Author: Gilbert Martinez

April 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Fourteen chapter members and guests gathered at the home of Nicole Bryan and Brian Hall on an unseasonably cool spring day Saturday, marveling at the early storylines in the just-started baseball season.

One storyline was the debut of 19-year-old Konnor Griffin with the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 3. In fact, this was the inspiration of my trivia quiz about a selection of first hits by teenagers.

The seemingly random nature of the quiz’s 20 multiple-choice questions proved to be an equalizer, giving everyone a fighting chance!

Andy York (pictured above on the right) was one of three participants to earn double figures, but he eked out first place with 11 points, followed by a tie between Cy Morong (pictured above on the left) and Brian Hall (pictured above in the middle) with 10 each. Just off the platform were Raeanne Martinez, Wyatt Walker and Jerry Miller with nine points each.

For his prize, Andy picked “The Unwritten Rules of Baseball” by Paul Dickson. Cy conceded the tie to Brian, so Brian received “The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons” by Robert Mankoff and Michael Crawford, editors.

Brian and Nicole were so thrilled that Brian tied Cy in the quiz that Nicole immediately reached out to their daughter, Bailey Hall, to share the good news.

Many thanks to Nicole and Brian for hosting the meeting and providing delicious Rudy’s barbecue and fixings! Nicole and Brian’s friend Dave joined us and shared that he saw Dallas Braden’s perfect game on May 9, 2010, in Oakland. In fact, mid-game, he said his son was given a foul ball by a fan seated a few rows in front of them. By the fifth inning or so, he said, the crowd was aware that something special was brewing on Mother’s Day.

We also welcomed new member Leah Islam, an Arizona State University graduate who recently joined a baseball fantasy league at work and followed up on joining SABR, something she’s been wanting to do for a while. Welcome, Leah!

Take your swing at the quiz here: Teenage First-Hit Wonders Quiz

Here’s the answer key: Teenage First-Hit Wonders Quiz Answer Key

Don Dingee’s bio project article

Congratulations to Don Dingee, whose biography on Lou Frazier was published in SABR’s Bio Project last month!  Here is the link:  https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lou-frazier/.

“Lou’s story is about working hard and being in the right place at the right time,” Don shared on the group email list. “It was fun to work with him on this. Thrilled it’s published and off my desk!”

Ryan Pollack’s graph on xwOBA: The Dodgers are absurd

Ryan shared on the email list a graph plotting teams’ offense and defense xwOBA (Expected Weighted On-Base Average), an advanced statistic that measures how teams are doing thus far in the season on offense and on defense. It confirmed some conversations we had during the meeting about which teams are doing well and which are struggling, some in both categories.

But the team leading both leagues in both xwOBA for offense and defense by a wide margin is no surprise: the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here’s the graph Ryan put together and shared with the group.

Predictatron Second Week Update: Wancho, Pollack Tied!

[Editor’s note: Jim Baker shared this update including game play through April 12.]
By Jim Baker

Two weeks into our contest and we already have a battle developing. Mr. Wancho and Mr. Pollack find themselves tied for not only the lead of the Tom Wancho Division, but for the contest entire, setting the pace with 624 points. Both made significant gains over the opening update to get where they are today.

Our Mike Harrell Division leader also made a great leap forward. Mr. Robinson was in seventh place in the opening report but tacked on 222 points and climbed all the way to the top of the division. Nobody had a better showing than our Player of the Week Mr. Walsh, though. He padded his score with 269 points and catapulted himself out of the Wancho Division basement all the way up to fourth place.

Most teams are not complying with our desires in the early going and are costing us double-figure deficits. A few clubs immediately began playing the way we said they would, however. They are as follows:

Brewers: We said they’d be just over .500 and here they are, doing just that. Of course, it took a 1-6 week to get them there.

Orioles: For a team that bombed last year, the O’s got a decent amount of love on our ballots for 2026. We said they’d win 84 games, a nine-game improvement over 2025, and they are just about on pace to do that very thing.

Yankees: Another team that had a disastrous week (1-6) to get them right around our group prediction of 90 wins. They’re currently four games below that pace, but it still qualifies for third-best prediction in the early going.

Rockies: Colorado won just 43 games last season and we said they would be adding 14 to that total this year. Wellity, wellity, wellity, they’re playing at a 61-win pace, meaning our group pick is a near genius.

White Sox: To this point, our Pale Hose prediction is a bit too generous. We said they’d improve by seven games from 60 to 67, but they’re playing at the same pace as last year, costing us six games apiece on average. That’s still what qualifies as a top five pick at this point of the season.

Through games of Sunday, April 12 or 9.6 percent of the 2026 season:

Awardatron 2026 Kickoff
[Editor’s note: Ryan Pollack shared this first update on the email list on March 26.]

By Ryan Pollack

Greetings! Another season of baseball is upon us and with it comes the excitement of, uh, seeing the overwhelming Cy Young favorite get rocked for a jillion runs in his first start. Oops. Well I mean who among us hasn’t had a 67.50 ERA at some point in our lives? At least most of us managed to spell “Wetherholt’ correctly. Most of us.

I’m your host Ryan and welcome to Awardatron 2026. Shoutout to all the folks who’ve returned for another year of fun and games. And welcome welcome (welcome!) to those of you joining us for the first time.

Here’s how it works: towards the end of every month I’ll be sharing whom I think are the top 3 favorites for each award and providing commentary on one of the three in each category. I mix it up because honestly who wants to write about boring old Aaron Judge six times a year? Not me. I not only have a life, I hate the Yankees. Also, there will be a heavy Orioles bias because that’s what you pay me for. (Note: you do not pay me for anything.)

During the All-Star Break you’ll have a chance to change one (1) pick in each league in exchange for reduced points but hopefully more points than you would’ve otherwise gotten. There’s an opportunity to be strategic and go right when you think everyone else is going left. Or you can just bail out your worst picks. Tip #1: try not to get caught up in the hype. Jacob Misiorowski debuted right before the ASB last year and stuck out a billion batters. Many folks changed their NL Cy Young pick to him. Oops. 

I’ll send out a warning ahead of time and then it’s game on. Tip #2: whoever picked Roman Anthony and Caleb Durbin to win ROY awards, and I’m being coy because I know who you are, you may want to pull the lever on those ones. Just sayin’. 

After the awards are announced, typically in mid-November, I’ll share the scores. I group you into divisions based on award winners of years past. This year it’ll be the 2003 ROY award winners. So you can look forward to winning either the Angel Berroa or Dontrelle Willis division. There is of course an overall winner.

For now, have a look at how we picked ‘em: 

I personally appreciate the Orioles love. I would love it so much if Basallo, Alonso, Henderson, and/or Albernaz picked up an award. It’d mean we had a hell of a year. We are 1-0 to start the year and Trevor Rogers has, unlike Mr. Livvy Dunne, a sparkling 0.00 ERA. So anything’s possible, I suppose. 

Strap in, folks! I’m already impatient to see who’s going to win the World Series but since time travel hasn’t been invented yet (that we know of) I suppose I’ll settle in and enjoy the season with the rest of you.

Cheers!

P.S. Hats off to everyone who spelled ‘McGonigle’ correctly. I didn’t have to correct a single one!

Next meeting

Join us on Saturday, May 16, for our outing to see the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond! It’s also Star Wars Night, so we can probably expect out-of-this world costumes and post-game entertainment. We’ll share a link to where we’ll be sitting so that you can purchase tickets in early May. May the force, er, the baseball, be with you, or something like that!

Plans for summer meetings

We have more ballgames in store for the summer! Please plan to join us on Sunday, June 28, again at Dell Diamond, for the Texas Volts, a member of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. They’ll host the Portland Cascade at noon that Sunday. More details to come in early June.

In July, we’re planning to travel to watch the San Antonio Missions. Exact date to be determined but will be announced soon.

We’re planning to have a virtual meeting in August with details to come.

March 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

In one of the best attended in-person meetings (not counting winter meetings), 21 chapter members and guests gathered to talk about the World Baseball Classic and the new season. In addition to a summary of the March meeting in the March Newsletter, you can find a report about the SABR Analytics Conference by scholarship recipient Bailey Hall, a new SABR Games Project article written by Larry Rice, a Black History Month presentation by Dick Butler and announcements for the annual Predictatron and Awardatron contests.

Cy Morong brought a quiz inspired by interruptions to baseball seasons past called “Pandemics, Strikes and Wars.” The 24-question multiple-choice quiz featured two questions that had two correct answers and an optional final question worth a bonus 6 points if correct and a deduction of 6 points if incorrect. Jim Baker took top honors with 25 points, and, surprise surprise, Gilbert Martinez, chapter commissioner, took second place with 23 points.

