Twenty chapter members and guests enjoyed a breezy San Antonio evening on Saturday that was less comfortable for the hometown San Antonio Missions, which got blanked 5-0 by the Amarillo Sod Poodles.
The Missions, the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, were down 4-0 after five innings and were shut down by the Sod Poodles, the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, limiting the Missions to just two hits all night. Some of us stuck around after the game for an impressive fireworks display.
SABR 53 Reflections
(Chapter members Eric Bynum and Brenden Gilbreath gave research presentations at SABR 53 in Dallas last month. I asked them to share a little bit about their research and how the presentations went for them. Congratulations to them both! See their reflections below.)
By Eric Bynum
First, thank you, Gilbert, for the opportunity to share my story. My research presentation was on the controversy of the 1914 Texas League Pennant. As I was writing my article on the 1953-54 Waco Pirates of the Big State League for the journal, I came across a 1953 newspaper article on the 1914 controversy. In the article, writer Jinx Tucker mentioned how the Houston Buffaloes stole the title from the Waco Navigators. That was interesting to me but when he said they tried to play a tripleheader that day, I knew I had to research more. And so, for weeks, I dove into the archives of newspapers from Houston, Corpus Christi, Waco and more trying to piece together what really happened that day.
In a shortened version of the story, Houston apparently slow played the second game of a doubleheader. Yes, no tripleheader was scheduled, so the game would be called due to darkness. With that game incomplete, it gave the title to Houston by mere percentage points. Multiple teams protested, and the league president did something I have never seen before: he threw out games. He threw out the first games of doubleheaders that were seven innings. This led to a tie between Waco and Houston for the title. Now, there is still some controversy as to what went down, and there were some other accusations even before the final weekend of the season of gamblers and impropriety, but those may all be lost to history now.
As for the presentation itself, I was extremely nervous. I am a teacher by trade, and I am used to standing in front of teenagers all day long. But put me in front of adults, and I am a nervous wreck. Dan Wallach, who happened to be recording the event, was the one who really calmed me down beforehand. So, huge thanks to him. Looking back, the only thing I would do differently was look up once in awhile and engage more with the audience. I was nervous so my head was down reading my script most of the time, and I feel like I missed out on those connections. If you teach, you know what I mean. All the feedback was positive, and hearing I did well from total strangers was the boost I needed and greatly appreciated.
As for what might come next, there are a few things. I really want to write a book about the history of baseball in Waco (where I live) and Temple (where I grew up). There are some interesting stories from old minor league baseball teams that played here in the 1940s, 1950s and even back to the early 1900s. The research will continue, but now I am anxiously waiting to hear where next year’s convention will be because I want to give another presentation. And a huge shoutout to Don Dingee for arriving just in time to take some photos of me. I truly appreciate that.
By Brenden Gilbreath
I had an absolute blast speaking at SABR 53 last month. It is an opportunity that I cherished and only knew about through my first meeting with the chapter back in February. I applied for an oral presentation at SABR 53 right after that meeting, which I was honored to be invited to speak at.
As I talked about during our first meeting, my presentation came from a law review article that I wrote this past year, my second year at Texas Tech Law. I started that process back in August 2024 with the help of Sean Gibson and the Negro League Family Alliance. With the help of the NLFA and the folks at Texas Tech Law, I was able to get it published with the Estate Planning & Community Property Law Journal and the Texas Entertainment & Sports Law Journal.
It all could have stopped right there, and I would have been incredibly proud of the product I put together and the work that went into it. Whenever this chapter mentioned the oral presentations at SABR 53, I thought it would be the perfect capstone to a project that had taught me so much about baseball, the law, and introduced me to many great people. However, as I started working on the presentation to prepare, I realized I had become much more invested in this proposal than I had originally believed.
I believe the presentation itself went well, or I guess it must have to get an honorable mention for best presentation, though it sped by in my mind. I enjoyed every bit of it; from the time I introduced myself as a small-town cowhand who loved baseball and somehow got into law school to the moment I thanked the NFLA and Rogers Hornsby Chapter for their immense help in this project. I was fortunate to meet some great people who provided great feedback, including an invitation to give the presentation again to the Elysian Fields SABR Chapter in New Jersey.
Perhaps the greatest compliment was from Sean Gibson, who, even though he wasn’t there, reached out to me directly after my presentation about the great feedback that he had received back in Pittsburgh. While I had thought of this as a capstone to what was a big undertaking, feedback from Mr. Gibson and those at SABR 53 has made me want to take it up again. I am looking forward to the reception after its publication in the fall and hope to get this proposal that I believe can do some real good for people to more ears in the right places.
