Rogers Hornsby Chapter

August 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner

With the Little League World Series in full swing at Williamsport, Penn., a dozen chapter members and guests were treated to some recent history: recounting the last Texas team to make it to the LLWS U.S. Championship game just two years ago.

Chapter member Tim Christ, whose son Kaleb was on the team from Boerne, joined the chapter via Zoom to talk about his book, “How Boerne Made History and Played on Their Field of Dreams,” recounting that team’s magical August run. He also discussed just how much dedication it takes from the player and family to achieve high performance in youth sports and how the league and parents can support the mental health of the players.

The book is readily available from booksellers such as Amazon at this link. For those wanting to shop locally, the book can be purchased at D-BAT locations in Boerne.

Thanks so much to Tim and our members for joining us for a fascinating discussion! If you missed it, check out the video recording at this link or the video below.

Longtime Round Rock Express season ticket holder and chapter member Andy York assembled a quiz with a focus on MLB All-Stars who have played at Dell Diamond. Jerry Miller and Ryan Pollack tied with 17 points each, with Jerry edging by Ryan on tiebreakers. Andy offered prizes that were giveaways at the Dell: a Lance Berkman bobblehead and replica rings (Texas Rangers World Series in 2023 and Houston Astros NL Pennant in 2005).

Take a swing at Andy’s excellent quiz:

Check your answers against the answer key:

Hornsby Chapter achieves All-Star status again

For the third consecutive year, the Rogers Hornsby Chapter achieved All-Star status, earning a $250 award for chapter operations. Hornsby Chapter leadership uses these funds to support our Baseball Memories program. The recognition was announced at SABR 54, the annual conference, which was held in Cleveland. Congratulations to our friends at the Larry Dierker Chapter (Houston) for also earning All-Star chapter status. The Hornsby and Dierker chapters were two of 10 recognized for All-Star status.

“I’m grateful for recognition by SABR HQ for the efforts we have made in the Hornsby Chapter,” said Gilbert D. Martinez, Hornsby Chapter commissioner. “In recent years, we’ve adopted bylaws, held two leadership elections, maintained a monthly newsletter and website and created a wide variety of activities for our members throughout the year.”

Ten chapters were recognized for the highest tier, MVP. For more information, please see the news release from SABR HQ: https://sabr.org/latest/sabr-chapters-committees-honored-for-exceptional-performance-in-2025-26/

SABR 54 national convention reflections

By Jerry Miller

In late July, I attended the 54th annual SABR convention in Cleveland.  Overall, it was my fourth convention, including last year’s in DFW, and it did not disappoint.  The convention featured literally dozens of workshops on virtually every subject imaginable.  Many of them, including two on Satchel Paige that I attended, focused on the colorful history of the local teams (Indians/Guardians/Buckeyes), as did several larger presentations featuring a panel of 1990s players (Mike Hargrove, Kenny Lofton, Charles Nagy, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Carlos Baerga), as well as their Hall of Fame broadcaster Tom Hamilton.

As always, there was always way too much to do, and my time was further limited by the fact that my wife and kids were in the area for a family reunion (which my wife began to plan once she learned the convention was in her hometown).  I did, however, go on the bus tour of historic Cleveland baseball sites (Rocky Colavito statue, the grave of Ray Chapman, and the site of League Park and the Baseball Heritage Museum) and attended (with the family) the Friday night game at Progressive Field.  And I added stops in Pittsburgh (where I attended two Pirates games at my now-favorite ballpark, saw the Roberto Clemente museum and hunted down the former sites of Forbes Field and other lost ballparks) and Cincinnati (where I located the remnants of Crosley Field).

We had some Texas representation at the convention.  Several of the Larry Dierker (Houston) Chapter members were present, and the trivia contest winner was from the DFW chapter.  I finished tied for 14th out of 70, which I didn’t think was half bad, given the competition. I was also glad to see that they included in our convention goodie bag a flier touting our own Dick Butler’s upcoming book on baseball in the Hill Country.

Next year’s convention is in a fairly unusual locale (Birmingham, Alabama), which I am told was chosen in part because of the uncertainty over whether there will be major league baseball next year.  A trip to Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball park in America in current, continuous use, would certainly be an attraction.

I plan to prepare a slideshow of my trip for the winter meeting in January. You’ve been warned!

Speaking of the winter meeting…

The 21st Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027, at Texas State University. Jerry Miller, winter meeting coordinator, and the Hornsby Chapter leadership team, are working out details for the all-day meeting. Please mark you calendars (online and otherwise!) and plan accordingly.