For his prowess, Jim selected a limited-edition Fergie Jenkins photocard commemorating his National Baseball Hall of Fame induction in 1991, leaving the Jeff Bagwell photocard for Gilbert (thanks, Jim!). Jim gifted the Mike Mussina photocard (not pictured) to well-known Yankees fan Ira Siegel.

Take your swing at Cy’s quiz here: March 2026 Pandemics, Strikes and Wars Quiz

Here’s the answer key: March 2026 Pandemics, Strikes and Wars Quiz answer key

We also welcomed Hornsby Chapter member Mark Escamilla, who grew up in Austin and attended his first chapter meeting. He recently contributed to the chapter email list discussion about Eduardo Rodriguez’s dominant pitching performance for Venezuela against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic championship last week. Mark also did statistical analysis for the Australian National Team in the World Baseball Classic. Welcome, Mark!

This was the 232nd consecutive month in which the chapter has met, a streak dating to December 2006.

Park renaming and historical marker in honor of MLB star and Austinite Don Baylor

A few chapter members attended the unveiling of a new historical marker at an Austin city park recently renamed in Don Baylor’s honor.

You can learn more from the various local media coverage, including KXAN (https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austinite-mlb-star-has-park-named-after-him/) and Cedric Golden’s column in the Austin American-Statesman: https://www.statesman.com/sports/columns/article/don-baylor-mlb-austin-park-21949779.php

Ms. Hall goes to Phoenix

[Congratulations to chapter member Bailey Hall for being awarded SABR’s Sarah Langs Women in Baseball Analytics Scholarship, which covered registration and accommodations for the SABR Analytics Conference last month and provided a travel stipend. I asked Bailey to share her impressions of her experience. – GDM]

By Bailey Hall

Hi, everyone! I hope everyone is doing well since I last saw y’all, and I can’t wait to come back for another meeting this summer. Gilbert has asked if I would do a quick writeup of my experience at the SABR Analytics Conference that just happened (Feb. 27-March 1) in Phoenix, Arizona, so here is what I thought of it!

SABR offers so many incredible opportunities for students in both high school and college, but one of the most meaningful is the scholarships they provide to attend the national conferences. This year, I was honored to receive the Sarah Langs Women in Baseball Analytics Scholarship, which allowed me to attend the conference in Phoenix. Because of this opportunity, I was able to meet so many amazing college women who share a passion for baseball and who were also able to attend thanks to this scholarship. 

So, with the scholarship, I arrived in Phoenix on a Wednesday morning. A man named Tyrone Brooks, who works for MLB but works closely with SABR, had a few events for the other scholarship winners before the conference began on Friday. Tyrone, who has worked in baseball for about 30 years and seems to know every person who works in MLB, was able to take us to about 12 front offices of the teams in Phoenix. At each facility, we were able to get a bit of a tour of the spring training complex, and then we were able to speak with a panel of employees about what their jobs look like. We spoke to scouts, coaches, player development employees, data analysts, performance scientists, biomechanics specialists, therapists, nutritionists, and more! It was really interesting to see how each team presented themselves. What I found interesting is that the general vibe you get from watching a team (cocky, big/small market, data driven, etc.) seemed to align with the vibe of the front office staff. 

As for the actual conference, which began that Friday, I found it quite different from the national convention held each summer. It was much more about networking and connecting for jobs, and the presentations were very data focused rather than historical. My favorite presentation was about developing a stat for third base coaches and determining their added value to a team. The idea was to perfect a third base coach’s accuracy in determining when to send a player home or not, and it took into account things like distance, runner speed, outfielder momentum, game time scenario, etc. The broader concept of expanding stats past just the players was recurring at the conference. Another presentation discussed the development of statistics to measure a manager’s added value to a team, almost like wins above replacement but for the coaching staff. I found this to be an interesting new area of interest, and I am curious to hear what you guys think about this as well. 

Another interesting part of the conference was that they embraced sports betting quite significantly. They had a panel of experts who were telling people which players they would bet on and which they would not, how much they believed each player was valued at, etc. Many of the speakers also talked about how listening to Vegas can really help perfect your statistical models because Vegas is almost never wrong about player predictions of injury, longevity, and overall value. Again, I am curious what you guys think about that!

There were many other interesting talks at the conference, and I believe some of them can be watched virtually if anyone is interested in checking them out. I also want to mention that Gilbert wrote me an incredible recommendation letter for my scholarship application, and I’m sure that played a big role in me receiving it. I’m very grateful for his support and wanted to thank him for that.

If anyone has questions about the conference, I’d be happy to talk more about it, and I’d also love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Happy spring training, everyone—I hope to see you all soon!

A chance for glory: Predictatron begins anew!

By Jim Baker

It won’t be long now until the regular season gets underway, which means that another installment of the Predictatron contest comes along with it. 

Attached you will find everything you need to know about getting your ballot submitted so that you can participate in this chapter institution. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 27.

Everyone is gunning for defending champion Mike Harrell, who will be looking to repeat. Last season, we had 25 participants, an all-time high. New players are welcome and encouraged. 

Instructions: 2026 Hornsby Predictatron Rules and Instructions

Ballot: 2026 Hornsby Predictatron Ballot

Another chance for glory: Awardatron seeks prognosticators!

By Ryan Pollack

Hear ye, hear ye — we are less than a week from the MLB season opener, which means the 2026 Awardatron contest is now open for submissions!

You know the drill: predict the BBWAA award winners in each league and win big points, I mean, bragging rights to your friends!! Unskilled at prognostication? Don’t fret, you’ll have the chance to change one pick in each league at the All-Star Break in exchange for reduced points. 

Either way you could join the ranks of these esteemed contest winners from years past:

2025: Ryan Pollack
2024: Mike McNulty
2023: Mike Cohen
2022: Scott Gay

Yes, if your name is Mike, you have a 50% chance of winning! 

Ballots are due 9 a.m. (Central Time) on Wednesday, March 25. The season kicks off that evening with the Giants & Yankees before a full slate of games the following day. 

Don’t delay, submit your picks today!!

Congrats to chapter member Larry Rice for his Games Project article!

At the invitation of SABR Games Project coordinator John Fredland, chapter member Larry Rice submitted “September 4, 2006: Home run, near no-hitter make it a Labor Day to remember for Ramón Ortiz,” published last month. Here’s a link to the article: https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-4-2006-home-run-near-no-hitter-make-it-a-labor-day-to-remember-for-ramon-ortiz/

Congrats, Larry!

Black History Month presentation about baseball by Dick Butler

Dick Butler, along with Clifton Fifer Jr., gave a Black History Month presentation on baseball titled “Kerrville All-Stars: Black Town Baseball in the Jim Crow Era” at the Patrick Heath Public Library in Boerne last month. Dick talked about the Kerrville All-Stars, a Black town baseball team that played from the 1920s until about 1970. Mr. Fifer provided anecdotes and personal stories about the All-Stars.  His father was a player and manager for the All-Stars.

In September, Dick is scheduled to publish “Hill Country Ball: Depression-Era Baseball in the Texas German Belt” (Texas Tech University Press). Click here for more about the new book.

Congrats, Dick!

Nicole Bryan joins Hornsby Chapter leadership

I’m pleased to announce that Nicole Bryan has joined the chapter leadership team to serve as a director, along with Dick Butler, who joined the team in January. They join Commissioner Martinez, Monte Cely, Ryan Pollack, Jerry Miller and Don Dingee on the leadership team.

Hornsby Chapter commissioner election process

It’s been nearly three years since the Hornsby Chapter adopted chapter bylaws and conducted its first chapter commissioner election. In accordance with the bylaws, we are preparing for the chapter’s second election. Many thanks to Dick Butler, election coordinator, Ryan Pollack, election observer, and Don Dingee, election registrar. A call for nominations will go out on April 2 with an online election to occur in mid-May. The newly elected commissioner will then assemble a team of directors to assist in running the chapter. Questions about this process can be directed to Don.

Next meeting

As has become a recent tradition and for the third consecutive April, Nicole Bryan and Brian Hall are generously opening their home to host the chapter monthly meeting at noon Saturday, April 18, in Central Austin. A call for RSVPs will go out in early April. Hope to see you there!

February 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

An interstate trip down memory lane and a fun quiz to prepare us for spring training filled the Rogers Hornsby Chapter’s celebration of SABR Day on Saturday.

Fourteen members – including some from faraway lands such as Milwaukee, Michigan, Colorado Springs and Boston – joined us on Zoom to hear author Marshall Garvey read a chapter from his book, “Interstate ’85: The Royals, the Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series.”

Garvey, who lives in the Sacramento area, read from his book, published last year. He said he sought to tell the story of the 1985 World Series by conducting new interviews with key participants on both teams, including George Brett, Ozzie Smith and Andy Van Slyke, and umpire Don Denkinger, who reflected on an infamous call that brought joy to one side and fury to the other.