Growing up outside of San Francisco, he’s an avid San Francisco Giants fan and recalls witnessing Ed Halicki’s no-hitter at Candlestick Park in 1975, which, in part, inspired him to write this book after a distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force.
Society for American Baseball Research Rogers Hornsby Chapter (Central and South Texas) Annual Report, June 2024 – May 2025
By Gilbert D. Martinez Chapter Commissioner
The SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter continues to provide members with a wide range of monthly activities, volunteer opportunities and in-person and online interactions related to many facets of baseball.
The chapter’s biggest event was the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting at Texas State University in January, which featured former Major League pitcher Ross Ohlendorf and longtime broadcaster and chapter member Mike Capps. Also joining the winter meeting was Rylan Kobre, manager of public relations and broadcasting with the Round Rock Express. A long-time winter meeting tradition, a mock Hall of Fame vote was conducted and trophies for the winners of Jim Baker’s regular season and post-season Predictatron contests were presented. In addition, member Tom Thayer presented a research project that offered a new way of evaluating catchers. Members Jerry Miller, Jan Larson, Frank Rechtorovic and Nicole Bryan-Hall also presented at the winter meeting.
At SABR 52 in Minneapolis, chapter member Bailey Hall won top poster presentation at the annual conference. Her poster evaluated whether a leadoff walk is worse than a leadoff hit.
For SABR Day on Feb. 1, Texas State graduates Remle Herzberg, the social media manager for the Texas Rangers, and Aaron Peralta, who worked on the social media team for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, joined the chapter via Zoom to share their career experiences with chapter members and Texas State students.
In a Zoom meeting in August, award-winning sportswriter, editor and multimedia journalist Aaron Fischman, author of “A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back,” told the story of Tony Barnette, a pitcher who didn’t know if he’d ever achieve his dream to pitch in MLB when he signed a lucrative contract to join the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball. He later went on to pitch for the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.
The year also included outings to Minor League Baseball games such as the Round Rock Express on May 17 for Star Wars Night and the San Antonio Missions in July. The chapter also added a supplemental meeting in February with an outing to UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin to watch the Texas Longhorns host the Dartmouth Big Green.
We also had chapter members thrice host a monthly meeting – Ryan Pollack in June, Jim Baker in October for our World Series Watch Party and Bailey Hall, Nicole Bryan-Hall and Brian Hall in April.
In the summer, the chapter was awarded $250 for meeting specific benchmarks and achieving All Star status. With the national SABR office’s help, the chapter now has a bank account. The chapter leadership team approved $125 to purchase gifts for the baseball memories programs. As of May 2025, $60 has been used for two large table-top baseball puzzles and a catalog of baseball-themed word scrambles for the baseball memories program, leaving $190 in the bank account.
In the second year of a three-year term, Chapter Commissioner Gilbert D. Martinez continued to serve on the chapter leadership team with directors Jan Larson, Monte Cely, Ryan Pollack and Jerry Miller. In June, chapter member Don Dingee joined the leadership team as membership director. Cely, Pollack, Miller and Dingee will continue as directors in the coming year while Larson will step down. For his many years of service, we thank Jan Larson, who was a founding member of the chapter in 2005 and has long served on the leadership team, leading chapter outings to Whataburger Field’s owners’ experience and running the mock Hall of Fame voting at the winter meeting for many years.
Baseball Memories Program
By Monte Cely
Hornsby Chapter Director
In May 2015, Hornsby Chapter volunteers led by Jim Kenton started SABR’s first chapter-supported baseball reminiscence program in partnership with Alzheimer’s Texas. Reminiscence, recalling pleasant memories of the past, has proven to be an effective way to enhance 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.
Chapter members led by Larry Rice in San Antonio have started a new program at the Audie Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Administration Medical Center there, as well as continued the popular program at the Kerrville Texas VA Medical Center. Volunteers in the Austin metro area have continued their program at the AGE of Central Texas adult day care center in Round Rock. On a monthly basis, these three programs are reaching 35 to 50 participants. Fourteen SABR members, as well as spouses and other relatives, actively volunteer for these three programs.
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, video, history and other sports in order to invoke a broad range of pleasant memories from a diverse audience. If you’d consider volunteering, have an idea for a new program in your community, or just would like to learn more, contact Monte Cely at cely@swbell.net or Larry Rice at ukisno1@gmail.com. Information is also at our chapter website at: https://www.sabrhornsby.org/baseball-memories/
Membership Report
By Don Dingee
Hornsby Chapter Membership Coordinator
SABR Hornsby extends along a 376-mile-long swath of Texas from Waco to the Rio Grande Valley, including territories of three MiLB teams (one AAA and two AA). Ninety-two percent of our members live in one of four metro clusters: Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos and Waco/Temple/Killeen. We currently stand at 221 consecutive monthly meetings thanks to our active members. Highlights for the period ending May 15, 2025:
Growth – 89 primary members, compared with 84 in 2024 and 82 in 2023.
