The Rogers Hornsby Chapter, serving Central and South Texas, was officially recognized as a SABR chapter early in 2006. The Chapter held 12 meetings in 2008 with one meeting in each month, continuing a streak of 25 straight months with a meeting. Ten were dinner meetings, held on a monthly basis, with an average attendance of ten people. In addition to baseball talk, these meetings allowed members to discuss areas of their research and were also used to plan chapter activities. Members are encouraged to bring guests to these meetings and some new active members have been added as a result.
The second annual winter meeting of the chapter was held in January 2008 on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos. Thirty one people were in attendance at the meeting which included four research presentations by Chapter members and guest appearances by Kansas City Royals scout, Gene Watson, minor league pitcher, Chris Young, Round Rock Express Broadcaster, Mike Capps and Texas State University Baseball Coach, Ty Harrington. A new feature was a book exchange with several members bringing baseball books to exchange with other members. Remaining books were donated to the library at Texas State University.
One of the meetings in 2008 was held at Dell Diamond, the home of the Triple-A Round Rock Express. The meeting included a pre-game get together and attendance at the game as a group.
Five representatives of the Chapter attended the SABR Convention in Cleveland. Norman Macht and Gilbert Martinez made research presentations. Monte Cely had an article published in the 2008 Baseball Research Journal.
The Chapter is continuing a project to identify and commemorate former major league spring training sites in Texas. In February 2008, a three-part series ran in the Marlin, Texas newspaper detailing the history of major league spring training in that town from 1904 thru 1923. The newspaper series was timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of John McGraw’s arrival in Marlin. A baseball display and book selection have also been established at the local library, and a historical plaque is being considered as further commemoration.
The Chapter’s official SABR-sponsored web site is in development and will be launched soon. Chapter communication and intra-chapter discussions are facilitated by a Yahoo Group mailing list.
The chapter has continued the monthly meetings in 2009. Another very successful Winter Meeting was held in January 2009 with former Astro pitcher, broadcaster and manager, Larry Dierker, as the featured speaker. The Winter Meeting is expected to be an annual affair.