But Garvey shared that his book goes beyond the play-by-play of the World Series and Denkinger’s call. He said he wanted to take a deep dive in this World Series to tell the human stories of those involved.

He described his book as a “compassionate book,” and invited all baseball fans, even Cardinals fans, to give it a read. The book, published by the University of Missouri Press, can be purchased through many booksellers, such as amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Here’s more information from the book publisher:

https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826223272/interstate-85/

Many thanks to Marshall Garvey for joining us to celebrate SABR Day! He said he’s hopeful to publish the first paperback edition of the book soon.

To see his full presentation, please check out this recording on YouTube:

At the start of the meeting, we took a moment to remember three-time World Series champion Terrance Gore, who died after a routine surgery a few days before. We remember how Gore, with his blazing speed, demonstrated his value as a late-game pinch runner to help his team win ballgames.

https://bsky.app/profile/royals.com/post/3mebwpkibsk2j

This was the 231st consecutive month in which the chapter has met, either in person or virtually.

SABR Town Ball Research Committee

Dick Butler, member of the Hornsby Chapter leadership team, has been part of the creation of SABR’s Town Ball Research Committee and shared details about the committee’s first meeting held last month. He said the committee has set a goal to create a database of all town ball teams across the country. “We hope it will be a resource for future researchers,” he said, adding that they hope it helps identify town ball players who may have gone on to play professional baseball.

Click here for more information about the committee.

Starting to feel a lot like spring…

Jim Baker put together a quiz about teams and their spring training sites to get us ready for the return of the game we love.

Cy Morong took top honors with 10 points, followed by Jerry with 9, and Don and guest Steven with 8.

Take a swing at Jim’s quiz here: Jim Baker’s spring training quiz

Here are the answers: Jim Baker’s spring training quiz answers

Contractatron Update!

 (After the conclusion of the World Series last year, Ryan Pollack challenged us to predict the contracts for 10 of the biggest free agents this offseason. Now, only one from this group remains unsigned — Zac Gallen! Here’s Ryan’s update after Framber Valdez signed with the Detroit Tigers last week.)

By Ryan Pollack

Framber Valdez signed a 3-year, $115M contract with the Tigers [last] week and hoo boy did we all not see that coming!

Just like we have with the past few free agent signings, we all mostly missed big time. The median guess from this group was a $152.5M deal. Here’s how we fared, individually:

Yes, Mike Cohen came in first place with a whopping 26.1% miss. Overall it’s the third-worst we’ve done as a group:

With Framber’s signing, here are the current standings:

One more to go! Zac Gallen, we await your signing!!

Next Meeting

Next month’s meeting will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at Serranos (5030 US 290, Austin, TX 78735) in Southwest Austin at the intersection of MoPac and U.S. 290. A request for RSVPs will go out on the website and Google Group at the beginning of the month. Hope to see you there as we prepare for opening day!

January 2026 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

A former Chicago Cubs favorite, an author on the hunt for baseball imposters, the director emeritus of the Babe Ruth museum and an author who examined baseball in the 1960s were among the headliners of the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting on Saturday.

In addition, we heard from representatives of the Round Rock Express and the San Antonio Missions and a Texas State master’s graduate who interned with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Chapter members offered presentations about their personal experiences with baseball, sabermetrics, tabletop baseball simulations and a clever presentation evaluating AI and our very own Cy Morong.

One member previewed his book about Depression-era baseball in the Hill Country, to be published later this year.

It was a fun-filled day for 44 members and guests packed with everything baseball, thrilling and entertaining attendees throughout the day.

Keith Moreland and Mike Capps

Longtime broadcaster and journalist and chapter member Mike Capps led a conversation with Keith Moreland, who played mostly for the Cubs and Phillies in a 12-year MLB career. Capps, himself the author of “Grinders: Baseball’s Intrepid Infantry,” noted how much he admired how Moreland played the game. Moreland was also a key member of the Texas Longhorns team that won the 1975 College World Series.

“I grinded every day,” Moreland said, pointing out that he knew his role – to do whatever he could to help the team win. He also described himself as a sponge to learn as much as he could from veteran stars such as Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Greg Luzinski, Steve Carlton and Tug McGraw, among many others.

Asked about how the game has changed from when he played, Moreland remembered when he joined the Cubs broadcast booth in 2011. He said he was surprised that players didn’t stick around after games.

“I was stunned,” he said. “We used to sit around… and talk about the game.”

He said one of his concerns about baseball today is the prevalence of gambling despite how ingrained the gambling prohibition has been in baseball for years. He described Pete Rose as a good friend, having talked to him regularly, including a week before he died in 2024.

“He’s a Hall of Famer, but he bet on the game,” Moreland said.

Capps asked him what he would change about the game for the better. Moreland said he’d let pitchers bat again, which drew some applause from the audience. He also described himself as a traditionalist but believes games need more action and need to be concluded more quickly. He said he’s not opposed to putting a runner at second in extra innings.

He said he would reduce commercial breaks and emphasize a faster pace of play to be more entertaining to fans.

Moreland shared several stories from his playing days, including catching pitcher Mark Davis early in his career. It was a rough start for Davis, in which opposing batters teed off on him. In an early mound visit, manager Dallas Green asked Moreland what Davis had. “I don’t know,” Moreland said. “It hasn’t gotten to me yet.” Moreland also noted that Davis went on to win a Cy Young in 1988 as a closer for the San Diego Padres.

Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum (Baltimore)

In a virtual presentation, Michael Gibbons, director emeritus of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore, shared the history of the museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. This independent, nonprofit educational institution is devoted to preserving and perpetuating the legacy of Babe Ruth.

He noted that the museum has fielded many inquiries from media and fans from all around the world, especially with the success of Shohei Ohtani, who has drawn comparisons with the Bambino because both had tremendous success as pitchers and batters. He said that Ohtani’s performance has brought renewed interest in Ruth.

Gibbons shared that one of his favorite artifacts in the museum is Babe Ruth’s rookie card, valued in the millions. He shared that in safeguarding the card, the museum employed the same company that created the secure enclosure for Dr. Martin Luther King’s handwritten “I Have a Dream” speech.

It should also be noted that Ryan Pollack shared that he had several birthday parties at the museum growing up in the Baltimore area, and that he met Gibbons through his father, who shared a yoga class with Gibbons.

Doug Kurkul

 

Author of “It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s,” Doug Kurkul joined us via Zoom to talk about his book and the significance of the decade in baseball history. He notes that there were 56 Hall of Famers who played in the ’60s, a decade he describes as the last one in which baseball was the undisputed national pastime. He interviewed a number of former ballplayers and executives, including Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Bob Aspromonte, Pat Gillick and Branch Rickey III. He also compared baseball in the ’60s and the modern day in terms of salaries, player movements, postseason play and use of statistics.

To learn more about his presentation, use the link to see his presentation slides:

Here’s a link to his book, which is available for purchase.

Rob Sheinkopf

Author of “Baseball Imposters: The Dark Side of Fandom,” and “Hey, Mom, Wanna Have a Catch? A Collection of Baseball Stories Honoring Moms and Dads Who Taught Us How to Love America’s National Pastime,” Rob Sheinkopf shared entertaining stories about both books.

In “Baseball Imposters,” he had come across more than a few accounts of relatives who had a dad or uncle who they believed had played professional baseball, only to learn that it wasn’t true. Sheinkopf took to investigating some of these claims to resolve questions from relatives who wanted to know the truth. He recounted how he made an appointment with a chiropractor to confront him about his false claims. He just had to know the truth, and he wanted to understand why people persist in making these false claims.

In “Hey, Mom, Wanna Have a Catch?” Sheinkopf shares heartfelt stories about how parents have played a pivotal role in fostering a love and joy for the game of baseball. The book includes a contribution from Hornsby Chapter member Monte Cely about his father taking him to his first ballgame.

To learn more about Rob and his books, click this link for his author website: https://robsheinkopf-author.com/

Minor League Perspectives

Tim Jackson, general manager of the Round Rock Express, shared highlights from the 2025 season, including a franchise record of walkoff wins (12). He talked about infielder Cody Freeman earning the Triple-A batting crown, batting .336, and making his Major League debut with the Texas Rangers.

He said the Express got off to a slow start in 2025 but rebounded with a strong second half, prompting hopes for an improved outlook for 2026. This month, the Express announced their coaching staff for 2026, including naming Kyle Moore as the club’s manager.

Jackson also talked about the Dell Diamond hosting Athletes Unlimited Softball Association games in 2026. In fact, the Dell Diamond set attendance records for AUSA exhibition games in 2025. He said they expect details on the upcoming season to be announced soon.

