Split-screen June baseball chatter with friends new and old

June 2025 Newsletter

by Don Dingee

A highlight of June baseball for me is always the split-screen action from the NCAA Men’s College Baseball regionals, with many games unfolding simultaneously in various locations across the country. The Hornsby chapter applied the split-screen concept for June, with meetings held over meals on consecutive weekends in San Antonio and Austin.

Our June 7 meet-and-greet lunch gathering at Stone Werks in The Vineyard (left image above), on the north edge of San Antonio, highlighted the analytics and historical storytelling aspects of SABR. Scott Lopez (with his wife, Brittany, who was sporting an AAGPBL jersey), who holds level 1, 2, and 3 SABR Analytics Certification, swapped ideas with Cy Morong. Across the table, John Fredland, chair of the SABR Games Project, and Bob Windham shared some of their favorite stories. There was also a vigorous conversation between Steve Braccini and Mike Lassman on the finer points of two popular baseball board games, Strat-O-Matic and APBA.

Our official monthly chapter meeting on June 14 (right image above) drew a bit larger crowd to Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ on Loop 360 in Austin. For the first hour, over choices of breakfast burritos and brisket plates around the table, the baseball chatter among the 15 members present became fascinating. Conversations I overheard spanned topics including what’s right with the Astros, what’s still wrong with the Cubs despite their improvement, and the age-old debate among those growing up in or near New York City over being a Mets fan or a Yankees fan, but never both.

Best dressed for the day went to Cy Morong, who wore a White Sox-emblazoned Hawaiian shirt. We also welcomed long-time SABR member Dick Butler, who joined us from Boerne, sharing some of his White Sox stories. (Dick is also an APBA aficionado – maybe there’s a demo or even a tournament in our future.) Nicole Bryan brought some of her family’s memorabilia, including a Colt .45s game program and a signed ball, along with a Ty Cobb game-used baseball and a  tin container miniature of the Astrodome. This commemorative miniature used to contain confetti samples from the final game, lost during a hush-hush incident involving parental housecleaning.

Ryan Pollack prepared and emceed the quiz, which featured a theme of breakfast and food-related names in baseball. The winner was Dan Walsh (note his use of a pencil) with 14 out of 17 correct answers, and runner-ups Ira Siegel and Tom Thayer (playing with a surgically repaired wrist) with 13 each. Dan received a copy of “Rickey” by Howard Bryant for his showing. Tom Wancho is also recuperating from his Spring Training voyage mishap; thanks to Jim Baker for providing Tom a lift so he could join us.

You can test your knowledge on this quiz in its original form. 

Or, you can slide into the answer key, with correct answers in bold.

Contest updates and member perspectives

While I’m pinch-hitting for chapter commissioner Gilbert Martinez in this month’s newsletter, we heard from Gilbert in real time as we met in Austin with a multicultural baseball perspective from his hotel in Japan. We also have the latest updates on our chapter contests, Predictatron and Awardatron. I must note that my picks in Awardatron have eerily foreshadowed UCL tears in two consecutive seasons: Spencer Strider for NL CY last year and Jackson Jobe for AL RoY this year. For participants with similar issues involving injured players or underperforming picks, Ryan’s next update will provide instructions on making one adjustment to a pick with a half-off points penalty.

Remembering Mr. Pro Baseball, Shigeo Nagashima
by Gilbert D. Martinez
Chapter Commissioner

For as long as I can remember, my parents had a signature-stamped baseball of Yomiuri Giants great Shigeo Nagashima. I had long admired it, though I couldn’t read the name written in Japanese.

Arriving to Tokyo with my Texas State students for a study abroad program on June 3, I was saddened to learn that Nagashima, also known as Mr. Giants and Mr. Pro Baseball, had passed away that day. He and his teammate, Giants legend and home run king Sadaharu Oh, formed the ON (Oh-Nagashima) power attack, leading the Giants to nine straight Japan Series victories from 1965 to 1973.

He won five MVP awards with a .305 average, 444 home runs, .379 OBP and .540 slugging for his career.

After retiring as a player in 1974, he managed the Giants from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1993 to 2001, winning the Japan Series in 1994 and 2000.

His death made for front-page news in The Yomiuri Shimbun and The Sankei Shimbun, among others.

