Insights about Oakland A’s owner Charlie O. Finley, biographies about major league players, perspectives about the life and career of the late Gaylord Perry and a personal remembrance of Vin Scully were among the highlights of a fun-filled day of baseball talk at the 17th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting on Saturday, Jan. 7.
For the first time in three years, the winter meeting was held in person at Old Main on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos. Forty members and guests joined us as we also got a preview of the Round Rock Express from General Manager Tim Jackson and Mike Capps, longtime broadcaster and voice of the Express. In addition, high school student Bailey Hall discussed the history of statistics in baseball and how they’ve changed how we analyze the game, and her great-uncle, Mike Bryan, shared stories about writing biographies with Cal Ripken Jr., Keith Hernandez and Kirby Puckett.
Nancy Finley
Nancy Finley, the niece of Charlie O. Finley (pictured above), shared anecdotes from her book, “Finley Ball: How Two Baseball Outsiders Turned the Oakland A’s into a Dynasty and Changed the Game Forever.” She shared how her uncle and her father, Carl Finley, ran the ballclub and oversaw the three-time champion Oakland A’s in the 1970s. She said the main motivation in writing the book, published in 2016, was to correct a common misconception about moving the franchise from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. She said sports articles depicted her uncle as hating Kansas City and its fans, but she said it wasn’t true.
Nancy Finley also shared that she wrote her first press release for the ballclub when she was 14 years old and saw how easy they were to write. She commented that the modern-day front office in baseball, in her opinion, employs too many people compared to what she experienced in Charlie O.’s front office. “I feel like I could run a front office with my eyes closed,” she said with a smile.
She also noted that there was a great mutual respect between Charlie Finley and Marvin Miller, the longtime executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Mike Bryan
Feature writer Mike Bryan shared anecdotes of working with Cal Ripken Jr., Keith Hernandez and Kirby Puckett in writing books with them about their lives. When Ripken was interviewing writers, Bryan was invited to Ripken’s home in Florida as a possible collaborator for the book. Later, Ripken’s handler told Bryan that Ripken felt like he was the one being interviewed, instead of the other way around, likely helping him land the job. Bryan recalled writing a first draft for the book without Ripken’s help because he was too busy playing ball. Once the season was done, Ripken wanted to make corrections on the early draft, sat down with Bryan and went through the draft line by line, making it better. He said he was impressed with Ripken’s intense focus and dedication.
Bryan also shared stories of his continued friendship and collaborations with Keith Hernandez, the former Mets great and broadcaster. He also sought the group’s help for ideas about future writing projects to pitch to Hernandez.
David Vaught
Vaught, a Texas A&M history professor and author of “Spitter: Baseball’s Notorious Gaylord Perry,” told of Perry’s life and career of a pitcher known to use foreign substances while pitching. In fact, he shared that Perry struggled early in his career, bouncing between the big leagues and minor leagues, until a catcher persuaded him. “Gaylord, it’s time to try it out,” Vaught recounted. From that point, Gaylord Perry became one of the best pitchers of his generation.
“I think (Perry)’s one of the more underappreciated Hall of Famers,” Vaught said, noting that many remember when Nolan Ryan broke Walter Johnson’s strikeout record in 1983. In fact, Ryan wasn’t alone. Two other pitchers broke Johnson’s record that year: Steve Carlton and Gaylord Perry.
While he conducted his research for this book, Vaught said he was struck at the intensity of the sibling rivalry between Gaylord Perry and his older brother, Jim Perry, who had a 17-year pitching career with Cleveland, Minnesota, Detroit and Oakland. Vaught said Gaylord was never able to escape Jim’s shadow, from childhood to the end of his life.
Round Rock Express (Tim Jackson and Mike Capps)
Express General Manager Tim Jackson (pictured on Zoom above) talked about the success of the 2022 season in which the team played a 150-game schedule, going about a month longer than they have in the past. He said he’s seen the benefits of some of MLB’s rules experimentation at the minor league level, such as the pitch clock, automatic balls and strikes, the challenge system and larger bases. He said players liked that the pitch clock brought Express games down to two hours and 38 minutes on average, and that fans liked it, too. He said that the larger bases brought about more action in the game, with more stolen base attempts.
He said MLB hasn’t yet met with the minor league clubs, so he’s not sure what other rules changes may come in the 2023 season.
He said MLB’s push to improve facilities has helped minor league baseball as a whole. He said that the effort to unionize minor league players might lead to other changes, such as the number of ballclubs.
He invited us to the Round Rock Classic at the Dell Diamond from Feb. 24 to 26, featuring LSU, Iowa, Kansas State and Sam Houston State.