Engagement – In-person meetings at various restaurants or member homes average 15 attendees, a 16.9% “active” member level. Game outings average seven attendees. Virtual or hybrid meetings average 26 attendees, drawing on an additional 43 affiliate members and non-members in event-specific outreach.
Retention (excluding students) – 88.1%, compared with 91.6% in 2024 (SABR 2024 national average: 91%).
Thirty percent of our members have 10 or more years of SABR tenure, with three-quarters of our members being 50 and over. Our member Survey cites monthly meetings, Predictatron, Awardatron and baseball discussions in our Hornsby Google Group as essential social interactions. It also indicates a desire to see younger members at meetings — we are tailoring outreach and engagement efforts with the 35-49 and 18-34 age groups in mind.
Thirteen chapter members and guests proved to be not so lucky for the hometown Round Rock Express, which hosted the Oklahoma City Comets on Star Wars Night at the chapter’s May meeting on Saturday.
After an early 2-1 lead, the Express did not strike back after the Comets plated six runs in the fifth inning, streaking their way to a 7-3 win. A key statistic that told the story of this game was team batting with runners in scoring position. The Comets excelled here, going six-for-eight while the Express went one-for-six, leaving 10 runners on base.
After the game, fans were treated to a Star Wars-themed drone show that depicted characters, scenes and audio clips from the movies and shows. The best one may have been the one with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) levitating a baseball!
We also enjoyed a visit from Express General Manager Tim Jackson.
Linda Nichols had the best shoes at Dell Diamond — a new pair of Keds sneakers stitched like a baseball! Well done, Linda!
Before the game, chapter members and guests enjoyed a barbecue dinner at the Salt Lick.
SABR Webinar: Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe & the Hall
You may have seen the invitation to join a Zoom webinar at 6 p.m. (Central Time) Wednesday, May 21, about MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision to remove Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and other members of the Chicago Black Sox and others from baseball’s permanently ineligible list. The discussion will also focus on sports gambling and the players’ newfound eligibility for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The webinar will feature Don Van Natta Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter with ESPN, Keith O’Brien, author of “Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball,” and Jay Jaffe, FanGraphs senior writer and author of “Cooperstown Casebook: Who’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Who Should Be In, and Who Should Pack Their Plaques.” The webinar will be moderated by Jacob Pomrenke, who is on the SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee.
In 2024, O’Brien joined the Hornsby Chapter for a Zoom meeting on SABR Day to talk about “Charlie Hustle.” O’Brien, a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist and SABR member, reminded us of Rose’s great baseball accomplishments and his poor choices and gambling addiction that derailed his legacy.
Attendance is limited to members of SABR. Click here to pre-register for this Zoom event.
SABR 53 DFW
Have you registered for SABR 53? It’s not too late! Here’s the link for more information about the annual conference from June 26 to 29 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area: https://sabr.org/convention/2025/registration
Among the 32 research presentations are one by a chapter member and another who shared details about his proposal at the chapter’s SABR Day meeting earlier this year.
In a research presentation, Hornsby Chapter member Eric Bynum will discuss the Waco Navigators, which won three consecutive Class B Texas League titles from 1914 to 1916, including a controversial decision related to the shared title with the Houston Buffaloes in 1914. His presentation will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, June 26.
Also, Brenden Gilbreath, a law student at Texas Tech School of Law, will describe his proposal to MLB and the MLB Players Association to award annual benefits to the families of Negro League veterans in a presentation called “Heroes Get Remembered, but Legends Never Die: Properly Recognizing the Contributions of Negro League Veterans.” His presentation will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 26. Gilbreath shared an early draft of his proposal at the Hornsby Chapter’s SABR Day meeting on Feb. 1.
Cool baseball stories: A minor league ball wrapped in memories By Don Dingee
Before I started elementary school, my grandmother bought the former one-room schoolhouse next door to my parents’ house in Churchtown, NY. Over several summers, “Eddie the carpenter” added a kitchen, bathroom, pumphouse, furnace room, and a rear porch, and finished out two bedrooms and the front porch. He often had a radio with the Mets on while working, and mentioned a few times that he pitched in the Dodgers’ system.
