Category: Chapter News

May Chapter Meeting Summary

by Gilbert Martinez

Nine chapter members gathered in southwest Austin for the monthly meeting, the 114th consecutive month in which the chapter has met.

The group talked about a wide range of baseball topics, including the news of plans for a new stadium in Arlington for the Texas Rangers, the disappointing season for the Houston Astros, and the surprising Philadelphia Phillies. We also talked about whether waiving the four-pitch walk would speed up the game (most of us agreed that it wouldn’t save much time). In a continuation of our online email discussion, we also agreed that advertising on baseball uniforms, though not favored, seems to be inevitable.

On a personal note, I was very grateful to lead the group in a toast to my Tio Arturo Martinez, who died last month. He took me to my first game at old Yankees Stadium 24 years ago. May he rest in peace.

Next meeting will include a Round Rock Express game on Saturday, June 25, and a pre-game dinner at Salt Lick BBQ. More details to come.

BasebALZ wraps up a successful third season

Volunteers from our chapter and Alzheimer’s Texas wrapped up another successful BasebALZ “season”.  Our reminiscence sessions were held at the Alzheimer’s Texas office in northwest Austin.  Eight participants with early-stage Alzheimer’s and their caregivers enjoyed the program and shared their memories with us.

Participants and volunteers capped off the season with a trip to Dell Diamond on June 27 to see an Express game.

June 27 Express2June 27 express3

Pictures outside and inside of the Heritage Suite at Dell Diamond

Rogers Hornsby Chapter Annual Report (June 2015 to May 2016)

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

Annual Report, June 2015 – May 2016

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Chapter Commissioner

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research in Central Texas continued its consecutive meeting streak, reaching 114 straight months with a meeting in May 2016.

The chapter’s 10th Annual Winter Meeting in January 2016 was the highlight of the year.  Thirty-nine members and guests met at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and heard from Evan Drellich, Astros beat writer for the Houston Chronicle (now with the Boston Herald covering the Red Sox), and Mike Capps, award-winning broadcaster with the Round Rock Express.

Another highlight for the chapter is our baseball reminiscence project with Alzheimer’s Texas, now in its third “season.”  We have held sessions at the local Alzheimer’s office, at an area senior living facility, and at the Veterans Administration in Kerrville, Texas.  The VA in Texas may have interest in hosting this program at other sites around the state.  We have also fielded requests from SABR members in San Diego, California, and Connecticut who are interested in the program.  Six chapter members, led by Jim Kenton, are currently volunteering their time for this effort.  The project provides an enjoyable and memory-filled program for our Alzheimer’s participants and their caregivers, several of whom have joined SABR.

Through the rest of the year, chapter members met for BBQ, watched Round Rock Express games at the Dell Diamond and gathered to watch the World Series in October at a chapter member’s home. In addition, the chapter met for lunch on SABR Day.

In addition, the Hornsby Chapter provided support to chapter member David Skelton for hosting the inaugural Fall Forum in Waco in September. The forum featured former Major League pitcher Lindy McDaniel and a variety of baseball presentations.

For the sixth consecutive year, chapter member Monte Cely covered the Caribbean World Series, which in 2016 was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Cely posted updates, summaries and photos on the Hornsby Chapter website chronicling Mexico’s undefeated run to a fourth Serie del Caribe win in the last six years.

 

April Meeting Wrap-Up

Six Hornsby Chapter members met at the County Line by the Lake for a Saturday afternoon lunch and to talk baseball.  A wide range of topics were discussed including the Astros’ slow start, the PED suspension of Marlins’ second baseman Dee Gordon as well as the pros/cons of some of the Sabermetric statistics, in particular WAR.

Jim Baker, the proprietor of the Predictaron, conducted a drawing to determine the membership in the "Raeanne Martinez" and "Michael Bass" divisions for the purposes of the contest.

Watch this space for an announcement on the date/location for the May meeting and mark you calendars for June 25 when we have our first chapter outing of the season to the Dell Diamond for the Express vs. Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

April Lunch Meeting

We will be gathering for our first in-season lunch of 2016 at the County Line BBQ at 5204 Ranch Rd 2222 (just east of RR 2222 and Hwy 360) on Saturday, April 30 starting at 12:30 p.m.  We will have some exciting news about the chapter website.  Please RSVP so we can provide an accurate headcount for seating purposes to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com.