Jackson shared that the Express begin their season on the road on March 26 and have their home opener on March 31.

For the first time in chapter history, representatives from the San Antonio Missions joined our winter meeting to share updates about the team and possible directions for the future. In recent years, the Hornsby Chapter has scheduled outings to a Missions game during the summer to expand the chapter’s reach into other areas of Central Texas.

J.J. Jimenez, director of ticket sales, and Brian Yancelson, public relations and broadcasting manager, talked about their roles with the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.

“We drive up to a ballpark every day and go to work,” Jimenez said, reflecting both her and Brian’s love of the game and joy working with the Missions.

Brian also talked about the challenges of getting to know young ballplayers in the system who can and often are traded, especially when the big league club has been active in trades in recent years.

J.J. also talked about ongoing plans to build a new stadium for the Missions in downtown San Antonio and the hope that it will add to an already active and thriving business and entertainment destination. Current plans are to build the new stadium in the northern part of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park near the intersection of I-35 and I-10 in time for the 2028 season.

Texas State master’s graduate Carly Earnest, who interned with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, shared her experiences taking photos and managing social media content during the 2025 season. She got to know many of the prospects and saw some get called up to the Houston Astros.

Some of her social media content involving fun questions with some of the Space Cowboys went viral and drew lots of online attention. She shared a few of her favorites:

Full government name video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNn2P3XAnGF/?hl=en

Favorite Princess video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH1KMfKMt3y/?hl=en

Bare minimum vs. princess treatment video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DND1R_9g1Wa/?hl=en

Carly graduated with a master’s degree in digital media from the Texas State School of Journalism and Mass Communication in December, and her final project about the use of AI in professional sports photography was supervised by Gilbert D. Martinez, professor of instruction at Texas State.

To view Carly’s presentation slides, click this link: Carly Earnest Space Cowboys

Member Presentations

Dick Butler gave a presentation about his book, “Town Ball: Depression-Era Baseball in the Texas Hill Country,” set to be published by Texas Tech University Press in September. He shared some baseball history in the area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He also noted that town ball offered one of the few, if not only, public outlets for Black baseball players to express pride and unity during the Jim Crow era. You can learn more about his presentation at this link: Butler Power Point-SABR January 2026 FINAL

Chapter members Larry Rice and Dick Butler gave a brief presentation about tabletop baseball simulation games and how they can allow enthusiasts to play out “what if” scenarios involving some of the most famous games and series in baseball history. By using player cards that provide statistical information about the player’s abilities, these games use dice to dictate game play based on statistical probabilities.

They demonstrated how it worked by replaying an inning from the American League East tiebreaker between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 2, 1978. To see how that turned out (or could’ve turned out, depending on the roll of the dice), check out their presentation at this link: TABLETOP BASEBALL SABR JAN 26

Bailey Hall and Brian Hall said they’ve enjoyed Cy Morong’s analysis and trivia questions that he poses on the chapter’s Google Group email list. Brian said he likes to test popular AI applications to see how they fare with Cy’s complex baseball questions.

Bailey and Brian found that AI often had trouble with complicated questions and in some instances, the software provided incorrect answers.

This led them to pose a simple question: “Can AI top Cy? Find out more about their study and the answer via this link to their presentation: The Halls SABR 2026 Winter Meeting

Ryan Pollack explained the balance between traditional baseball statistics and modern formulas and how they help us understand the game better. To learn more, click on this link for his presentation slides: Ryan Pollack – Why Sabermetrics_

Following up on his presentation from last winter meeting, Frank Rechtorovic shared more details about his military career and his life in Seattle and Japan and intersections with baseball, particularly with witnessing parts of the Hall of Fame careers of Ichiro Suzuki (both in Seattle and Japan), Edgar Martinez, Tom Seaver and Reggie Jackson. To learn more about Frank’s presentation, click on this link to his presentation: Rechtorovic SABR Presentation 2026

Ballpark Memories – Ryan Pollack and Gilbert D. Martinez

Ryan Pollack also gave a presentation recounting a summer trip to see baseball in four ballparks in the Midwest: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati. In addition to watching stars Paul Skenes, José Ramirez, Riley Greene and Elly De La Cruz play in their home parks, Ryan also shared the local cuisine and sights he enjoyed.

You can see Ryan’s presentation slides at this link: Ryan Pollack – Summer Baseball Trip 2025

Chapter Commissioner Gilbert D. Martinez shared that a photo he took of Ichiro Suzuki in 2008 – which happened to capture Ichiro’s 3,000th professional hit (NPB plus MLB) – was donated to and accepted by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Gilbert presented the photo to the hall during Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, when Ichiro, Billy Wagner, C.C. Sabathia, Dave Parker and Dick Allen were honored.

You can see Gilbert’s presentation slides at this link: Martinez Road to Cooperstown 2026

Predictatron Trophy Presentations

The Los Angeles Dodgers were not the only winners this past season, having successfully defended their World Series title with their second consecutive championship. Their success translated to boosting the prognostication prowess of two avid Dodgers fans, who took home trophies for the two Predictatron contests.

Predictatron impresario Jim Baker presented the trophies, with newly added nameplates for winners Mike Harrell (pictured above, right, with Jim), for the full-season Predictatron contest, and Jerry Miller (pictured below), for the postseason Predictatron contest.

Congratulations to Mike and Jerry for their impressive accomplishments, and to Jim for running Predictatron. Mike and Jerry can proudly host and display their trophies this year until the next winners are crowned.

In addition, Mike will have a division named in his honor along with Tom Wancho, who won his division.

You can join in the fun when Jim puts out a call for your predictions for the 2026 season in the full-season Predictatron contest just prior to the start of the season in March.

Mock HOF voting

Continuing a favorite winter meeting tradition, Ryan Pollack conducted a mock Hall of Fame vote of the chapter, collecting votes from online balloting and in-person ballots at the winter meeting.

None of the players on the 2026 ballot reached the minimum 75 percent threshold to be chosen in our mock election. The only two players to gain a majority were Andy Pettitte with 53.3 percent and Andruw Jones with 51.1 percent. Only two players achieved 40 percent or more: Carlos Beltrán (48.9) and Manny Ramirez (42.2).

The BBWAA will announce the official vote on Jan. 20, when we’ll find out if anyone from this year’s ballot gets elected.

See below for how all candidates fared on the ballot.

SABR Baseball Games Project

John Fredland, head of SABR Baseball Games Project, was in attendance and invited members to consider pitching a story about game, explaining its historical context along with personal experiences. Fredland also authored the SABR 50 at 50: Greatest Games feature to help celebrate SABR’s golden anniversary in 2021.

Trivia Quiz

Syd Polk crafted a trivia quiz in two parts about MLB franchise starts and moves that resulted in a tie! Tom Thayer and Jim Baker each scored 66 out of 75 points. The second part of the quiz involved a table of all 30 MLB teams and asked for a variety of information such as league, division, original city name, the year it entered MLB and so forth.

Syd collected those tables at the end of the meeting and graded those afterward.

Jim Baker emerged the victor with 192 points, squeaking by Tom Thayer (190) and Cy Morong (188).

Want to see how you might fare on Syd’s quiz? Here are the quiz and the answers:

Franchise History Quiz

Franchise History Quiz – Answers

Many Thanks!

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of our members, guests, presenters and attendees for making the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting so special and the best yet! Special thanks to Jerry Miller, winter meeting coordinator for assembling the schedule and arranging for pizza lunch!

We also took some time to remember chapter founder Bill Gilbert, who passed away in 2018. He founded the Hornsby Chapter after he moved to Central Texas from Houston, where he also founded the Larry Dierker Chapter. He was instrumental in creating this vibrant baseball community.

This was the 230th consecutive month in which the chapter has met, extending a streak begun in December 2006.

Next Meeting

The chapter plans to celebrate SABR Day on Saturday, Feb. 7, with a virtual meeting on Zoom. We’ll share more details about this meeting via our email lists once we finalize plans.

 

 

December 2025 Newsletter
By Gilbert D. Martinez

Seventeen chapter members and guests gathered ’round the hot stove to reflect on the major off-season deals so far and the winners and losers of such deals at the December meeting on Sunday at County Line on the Lake in Austin.

Jerry Miller, still very much basking in his Dodgers’ thrilling second consecutive World Series title, brought his Managers as Players Quiz to challenge the group.

Cy Morong (above, right) took top prize with 20 points, followed by Jim Baker (above, left) with 18, friend-of-the-chapter Gene with 14, and Monte Cely and Dick Butler with 12 each. Cy presented the top two finishers with prizes. Cy won “Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments” by Joe Posnanski, and Jim won “The Man in the Dugout: 15 Big League Managers Speak Their Minds” by Donald Honig.

