Rogers Hornsby Chapter

After being unavoidably unable to participate in our April meeting, Round Rock Express General Manager, Tim Jackson, will be with us via Zoom for the May monthly meeting to be held on Saturday, May 22 at 1:00 p.m. CDT.  We will also be treated to a trivia quiz by Jerry Miller.

Registration information if you plan to participate:

When: May 22, 2021 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIucuCupjIrE9NZ2VAtj14fZiSKKVmJ9Ofb

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Fifteen chapter members and guests enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation about the start of the new baseball season, the dominant Dodgers and the teams that may challenge them, new experimental rules in the Atlantic League and the return of professional baseball to the Dell Diamond.

This meeting, held Saturday, April 17, on Zoom, marked one year since we shifted to online meetings.

The new rules – one that would remove the designated hitter when a starting pitcher gets pulled from the game, and another that would add a foot to the distance between the pitching rubber and home plate – drew mixed reactions from our group. Some liked the idea of encouraging a team to stick with a starting pitcher, while others worried that pitchers would be at risk with the additional foot.

We also talked about pace of play and ways to speed up the game.

But the biggest concern expressed during the meeting involved MLB’s newfound partnership with gambling establishments and how it might impact all facets of the game.

Still, despite MLB’s tinkering with the rules, the gambling shadow, the contraction of the minor leagues and Congress’ renewed interest in examining MLB’s antitrust exemption, we couldn’t help but notice that we still love the game of baseball, and maybe always will.

We also talked about the chapter’s plan to return to in-person meetings, perhaps as soon as this summer. In addition, many of us expressed anticipation of watching the Round Rock Express return to the Dell Diamond next month.

John “Jack” Sullivan of the Pee Wee Reese Chapter shared a fun quiz that he created for SABR Day with a theme involving particular members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jerry Miller took top prize with 21 points, followed closely by Cy Morong with 19. Jan Larson had 17, while Dick Adams and Ryan Pollack tied with 15.

You can take your swings at the quiz by downloading it with this link: SABR Day 2021. The answers follow the questions. Many thanks to Jack Sullivan for the fun quiz.

We were scheduled to have Tim Jackson, general manager of the Round Rock Express, join us yesterday, but a last-minute conflict prevented that. We’re hoping to get him back in the lineup for a future meeting.

Round Rock Express General Manager Tim Jackson returns for another Zoom session to discuss the whirlwind offseason that drastically changed the landscape of minor league baseball as well as the upcoming (delayed) season as the Express once again are affiliated with the Texas Rangers.

The meeting will be held online, as has been the case for the past year, via Zoom starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 17.

If you are interested in attending, you may register in advance for the meeting at the following link:

https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYsdemvrj0tEtLtvxbCKI5tzHOVg31JNERx

Learning about baseball’s first drug controversy and prepping for the Hornsby Chapter’s Predictatron contest were the highlights in yesterday’s March meeting.

Seventeen chapter members and guests were treated to a presentation by SABR Halsey Hall Chapter member Dan Levitt (pictured above), who told us about Hal Newhouser’s use of Novocaine injections (relatively new at the time for ballplayers) to help pitch during the 1945 World Series in which he won two games, including a complete-game win in the clincher.

Levitt shared news articles that suggested a range of reactions when use of the drug was widely reported. Some headlines included the word “drug” and credited it with giving Newhouser an advantage, while other headlines focused on the medicinal use of the injection for recovery and prevention of injuries.

Newhouser himself said in sports articles of the day that he wouldn’t have been able to pitch with his sore shoulder without the injections. The controversy about the injections was short lived, according to Levitt.

Levitt also gave this presentation earlier this month at the 28th Annual NINE Spring Training Conference. Many thanks to Dan for visiting virtually with us to share his very interesting presentation.

In addition to Levitt’s presentation, we also discussed some of the experimental rules MLB is trying out in minor league baseball, such as adding larger bases, limiting pick-off throws to two per at-bat, using a “Robo-Ump” making balls and strikes calls, adding a 15-second pitch clock, and requiring all infielders to remain on the infield dirt prior to pitches. Monte Cely noted our discussion at the last in-person winter meeting in 2020 in which he presented information about the use of the Robo-Ump – strikes were more often called at the top and bottom of the zone while the edges were tighter.

Also, Michael Bass, winner of last month’s trivia quiz, helped us get ready for the upcoming season – and for Jim Baker’s Predictatron contest in which we try to guess the season standings and playoff winners – with a nifty quiz about offseason signings and trades.

Tad Myre, commissioner of the SABR Pee Wee Reese Chapter in Louisville, Kentucky, racked up 9 points to win our trivia quiz. I came in second with 7 points, Jan Larson with 6 and Dan Walsh with 4. Try your hand on the quiz at the end of this post (answers come after the questions). Tad Myre said he’ll provide a trivia quiz for our April monthly meeting.

This was the 171st consecutive month in which the chapter has met, with the last 12 meetings by Zoom.