Do you have a cool baseball story that happened to you this season? Want to share it with your friends in the Hornsby Chapter and beyond? This may be perfect for you! Please reach out to Gilbert D. Martinez (gmartinez46@mac.com) with a brief description of your cool baseball story (write in first-person and limit your story to no more than 300 words, please) and accompanying photo if available.

 

Predictatron Update: Back In the Black
by Jim Baker
[Note: Jim shared this Predictatron update with the Hornsby Google Group on June 11, 2025.]

There is much better news on the scoring front this time around as only three players were in the red on the week and we averaged a median increase of 13 points each.

Sadly for our previous leader Team Hall, they were one of those three and lost the most ground to the tune of 11 points. This cost them the overall lead and the lead in the Brian Rogers Division, which has been regained by Mr. Gay. The overall lead, however, is now in the hands of rookie sensation Mr. Windham.

Our Player of the Week is Mr. Pollack and his 24 points. This raised him up from sixth to fourth in the Eric Robinson Division. Don’t look now, but Defending Champion Mr. Rogers is not too far off the track for a repeat. Here are the top five scores:

719 Bob Windham
717 Scott Gay
712 Brian Rogers
709 Team Hall
707 Ryan Pollack

Our scores would all be a lot higher had the Braves not gone winless. After a terrible start, they had battled back to decency only to completely go into the tank again. We are now down 23 points to them, the second-worst in the contest.

Through games of Sunday, June 8, or 40.2 percent of the 2025 season:

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move
1	Scott Gay	717		708	9	2	1
2	Brian Rogers	712	5	703	9	3	1
3	Team Hall	709	8	720	-11	1	-2
4	Ryan Pollack*	707	10	683	24	6	2
5	Kevin Barnes	695	22	698	-3	4	-1
6	Gilbert Martinez	693	24	676	17	9	3
7	John Rechtorovic	693	24	679	14	8	1
8	Jim Baker	692	25	688	4	5	-3
9	Tom Wancho	686	31	672	14	11	2
10	Don Dingee	685	32	683	2	6	-4
11	Syd Polk	677	50	674	3	10	-1
12	Mike McNulty	658	69	654	4	12	0
	*Player of the Week

 

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move
1	Bob Windham	719		700	19	1	0
2	Dan Walsh	704	15	689	15	3	1
3	Mike Dillon	701	18	686	15	4	1
4	Raeanne Martinez	697	22	676	21	6	2
5	Frank Rechtorovic	695	24	682	13	5	0
6	Jerry Miller	692	26	692	0	2	-4
7	Mike Harrell	688	31	670	18	7	0
8	Eric Robinson	686	33	665	21	9	1
8	Jan Larson	686	33	670	16	7	-1
10	Ira Siegel	666	53	665	1	9	-1
11	Gary McIntosh	656	63	636	20	13	2
12	Chris Crombar	652	67	642	10	12	0
13	Michael Bass	651	68	652	-1	11	-2

 

Awardatron Update #2
by Ryan Pollack
[Note: Ryan shared this second Awardatron update of the season with the email list on May 26, 2025.]

Ahoy mateys!!  We’re about 2 months through the baseball season. It’s time to check in on our Awardatron … awards.

AL MVP
Favorites: Judge, Witt Jr, Cal Raleigh

Raleigh is breaking out at age 28. He set a career high in WAR with 5.4 last year, and this year he’s up to 3.0 already. He’s cut his strikeouts a tad but has boosted his walk rate to a superlative 15%. That’s happening because of his massive power spike — .577 SLG, highest by far in his career if it sticks — and Raleigh’s willingness to take pitches and not chase. He’s barreling a crazy 22.5% of balls and has already socked 17 HR, halfway to his career high total of 34 last year and we’re not even in June yet. He’s doing all this while maintaining above-average defense behind the plate. This isn’t just luck, either – his .277 BABIP is normal, and his xWOBA of .394 is only slightly behind of his actual wOBA of .404.

NL MVP
Favorites: Ohtani, Tatis Jr., Betts

Ohtani had a .405 wOBA in March & April, and I thought — ah he’s kinda starting off a little slowly. He hit a mere 7 home runs with a .287 average, after all. Ho hum. In May he’s been more Ohtani-like, banging 11 HR so far and hitting .304 for a wOBA of .457. That’s more like it. And oh yeah — remember he’s still supposed to pitch sometime this year, too. 