Take a swing at Jerry’s quiz at this link (the answers follow the questions): Managers as Players Quiz

Good luck!

20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting

Meanwhile, we’re excited to share the tentative meeting agenda for the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. It’s our biggest meeting of the year!

Jerry Miller, winter meeting coordinator, has put together a fun schedule featuring a conversation with Keith Moreland, a 12-year MLB veteran, University of Texas Longhorns national champion and broadcaster, and longtime minor league broadcaster Mike Capps. We’ll also have representatives from the Round Rock Express and San Antonio Missions, along with various baseball presentations and activities during the day.

See more details in Jerry’s winter meeting announcement and RSVP form below.

Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting Announcement
By Jerry Miller

The holidays will soon be behind us and, although never far from our minds, the National Pastime will soon again be front and center. It all starts with the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting, sponsored by the Rogers Hornsby (Central Texas) Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). This year’s meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 10, 2026, at Texas State University in San Marcos (see directions at the end of the newsletter below).

Named after our late chapter founder and president, the meeting will include our traditional chapter activities, as well as a series of presentations from both chapter members and outside speakers, with some new surprises. Through the efforts of chapter member and friend Mike Capps, we are honored to welcome University of Texas legend and 12-year major leaguer Keith Moreland, who will discuss the Longhorns’ 1975 national championship, as well as his long association with the Chicago Cubs, including as a member of the 1984 NL East champions and a team broadcaster. Through the efforts of chapter member and Maryland native Ryan Pollack, we are also pleased to welcome, via Zoom, Michael Gibbons, director emeritus of the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum in Baltimore, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as the repository of all things Bambino. The meeting will also feature:

• A Zoom presentation by Rob Sheinkopf, author of the recently published “Baseball Impostors: The Dark Side of Fandom,” and “Hey Mom, Wanna Have a Catch?: A Collection of Baseball Stories…Honoring Moms and Dads Who Taught Us to Love America’s National Pastime” (featuring a chapter by our own Monte Cely);
• A Zoom presentation by Douglas Kurkul, a former chapter member and author of “It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s”;
• Reports from representatives of our local minor league teams, the San Antonio Missions and Round Rock Express, as well as a presentation by Texas State master’s graduate and former Sugar Land Space Cowboys creative marketing associate Carly Earnest on their season;
• Presentations from chapter members Dick Butler (“Town Ball: Depression-era Baseball in the Texas Hill Country”) and Frank Rechtorovic (“The Emerald City”);
• A new feature, i.e. a series of mini-workshops on different topics, including various baseball statistics and Strat-O-Matic and other baseball simulation games, presented in a “speed dating” format allowing participants to jump from one small group to another;
• Our traditional features, including our mock Hall of Fame voting, the presentation of awards to the winners of our Predictatron, Awardatron, and Contractatron contests, and presentations by chapter members regarding their 2025 baseball experiences; and
• Best of all, the opportunity to meet and interact with friends and colleagues from the local baseball community.

Please note that we will have an onsite pizza lunch available for pre-order. We will also be soliciting donations of old baseballs, gloves, bats and other gear for use in our “Baseball Memories” program, which supports baseball reminiscence activities as a means of improving the lives of persons dealing with dementia, chronic health problems, isolation, or loneliness.

We hope that you will be able to join us for our biggest and hopefully best event of the year, as we reflect upon the season past and whet our collective appetites for the season ahead.

Watch for a winter meeting reminder and meeting schedule in early January on our email list and on this chapter website.

RSVP for the Winter Meeting

To RSVP for the Winter Meeting (required if you want to partake in the pizza lunch), please fill out this online form.

Mock Hall of Fame ballot

If you’d like to participate in the chapter’s mock Hall of Fame vote, you can do so online or at the meeting (one or the other, not both!). Use this link to the online ballot for those who want to submit their ballot before or are unable to attend the winter meeting. Many thanks to Ryan Pollack for managing our HOF vote!

Baseball Memories Program Report for 2025
By Monte Cely

May 2025 marked 10 years that our chapter has fielded baseball reminiscence programs. In 2015, Hornsby Chapter volunteers led by Jim Kenton started SABR’s first program in partnership with Alzheimer’s Texas. Reminiscence, recalling pleasant memories of the past, has proven to be an effective way to improve the quality of life of those dealing with dementia, chronic health problems, isolation or loneliness. Since then, the number of programs using baseball as a reminiscence topic has grown both locally and nationally. 

We continued our long-running program with the Kerrville Veterans . Chapter member Larry Rice has assumed command of this important offering.  Although the catastrophic Kerrville flooding and new VA vetting requirements caused a mid-year pause, the program was back in action on Dec. 1. Larry and his San Antonio-area team have a long-standing excellent relationship with the VA Recreation Therapy staff in Kerrville.

Since 2023, our Austin-area team has been presenting a 90-minute monthly program at Williamson County AGE of Central Texas in Round Rock. The audience at this adult day care facility is a large, diverse group. We have a tremendous relationship with the AGE management team, and they are very supportive and enthusiastic about the program.

Over the past 10 years, 15 Hornsby Chapter members, along with family, have volunteered to facilitate or otherwise assist with these programs. We have positively affected the well-being of participants and their care partners. Currently, 10 SABR volunteers and several family members are involved in delivering the VA and AGE programs. In total, we have held 22 in-person sessions in 2025, reaching 35 to 45 participants monthly. 

Two other items of note:

• Chapter member Peter Myers, now living in the Denver area, has taken a leadership role in the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s baseball memories programs. Peter previously volunteered for our program at AGE of Central Texas.
• Round Rock Express General Manager Tim Jackson arranged for the team to donate 15 game-used baseballs for our programs. Participants love to grasp a hardball! Thanks, Tim!

In 2026, we plan to add one additional program in each of our major metros (San Antonio and Austin). Grace Place, an adult care center in San Antonio, will come online in January. A second branch of AGE of Central Texas in South Austin is also interested in hosting a program. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in this valuable community service program. In addition to plenty of baseball (of course), we also add music, cinema/TV, history and other sports in order to evoke a broad range of pleasant memories from a diverse audience. 

We would welcome more volunteers! It’s a rewarding experience for us!

For more info, please contact: Monte Cely – Austin Metro area coordinator at cely@swbell.net

Larry Rice – San Antonio Metro area coordinator at ukisno1@gmail.com

Baseball Memories programs: Call for donations of used baseball equipment

Our chapter’s Baseball Memories programs are soliciting donations of old baseball gear. These are used for show-and-tell segments of our programs and they really help to stimulate the senses and memories of participants. Recall that Jim Bouton wrote in “Ball Four,” “You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” We’ve found this is so true when we see a veteran’s eyes light up when getting their hands on a hardball, or a participant tries on an old baseball glove.

If you have an old baseball, glove, bat or other gear taking up space in your closet or garage, please consider donating them for use in our Baseball Memories Programs. A good opportunity would be to bring any donations to our chapter’s upcoming annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting at Texas State University in San Marcos on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact: Larry Rice at ukisno1@gmail.com

Directions to Old Main at Texas State, site of the Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting

Directions to the winter meeting are as follows:

1. From I-35, take exit 206 (Aquarena Springs Dr.).
2. Travel west on Aquarena Springs Drive, which turns into University Drive.
3. After crossing the San Marcos River, you will come to a traffic light. Turn right onto Sessom Drive. At the first light, turn left on State Street and go up a steep road toward Old Main (pictured above). Go through a gate (the gate should be up) and continue up the hill.
4. At the top of the hill, make a sharp left turn and drive up to Old Main.
5. Look for parking on this road that winds around the side and back of Old Main. You can find additional parking at the Pleasant Street Garage, located at the corner of N. LBJ and Pleasant Street. To reach this garage, after you pass through the gate, continue up the hill, then down the hill to the stop sign on Pleasant Street. Turn left; the entrance to the parking garage will be on your left.

You do not need a parking pass to park on campus – however, do not park in spaces not marked as parking spaces or in handicapped parking (unless you have the appropriate tag displayed).

Meeting is on the third floor – both stairs and elevator are available.

We hope to see you on Jan. 10, 2026!

November 2025 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

A music-themed baseball quiz, a World Series to remember, a host of baseball awards and a first-time meeting attendee filled the November meeting on Saturday.

Thirteen chapter members and guests – including Wyatt, a Cubs fan from La Grange – gathered for lunch at Cover3 in Central Austin.

Tom Thayer, winner of last month’s trivia quiz, brought the beats–er, questions–in his Musical Baseball Quiz. Asking questions that spanned much of baseball history, he challenged us to recall baseball lyrics and music history related to baseball.