Prepping for Predictatron

By Michael Bass

1. Aside from signing Jackie Bradley Jr., the Milwaukee Brewers also signed Kolten Wong, statistically the best second baseman in 2019. Who will Wong replace, statistically the worst defense second baseman of 2020?
2. The Los Angeles Angels are trying to improve their rotation with some mediocre or just plain “bad” arms. Perhaps the best is Jose Quintana. They have also added outfield Dexter Fowler. Of the $14.5 million he will be paid, within $250,000, how much will St. Louis have to pay?
3. The Chicago White Sox added a quality pitcher who was in the top six in Cy Young voting each of the last two years in the American League. He’s never had a losing record in nine years in the MLB. Who is he?
4. The Chicago Cubs added an effective starter who had his best year in 2020 statistically. He was with the San Diego Padres last year. Who is he? The Cubs also added a .230 lifetime hitter who has an OPS of .806 in his career (due to his 259 extra-base hits in 2,500 career at-bats). Who is he? Hint: He came from a far more difficult hitting park.
5. This solid left fielder went from a division rival to Cleveland. His OPS is always around .800. He would rank far higher if he drew some walks and wouldn’t try to steal (39 steals in 59 attempts). Who is he?
6. Outside of some bullpen additions, Houston has been quiet this off-season. Who did they recently sign to shore up their rotation now that Verlander is on the 60-day IL?
7. San Diego added three potentially very good/middle-to-front rotation guys. One, Yu Darvish, was from the Chicago Cubs, another from Tampa Bay and a third from Pittsburgh. Who were the latter two?
8. The New York Yankees added two starters. One is a former two-time Cy Young winner. The other is a promising fifth-year hurler from Pittsburgh. Who are they?
9. The Washington Nationals added a number of players: 1) A three-time All-Star reliever who pitched for Cleveland last year; 2) A five-time All-Star starter from the Cubs; 3) A former Cub who in his career has hit 121 home runs in 1,806 official at-bats; and 4) An ex-Pirate who had 77 extra-base hits in 2019 and has a career OPS greater than .800. Who are they?
10. Andrelton Simmons is with Minnesota now. According to Baseball Reference, he has 42.7 points of oWAR (offensive Wins Above Replacement) and dWAR (defensive Wins Above Replacement). Within two points, what is his dWar?
11. The Blue Jays have vastly improved themselves in the rotation, infield and outfield. One was second in Cy Young in 2019 with a 4.6 WAR. The infielder was third in MVP voting with 8.9 WAR. The outfield was seventh in MVP with 6.4 WAR. These players combined for nearly 20 total WAR in 2019. Who are they?

12.Within 50 points, what was St. Louis’ new third baseman Nolan Arenado’s 2019 OPS?

13. We know the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Trevor Bauer. What will he earn in his combined 2021 and 2022 seasons (within $2 million)?
14. Chris Archer is returning to the Tampa Bay Rays from Pittsburgh. Who did Tampa get when they originally traded him? Name two of the three players.
15. Kansas City added Andrew Benintendi, Mike Minor and one other player. This third player is the only major leaguer batter to have walked more than he struck out over the past five seasons. Who is he?
16. The Oakland Athletics got Elvis Andrus for Khris Davis, but they also got a reliever who didn’t allow an earned run for San Diego in the 10 innings he pitched with the Padres. He also has struck out 490 over 364 career innings. Who is Oakland’s new closer?
17. Seattle added a starter and reliever. In their last full season (2019), they were both excellent; one as a starter for the Yankees and the other as a Blue Jays reliever. Who are they?
18. Aside from the additions of Trevor May and Francisco Lindor, what three potentially frontline to mid-rotation starters will the Mets have who didn’t pitch for them in 2020?

Answers

1. Keston Hiura
2. $12,750,000
3. Lance Lynn
4. Zach Davies and Joc Pederson
5. Eddie Rosario
6. Jake Odorizzi
7. Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove
8. Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon
9. Brad Hand, Jon Lester, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Bell
10. 26.6
11. Hyun-jin Ryu, Marcus Semien and George Springer
12. .738
13. $40 million and $45 million
14. Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Shane Baz
15. Carlos Santana
16. Trevor Rosenthal
17. James Paxton and Ken Giles
18. Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman

The March meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter will feature Halsey Hall (Minneapolis) Chapter member Dan Levitt’s presentation on baseball’s first drug controversy.

This will, once again, be a remote Zoom meeting and will be held at 1:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, March 13.

Please register in advance at the link below if you wish to attend:

https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUqdOyopzksGd0f9Sba5kTH6dP4x9-aAzhL

Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, “I Love Lucy,” the Cobb Salad and the Hollywood Stars (and Hollywood stars) captivated members at the February chapter meeting on Saturday, Feb. 20, as former award-winning baseball broadcaster Dan Taylor (pictured above) shared stories from his new book about the Hollywood Stars in the Pacific Coast League.

Eighteen SABR members and guests learned about the 20-year history of the Hollywood Stars, as told by Taylor, author of “Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball,” due to be published next month.