Awardatron: August Update

By Ryan Pollack

By Ryan Pollack

Hard to believe, baseball fans, but it’s the second-to-last Awardatron update of the 2026 season. Time flies, eh? Let’s get to it.

AL MVP

Favorites:Alvarez, Witt Jr, Dingler

This just might be Yordan Alvarez’s year. I wrote earlier that he’s almost a Judge-ian hitter but because Judge has the boost of non-terrible defense to Yordan’s, uh, DH-iness — that Yordan might always come up short. There’s no shame in that. Many superstars get overlooked because they happen to play alongside even greater superstars. But this year Judge has no chance as he’s been out for several months and Yordan is leading the AL in batting with a .319 average, in HR with 36, and in RBI with 90. 

You know what that means — we’re now officially on Triple Crown watch. 

NL MVP

Favorites: Crow-Armstrong, Ohtani, Moreno

This award is Crow-Armstrong’s to lose at this point and because Ohtani hasn’t pitched in awhile, I don’t think he will. But let’s focus on Gabriel Moreno for a bit, not because he’s on my fantasy team, but because almost no one is talking about him.

Moreno has been good, putting up >2 WAR in each full season in the big leagues, but with more than a month left in 2026 he’s already at 4.1 WAR. He is playing his typical good defense behind the plate, but in front of (or, well, beside it) he’s been a monster: currently slashing .307/.383/.468 for a 134 wRC+, compared to his previous career high of 117 last year. At age 26 this could be his breakout year. Diamondbacks fans, it’s the beginning of a peak. 

AL Cy Young

Favorites: Schlittler, Cease, Messick

I’ve been writing about these guys all summer, so there’s not much left to say at this point, so I’ll just say that I’m genuinely happy for Cease, who’s flirted with this kind of year for awhile now but never truly broken out. 

NL Cy Young

Favorites: Misiorowski, Sale, Sanchez

Kind of like the above: what else is there to say at this point? The Miz seems like a lock for the award, so instead of writing about his baseball stats, let’s all recognize he’s a gigantic Pokemon nerd. 

AL Rookie of the Year

Favorites: McGonigle, Messick, Tolle

The Red Sox have turned their season around extensively due in no small part to Payton Tolle. The 23-year old goofball (seriously, look him up) is demonstrating excellent command, walking just 6.8% of batters, and an above-average strikeout rate at 27.7%.  

NL Rookie of the Year

Favorites: Wetherholt, Benge, McLean

The Mets’ season sank before it could get going, but one bright spot is rookie Carson Benge. The 23-year old is hitting .276/.336/.425 for a 114 RC+, demonstrating good contact and on-base skills along with some power. He’s also getting slightly unlucky, indicating he hasn’t tapped into his ceiling yet. Combine that with good OF defense and the Mets have one less problem they need to solve going forward.

AL Manager of the Year

Favorites: Venable, Tracy, Cash 

The Red Sox might be the AL version of this year’s Phillies. After going 10-17 under Alex Cora, they’re now 60-42 under replacement Chad Tracy and a virtual lock for the playoffs. If the White Sox make the playoffs as they’re currently on track to do, it should be tight between Tracy and Venable for the award.  

NL Manager of the Year

Favorites:Murphy, Stammen, Mattingly

Craig Stammen’s Padres have had a somewhat up-and-down year. After trading away so many players and losing others to free agency, they were not expected to be strong contenders. And when Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado started the year ice cold, the pressure started to build. You can’t make the playoffs with Mason Miller alone. 

Well, fast forward and now the Padres have an excellent chance of making the postseason in Stammen’s first year. If they do, the narrative might be that he provided calm and steady leadership (or lit a fire under the team; take your pick) to guide them to a playoff berth through many troubles.

 

Predictatron update
By Jim Baker

As weeks go, this past one was mostly a pleasant outing. And, while nobody lit up the sky with a big point explosion, only three players were in the red.

We averaged a five-point gain, with Mr. Martinez leading the way with a 13-point showing to haul off Player of the Week honors. Four other players broke the double-figure line as well: Ms. Martinez (12), Mr. Harrell (11), Mr. Wancho (11), and Mr. Butler (10). For her efforts, Ms. Martinez narrowed Mr. Robinson’s Mike Harrell Division lead by eight, as he only gained four points for the marking period. His overall lead is down to seven as Tom Wancho Division leader Mr. Pollack outpointed him 8-4.

