Category: Chapter News

 A small but enthusiastic group of eight SABR members met at Iron Works BBQ in downtown Austin for the Hornsby Chapter March meeting.  The group is anxiously awaiting the start of the 2014 season, and topics of discussion included:  the status of replay and appeals; opening day in Australia; betting lines on the upcoming season (the Dodgers are favored to take it all); how free agent acquisitions are doing with their new teams; and much more.

Dan Walsh presented the quiz, entitled Alphabetic Home Run Leaders.  Tom Thayer and Eric Robinson tied for the lead with 11 correct answers out of a possible 26, with Tom taking the tie-breaker for the valuable first prize.  Try your hand at the quiz, it’s located here.

Two reminders:

The Hornsby Chapter Predictatron ballots are due to Jim Baker by midnight on Sunday, March 30.  Don’t miss out on the chance to participate in this season-long contest.

The Round Rock Express will host the Rangers’ AA affiliate, the Frisco RoughRiders, in an exhibition game featuring Texas Rangers’ prospects.  Game time is 7:05pm on Tuesday April 1 at Dell Diamond.  Tickets are $5.  For those interested in attending, we’ll meet in section 116 (behind the third base dugout) to enjoy the pre-season action.

Next meeting — will be Thursday April 17 at 6pm back at Iron Works in downtown Austin. 

Seventeen (17) members, guests, and family converged on Bill and Evelyn Gilbert’s house in Lakeway for the February 2014 meeting of the Rogers Hornsby chapter.

With spring training underway, the baseball discussions were far-ranging.  Topics included:  recent free agent and international signings, the advent of more instant replay and the no-collisions-at-home effort, status of the Astros and Rangers squads, Monte Cely’s recent trip to Venezuela for the 56th Caribbean Series, and Jan Larson’s upcoming trip to Australia for the MLB "opening day" in Sydney.

Dan Walsh won the quiz, on Venezuelan baseball, the prize being a Venezuelan national team ballcap and a "lucky" two bolivares banknote (worth three cents on the black market).  See how you do on the quiz, it’s here

A big "thank you" to the Gilberts for hosting this event and for all the wonderful food and drink. 

Our next chapter meeting will be Thursday March 20, 6pm, back at Iron Works in downtown Austin.  More details will be forthcoming.

Ten members and guests gathered for Saturday lunch at the Macaroni Grill in the Arboretum in Austin to discuss baseball and to celebrate SABR Day.  Topics discussed included the recent signing of Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka by the Yankees, the signing of free agent Robinson Cano by the Mariners, Monte Cely’s upcoming trip to Venezuela for the Caribbean Series and miscellaneous other off-season baseball topics.  The date and location of the February monthly meeting has not yet been determined.  More information will be forthcoming in the near future.

(Pictured above: Eddie Robinson, right, and C. Paul Rogers III. This and all photos on this page by Ryan Pollack)

Two former Major League Baseball players with a combined nine decades of professional baseball experience were the headliners for another great day of baseball talk at the 8th Annual Winter Meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter on Jan. 11, 2014.

In addition, 55 members and guests — our largest winter meeting attendance ever — got a preview of the upcoming national SABR conference in Houston from Bob Dorrill, chair of the Larry Dierker Chapter, which is hosting the conference July 30 to Aug. 3.

Eddie Robinson recounted his time in baseball, including as a member of the 1948 World Series Champion Cleveland Indians, and later as a scout and general manager. He was also in the Houston Colt .45s front office as head of player development when the team signed future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. Robinson signed copies of his book, “Lucky Me: My Sixty-Five Years in Baseball,” and was joined by co-author C. Paul Rogers III, professor of law and former dean of Southern Methodist University School of Law. Rogers is also the chair of SABR’s Hall-Ruggles Chapter in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Robinson shared many interesting stories about his baseball experiences, including the time relatively early in his career when Rogers Hornsby advised him on hitting. Pondering whether he should try to guess what pitchers were about to throw, Hornsby told him no — that he should hit what he sees.That, coupled with other advice about working the count, helped him improve as a hitter, he said.

Former MLB player Matt Kata (pictured on right) also shared stories about his time playing for Vanderbilt and later as one of the “Baby Backs,” the infusion of young players on the 2003 Arizona Diamondbacks, which made a run for the playoffs when the team suffered a number of injuries. He also talked about the pressure of playing second base in Randy Johnson’s perfect game against the Atlanta Braves in 2004.

Kata spent 14 years in professional baseball, including time with the Phillies, Pirates, Astros and Rangers in addition to the Diamondbacks and with the Triple-A Round Rock Express. Today, he is the manager for baseball outreach for the Express, helping with the team’s community outreach and working with Ryan-Sanders Sports Turf Services, which recently replaced the turf at Texas State’s baseball field.