Mike Capps, chapter member and longtime broadcaster for the Round Rock Express, shared his thoughts about the much-improved Texas Rangers and how that may impact the Triple-A club. He pointed to the hiring of manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux as key acquisitions to manage the mix of veterans and young players on the ballclub.
With the Rangers acquiring Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney, Capps said he wasn’t sure that prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker would pitch at Triple-A this coming season.
While the Express have a vacancy at manager, Capps said he hopes the team hires a veteran manager to help with the young players at the Express.
Capps also talked about his book, “Grinders: Baseball’s Intrepid Infantry,” published in 2022. He said he was excited when the publisher told him that an audiobook version was being recorded for the book. His excitement, however, turned to panic when he was told he was going to do the audio – and it was two days before the start of the baseball season! But nine hours and 38 minutes of recording later, he’s happy to have done it.
Bailey Hall
One of our newest members, Bailey Hall, gave a brief history of the use of statistics in baseball and how technology has transformed how we watch and analyze the game we love. She said “a wise man” told her that to truly appreciate the game, one had to learn and know the history of the game before one was born. She’s taken that to heart, learning about baseball and applying her love of numbers and statistics to better understand how the game has evolved over time.
You can download her presentation slides here: Bailey’s SABR Talk.
Vin Scully
Jerry Miller, winter meeting coordinator, gave a touching remembrance of Vin Scully, perhaps the greatest baseball broadcaster of all time, who passed away in 2022. Miller shared how Scully’s career started just before he was born and carried him and his family as Dodgers fans throughout his life. He also shared a few choice broadcasts by Scully and his brief interactions with Scully, in person and through correspondence. Jerry helped us remember that baseball creates a strong bond between broadcasters and fans, but also among parents and children.
You can download his presentation slides by clicking here: Vin Scully video project.
Miller also provided a quiz about the no-hitters Scully called during his career. Mark Wernick of the Larry Dierker Chapter took top honors with 13 points, winning a program from the 2022 All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Peter Myers and Cy Morong tied for second with 11 points.
You can take the quiz yourself at the end of this page. Answers follow the quiz.
Baseball Memories of 2022
Jerry Miller led a presentation featuring his memories and memories of some chapter members of the 2022 season. Memories by Miller, Jan Larson (who was unable to attend), Ira Siegel (pictured) and Gilbert Martinez were followed by contributions from audience members. Later, Frank Rechtorovic remarked that our group could’ve talked for hours about our baseball memories. So true, Frank!
You can download the presentation slides by clicking here: Baseball Memories 2022.
Mock Hall of Fame vote
A popular feature of the winter meeting involves participants playing the part of BBWAA voters for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Our vote has often served as an accurate prediction of the actual vote. With Jan Larson unable to attend, Ryan Pollack (pictured) grabbed the ballots and pitch-hit admirably for Larson.
With 31 ballots, no player on the ballot reached the minimum threshold of 75 percent.
The highest vote-getter was Scott Rolen with 58 percent, followed by Todd Helton with 51.6 percent. No other player reached at least 50 percent. Billy Wagner and Andruw Jones had 45.1 percent. Other notable results include Carlos Beltrán and Andy Pettitte (both 35.4 percent); Bobby Abreu and Jeff Kent (both 29 percent); and Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield (both 25.8 percent).
Predictatron
Jim Baker presented trophies to the winners of Predictatron, the full-season prediction contest and the postseason contest. For predictions for the season and postseason made in March, Chuck Kaufman (pictured above, right, with Baker) took home the trophy for the year. For his postseason predictions, David Curtoys (pictured below, right, with Baker) won the Postseason Predictatron trophy.
Kaufman also has the honor of having a division named in his honor. Gilbert Martinez successfully defended his division name for the 2023 Predictatron. Be on the lookout for a call from Jim Baker for predictions in March prior to the start of the new season.
Overview
At the beginning of the meeting, we took time to remember Bill Gilbert, the founder of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter and the Larry Dierker Chapter. He conceived of having an annual winter meeting, and we know how much he would have enjoyed the championship season by the Houston Astros and the continuing success of the Hornsby Chapter and its winter meeting.
Thanks to everyone able to join us in San Marcos! Many thanks to Jerry Miller for coordinating this year’s winter meeting, his first! We think he hit it out of the park. We also want to thank all of our special guests and presenters for talking about our favorite sport of all — baseball!
And we are so grateful for Monte and Linda Cely for organizing a ballpark lunch of hot dogs, chips, Cracker Jack and snacks for lunch on site.
We look forward to another great year of baseball in the Hornsby community.