It’s now time to revisit one of everybody’s (I’m assuming, nobody’s ever actually stated it) topics: our most vexatious teams. The numbers on these deficits have certainly come down a lot over the course of the season. While the Rays are still public enemy number one, they’re now costing us 20 points each on average, not the 31 of earlier in the season. In fact, the worst five used to end at 20 points and it now starts there.

Here they are:

Tampa Bay Rays (20): The main problem with all of these teams is their stubborn refusal to regress to the mean. Don’t they know who they really are? The (mostly) anonymous Rays are not going away, it would seem, so we’re going to have succeed in spite of them.

Chicago White Sox (19): The White Sox have now won more games than six players predicted they would, and we’re only half-way through August! Four players in the Wancho Division Locked them and are reaping the whirlwind. The best Pale Hose pick belongs to Ms. Martinez, who predicted they’d win 79 games—seven more than any other entrant. It’s an outlier pick that’s really working out.

Kansas City Royals (17): What were we thinking back in March regarding the Royals? Seven players said they’d make the playoffs and Mr. Baker predicted they’d win 90 games. The best Royals prediction is that of Mr. Gay, who said they show out for just 74 wins. (Mr. Butler was right behind him with 75.) Even they are losing eight and nine points respectively at the moment.

New York Mets (16): Starting play this week, the Mets have won nine of 12, meaning they’d be a lot closer to the top of this list without that outburst. All but three players said they’d make the postseason and we’d all thought they’d finish over .500, something they’re going to be hard pressed to do. The least-punishing Mets pick is that of Mr. Wancho, who pegged them for 83 wins and a quiet October.

Atlanta Braves and the A’s (14): Finally, while these other teams are either good when they were supposed to be bad or bad when they were supposed to be good, the A’s and Braves are, instead, exaggerations of what we said they would be. We thought the Braves would be just fine, with eight of us saying they’d make the postseason (five of us had them below .500, though). Here they are on a 97-win pace, however, taking points off our board right and left.

Meanwhile, we mostly thought the A’s would be a solidly mediocre squad, with six even predicting them besting .500. Our average pick for them was 78 wins and they’re phoning it in at a 64-win pace. The one player who saw the future out in Fresno or wherever it is they play these days was Mr. Rechtorovic the Younger. He foretold a 65-win season, making this perhaps the greatest outlier predictions of 2026 so far, as nobody else’s pick was anywhere close to that.

To end on a positive note, these are the teams we are currently nailing:

0 Yankees
1 Red Sox
1 Rangers
1 Pirates
2 Reds, Dodgers, Padres

Let’s see if any of these clubs will play themselves off of these lists over the final quarter of the season.

Through games of Sunday, August 16 or 76.9 percent of the 2026 season:

Upcoming meetings

San Antonio-area quarterly meeting

Hornsby Chapter Membership Coordinator Don Dingee continues his quarterly monthly meetings in the San Antonio area with a lunch meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at Max & Louie’s New York Diner in the shopping center at Bitters and West Avenue, just west of U.S. 281 and a bit north of the San Antonio airport. They’ve got a bit of everything, from classic deli sandwiches to burgers to Italian and more (Note: there’s a new Cibolo location as well – we’ll be at the original San Antonio location for this month).

Please RSVP – Aug 2026 SATX Meeting by Wednesday, Aug. 26, so we can arrange seating.

September meeting

For the September meeting, we’ll meet at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Cover 3 at 2700 W. Anderson Lane in Austin. A call for RSVPs will go out on the chapter email list early next month.

October meeting

It’s almost that time of year again for one the chapter’s well-loved traditions – the World Series Watch Party at the home of Jim Baker! The plan is to gather for World Series Game 2 (teams to be announced) on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 24.

The November and December meetings are yet to be determined, but we’ll announce dates soon.

January meeting

As noted above, our biggest event of the year – the winter meeting – will be on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027, at Texas State University. You don’t want to miss it!

July 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner

Twenty chapter members and guests were treated to a dominating 6-0 San Antonio Missions win over the Frisco RoughRiders at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium on Sunday along with a pleasant breeze throughout the game.

Missions center fielder Jake Cunningham struck a bases-clearing double in the third inning to give the hometown nine an early 4-0 lead after a sacrifice fly by second baseman Carson Tucker put them on the board. In the eighth inning, Braedon Karpathios blasted his ninth home run of the season to push the lead to 6-0.

Missions starting pitcher Eric Yost tossed six shutout innings, striking out five while allowing three hits. Three relievers combined to complete the shutout.

