Society for American Baseball Research
Rogers Hornsby Chapter
Central and South Texas
Annual Report, June 2016 – May 2017
By Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner
Rogers Hornsby Chapter
The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research in Central Texas continues to be a highly active chapter, with an annual winter meeting, several group outings to watch the Round Rock Express, and watch parties for the World Series and regular season games. In addition, chapter members have volunteered to help Alzheimer’s patients in the baseball reminiscence project.
The chapter extended its consecutive meeting streak, reaching 126 straight months with a meeting in May 2017. Many of the monthly meetings include lunch or dinner at a restaurant in the Austin area, sometimes involving baseball trivia quizzes.
The highlight of the year was the chapter’s 11th Annual Winter Meeting at historic Old Main at Texas State University in San Marcos. Guest speakers at the meeting included Dr. Bobby Brown, former World Series champion with the Yankees and retired cardiologist; Mark Saccomanno, former Astros first baseman who hit a homerun on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues; Mike Capps, entering his 18th season as broadcaster for the Round Rock Express; and Bo Carter, longtime college sports information director who co-authored a book about Dizzy Dean, and Sara Kirby Burke, daughter of longtime broadcaster Gene Kirby who collected and wrote much of the text in the Dizzy Dean book.
Meanwhile, chapter member Jim Kenton continues to lead the chapter’s effort in BasebALZ, a partnership with Alzheimer’s Texas to help Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers recover baseball memories. The therapy program involves six bi-weekly meetings, which include discussing favorite players and teams, remembering details of attending a ball game, and handling baseball items such as gloves and memorabilia. The BasebALZ effort here was also expanded to include monthly sessions at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Kerrville, Texas. We have also been in touch with other SABR chapters in hopes of expanding this program around the country.
Another highlight of the year was Monte Cely’s dispatches from the Caribbean World Series in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Posting daily updates during the tournament, Cely shared photos and details of Puerto Rico’s 1-0 championship win in extra innings over Mexico.
The chapter also created a WordPress site to house all of the chapter’s meeting summaries and photos, giving the leadership team an effective means to collect and preserve the chapter’s activities and to communicate with other chapters and the general public.