A quiz about the given names of ballplayers known by their nicknames and discussions of baseball trips and major league players in local minor league games highlighted the August meeting on Saturday.
Twelve chapter members and guests enjoyed breakfast tacos at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q in Southwest Austin. The temperature in the 80s was quite comfortable as compared to our last breakfast meeting at the same location in March, when it was 40 degrees!
Jan Larson posed a multiple-choice quiz challenging us to identify the given names of baseball players widely known by their nicknames. Dan Walsh (pictured above, right) won the competition with 20 out of 25 points (plus three tie-breaker points). Jim Baker (pictured above, left) took second with 20 (plus one tie-breaker point). Gary McIntosh placed third with 18 points (plus two tie-breaker points).
Take a swing at Jan’s quiz below. The answers follow the quiz questions. For their efforts, Dan won a Yogi Berra bobblehead, and Jim won an Ernie Banks bobblehead.
We spent a little time talking about how much baseball has changed over the years and how the game itself – separate from the endless tweaks by MLB – has endured and kept our attention.
Round Rock Express season ticket holder Andrew York talked about Dallas Keuchel’s seven innings of shutout ball in a 4-0 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas on Friday, Aug. 19. Since being released by the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this season, the former Cy Young winner and Astros starter has been pitching for the Express for the past month and may get called up to the Texas Rangers soon.
Joining us for his first meeting, Scott Lopez from San Antonio shared a few photos from the 30th anniversary of the premiere of “A League of Their Own” in Rockford, Illinois. He also saw Fernando Tatis Jr. play for the San Antonio Missions at Wolff Municipal Stadium a few weekends ago, just before MLB announced its 80-game suspension of the Padres star for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
On our Google group list, Mike Lassman, who’s attending this weekend’s SABR national convention in Baltimore, shared that SABR 51 will be in Chicago. The convention is scheduled for July 5-9, 2023. There’s interest in putting together a Hornsby Chapter group to attend next year.
This was the 189th consecutive month in which the chapter has met, a streak dating to December 2006.
Our next meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Hurricane Grill and Wings in Round Rock.
Also, save the following dates. We’ll have our October meeting on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Jim Baker’s house in Cedar Park for the World Series Game 2 watch party (teams to be determined).
And we’ll have our 17th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, at Texas State University in San Marcos. More details will be forthcoming in the coming months.
What’s in a Name?
By Jan Larson
Circle each player’s given first name (per www.baseball-reference.com). One point for each correct answer.
- Lefty Grove: Robert, Charles, Gilbert, Samuel
- Lefty O’Doul: Joseph, Francis, Anheuser, Orel
- Babe Ruth: Roger, George, Calvin, Babe
- Rocky Colavito: Rockwell, Rocco, Domenic, Vito
- Buck O’Neil: John, Jordan, Robert, Orel
- Ozzie Smith: Oswald, Osborne, Leroy, Earl
- Boog Powell (1961-1977): Wesley, John, Samuel, Paul
- Chico Carrasquel: Carlos, Charles, Alfonso, Gomez
- Mudcat Grant: Mudcat, Timothy, Robert, James
- Home Run Baker: Double, Franklin, John, Robert
- Three Finger Brown: Two Finger, Mordecai, Murgatroid, Murray
- Sammy Sosa: Samuel, Samson, Sam, Bob
- Tony Gwynn: Keith, Antonio, Antoine, Anthony
- Spike Owen: Robert, John, Alan, Spike
- Biff Pocoroba: Robert, William, Biff, Martin
- CC Sabathia: Charles, Carsten, Carlton, Carroll
- Willie Stargell: William, Wilver, Willie, Bob
- Ty Cobb: Tyson, Tyrone, Tyrus, Tyler
- Pie Traynor: Joseph, Harold, Caleb, Pumpkin
- Chipper Jones: Larry, Wayne, Robert, Willie
- Sandy Koufax: Santander, Sandy, Bob, Sanford
- Doc Medich: Francis, George, Bob, William
- Rusty Greer: Thurman, Clyde, Bob, Roger
- Dizzy Dean: Jerome, Darvin, Jay, Roger
- Duke Snider: Roger, Calvin, Donald, Edwin
Tie breaker: Rube Walker: Roger, Caleb, Albert, William
Tie breaker: Mookie Betts: Marvin, Markus, Mookie, Mohamad
Tie breaker: Rip Sewell: Roger, Ronald, Samuel, Truett
Correct answers in bold and underlined below.
- Lefty Grove: Robert, Charles, Gilbert, Samuel
- Lefty O’Doul: Joseph, Francis, Anheuser, Orel
- Babe Ruth: Roger, George, Calvin, Babe
- Rocky Colavito: Rockwell, Rocco, Domenic, Vito
- Buck O’Neil: John, Jordan, Robert, Orel
- Ozzie Smith: Oswald, Osborne, Leroy, Earl
- Boog Powell (1961-1977): Wesley, John, Samuel, Paul
- Chico Carrasquel: Carlos, Charles, Alfonso, Gomez
- Mudcat Grant: Mudcat, Timothy, Robert, James
- Home Run Baker: Double, Franklin, John, Robert
- Three Finger Brown: Two Finger, Mordecai, Murgatroid, Murray
- Sammy Sosa: Samuel, Samson, Sam, Bob
- Tony Gwynn: Keith, Antonio, Antoine, Anthony
- Spike Owen: Robert, John, Alan, Spike
- Biff Pocoroba: Robert, William, Biff, Martin
- CC Sabathia: Charles, Carsten, Carlton, Carroll
- Willie Stargell: William, Wilver, Willie, Bob
- Ty Cobb: Tyson, Tyrone, Tyrus, Tyler
- Pie Traynor: Joseph, Harold, Caleb, Pumpkin
- Chipper Jones: Larry, Wayne, Robert, Willie
- Sandy Koufax: Santander, Sandy, Bob, Sanford
- Doc Medich: Francis, George, Bob, William
- Rusty Greer: Thurman, Clyde, Bob, Roger
- Dizzy Dean: Jerome, Darvin, Jay, Roger
- Duke Snider: Roger, Calvin, Donald, Edwin
Tie breaker: Rube Walker: Roger, Caleb, Albert, William
Tie breaker: Mookie Betts: Marvin, Markus, Mookie, Mohamad
Tie breaker: Rip Sewell: Roger, Ronald, Samuel, Truett
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