With the win, the Missions, the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, split the six-game series with the RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

We also had a chance to chat briefly with J.J. Jimenez, director of ticket sales for the Missions. Jimenez said the new Missions stadium is on track to be built and ready by 2028 or 2029. She and Brian Yancelson, public relations and broadcasting manager, spoke at the winter meeting in January.

Mike Bass returns for brief visit

SABR member Mike Bass, visiting from the East Coast, returned to Austin for a few days and had a group dinner on July 8. Mike, still affiliated with the Hornsby Chapter, used to live in Central Texas and continues to be active in SABR. Great to see you, Mike!

(Jim Baker shared the latest update on the email list on July 27.)

By Jim Baker

We came screaming back from the All-Star break, ready to prove that the low scores of the first 60 percent of the season were just a fluke. To make our point, we improved by 16 points each in the first 10 days since the Midsummer Classic, a fine showing by a fine bunch of people.

Leading the way was our Player of the Week, Mr. Polk, who amped up 26 points and moved from fifth place to fourth in the Mike Harrell Division. Unfortunately for those keen on having a merry chase for the title the rest of the way, the player who scored the second-most points during the marking period was our leader, Mr. Robinson. His 24-point outing increased his lead in the Harrell Division to an astonishing 51 points over Ms. Martinez and his overall lead over Tom Wancho Division leader Mr. Pollack to 27 points. If there are to be any races going forward, we can’t have our leader salting away points at the rate in the stanza just completed.

There wasn’t a lot of movement in the standings because everyone was gaining points at such a decent clip, but Mr. Rechtorovic the Elder did manage to jump two places from seventh to fifth in the Wancho Division.

With each team playing nine or 10 games since we had our last report, there was ample opportunity to go to one end of the meter or the other. The most extreme performance of this extended marking period belonged to the Miami Marlins. A week ago, they were on pace to be the third wild card team in the National League, but, by extending their losing streak the rest of the way, they ended up 0-9 since the break. This is bad news for them and good news for us as it brings them down into our Zone of Approval. They’re now costing us just six points apiece on average, a huge drop from their heady overachieving days.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox went 8-2 during the period (as part of a larger undefeated streak), dragging themselves from the pit of despair to a place where they’re just three points away from the average Predictatron pick. These two teams, more than anyone else, were responsible for our most recent success.

Here are the best and worst showings since the All-Star break:

8-2 Red Sox
7-2 Brewers
7-3 Braves
7-3 Royals

0-9 Marlins
3-7 Guardians
3-7 Cardinals
3-7 Blue Jays

Through games of Sunday, July 26, or 65.2 percent of the 2026 season:

Next meeting

Please plan to join us for our virtual meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, when chapter member Tim Christ will talk about his just-published book, “How Boerne Made History and Played on Their Field of Dreams.” The book tells the story of the Boerne team that won the U.S. Championship at the Little League World Series in 2024. Here’s the Zoom registration link for the meeting: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/q40ZKlVqTVCd0M6pSWJmdw

We’ll also have the meeting announcement on this website and our email list in early August.

For those in the San Antonio area, Don Dingee is planning a get-together for late August, so please be on the lookout for that announcement.

Looking ahead, we plan to meet for lunch at Cover 3 in Central Austin at 1 p.m. Sept. 12. We’ll have our annual World Series watch party at Jim Baker’s house in Cedar Park in late October (teams to be determined).

June 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner

Four intrepid chapter members gathered to watch the Texas Volts host the Portland Cascade in a second-season match of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League at Dell Diamond on Sunday.

Though the Volts were doused by the Cascade, 5-2, we got to see the Cascade’s Megan Grant, the reigning NCAA Division I single-season home run leader with 42 this past season for the UCLA Bruins. True to form, she notched two home runs, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning, leading Portland to victory.

1977 UCLA alumni Jerry Miller alerted the group to watch for Grant’s big bat, and she did not disappoint (well, she may have disappointed the home fans because, unfortunately for them, Grant played for the visiting team).

According to game notes provided by the AUSL, Grant became the ninth player in AUSL regular season history to hit two home runs in a game, and, after game play on Sunday, led the league with six home runs.

With the loss, the Volts dropped to 3-10 on the season, which runs through July 20. The Volts are one of six teams in the league, including the Cascade, Utah Talons, Oklahoma City Spark, Chicago Bandits and Carolina Blaze.

The Volts took an early 2-1 lead in the first inning on infielder (3B) Jennifer Lis’ two-RBI single. But the Volts struggled against Cascade starter Carley Hoover (1-0) and reliever Kelly Maxwell the rest of the way.

