Author: Don Dingee

It’s that time again, when Spring Training starts early to get players wound up for the triennial World Baseball Classic. One player we won’t see in the tournament is Mike Trout, who couldn’t secure insurance, so the marquee matchup may come down to Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge in Miami if we get a reprise of the Japan-USA final. Or will some Caribbean powerhouse step forward and get to the championship game? Questions abound. Hopefully, we’ll see an exciting tournament free of season-altering injuries to big-name MLB players.

We’ll know the answers before our March monthly meeting on Saturday, March 21, when we return to our classic location at Serranos MoPac (address link in the RSVP form) for lunch starting at 1 p. m.  We’d enjoy seeing everyone in person if you can make it out with us, and guests are welcome, too. To help us secure a table big enough for all, just hit the mobile-friendly RSVP form and let us know if you’re coming and who you’re bringing.

RSVP March 2026 Meeting

We’ll take reservations until Wednesday, March 18. Oh, and by then, we may know more about whether phenom Konnor Griffin or sleeper Kevin McGonigle make the Pirates or Tigers opening day rosters, respectively, or would be called up a few weeks into the season. Implications for the upcoming Predicatron and Awardatron contests rest on those and other decisions. Fun times ahead!

Officially, as I write this, SABR Day is today, but what could be better than extending our celebration of baseball by another week?

On Saturday, February 7, at 1 p.m. CST, we’ll meet on Zoom, where our featured presenter will be author Marshall Garvey discussing his recent book Interstate ’85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and The Show-Me World Series. Marshall lives near Sacramento, CA, and has also authored The Hidden History of Sacramento Baseball (pre-Athletics, I presume – we can ask him), and co-authored the novel Ellwood’s Odyssey, set in the Korean War. Interstate ’85 has received praise from Sports Collectors Digest and a former Kansas City Star editor. He also writes about baseball, gaming, and other topics on Substack.

The mental image burned into my brain from that 1985 World Series is Jim Sundberg, rounding third and raising his arms, heading for the plate in the bottom of the 9th with the Game 6 winner, which knotted the series at 3-3. That loss, and facing Bret Saberhagen, seemed to drain all the emotion from the Cardinals, who suffered an 11-0 drubbing in Game 7, giving the Royals the trophy. I’m sure Marshall will have much more to share from his in-depth research and interviews with players who lived that series. Here’s the Zoom registration page, you’ll get a link to join the session when you register.

Zoom Registration – Hornsby SABR Day ’26 – Sat., Feb. 7, 1 p.m. CST

Bring your questions for Marshall and we’ll see you there!

 

Welcome to December, Hornsbyites. While it’s a bit cooler to start the month, we thankfully don’t get much of this white stuff pictured above (Huntington Stadium, home of the Columbus Clippers, taken about three weeks ago). Baseball stadiums may be in their winter hibernation, but in Texas, the hot smoker is fully lit.

Almost 22 years ago, a small group planted the seeds for what would become the SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter over barbeque platters at County Line on the Lake in Austin (RM2222 and Loop 360). Our December meeting returns to the site on Sunday, December 14, at 1pm. As usual, RSVPs are appreciated so we get a right-sized table for the group, with the form open until Wednesday, December 10:

RSVP December 2025 Meeting – County Line on the Lake Austin

Who knows, there may be much more to talk about on the free agent or trade front, and corresponding sadness or euphoria, depending on your perspective. We hope to see everyone, including our student members, if you are in town, to discuss any developments with your favorite club or player. 

We’ve made it past the trade deadline of the 2025 season, and our favorite teams fall somewhere on the spectrum of buying with both hands, filling one or two specific needs, standing pat or close to it, or tossing in the towel. And I’m still recovering from last night’s gigantic WHEEEEEE the Rockies put on the Pirates, a flashback to late-inning (and some earlier-inning) Coors Field magic of seasons past.