I would see Eddie Yasinski occasionally in Hudson, where he also worked as a mail carrier and umpire. He was right over my shoulder behind the plate for the last game I played in high school. When I joined SABR and started thinking about a writing project, Eddie came to mind, and what I found was a fascinating story. His biography is in the Minor Leagues Research Committee Spring 2025 Newsletter.
His daughter, Susan, better known as guitarist Susan SurfTone, was of immense help, providing photos and anecdotes. When I shared the published version with her, she said, “Send me your address, I have something for you.” Soon, a baseball in a plastic case arrived by mail, signed by Eddie, manager and former major leaguer Al Brancato, future major leaguers Art Cecarelli and Gabe Gabler, former major leaguers Clyde McNeil and Rudy Rufer, and most of the players on the 1953 Elmira Pioneers, the Dodgers’ A affiliate.
Susan related that after Eddie passed away in 2017, she found five similarly signed baseballs from Eddie’s various minor league stops, with two labeled “Eastern League,” which made me feel a bit better that she wasn’t parting with an heirloom. It’s a precious gift that has joined my small baseball memorabilia collection.
Do you have a cool baseball story that happened to you this season? Want to share it with your friends in the Hornsby Chapter and beyond? This may be perfect for you! Please reach out to Gilbert D. Martinez (gmartinez46@mac.com) with a brief description of your cool baseball story (write in first-person and limit your story to no more than 300 words, please) and accompanying photo if available.
Predictatron Update: Gay leads the way [Note: Jim Baker shared this Predictatron update with the email list on May 12.] By Jim Baker
We have a new leader heading into the quarter turn of the season in the person of Mr. Gay. Previously satisfied to lead just the Brian Rogers Division, he has now unseated previous overall leader Mr. Windham as well. All is not lost for the rookie upstart, however, as he has maintained his lead in the Eric Robinson Division in spite of coughing up the big lead.
It was a very positive week for most players as we averaged a 33-point gain. This helped push the number of players at or past the 700-point mark to eight. The biggest week was turned in by Mr. Harrell, who rang up 57 points, enabling him to climb from ninth to fifth in the Robinson Division. This makes him our Player of the Week. You will probably remember that Mr. Harrell won this award no less than seven times in 2024—a truly staggering number that had never before been achieved. Is the first of seven for 2025? Stay tuned.
In the Rogers Division, Mr. Rechtorovic the Younger also had a big showing, missing the Player of the Week award by just one point. This allowed him to progress from tenth place all the way up to fifth. Team Hall also broke the 50-point barrier on the week, jumping from seventh to third in the process.
With one-fourth of the season gone, here’s a look at the least-costly and most-costly picks so far. Note that there are 19 individual-team perfect scores.
Least Costly
Most Costly
Player/score
loss
Player/score
loss
Baltimore
Wancho 79
-17
Robinson, Seigel, 90L
-55
Boston
Polk, Larson, Windham 85
0
Miller 94
-9
NY Yankees
Miller 92
-1
Larson, Dingee 84
-9
Tampa Bay
McIntosh 73
0
Bass 58
-15
Toronto
R. Martinez, Gay 81
0
Siegel 71
-10
Chi. White Sox
Bass 47L
-3
R Martinez, Walsh 63L
-31
Cleveland
G Martinez 95
-2
McNulty 76
-17
Detroit
Dingee, Siegel 91
-12
Rogers 78
-25
Kansas City
Bass 93
0
Dillon, Baker 80
-13
Minnesota
6 tied with 83*
0
Dingee 74
-9
Houston
Dingee, Larson, McIntosh 83
0
G Martinez 93L
-20
LA Angels
Siegel 66
0
Polk 51
-15
Athletics
Dingee 84
-1
Polk 67L
-32
Seattle
Dingee & Polk 89, Siegel 93
-2
Windham 83
-8
Texas
Bass 78
-1
Crombar 92L
-26
Atlanta
G Martinez 86
-9
J Rechtorovic 96L
-38
Miami
F Rechtorovic 62
0
Barnes 69L
-13
NY Mets
Polk 97
-6
Harrell 84
-19
Philadelphia
G Martinez, Polk 96
-1
Robinson 86
-11
Washington
J Rechtorovic 67
0
Harrell 57L
-20
Chicago Cubs
Dillon 90L
-2
Polk 78
-13
Cincinnati
Baker, Walsh 77
0
McNulty, Harrell, Wancho 86
-9
Milwaukee
Dillon 79
0
Siegel 94L
-30
Pittsburgh
G Martinez 70
-15
Dingee 82
-27
St. Louis
Barnes 84
-3
Bass 58
-29
Arizona
J Rechtorovic 83
0
Polk 96
-13
Colorado
J Rechtorovic 55
-27
McIntosh, 62L
-67
Los Angeles
Larson, F Rechtorovic 105L
-3
Pollack, R Martinez 97L
-17
San Diego
Barnes 92
-12
Pollack, Rogers, Larson 82
-22
San Francisco
Bass 83
-12
Crombar 76
-19
*Barnes, Polk, Dillon, Larson, F Rechtorovic, Siegel
As we pause to comprehend the folly that is the 2025 Colorado Rockies so far, consider that the best score for them in our group is costing its owner 27 points! The team with the lowest most-damaging score is Seattle at -8. If you see an ‘L’ next to a player’s pick in this chart, it means it’s their Lock. A Lock in the Least-Damaging column is a truly impressive feat, given the double jeopardy the Lock brings with it. There are only three such picks on the board so far.