The Hornsby group pondered electric-related puns to play on the Volts name. For example, Jerry wondered if Volts pitcher Ally Carda and catcher Dejah Mulipola would constitute a “9-Volt-battery.”

It was the 235th consecutive month in which the chapter has had a monthly meeting, a streak dating to December 2006.

Awardatron update!
[Note: Ryan Pollack shared his third update of the season in the Awardatron contest to the email list on Tuesday.]

By Ryan Pollack

Baseball fans! It’s so good to write to you again. Can you believe the season is already halfway over?

AL MVP
Favorites: Witt Jr., Alvarez, Kurtz 

Honestly Aaron Judge is still on the list of favorites despite having been on the IL for the past month. But I’m going to go with Nick Kurtz here because the projection systems I’m looking at don’t know that there’s currently no timetable for Judge’s return. Plus, I mean let’s be honest, we’re all tired of hearing about him. Right??

I first heard about Nick Kurtz last year when he hit 4 HR in a game. Before then I, well, hadn’t heard of him. I’d heard of his teammate Jacob Wilson, who’d had a strong start to the 2025 season and was the ROY favorite at the time. He was on nearly all of our ballots after the All-Star Break. But then Kurtz had that amazing game and hasn’t looked back.

Entering today’s game Kurtz has a batting line of .279/.423/.525 with 19 HR and a 159 wRC+. This is slightly below last year’s performance of 170 wRC+; the drop in power is partially offset by an increase in OBP, which itself is driven by an increase in walk rate from 12.9% to 19.4%. Just think about that – nearly 1 out of every 5 times Kurtz comes to the plate, he walks. Major league average is more like 1 in every 11-12 PA’s. Pitchers respect his power and Kurtz is disciplined enough to take what he gets.  

NL MVP
Favorites: Ohtani, Crow-Armstrong, Carroll

I did not think PCA was this good. Last year he walked a paltry 4.5% of the time and slugged an outlandish (for a speedy outfielder) .481 with 30 dingers. His wRC+ of 109 was above average and when coupled with his position and defense made him a very valuable player. But the walk rate told me he lacked the discipline to truly succeed in a sustainable way. 

Well this year PCA has proved me wrong. After a slow start (88 wRC+ in March/April) he hit for a 117 wRC+ in May and then tore the cover off the ball in June with a 228 wRC+. Unbelievable. He’ll end the first half with a park-adjusted batting line ~42% better than league average. And oh yeah he’s also notched 14 outs above average in CF. And he is walking 9.9% of the time, a sharp increase from last year, indicating that his plate discipline is much better and therefore that his offensive gains will stick.  

AL Cy Young
Favorites: Schlittler, Cease, Rasmussen

I haven’t seen any conversation about Drew Rasmussen so I’ll talk about him. The only thing I know about him is that he plays for the Rays and that in 2022, he took a perfect game against us (the Orioles) into the 9th inning. Okay, so that’s two things. 

Rasmussen has a strong ERA at 2.45 but his xERA of 2.96 indicates he’s benefitting from some good fortune. A quick glance at his low .236 BABIP and high 79.8% strand rate confirm the suspicion. Still, a moderate decline would be a win for the Rays and could net Rasmussen a Top-5 Cy Young finish, something I’m sure he’d be proud of at 30 years old and coming off a couple injury-plagued years.  

NL Cy Young
Favorites: Misiorowski, Sánchez, Sale

Well, I have to talk about The Miz, which (because I’m old) makes me think of that guy who was on MTV’s Real World many years ago and who wanted to be (and ultimately became, I think) a pro wrestler. I think you all know the drill – he (Jacob, not the wrestler guy) regularly hits 104 MPH in a game and has passed Paul Skenes for the title of “young phenom who throws really really hard in in NL Central”. Misiorowski is striking out 38.8% of batters, which is top-shelf reliever territory but with a starter’s workload, and walking only 7.2% of hitters. And remember when I said that Rasmussen stranding 79.8% of runners is high? The Miz is leaving a whopping 84.2% of runners on base. But given his strikeout stuff, I’m inclined to believe this rate can be sustained for a whole season.

AL Rookie of the Year
Favorites: McGonigle, Messick, Peters

All I have to say about Parker Messick is that I’m glad he’s doing really well, because when he took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the Orioles in April I was like “who the f is this guy? I’ve never heard of him before!” And that was back when I still expected something out of the team this season. So now that he’s in the conversation for the AL ROY award, at least I know we weren’t dominated by some scrub but by someone who’s actually talented (not that it matters for our won-loss record at the end of the day).

