioning in the Intel Club when we needed a break from the warm summer night.

For September, we hope you consider attending the Inaugural Baseball History Forum on Saturday, Sept. 19, in Waco. Click here for more details.

This was the 105th consecutive month that the chapter has had a monthly meeting.

Later in the month, the chapter will have its regular monthly meeting at lunch in southwest Austin on Sunday, Sept. 27. More details to come.

Nineteen Hornsby Chapter members and guests gathered in north Austin on Saturday, July 11, to chatter about baseball over an Italian lunch. This was the 104th consecutive month that our chapter has had a monthly meeting.

After a long string of regular monthly meetings during the week in downtown Austin at a barbeque restaurant, we decided to try meeting on a Saturday away from the traffic congestion and construction in downtown. This first effort proved promising, with nearly 20 in attendance.

Over the remainder of the year, we’ll endeavor to move the meeting around some in the Austin metro area.

For the meeting in August, we’ll return to the Dell Diamond for a 6 p.m. game on Sunday, Aug. 23. The Round Rock Express take on the Salt Lake Bees, the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California.

More details to come on next month’s meeting.

A total of 19 members and guests gathered for BBQ and baseball on Saturday, June 6.  The group enjoyed a pre-game meal at the Salt Lick BBQ and then ventured to the nearby Dell Diamond where we watched the hometown Round Rock Express fall to the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers by a score of 9-6.  The game featured not only six home runs but also six errors.

Starting in July, we will be changing our chapter meetings from the traditional Tuesday or Thursday evening dinner meetings to Saturday lunch meetings.  These will be held at various locations around the Austin area in order to make it easier for more people to attend.  Watch this space for details.

Nine members of the Hornsby Chapter gathered on May 19, 2015 at Iron Works BBQ in downtown Austin.  After consuming goodly portions of tasty barbeque, the topic of baseball was addressed.   The main focus of discussion was the tremendous (and unexpected) start by the AL West leading Houston Astros.  Two trivia quizzes were presented, the first by Ryan Pollack and the second by Bill Gilbert.  The June meeting will be held on Saturday, June 6 and will be the first chapter outing of the season to the Dell Diamond for the Round Rock Express vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers game.

Nine chapter members met for dinner at Iron Works in downtown Austin this Thursday, April 23.  This is the 101st consecutive monthly meeting for the Rogers Hornsby Chapter of SABR.

Activities and points of discussion included:

Optimism about the Astros’ good start to the season.  Several members had already been to Astros’ games and are looking forward to continuing improvement.

General discussion around replay reviews (positive) and rules to shorten length-of-game (early results look favorable).

Jim Baker conducted a lottery drawing to assign Predictatron contestants to two divisions.  In honor of last year’s two division winners, this year’s divisions will be named the Tom Thayer Division and the Raeanne Martinez Division.  Jim will have Predictatron data entered and a first round of results available within the next week or so.

Monte Cely gave a brief report, on behalf of Jim Kenton, as to the status of the Alzheimer’s Baseball Memories project.  The Austin Alzheimer’s Association is currently soliciting for participants for a "trial season".  The season will consist of six 90-minute sessions, held every other week from Monday May 18 to Monday July 27.  Each session will include baseball content such as box scores, videos, audios, etc. with the goal being to engage the participants in recalling and discussing memories about baseball.  Next steps will then be determined, based upon experiences and feedback from this trial.

Gilbert Martinez solicited interest from the group in volunteering to form a committee to oversee the agenda for the next chapter Winter Meeting, to be held in January, 2016.

Upcoming chapter meetings are tentatively set as follows (more information will be forthcoming):

May Monthly Meeting – Tuesday, May 19

June Monthly Meeting – Saturday, June 6 at Dell Diamond vs. Ok. City Dodgers

 

 

 

Twenty-one members and guests celebrated the Rogers Hornsby Chapter’s 100th consecutive month with a meeting on Saturday at the Martinezes’ home in southwest Austin.

We enjoyed good pizza (from Yaghi’s New York Pizzeria) and a dazzling array of side dishes, appetizers, beverages and desserts.

Jan Larson won a trivia contest created by Gilbert Martinez that covered information about the chapter history, members and guest speakers. Like the namesake of the bobblehead that Jan won for his victory, Jan slugged away all challengers and stood tall on the mound. He scored 33 out of a possible 40 points on the quiz. Try your hand on the quiz by clicking here.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us for the celebration.

Now that we have reached 100th consecutive months with a meeting, we return to our usual programming and start working toward 200 consecutive months with a meeting! The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at Iron Works BBQ in downtown Austin.