QUIZ – 23 No-hitters called by Vin Scully
By Jerry Miller
During his 67-year broadcast career, Vin Scully called 23 no-hitters, which at one point was approximately 7% of all no-hitters ever thrown. Using the below clues, identify the pitchers that threw those 23 no-hitters (total 23 points).
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An easy one to get you started: this pitcher accounted for four of the 23 (4 points).
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Of the 23 no hitters that Vin called, three were perfect games. One of them was by the answer to # 1. Name the pitchers that threw the other two (2 points).
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Two no-hitters, both thrown by Dodger left-handers, would have been perfect games but for errors committed by the Dodger SS. Name these (slightly) unlucky lefties (2 points).
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Of the 23 no-hitters, only one did not involve the Dodgers. It came during the NBC Game of the Week and was thrown by a member of the Hall of Fame. Name him.
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Two of the no-hitters were pitched in the State of Texas. One broke a record established by the answer to #1. The other was thrown by a pitcher who later became persona non grata for the same team that the first pitcher played for. Name them (two points).
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Three of the no-hitters were by Brooklyn Dodger pitchers, all by right-handers. Two of them were by the same pitcher, who also formerly held the record for most strikeouts in a World Series game and is one of the last living Brooklyn Dodgers. The other was the losing pitcher in one of the perfect games referred to in #2. Name them (three points).
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Eleven of the 23 no-hitters were thrown by Los Angeles Dodger pitchers: four by right-handers, and seven by left-handers. Of the four righties, one of them was a 20-game winner and the brother of a Hall of Famer. One pitched the only no-hitter ever in this ballpark, and later pitched a second no-hitter for a different team. The other two were journeymen who had their moments in the sun in 1970 and 1992, respectively. Name them (four points).
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Of the seven Dodger left-handers, six of them are encompassed in the answers to #1 and #3. The remaining lefty was a Cy Young Award winner, but pitched his no-hitter nine years after his Cy Young season, on the down side of his career. Name him.
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Eight of the 23 no-hitters were thrown by opposing pitchers against the Dodgers. Four are encompassed within # 2 and # 5. Of the other four, two were thrown by various iterations of the Braves franchise, one of which was the first no-hitter called by Vin in his initial year of broadcasting. The third was a combined no-hitter and came during an interleague game. The last of the four was thrown by a tall, mid-70s LHP, in a city which saw no no-hitter during the 60-year history of the team’s former ballpark. (For the combined no-hitter, you need name only the starting pitcher) (four points). Note: this is by far the hardest question, so don’t spend too much time on it.
ANSWERS:
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Sandy Koufax (1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965).
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Don Larsen (1956 World Series); Dennis Martinez (1991).
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Jerry Reuss (1980) (error by SS Bill Russell); Clayton Kershaw (2014) (error by SS Hanley Ramirez).
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Jack Morris, DET vs. CWS (1984).
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Nolan Ryan (1981) and Mike Fiers (2015).
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Carl Erskine (1952 and 1956); Sal Maglie (1956).
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Ramon Martinez (1995), Hideo Nomo (1996), Bill Singer (1970) and Kevin Gross (1992).
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Fernando Valenzuela (1990).
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Vern Bickford (Boston Braves 1950); Kent Mercker (Atlanta Braves 1994); John Candelaria (Pittsburgh Pirates 1976); Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmson (Seattle Mariners 2012).
Here’s the complete list:
1. Vern Bickford, Boston Braves vs. Brooklyn Dodgers, Aug. 11, 1950
2. Carl Erskine, Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs, June 19, 1952
3. Carl Erskine, Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Giants, May 12, 1956
4. Sal Maglie, Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 25, 1956
5. Don Larsen, New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers (World Series, perfect game), Oct. 8, 1956
6. Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets, June 30, 1962
7. Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants, May 11, 1963
8. Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies, June 4, 1964
9. Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs (perfect game), Sept. 9, 1965
10. Bill Singer, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies, June 20, 1970
11. John Candelaria, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Aug. 9, 1976
12. Jerry Reuss, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, June 27, 1980
13. Nolan Ryan, Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Sept. 26, 1981
14. Jack Morris, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, April 7, 1984
15. Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals, June 29, 1990
16. Dennis Martinez, Montreal Expos at Los Angeles Dodgers (perfect game), July 28, 1991
17. Kevin Gross, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco, Giants, Aug. 17, 1992
18. Kent Mercker, Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers, April 8, 1994
19. Ramon Martinez, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Florida Marlins, July 14, 1995
20. Hideo Nomo, Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, Sept. 17, 1996
21. Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, Tom Wilhelmson, Seattle Mariners vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, June 8, 2012
22. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Colorado Rockies, June 18, 2014
23. Mike Fiers, Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Aug. 21, 2015
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