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