Jerry Miller, who was overjoyed to watch his Dodgers win back-to-back World Series, eked out a one-point win over Jim Baker, 22 to 21, to take Tom’s a capella quiz. The author came in third with 16 points, followed by the author’s spouse, Raeanne Martinez, with 15.

 For his thrilling win, Jerry was awarded “The Best of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine” (Pocket Sports, 1988).

Does this quiz sound like music to your ears? Care to see if you can bridge the gap between baseball trivia and music (as conceived by Tom Thayer)? Click below to give it a go! 

Musical Baseball Quiz

Musical Baseball Quiz Answers

Meanwhile, Jim Baker announced the winners of the full-season Predictatron contest.

Dodgers fan Mike Harrell won the full-season Predictatron contest, riding his favorite team to the top of the standings. He’ll have a division named in his honor for the 2026 edition. Meanwhile, Tom Wancho won his division, so he’ll likewise have a division in his name for next year. This is especially impressive considering their picks were made in March!

Congratulations to all the winners!

Previously, Jim shared that if the Dodgers won the World Series, then Jerry Miller would be crowned the post-season Predictatron champion. He bested the author, who was the only person in the post-season contest to predict the Toronto Blue Jays to win the World Series. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Jim Baker will present trophies complete with the winners’ names for both contests at the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting at Texas State University in San Marcos on Jan. 10, 2026.

By Jim Baker

HARRELL WINS IT ALL!

WANCHO TOPS ROGERS DIVISION

Congratulations are in order for our 2025 Predictatron Champion, Mr. Harrell. After posting the best regular season record with 803 points, he tacked on 40 more in the postseason to carry the day 843 to 834 over his nearest competitor, Mr. Miller. Meanwhile, Mr. Wancho racked up 830 points to carry off the Brian Rogers Division title.

The average score this year was 798 points with a median of 803. Mr. Dillon led the way with five perfect picks, nailing it exactly on Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Cincinnati and San Francisco. Mr. Martinez had four such picks while Mr. Polk, Mr. Siegel and Mr. Miller had three each. No player had a perfect pick on any of their Locks, which is the ideal. Interestingly enough, our champion didn’t have any perfect picks, but he was just one point off on six teams.

Rookie Mr. Windham had an impressive first outing, finishing with a fourth-best score of 823. He even led the contest as late as June 22. Our other rookie, Mr. Barnes, got off to a hot start before settling in to finish at 784.

In the end, the right thing to have done was pick the team with the biggest payroll to win it all again. Who knew? Of course, they didn’t play that way during the regular season, finishing with just the third-best record in the National League and fifth overall. The top three finishers in the Brian Rogers Division all picked the Dodgers to go all the way, while no less than eight of the 13 players in the Eric Robinson Division did so. It will be interesting to see how many players predict a threepeat for Los Angeles in next year’s contest.

In recent weeks, we had another prediction contest wrap up and another start up, thanks to Ryan Pollack adding to the suite of prognostication contests.

Awardatron 2025

[Editor’s note: Ryan Pollack shared this Awardatron 2025 wrapup with the email list on Nov. 15.]

By Ryan Pollack

Hello everyone! Can you believe we’ve come to the end of the 2025 baseball awards season? I sure as hell can’t. Do you remember when everyone thought Jacob Wilson was going to run away with the AL ROY award, and then Nick Kurtz hit 4 bombs in one game, and we were all like “Nick who?”? Seems like forever ago. But here we are.

Below are the final tallies and standings for the contest.

Sam Jethroe Division

Bob Windham took the division title here with a solid 71 points. Bob’s predictions were as follows:

• AL MVP: Aaron Judge (changed from Bobby Witt, Jr. at the ASB, thus getting fewer points)
• NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani
• AL Cy Young: Tarik Skubal
• NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes
• AL ROY: Jasson Dominguez
• NL ROY: Jacob Misiorowski (changed from Dylan Crews at the ASB with no effect on points)
• AL MOY: Dan Wilson
• NL MOY: Terry Francona

It was a solid showing that was held back only by whiffing on both Rookies of the Year. As you’ll see below, these were the hardest picks for everyone.

Standings:

Walt Dropo Division

Ryan Pollack took the crown here (look, I know, just bear with me as I stay with the 3rd person voice here) with 81 points, beating runner-up Jan Larson 10. His picks were:

• AL MVP: Bobby Witt, Jr.
• NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani
• AL Cy Young: Tarik Skubal
• NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes
• AL ROY: Jacob Wilson (changed from Kristian Campbell at the ASB)
• NL ROY: Drake Baldwin (changed from Dylan Crews at the ASB, thus getting fewer points)
• AL MOY: Alex Cora
• NL MOY: Craig Counsell

Strategy note: By holding on to his Bobby Witt, Jr. pick all year, Ryan netted 8 points for Witt Jr’s fourth place finish. If Ryan had switched to Aaron Judge mid-year, he would’ve gotten only 7 points (15 points for Judge’s first place finish, divided in half and rounded down per the rules). Something to think about as far as strategy next year; sometimes changing from a high-but-not-first finisher to a first place finisher is a poor move. 

Standings:

Overall Winner

With 81 points to Bob’s 71, Ryan Pollack wins the 2025 contest! If you’re booing right now, you can thank Jim Baker who reminded me last year that I could enter, seeing as how I have no special knowledge of baseball’s outcomes prior to the season starting 😉

Stats

The point totals for each award show us how difficult each was to predict. A higher point total in the category means it was easier to predict who was going to win the award. 

Ranked from easiest prediction (highest point total) to lowest, they are:

• NL MVP: 233 points scored in the category. Many of us picked Shohei to start the year and were rewarded handsomely.
• NL Cy Young: 177 points. Many of us picked Paul Skenes.
• AL Cy Young: 150 points. Most of us picked Skubal or Crochet.
• AL MVP: 140 points. Most of us picked Bobby Witt, Jr. to start the year. Several switched to Judge mid-season which, as I mentioned above, resulted in one fewer point!
• AL MOY: 121 points. A lot of us picked Alex Cora and he ended up finishing 4th.
• NL MOY: 86 points. The most common pick was Terry Francona who finished runner-up. However, this was balanced out by other people’s picks (Snitker, Roberts, Mendoza) not giving any points at all. 
• AL ROY: 62 points. This was a hard one to start the year as there was no clear-cut frontrunner. Many people switched to Wilson at the ASB; while this got them some points, the halved point total meant it was many fewer than if they’d guessed him in March.
• NL ROY: 26 points. This was a tire fire that reflected the crowded field in the NL. Misiorowski’s breakout came just before the ASB and many of us fell victim to recency bias, using the NL switch on him. However he finished 11th, zeroing out any point total.  

That’s a Wrap!

I love doing all of these for you and keeping tabs on the races all year. I think I’ve dialed things in with the scoring system and I hope you appreciated the tweak to be able to change one pick in each league instead of one pick overall. I think this strikes a better balance of difficulty while maintaining interest in the season. 

Thank you for playing; please tell your friends about it next year so we can get even more people in!

Contractatron (winter 2025 edition)

[Editor’s note: Ryan Pollack shared this first update on Nov. 8 about Contractatron, which dares us to predict how much prominent free agents will make in the off-season.]

By Ryan Pollack

Hello & welcome to the 2025 Contractatron contest! Thanks to everyone who entered. I had a fun time with this last year and am glad to be repeating the contest.

I’m your host (and also contestant), Ryan. Get ready for a winter of what appears to be a fairly mediocre free agent class. Kyle Tucker is the clear #1, but he is not in the class of Judge, Ohtani, or Soto who headlined the last few free agent classes. His inconsistent 2025 leaves a lot of room for doubt.

Additionally, there’s a steep drop-off in talent after him. I don’t project anyone else to clear $200M in guaranteed money. The next highest prediction I personally made was Bo Bichette at $170M.

Am I wrong?! Are you??? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

To kick things off, here is a look at the range of our predictions in boxplot form:

For each player, the black vertical line is the median prediction among our contestants. The white boxes to either side end at the 25% and 75% prediction levels, and the dots are outliers. Yes, someone predicted Framber Valdez to get a $40M deal. I think that person is likely to be off by a large amount. But who knows? Maybe he’ll sign a one-year, $40M deal and the rest of us will look silly.

Settle in, it’s a long offseason. But at least we have this contest to distract us.

I’ll send an update after the first free agent on our list signs.

Future meetings

We’re scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at County Line on the Lake (5204 FM 2222, Austin) which was the site of the initial meeting of what has become the SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter. In fact, this meeting will come five days after the 22nd anniversary of the very first meeting. A call for RSVPs will go out on our Google Group email list and on this website in early December.

As mentioned above, the Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting, which will feature executives with local professional baseball teams, perhaps a former major leaguer and baseball presentations, will take place on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at Texas State University in San Marcos. Save the date for a fun and full day of baseball chatter. More details to come next month as we finalize the schedule.