March meeting summary

Ten chapter members gathered in southwest Austin on Saturday to discuss a wide range of baseball topics – from the Chisox brouhaha involving Adam LaRoche to Goose Gossage’s recent comments about sabermetrics and bat flipping.

 

Also, Bill Gilbert gave an update and shared impressive statistics from his grandson, Caleb Gilbert, a freshman right-handed reliever for Louisiana State University.  

 

The group also discussed the new slide rules implemented last month, spurred in part by Chase Utley’s leg-breaking slide in last year’s National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.

 

Gilbert and Raeanne Martinez shared that they’ll be in St. Petersburg in June for a journalism teaching workshop. Coincidentally, the Rays will host the Houston Astros that weekend, so one can be sure that the Martinezes will catch a game or two.

 

The chapter is planning an outing to the Dell Diamond in June to see the Round Rock Express; more details to come.

 

Meanwhile, the next chapter meeting will be at County Line on the Lake (2222 and 360) on Saturday, April 30. More details as we get closer to the date.

February Meeting Recap

Fifteen SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter members and family met at Hoover’s in east Austin, Texas, on Saturday, February 20, 2016, for our monthly meeting.

With Spring Training upon us, everyone is looking forward to the rapidly approaching baseball season.  A few topics of discussion included:

Astros’ reliever/closer controversy precipitated by recent published comments from Luke Gregerson.

The possibility of Ichiro Suzuki reaching the 3000 hit plateau this season.  He currently has 2935 MLB hits.

Barry Bonds’ appearance at Miami Marlins spring training as hitting coach.

Monte Cely’s recent trip to la Serie del Caribe – the Caribbean World Series – in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Monte presented a quiz on the Series and Dominican Beisbol.  You can take the quiz here.  Jim Baker took the grand prize, a Dominican national team ball cap, with a near-perfect score of 19 out-of-20.

Our next chapter meeting will be Saturday, March 19 at 12:30pm at Serranos-Mopac in South Austin, 5030 Highway 290 West, Austin, TX 78735 (near intersection of MoPac & 290).  More details will be forthcoming.

February Lunch Meeting

We are going to check out a new venue for our February lunch meeting.  Join us at Hoover’s at 2002 Manor Rd in Austin on Saturday February 20 at 11:00 a.m.    We are meeting at 11:00 a.m. for two reasons, (1) the weekend brunch menu is served until 11:30 in case anyone would prefer a breakfast item, and (2) the restaurant is less crowded before noon which increases our chances of getting a large table for our group in a timely manner.

Please RSVP so we can provide an accurate headcount for seating purposes to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com.

SABR Day 2016 summary

Seven chapter members joined SABR members across the nation and around the world to recognize SABR Day on Saturday, Jan. 30.

 

We talked about the Astros’ recent pickup of Doug Fister, weighing the pros (proven record with the Tigers and Nationals) and the cons (struggled last season when he was demoted to the Nats’ bullpen). Fister has incentive to do well in this one-year contract, but if he doesn’t, the Astros still have other options at starting pitching.

 

Meanwhile, Jim Baker, Predictatron impresario, shared that he wasn’t surprised when the winter meeting predicted the Astros to win the World Series later this year. He said he figured this would happen because of the many Astros fans in the group. Jan Larson added that the Astros have improved enough as a team that the prediction shouldn’t come as a surprise. Whatever happens, the humble author of this summary hopes we’re right!

 

Also, Monte Cely missed our SABR Day lunch for good reason – he traveled to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the home of 58th Serie del Caribe. Follow his updates by clicking on this link: http://chapters.sabr.org/hornsby/research/papers/394-serie-del-caribe-2016-in-santo-domingo

 

If you’d like to see what other SABR chapters did for SABR Day, check out this link: http://sabr.org/sabrday

 

Our next monthly meeting is scheduled for lunch on Saturday, Feb. 20. Details and email invitation to follow in the coming weeks.