Mike Capps, director of broadcasting and the voice of the Round Rock Express (pictured below), returned to give us a preview of the 2014 Express and Texas Rangers. He expressed hope that the Rangers would pursue Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. And he warmed the hearts of Astros fans in the audience when he said he thought the Astros would avoid another 100-loss season.

 Jan Larson (pictured below on left) recounted details of his trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown last summer. In the afternoon, Chuck Kaufman (pictured below on right) discussed his recent trip to Cuba, which included watching Cuban baseball games. Jim Baker opened the meeting by sharing details of his first Major League Baseball game and asked members of the audience to share theirs.

We missed having Norman Macht with us at this winter meeting. Macht is the author of the definitive biography of Connie Mack; the third and final volume is set for publication soon. For a number of years, he has opened our meetings with creative trivia questions. Having recently relocated to California, Norman sent these icebreakers: 1.Take a Hall of Fame pitcher, add an “S” to his name and get a Hall of Fame outfielder who was born in Shiner, died at 30 and is buried in San Antonio; and 2) Take a Hall of Fame outfielder, remove the “S” from his name and get a first baseman who batted .389 with two home runs for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970 World Series (Scroll to the bottom to check your answers).

Also, special thanks to all of our presenters. Monte Cely, who helps run the Hornsby Chapter, deserves special thanks and recognition for assembling the meeting agenda and lining up another great panel of presenters.

 Much thanks for these fantastic photos by Ryan Pollack, who volunteered his time to photograph the meeting. Here’s his website: www.ryanpollack.com

Below are more photos from a great day of baseball talk.

(Answers to Norman Macht’s icebreakers: 1. Cy Young/Ross Youngs; 2.Willie Mays/Lee May)

Nine chapter members gathered on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to review the baseball season, discuss the hot stove deals and anticipate next month’s winter meeting.

Topics of discussion included Jan Larson’s successful prognostication of the chapter’s MLB Cy Young Awards, organized by Monte Cely, who presented Jan (pictured above) with a major award (baseball-shaped ceramic container filled with baseball-wrapped chocolates) and a certificate.

Much thanks to Monte’s wife, Linda, who sent a plate of delicious baked goods to help celebrate the holiday season.

Jan Larson brought along his trivia quiz, “You Rank ‘em,” asking participants to rank the league leaders in various batting and pitching categories. Dan Walsh and Eric Robinson tied with 20 total points, with Dan winning on the tie-breaker. For his win, Dan received the highly sought (and highly traveled) Stephen King novel, “Blockade Billy,” which features a catcher blocking home plate in front of a sliding runner (it was pointed out by a few of us that this is a move soon to be made obsolete with MLB’s announcement to ban collisions at home plate).

“Blockade Billy” was won by Jan at a previous chapter meeting and received from Jim Baker. Dan explained that Jim’s recent trivia quiz won him “Blockade Billy” from Dan himself! Dan graciously gave up his award and presented it to Eric Robinson, who gratefully accepted.

A flow chart would look something like this:

BB (Dan) –> BB (Jim) –> BB (Jan) –> BB (Dan) –> BB (Eric)

To try your hand at Jan’s trivia quiz, click here, or go to the “Contests” tab above.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 – the date of the Eighth Annual Winter Meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter of SABR. It is our chapter’s biggest meeting of the year, and you wouldn’t want to miss it! More details to come.

Eight chapter members went retro in their storytelling over barbeque in downtown Austin on Nov. 19, swapping stories about Joe DiMaggio, the annual baseball awards and game forfeitures in the last 40 years.

We also welcomed new member Keith Ordean, who ventured from Canyon Lake to join us. He grew up in Ohio and often roots for the Cincinnati Reds (though he admits to disliking the Dusty-Baker-as-manager era).

Eric Robinson, who grew up in Fort Worth, sported a sharp cap of the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League.

As we shared memorable games we experienced either in person or by radio, Tom Wancho recalled listening to the “10-cent beer night” game between the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium in 1974. The Indians had the go-ahead run on third in the bottom of the ninth inning just before inebriated fans rushed the field and attacked Rangers players, leading to the Cleveland forfeit.

This discussion caused Jim Baker to recall other memorable game forfeitures in the 1970s, and he asked, Have there been any others since then?

Gilbert Martinez, relying on his expert memory (also know as a smart phone), found a Retrosheet page that lists details of forfeited games that go back to the 19th century. Click here for the weblink to that page.

To answer Jim’s question, we found that the most recent and only forfeited game in Major League Baseball since the 1970s was a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. See the above weblink for more details of what must have been a wild night at Dodger Stadium.

This meeting marked the 84th consecutive month in which the Hornsby Chapter has met. More details about the December meeting will soon be forthcoming.