Taylor told us about how Bob Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurants and inventor of the Cobb Salad, purchased the team in 1939 and enlisted a number of Hollywood stars to join the ownership group. Others included Gene Autry, future owner of the Los Angeles Angels, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Cecil B. DeMille and William Frawley, who played Fred on “I Love Lucy.”

Taylor also shared a number of innovations by the Hollywood Stars that are still part of the game today. In 1940s, the team became the first to televise home games. Later, they added breaks during the game to groom the infield, giving players a breather and fans another chance to visit the concessions. As part of the Pacific Coast League, the Stars pushed to join the major league ranks (at a time when Major League Baseball was interested in adding a league rather than individual teams). The four areas in the league at the time – Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego and Seattle – all added major league teams.

As Cobb was positioning to bring major league baseball to California, he scouted an area that he thought would be perfect for a new stadium. While he didn’t bring it to fruition, the Dodgers – newly relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles – built their stadium on the same location that Cobb identified – Chavez Ravine. Taylor said that Cobb’s grandson told him that the two words that could never be said in the household were “Walter O’Malley,” former Dodgers owner who brought the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

But still, Cobb supported the Dodgers and Angels, and as a good friend of Autry’s, held his allegiance for the Angels, Taylor said.

Jim Baker wanted to know the best players to don a Stars uniform. Taylor said that the team didn’t field many quality players, especially in its first 10 years, but noted that Hall of Fame players Bill Mazeroski and Bobby Doerr played for the Stars.

Published by Rowman & Littlefield, Taylor’s book is available for preorder on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and the publisher’s website. The book will be published on March 17, 2021.

After Taylor’s presentation and lively question-and-answer session, chapter member Gary McIntosh presented his quiz drawn from his review of recently acquired Sporting News publications from the 1950s and 1960s. In the screen-grab below, Gary showed a page featuring articles about Babe Ruth published shortly after the Bambino died.

Cy Morong won the trivia contest with 12 points; Michael Bass was second with 8 points and Mike Dillon had 7 points.

Click here for the link to the quiz with answers:

Sporting News Trivia Quiz 022021

This was the 171st consecutive month the chapter has met and the eleventh monthly chapter meeting held via Zoom.

The next chapter meeting will be at 1 p.m. Central Time Saturday, March 13. SABR member Dan Levitt will be our guest speaker and give us a preview of his presentation, “Baseball’s First Drug Controversy,” which is scheduled for the 28th Annual NINE Spring Training Conference. 

The February meeting of the Rogers Hornsby chapter will feature author Dan Taylor discussing his upcoming book “Lights, Camera, Fastball : How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball.“

The Zoom meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, February 20.  Please register at the following link if you plan to attend:

https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYocu-rrD8vHtBnjKcOtNql2PUkQNVBpzia

Baseball fans love reading about their favorite major league players in many books that focus on their professional playing careers, but one SABR member wanted to know more about their exploits on the sandlot. When he didn’t find these stories, he decided to write a book.

After a 10-year interviewing and writing project, Kelly Park (pictured above) published his book last year and joined us for SABR Day on Saturday, Jan. 30.

Fifteen chapter members and guests learned how Park got the idea to write “Just Like Me: When the Pros Played on the Sandlot” on the chapter Zoom meeting.

“There was not a book out there about the sandlot,” said Park, a member of the Pee Wee Reese Chapter in Louisville, Kentucky. “So, why don’t I write this?”

But Park faced two immense challenges from the beginning – he wasn’t a baseball insider with connections to ballplayers, and he didn’t have a literary background.

Rather than pack up his ball and glove and go home, he was determined to hear these stories and share them with the world.

A chance encounter with the son of former Cubs slugger Jim Hickman led to his first interview. That led to others – so many others. His book features interviews with 18 players, including major league managers, Negro League ballplayers and women who played in the All-American Girls Professional League. He’s planning a second volume of this book project with another 18 players, including Hall of Famer Don Sutton.

When asked why he wanted to capture and tell these stories, Park said, simply, “Because that’s what I wanted to know.”

He also shared that his father, a World War II veteran of the Pacific Theater, passed away in 2012, at a time when he was getting discouraged with his book project after numerous rejections from publishers. He regretted not learning more about his father’s lifetime experiences and used that sentiment as inspiration to write his book.

He also noted that he wanted to honor the men and women who took time to share their stories with him, so he felt a responsibility to get them published.

“There’s more to professional baseball than the Major Leagues,” he said.

Plus, he noted, stories about the players’ professional careers are easily found in biographies and sports articles, but their reflections on youth baseball and growing up before their professional careers are the things that interested Park.

You can learn more about Park and his book project on his website: https://justlikemethebook.com/

His website includes a link to purchase the book from the book publisher, Sunbury Press, a list of all the players he interviewed for book one and book two, and a page to submit your own sandlot story. In fact, the webpage features a story by our very own Monte Cely.

Many thanks to Kelly Park for sharing insights about his book and making our SABR Day extra special.

Our next chapter meeting will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 via Zoom.