Which brings us to this month’s meeting, a virtual Zoom affair featuring author Kevin Hurd. On August 24, 1975, Ed Halicki spun a no-hitter pitching for the Giants at home against the Mets. Halicki, with a lifetime record of 55-66, is proof that no-hitters do not always come from elite pitchers – and that got a young Hurd, who was in the stands at Candlestick that day, thinking about the accomplishment.

After retiring from a 20-year career in the USAF as a navigator on RC-135s and KC-135s, his interest in the lore rekindled in 2014 with no-hitter feats from Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw. Finally, in March 2020, with a pandemic just starting and his security job at the Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth just ending, a friend suggested turning his passion for no-hitters into a book. The result is a two-volume effort titled “From Randy Johnson to Dallas Braden: No-Hitters Beyond the Box Score,” available on Amazon.

Hurd documents 23 no-hitters with a unique perspective, looking at what went on around each game with first-hand accounts from many people who made baseball history. A twist to Hurd’s work is that he interviews not only the pitchers who accomplished the feat, but also others, including the catcher behind the plate. (I’ll be curious to see if Hurd talked to our old friend Robby Hammock, who my daughter got to know a bit as manager of the Missoula Osprey in 2013.)

Chapter commissioner Gilbert Martinez will interview Kevin Hurd live, and the event promises to be a WHEEEEEE for the Hornsby Chapter and our SABR friends around the country. We hope you can join us online on Saturday, August 9, starting at 2 p.m. CDT. Register for the Zoom at the following link. See you there!

SABR Hornsby Chapter – August 2025 Meeting

Greetings, Hornsbyites. We bring news regarding trivia at SABR53 and our upcoming July meeting. This month, we’ll be heading to Wolff Stadium on Saturday, July 19 at 7:05 p.m. when the Missions host the Amarillo Sod Poodles. We’ve scoped out Section 204 for a block of seats in rows R, S, T, and U, seats 1-6, listed at $26.52 each. Please purchase your tickets directly from the Missions website (link below goes directly to Section 204) as soon as possible to secure a seat in this block. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Sod Poodles vs Missions, Sat, July 19, 2025, 7:05 p.m.

Now, for highlights from our chapter participation in last week’s SABR53 conference. I counted 15 heads from the Hornsby Chapter at the Westin in Irving, including four presenters: Eric Bynum, John Fredland, new member Brenden Gilbreath, and Ira Siegel. We also stormed the new-format trivia contest, which featured three competitions: team trivia, individual trivia, and Immaculate Feud (a mashup of Immaculate Grid and Family Feud, with 5-person teams using Baseball Reference questions and data from the last eight months for responses).

Several of our members attempted the insanely hard written questions in the preliminary round of the individual competition, with none advancing. The Hornsby Team, consisting of Mike Lassman, Jim Baker, Cy Morong, and Eric Bynum, took on the 40-question written-response team preliminary on Thursday, where the top team scored 24. The top six, plus ties, advanced, and we scored 18 points in a tie for the last spots. In the eight-team semifinal with 40 more questions, we placed a solid second with 20 points.

The final team trivia round shifted to a live Jeopardy format on Saturday night. The board presented six categories: Mascot Names, That Sounds Familiar, Numbers Game, Cy Young Colleges, Rookies of the Year, and Texas Trades. With Cy, Jim, and Mike firing first, we took an early lead before the ringers on the other team (all-stars from the individual competition!) got going. Mid-game, Eric dominated the Texas Trades category to mount a comeback. Still, as the board emptied, we fell behind (OMG, 2002 NL RoY Jason Jennings and mascot Dinger were two answers), lacking enough points to close the gap with their correct final Jeopardy answer of Ugueth Urbina as a double-unique name no other player has. It was a valiant effort and a fantastic runner-up achievement, nonetheless, in a highly competitive field.

Here are a few more photos I caught of our folks at SABR53.

Our presenters received kudos for their strong presentations from the judges, and everyone I spoke to had a great time at the conference – still, I’m glad to be home. See you all soon.