NL Rookie of the Year
Favorites: Wetherholt, McLean, Rumfield

The Rockies may be on the road to nowhere at the moment, buft you can’t blame TJ Rumfield. The 26 year old first baseman is hitting .294/.372/.491. Playing half his game in Denver means his wRC+ is only 127, but that’s still very good.   

Glancing at Rumfield’s player page for this analysis tells me that he, like yours truly, went to Virginia Tech. So I’ll be rooting for him.

AL Manager of the Year
Favorites: Cash, Vogt, Venable

Since last we spoke, the White Sox have vaulted into first place in the AL Central, if by only one game over the Guardians. They are getting contributions up and down the lineup. Miguel Vargas has broken out with a downballot MVP season at 3.0 WAR already on the strength of a 140 wRC+ (and he’s actually underperforming his batted-ball launch angle and exit velocity). Colson Montgomery is hitting bombs right alongside Murakami, and Chase Meidroth is having a solid season right behind him. On the pitching side, Davis Martin is getting lucky but the results on the field are very good, and Sean Burke is solidifying the spot right behind him.

Projection sites still have the White Sox missing the postseason, but it’s been a fun ride for them to this point, the AL is very weak this year, and there’s plenty of baseball left to play.  

NL Manager of the Year
Favorites: Murphy, Mattingly, Counsell

I’m not sure whether any manager has won the award after his predecessor was fired mid-season, but Don Mattingly could do so with his Phillies. Under his tenure the Phillies have gone from also-ran to solid contenders. After going 12-19 in March and April, they’ve since gone an absurd 35-18. Thomson was fired on April 28th so it’s a very clean correlation from March/April under his leadership to May/June under Mattingly’s. But is it causal? I suppose we’ll never know, but Mattingly’s going to get credit all the same. 

Ironically Thomson himself received similar praise when he took over from Joe Girardi who was fired on June 3, 2022. The Phillies had gone 22-29 to that point but ended up doing well enough after the change to appear in the World Series. Can’t wait to see who replaces Mattingly in May of 2030!

Predicatron update: Walsh tops out!
[Jim Baker shared this update on June 21, the most recent update. Because of his travel plans, his next update is slightly delayed.]

Oh, look at us: scoring points again like we know something about baseball. Aren’t we proud of ourselves and our 25-point per-player average increase?

Well, we should be. It’s quite an accomplishment, especially after last week and some of the other weeks we’ve had to endure in this most trying of seasons.

In any event, we have a new leader in the person of Mr. Walsh. He outpointed previous leader Mr. Robinson 31 to 27, which was just enough for him to take a one-point lead in the contest. Mr. Robinson maintains his grip on the Mike Harrell Division lead, however, one of the 23-point variety over his closest pursuer, Ms. Martinez.

Things are a lot tighter in the Tom Wancho Division, however. Mr. McIntosh and Mr. Gay are eight points back of the lead with our Player of the Week Mr. Pollack just one point behind them. With 36 points, he bested Mr. Dillon (35) and last week’s recipient, Mr. Wancho (34), to carry home the award.

Don’t look now, but the Marlins and Nationals are both over .500, an eventuality that was not on our Bingo cards (or, more accurately, our Predictatron ballots).

The Marlins are only costing us nine points apiece on average, which is not disastrous, but certainly not ideal. The best Miami pick belongs to Mr. Wancho, who said they’d win 82 games. The most-damaging Miami pick is in the hands of Mr. Dillon, who predicted a 59-win season for them. Nobody had them as their Lock.

The Nationals are more of a problem for this contest, hitting us up for 18 points each on average. Mr. Dillon gets some compensation for his Marlins pick here, possessing the best Nats tab on the block at 74 wins. The most-damaging D.C. dosage belongs to Mr. Pollack, who Locked them at 67 wins, which is costing him 32 points at the moment. The least-accurate Washington pick belongs to Mr. McIntosh who foretold a 56-win season for them.

Surely both can’t keep this up the rest of the way, can they? We’re very close to the half-way point and it would be most disruptive to this contest if both or even one of these teams kept this going the rest of the way.

Through games of Sunday, June 21 or 47.6 percent of the 2026 season:

Next meeting

We stick to the ball field for our next monthly meeting, shifting south to Wolff Municipal Stadium, home of the San Antonio Missions!

Please join us at 6:05 p.m. Sunday, July 26, when the Missions (Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres) host the Frisco RoughRiders (Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers). We’ll soon share a link with ticket location on the email list.