October 2025 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

A baker’s dozen gathered at Jim Baker’s house on Saturday for our annual World Series Watch Party and watched Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto shut down the Blue Jays, retiring the last 20 consecutive batters and evening the series at one game apiece.

By tradition since 2011, Jim Baker generously provided pork sliders, sides, dessert and beverages for the watch party with delicious dessert additions by Linda Cely and Raeanne Martinez.

In the middle innings, quizmaster Jerry Miller treated us to a trivia contest focusing on players who were born or grew up in either the Greater Los Angeles area or Canada.

The room grew as quiet as Rogers Centre as Yamamoto continued to deal. Unlike the Blue Jays sluggers, four contestants made some noise. Tom Thayer took the contest with 17 points, followed by Ryan Pollack (14), host Jim Baker (13) and Ira Siegel (12).

Miller presented book prizes to the top three finishers.

 

Take your swing at Jerry’s Los Angeles v. Toronto quiz. Answers follow at the bottom of the document.

As for the 5-1 Dodgers victory, Cy Morong shared on the chapter email list that Yamamoto’s game score was an 83, the highest in a World Series game since Madison Bumgarner’s 87 game score in a 5-0 Giants victory over the Royals in 2014. Cy also shared the list of highest game scores in the World Series on statheadbaseball.com.

Many thanks to Jim for his generosity and for opening his home to host the watch party, to Linda and Raeanne for adding to the dessert spread, to Jerry for his worldly trivia quiz, and to everyone able to join us!

Post-season Predictatron update: It’s Miller vs. Martinez!

By Jim Baker

With all but two teams cleared off the board, we’ve come to just two possibilities for the winner of the 2025 Hornsby Chapter Postseason Tourney. It’s pretty simple:

If the Dodgers win the World Series, Jerry Miller is the champion.

If the Blue Jays win the World Series, then Gilbert Martinez claims the trophy.

Unless…

There is one slight chance that they could be co-champions. If the Blue Jays sweep the Series, Gilbert will lose two points and drop down into a 24-24 tie with Jerry. Since they both predicted 36 games for the postseason, there would be no way to break the tie and, as is written, the trophy will be sawed in half at the January meeting. [Editor’s note: With the Dodgers winning Game 2, this possibility, as intriguing as it might seem, is now off the table.]

One thing worth noting is that, while nobody broke the magic 40-point threshold this year, just about everybody is going to finish with a positive score. That doesn’t happen very often, so bully for us!

Full-season Predictatron update

Jim Baker shared that the full-season Predictatron contest also hinges on the outcome of the World Series. The winner of this prestigious contest (in which prognosticators committed to their picks in March!) and the winners of their respective divisions will all be announced at the November chapter meeting on Nov. 16 (meeting details below).

Trophy presentations for both the full-season and postseason Predictatron contests will occur at the 20th Annual Hornsby Chapter Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at Texas State University. Make your plans to be there!

Announcing: Contractatron!

By Ryan Pollack

 STEP RIGHT UP, FOLKS! 

Gather ’round, ladies and gentlemen, and feast your eyes on the most thrilling, the most dazzling, the most sensational contest of the baseball offseason – IT’S THE CONTRACTATRON! 

Yes, sir, yes, ma’am, it’s your chance to outguess the experts, outwit the wise guys, and predict the biggest free-agent contracts in all the land! Can you forecast how many of those glorious greenbacks the mightiest ballplayers in the world will land? Well, step right up and test your wits in this rip-roarin’, high-flyin’ extravaganza!

Make your predictions here!

 CONTEST BEGINS WHEN?! 
Ballots are open! Your entries are due at high noon CST on November 5th – that’s right, folks, don’t delay, don’t dilly-dally! If a player signs before this time, poof! They’re gone from the contest! And we’ll keep the good times rollin’ right up until 9 AM CST on Opening Day of the U.S.-based season! Any signings that happen after that? Why, they’re as good as erased! Overseas MLB games? Japan, Korea, Australia? Bah! They don’t count for this here contest!

 HOW DO YA PLAY, YA ASK? 

1. PICK YOUR PLAYERS and predict their contracts with your finest crystal-ball skills!
2. SCORIN’ IS SIMPLE! We’ll judge ya on how close you can get to the real deal! The closer you are, the lower and better your score – it’s as easy as pie! We measure the difference as a percentage of the actual contract, and the smaller the number, the better!

EXAMPLES, YOU SAY?

• You guess Charles Johnson will get $500M, but he only gets $300M. That’s a 66% score!
• You guess Frank Smith will get $5M, but he ends up with $6M. That’s a 25% score!
• Average ‘em out and ya get a grand total of 45.5%! Ain’t that somethin’?!

3. TIE-BREAKERS?! If it’s neck and neck, we’ll settle it the old-fashioned way: whoever guessed first wins! It’s all about timing, folks!

 RULES AND REGULATIONS, NOW DON’T FORGET ‘EM! 

• ONLY THE GUARANTEED BUCKS COUNT! We’re talkin’ cold, hard cash, no incentives, no options, no escalators – and certainly no conditional salaries!
• MAJOR LEAGUE MONEY ONLY! None of that minor league mumbo-jumbo here!
• QUALIFYIN’ OFFERS ARE FAIR GAME! If a player accepts one, it counts!
• AND IF THEY DON’T HIT FREE AGENCY? Why, then we never heard of ‘em! Gone, forgotten, erased!
• NO EXTENSIONS ALLOWED! It’s free agency or bust, folks!

So, step right up! Roll up your sleeves, sharpen those pencils, and let’s see who’s got the sharpest mind in the land when it comes to predictin’ those big money contracts! It’s the Contractatron, folks – the contest that’ll have ya on the edge of your seat all winter long! 

Don’t dilly dally! Make your predictions today! Again, the deadline is at high noon CST on Nov. 5th!

Shared birthdays

It just so happens that your chapter commissioner shares a birthday (Oct. 20) with two members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and two MVP winners: Mickey Mantle with 110.3 WAR, Juan Marichal with 62.87 WAR (turned 88), Keith Hernandez with 60.4 WAR (turned 72) and Juan Gonzalez with 38.7 WAR (turned 56). Cap tip to Cy for letting me know!

Want to check to see which ballplayers share your birthday? See if you can top 272.27 WAR! Here’s the link to Baseball Reference. Just enter the date and then sort by WAR and other categories: https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi?month=1&day=1

Next meeting

The November meeting will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, at Cover 3 (2700 Anderson Lane, Austin). We’ll post a meeting announcement and request RSVPs at the beginning of November, and we’ll make a reservation for the group.

 

September 2025 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

A dozen chapters members and guests gathered on Saturday to ponder the tightening races for spots in MLB’s postseason (some were more enthused than others) and the potential MVP in each league.

Over lunch at Hurricane Grill & Wings in Round Rock, we marveled at the unreal winning streak by Tom Wancho’s Cleveland Guardians and wondered if the Seattle Mariners’ time has come to overtake the Martinezes’ Houston Astros.

We also talked about New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s substantial lead by WAR over the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh. Some thought that Judge, by the numbers, should be the AL MVP, but others thought that Raleigh is the better story that might attract votes from baseball sportswriters. We won’t know until November when the baseball awards are announced. Stay tuned!

Before we find out about the awards, we have a week left in the season and the World Series Watch Party next month to look forward to! As is our long tradition, chapter member Jim Baker will host the watch party. It will be the evening of Saturday, Oct. 25. We know that it will be World Series Game 2, but it’s anyone’s guess as to who will battle for the championship. Speaking of guesses, see the Predictatron update below from Jim Baker to see how our group of prognosticators are doing with a week left!

We’ll announce the meeting in early October and call for RSVPs later in the month. In the meantime, save the date for one of the chapter’s most anticipated meetings of the year!

Cubaball in November
By Monte Cely

Cubaball is back and heading to Havana in November.  There are a few seats left on the tour and if you’ve ever dreamed of seeing baseball and the many wonders of the “Pearl of the Antilles,” now’s your chance.  

Fellow SABR member Kit Krieger is again leading the popular Cubaball journey, the first since the pandemic.  The tour runs November 14-21.  You’ll stay at a private hotel in Havana and take in béisbol cubano in Havana (2 games), Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, and Artemisa.

Cubaball is very popular among SABR members, and I went on the tour in 2017.  I can say that it’s a great experience and a unique baseball journey that you’ll never forget!

For more information, email Kit Krieger at ejkrieger@shaw.ca – or contact me at cely@swbell.net and I’ll forward your inquiry to Kit.

Predictatron Update: Topmost Turvy!