AL Cy Young
Favorites: Skubal, Fried, Crochet

It pains me to write positive things about any Yankee, but Max Fried is having a very good year in the Bronx. Now, he isn’t as good as his 1.29 ERA might indicate. He is stranding an absurd amount of runners and benefiting from a crazy-low .246 BABIP. He will regress this year; mark my words. But he’s definitely keeping runs off the board and Cy Young voters love that. And he has ticked up his K rate while vastly lowering his walk rate, so his improvement isn’t all a mirage. It’s the same old Max honestly, just this time with some really great luck to start the year out.  

NL Cy Young
Favorites: Wheeler, Webb, Skenes

Webb, on the other hand, seemingly has found another level. He’s running a career-high 26.9% K rate alongside his usual low walk rate (5.8%). He’s keeping hitters off balance — just a 4.9% barrel rate. And he’s doing it while suffering from a .341 BABIP. But they’re mostly singles. He’s been good-to-great for most of his career, showing pieces of the puzzle before, but this year they’re coming together more.

AL ROY
Favorites: Jacob Wilson, Carlos Narvaez, Will Warren

Narvaez is a 26 year old rookie catcher for the Red Sox. The age should be a giveaway that big things aren’t expected of him. So while he is mashing the ball with a .372 wOBA, it should be noted his BABIP is a sky-high .372 and his xWOBA is .339. These numbers scream ‘regression’. That said, it doesn’t mean he’s terrible. He’s got a little thump in his bat, with 5 HR and 10 doubles so far, he’s walking at an above-average rate (9.5%), and his strikeouts aren’t crazy high either. So he has the potential to be quite good despite the regression, especially considering he’s a catcher. 

NL ROY
Favorites: Drake Baldwin, Chad Patrick, Ben Casparius

Casparius is a reliever and spot starter for the Dodgers. He’s got a great strikeout rate, but what catches my eye is his minuscule 4.5% walk rate. His Statcast page is lit up with high percentile rates: 89th percentile expected ERA, 89th percentile average exit velo, 97th percentile hard-hit rate — the list goes on. He’s got a lot of row to hoe if he wants to win ROY over a position player, and he may yet suffer the curse of being on the Dodgers’ staff (where they are apparently trying to push the limit of just how many pitchers they can break, and by how much) but he seemingly has the stuff to do it. 

AL Manager of the Year
Favorites: Hinch, Boone, Baldelli

Rocco Baldelli would be an interesting one here. The Twins were slightly favored to win the division to start the year, but it was a toss-up. They looked dead to start the year but then reeled off a 13-game winning streak to climb right back in the race. Hinch is the clear favorite in my opinion, but if the Tigers slip and the Twins get in, maybe Baldelli has a shot. 

NL Manager of the Year
Favorites: Counsell, Mendoza, Melvin

The Giants have scuffled somewhat but had a strong start to the season. They’ve got Logan Webb on the mound and Jung-Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman, and Heliot Ramos on the diamond. If they can hang around, and maybe if Willy Adames can figure out how to hit in Oracle Park, maybe they can hang around and make the postseason. If they can do that, look for Bob Melvin to finish on the podium.  

 

SABR 53 is just over the horizon

The Hornsby Chapter will be well-represented in DFW for SABR 53, with an anticipated 13 members attending on various schedules. Of note are Eric Bynum’s presentation (scroll down to RP08 on the agenda) on a controversy surrounding the 1914 Waco Navigators, who had to share the Texas League championship that season, on Thursday, June 26, at 11:30 a.m., and Ira Siegel’s remarks in the Baseball Memories committee meeting at noon on Friday, June 27. Eric is also slated to compete in the 4-Person Trivia Contest alongside Jim Baker, Mike Lassman, and Cy Morong, and individual contests are also open to anyone. There are no formal plans for chapter meetings at the conference; however, we encourage attendees to support the speakers and contestants or grab a meal or beverage with a few folks, time permitting.

Next meeting: San Antonio Missions game outing

Looking ahead to July, we’ll be heading to Wolff Stadium for a game on Saturday, July 19, at 7:05 p.m., when the Missions host the Amarillo Sod Poodles. We’ve had the best luck identifying a somewhat open section where individuals can purchase their tickets directly from the Missions’ online platform. Family members and guests are welcome to join us there. We’ll have more details around July 1 via the Hornsby Google Group and SABR chapter lists.