May 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner

Nine chapter members and guests celebrated Star Wars night at the Dell Diamond on Saturday and watched the Round Rock Express tie the game 2-2 in the 8th inning before falling to the Sacramento River Cats 3-2 in a tight game.

The Express took an early lead in the bottom of the first with a double steal of second by Trevor Hauver and home by Cameron Cauley. But the River Cats jumped ahead on Grant McCray’s two-run home run in the 6th inning. After the Express tied it in the 8th inning with Diego Castillo’s RBI single, the River Cats wasted no time regaining the lead and ultimately the win with an RBI single by Turner Hill in the 9th inning.

Some of us visited with Express General Manager Tim Jackson, who stopped by before first pitch and caught up with the group. He shared that the ballpark is making modifications to the field to accommodate the Texas Volts, the team in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League that will call the Dell Diamond home this summer (See the note in “Next meeting” below for the chapter’s plan to see the Volts host the Portland Cascade on June 28 for the June meeting). Pegs for the bases have been placed in the infield and the temporary fence is ready for the outfield.

Before the game, we gathered at the Salt Lick for a barbecue dinner and caught up on developments in the baseball season.

We pondered the impact of the ABS system. Monte shared that he didn’t like drama injected into the game and the added commentary by broadcasters. He’d rather see full ABS incorporated, eliminating the challenge system altogether. I shared that I think that’s ultimately where we’re head, but Andy disagreed. Andy said he doesn’t want to see the loss of the human element provided by umpires.

We saw a few challenges during the game, including a check-swing challenge, something many of us hadn’t seen yet. A graphic showed a dotted line running near home plate toward first base along with animation showing the path of the bat.

After the game, some of us, including Dick Butler and his son Andrew, visiting from Australia, stuck around for the terrific Star Wars-themed drone show. Fans were also treated to dozens of Star Wars characters roaming the aisles, stands and walkways throughout the game.

Chapter commissioner election results

By Dick Butler
Election Coordinator

The Hornsby Chapter conducted its online election for the office of commissioner between May 8 and May 15.  The results have been tabulated and are now official.  As election coordinator, I hereby certify that Gilbert Martinez was re-elected as commissioner for the next three-year term (2026-2029).  Seventeen (17) votes were cast by members, representing 21% of members eligible to vote.  All 17 votes were cast for Mr. Martinez, the sole candidate nominated in our nomination process.  No blank ballots were submitted.  Congratulations to Gilbert!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the election by voting.  A special thanks to Election Committee members Don Dingee and Ryan Pollack, whose work on the technology ensured that our online voting process went smoothly.  

Commissioner’s first task

I’m very grateful to membership for your support! Thanks also to Dick, Don and Ryan for conducting this election.

My first task as chapter commissioner is to appoint directors to the chapter’s leadership team. Running this chapter takes a group of dedicated and passionate members, so I’m happy to announce the group of directors who will continue to guide our chapter activities and responsibilities.

Ryan Pollack, webmaster/faciliator
Jerry Miller, winter meeting coordinator
Don Dingee, membership coordinator
Dick Butler, election coordinator
Nicole Bryan, at-large

Monte Cely, who’s been a chapter member since its formation more than 20 years ago, is stepping down from the leadership team, but I’ve happy to report that I offered, and he accepted, a role as director emeritus, so that he can stay involved as time allows. He and his spouse, Linda, will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in October and have many hours, days, weeks and months planned with their children and grandchildren. Congratulations to Monte and Linda! Monte will continue to serve as a Baseball Memories coordinator along with Larry Rice. Please join me in thanking Monte for all of his work with the chapter and his continued involvement.

Email list trivia

In recent weeks, some of our members have tried (and failed!) to stump our membership with trivia questions. Here are a few of the questions.

Cy Morong: Who had the most HRs in MLB over the years 1958-62?

Ryan Pollack: Who is the only player in MLB history to have a qualifying season with 0 HR and a qualifying season with 30+ HR?

Gilbert D. Martinez: Jose Altuve’s appearance in the Astros game on April 21 versus the Cleveland Guardians put him at 2,000 career games, good enough for fifth among active players. Who are the four active players ahead of him?

Think you know the answers? Check your work at the bottom of this newsletter. Good luck!

SABR 54 registration now open; early bird discount ending soon!

SABR’s 54th annual convention will be July 29–Aug. 2, 2026, at the Hilton Downtown Cleveland hotel!  