By Jim Baker

With but a single week to go in the season, we’ve got ourselves a case of the upheavals in both divisions and for the very control of this contest! Mr. Harrell has reasserted himself as the leader of these proceedings after posting one of the better performances this week while previous pacesetter Ms. Martinez was experiencing a negative week. Meanwhile, in the Brian Rogers Division, Mr. Martinez has surged to the lead on the back of a nine-point outpouring of pointly goodness.

As we head into the final turn, here’s how the top five look:

809 Mike Harrell
800 Raeanne Martinez
797 Gilbert Martinez
794 Ryan Pollack
793 Bob Windham

Our Player of the Week is Mr. Dillon who led the way with 13 points. This afforded him a two-place jump in the Eric Robinson Division. Our best weeks look like this:

13 Mike Dillon
12 Mike Harrell
12 Tom Wancho
10 Michael Bass
 9 Gilbert Martinez, Jerry Miller

We now have four pursuers in single digits out of first in the Brian Rogers Division and the final week is going to prove pivotal in the outcome of that particular argument.

As you can see from the playoff grid now affixed to the standings, only six players still have their full load of potential playoff points. They are:

Tom Wancho
Don Dingee
John Rechtorovic
Mike Harrell
Raeanne Martinez
Jerry Miller

Buckle up, batten down the hatches and brace yourself for a wild finish to the regular season portion of the 2025 Hornsby Chapter Predictatron!

Through games of Sunday, September 21, or 96.3 percent of the 2025 season:

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move	alcs	alcs	nlcs	nlcs	alws	nlws	champ	Pot
1	Gilbert Martinez	797		788	9	3	2	BAL	HOU	PHI	LAD	HOU	PHI	HOU	44
2	Ryan Pollack	794	3	797	-3	1	-1	BOS	HOU	ATL	LAD	BOS	LAD	LAD	44
3	Jim Baker	792	5	790	2	2	-1	BAL	NYY	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	BAL	20
4	Tom Wancho	791	6	779	12	6	2	BOS	NYY	LAD	SDP	BOS	LAD	LAD	48
5	Scott Gay	789	8	786	3	4	-1	BAL	NYY	PHIL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	36
6	Team Hall	781	16	780	1	5	-1	BAL	BOS	ATL	LAD	BAL	ATL	BAL	8
7	Brian Rogers	777	20	776	1	8	1	BAL	HOU	ATL	LAD	BAL	ATL	ATL	8
8	Don Dingee	776	21	773	3	9	1	BOS	SEA	NYM	LAD	BOS	NYM	BOS	48
9	Kevin Barnes	775	22	778	-3	7	-2	NYY	TEX	PHI	LAD	TEX	PHI	TEX	20
10	John Rechtorovic	752	45	745	7	10	0	BOS	NYY	NYM	LAD	NYY	NYM	NYY	48
11	Mike McNulty	749	48	742	7	11	0	BOS	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	ATL	ATL	8
12	Syd Polk	714	83	714	0	12	0	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	ATL	TEX	4

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move	alcs	alcs	nlcs	nlcs	alws	nlws	champ	Pot
1	Mike Harrell	809		797	12	2	1	BOS	DET	PHI	LAD	BOS	LAD	LAD	48
2	Raeanne Martinez	800	9	805	-5	1	-1	BOS	HOU	CHC	LAD	HOU	CHC	HOU	48
3	Bob Windham	793	16	789	4	3	0	BOS	NYY	ATL	LAD	DET	LAD	LAD	44
4	Jerry Miller	786	23	777	9	8	4	BOS	SEA	ARI	LAD	SEA	LAD	LAD	48
5	Eric Robinson	785	24	780	5	7	2	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	28
6	Gary McIntosh	781	28	782	-1	5	-1	BAL	DET	PHI	LAD	DET	LAD	LAD	44
7	Dan Walsh	777	32	785	-8	4	-3	BAL	HOU	ATL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	32
7	Ira Siegel	777	32	771	6	10	3	NYY	KCR	MIL	LAD	NYY	LAD	NYY	44
9	Mike Dillon*	775	34	762	13	11	2	BOS	NYY	ATL	LAD	NYY	LAD	NYY	44
10	Frank Rechtorovic	774	35	775	-1	9	-1	NYY	TEX	ATL	LAD	LAD	NYY	NYY	40
10	Chris Crombar	774	35	782	-8	5	-5	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	LAD	LAD	28
12	Jan Larson	757	52	761	-4	12	0	BAL	SEA	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	36
13	Michael Bass	702	107	692	10	13	0	BAL	SEA	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	BAL	20
	*Player of the Week

Colorado Rockies evade a dubious honor

Some of us have been watching the Rockies’ serious attempt to top the Chicago White Sox for most losses in a season, achieved just last year. Jan Larson shared on our Google group email list when the Rockies saved themselves on Sept. 19.

“The Rockies won their 42nd game of the season this evening and have thereby mathematically eliminated themselves from any chances of breaking the 2024 White Sox modern Major League Baseball record for most losses in a season.  The Sox continue to hold that record with 121 losses having wrested that title from the ’62 Mets.”

SABR Rocky Mountain Chapter member and friend to the Hornsby Chapter Peter Myers, who just finished his third year as an usher at Coors Field, responded, “And I was there to experience the joy.”

Upcoming meetings

As mentioned above, the October meeting will be the World Series Watch Party for Game 2 on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Jim Baker’s home in Cedar Park.

For the November meeting, we’ll meet for lunch at Cover 3 on Anderson Lane in Central Austin on Sunday, Nov. 16.

We haven’t set the date yet for the December meeting, but we’re planning a mid-month lunch meeting at County Line on the Lake. Details will be forthcoming soon.

August 2025 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Thirteen chapter members and guests were treated to a deep dive about the pitchers who have thrown no-hitters and the catchers who caught them throughout MLB history at the August chapter meeting on Zoom.

Kevin Hurd, a member of the SABR Banks-Bragan Chapter in Dallas-Fort Worth and retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, has long been intrigued by no-hitters. In fact, as a high school senior, he witnessed San Francisco Giants pitcher Ed Halicki’s no-hitter at Candlestick Park in 1975, which, in part, inspired him to research and write about no-hit games.

After retirement, he’s devoted four years to writing and publishing two volumes called “From Randy Johnson to Dallas Braden: No Hitters Beyond the Box Score.” His books addressed things he was curious about, such as whether no-hitters were attributable to skill or luck (his conclusion: both). He was also interested in examining no-hitters by eventual Hall of Fame pitchers and journeymen who were among the unlikeliest pitchers to author a no-hit gem.

His book includes descriptions of no-hit games, interviews with pitchers and catchers and informational tables to offer insight into these games.

In Volume I, he assesses the greatest no-hitters in history. In Volume II, he identifies the most unlikely no-hitters of all time.

For the Hornsby Chapter, he included a brief discussion and lists of no-hitters by Astros and Rangers pitchers.

See below for a recording of his presentation:

Hurd’s books are available at local bookstores and online sellers. For more information about Volume I: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHYHBQ5W

For more information about Volume II: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHYP3J46

Many thanks to Kevin for joining us for our August meeting!

Baseball memories program seeks volunteers, baseball props for sessions

By Larry Rice

Fellow SABR Members,

Do you have any old baseball gear or equipment sitting idle in your garage or attic?  Do you enjoy browsing at garage sales, yard sales or estate sales?

As you may be aware, several Hornsby Chapter members are associated with the SABR Baseball Memories program and, in particular, I volunteer with other Hornsby Chapter members to provide monthly presentations and visits to veterans with long-term mental and physical disabilities at the VA facilities in Kerrville and San Antonio (Audie Murphy).  These visits are very enjoyable and therapeutic to both volunteers and patients.

For use in these presentations, I’m interested in obtaining some used (as in low/no cost) baseball gear to use as “show and tell” items.  Letting these vets hold, grip, touch and see some of these items can be powerful memory motivators and bring back thoughts and joys of a simpler, happier time in their lives and – if able – they usually want to tell you all about it, a great way to gain some social interaction.

If you have or obtain any such items that you would be willing to donate and think I might be interested in, feel free to contact me at ukisno1@gmail.com.  I’ll be out of the country until mid-August and still putting thoughts together about the fall programs, so there’s no immediate rush; I just wanted to make you aware of this opportunity.

Speaking of opportunities, there’s also plenty of opportunity to participate in the visits as well.  If you live in the Kerrville/San Antonio and surrounding areas and wish more information, just let me know at the email address above and I’ll be glad to send you more information.

Next meeting: Sept. 20

Join us for the next monthly chapter meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at Hurricane Grill & Wings (2701 Parker Dr. in Round Rock).

Looking ahead, please save Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, for the 20th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting! We’re planning another fun day of baseball chatter at Texas State University.