The featured speakers and panelists include:

•    Chris Antonetti, Cleveland Guardians President of Baseball Operations
•    Sandy Alomar Jr., 1990 AL ROY, Gold Glove-winning catcher, and 1997 All-Star Game MVP, White Sox legend
•    Carlos Baerga, fan favorite as a switch-hitting second baseman during his 14-year major league career
•    Tom Hamilton, Cleveland Guardians broadcaster and 2025 Ford C. Frick Award recipient
•    Mike Hargrove, won two AL pennants and 5 consecutive AL Central Division titles as Cleveland’s manager
•    Kenny Lofton, all-star CF who holds Cleveland franchise record for stolen bases, Cubs/White Sox legend
•    Charles Nagy, three-time All-Star pitcher and Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame inductee
•    Paul Hoynes, Cleveland Plain Dealer sports writer and BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipient
•    David S. Ward, writer and director of Major League, who will lead a Q&A session following a screening
•    Sky Andrecheck, Assistant General Manager, Cleveland Guardians
•    Keith Woolner, Principal Data Scientist, Baseball Analytics, Cleveland Guardians
•    Kyle Burris, Director, Research & Development, Cleveland Guardians

Conference and hotel registration for SABR 54 is now available.

THE DEADLINE FOR THE EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT IS MAY 29.

Click the link to register today: https://sabr.org/convention

Predictatron: The Quarter Turn

[Editor’s note: Jim Baker shared this update with the chapter on May 15.]

By Jim Baker

Believe it or not, a full quarter of the season is on the books. It seems like only yesterday that teams were breaking camp to start the season and yet here we are, wondering where the time went and why we made some of the picks we did way back then.

There were no changes to the uppermost portions of our standings. Slots one through four remain the same in the Mike Harrell Division, with Ms. Martinez holding her lead for a second week and continuing to preside over the contest. The two top spots in the Tom Wancho Division remain in the hands of Mr. Pollack and Mr. Wancho, for whom the division is named, not coincidentally. Mr. Rechtorovic the Elder and Mr. McIntosh were tied for fifth last week, but both had identical 29-point outings and are now tied for third. The biggest standings jumps were made by Mr. Siegel and our Player of the Week Mr. Dillon (for the second time this season). Both moved up three spots with the latter player improving by 53 points to lead us all.

We averaged a 35-point increase this time around as we continue to find our footing after the disastrous week of April 19 showing. On the team front, our new worst enemies are the Tampa Bay Rays, who are costing us an average of 31 points each. Did anybody here predict they’d have the best record in the American League? Show of hands… no? Not seeing any. In fact, only three players even had them finishing over .500. The best Rays pick at the moment belongs to Mr. Rechtorovic the Younger at 85. Even that is costing him 23 points!

It’s time to check in on our Locks, that thing we all love to hate! Let’s start with the positives for a change. Here are the four best individual Lock choices so far:

0 Mike Harrell, Dodgers at 97
2 Eric Robinson, Angels at 64
2 Raeanne Martinez, Twins at 72
2 Mike Bass, Dodgers at 98

Now the best combined Lock score. Not surprisingly, our leader heads up this list:

8 Raeanne Martinez, Twins at 72 and Dodgers at 94
14 Eric Robinson, Angels at 64 and Dodgers at 103
22 Gary McIntosh, Angels at 66 and Rockies at 55
22 Frank Rechtorovic, Angels at 65 and Rockies at 54

There must be a dark side as well, alas. These are the most-damaging individual Lock picks so far:

72 Jerry Miller, Rays at 72
66 John Rechtorovic, Cardinals at 60
58 Ira Siegel, Cardinals at 64

These are the most-damaging combined Locks to date:

104 Mike McNulty, Red Sox at 94 and Cardinals at 66
  92 Ira Siegel, Blue Jays at 90 and Cardinals at 64
  82 Jerry Miller, Rays at 72 and Nationals at 70

The good news is that these numbers are bound to shrink as teams regress to the mean—unless they don’t, which happens sometimes because it’s baseball, right?

Through games of Sunday, May 10 or 25.0 percent of the 2026 season:

Next meeting

Please join us for our June meeting, a return to the Dell Diamond, to see the Texas Volts host the Portland Cascade of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League on Sunday, June 28! More information about tickets and a discount code will go out in a meeting announcement in early June. Hope you can join us!

Trivia answers:
Morong: Rocky Colavito
Pollack: Kirby Puckett
Martinez: (in order from most) Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Santana, Freddie Freeman and Paul Goldschmidt