It’s interesting to see the same players on both sides of the ledger, proving once again that predicting the outcome of baseball seasons is nowhere near an exact science. You probably already knew that, though.
Through games of Sunday, May 11, or 25.0 percent of the 2025 season:
PLAYER
Points
PB
Last
^/v
prev
move
1
Scott Gay
726
701
25
1
0
2
Don Dingee
710
16
699
11
2
0
3
Team Hall
709
17
657
52
7
4
4
Jim Baker
703
23
661
42
6
2
5
John Rechtorovic
699
27
643
56
10
5
6
Mike McNulty
695
31
674
21
4
-2
7
Kevin Barnes
694
32
652
42
8
1
8
Tom Wancho
693
33
682
11
3
-5
9
Brian Rogers
681
45
648
33
9
0
10
Gilbert Martinez
678
48
667
11
5
-5
11
Ryan Pollack
663
63
619
44
12
1
12
Syd Polk
651
75
625
26
11
-1
PLAYER
Points
PB
Last
^/v
prev
move
1
Bob Windham
723
704
19
1
0
2
Frank Rechtorovic
715
8
668
47
4
2
3
Mike Dillon
707
16
679
28
3
0
4
Jerry Miller
700
23
693
7
2
-2
5
Mike Harrell*
693
30
636
57
9
4
6
Jan Larson
687
36
644
43
6
0
7
Gary McIntosh
685
38
657
28
5
-2
8
Ira Siegel
681
42
641
40
7
-1
9
Michael Bass
670
53
631
39
10
1
9
Dan Walsh
670
53
628
42
12
3
11
Raeanne Martinez
667
56
621
46
13
2
12
Eric Robinson
663
60
630
33
11
-1
13
Chris Crombar
652
71
637
15
8
-5
*Player of the Week
Awardatron Update [Note: Ryan Pollack shared the following on the group email list on April 21, nearly a month into the season.] By Ryan Pollack
Greetings & salutations, all! Your first Awardatron update is coming a tad early, as I will be busy next week. The season’s young, but let’s check in on the awards favorites so far.
AL MVP Frontrunners: Judge, Witt Jr., Henderson
Henderson has started slowly, with a batting line of just .228/..267/.439 (103 wRC+ — meaning his park-adjusted offense is 3% better than league average). And his plate discipline is all messed up, with just a 5% walk rate against a sky-high 33% K rate.
As Orioles fans, we’re leaning on two positive facts to start the year. One, he’s hitting the ball extremely hard (64.9% Hard-hit rate per Statcast). Two, he missed a month of spring training with an intercostal strain and so may just be one of those guys who needs the reps. The projection systems remain confident in him, as do us Baltimore fans (dear lord knows we need something to hope for after this miserable start to the year).
NL MVP Frontrunners: Tatis Jr., Ohtani, Betts
Fernando Tatis Jr. is fulfilling the promise he made when the Padres signed him to that mammoth extension several years ago. He has been consistently excellent since then, but teammates like Machado and Soto have overshadowed him, and his scandal-fueled couple of years didn’t help. Now, however, he’s off to a stunning .358/.436/.631 start (209 wRC+, meaning his park-adjusted offense is 109% better than league average) with 8 HR and 7 SB. Oh and he’s playing above-average defense in the outfield.
The most impressive thing is that he’s struck out a minuscule 12.8% of the time — significantly better than the league-average strikeout rate of 22.5%. He’s also walking the same amount, and to walk as much as you strike out is pretty much Juan Soto / Kyle Tucker territory. It seems there is a new National League right fielder on this list!
His career high in WAR is 6.8, set in 2021; he already has 1.9 this year. Sky’s the limit.
AL Cy Young Frontrunners: Crochet, Skubal, Ragans
Crochet has looked every bit like the ace Boston thought they were getting when they not only traded for him, but signed him to a crazy extension. His 1.13 ERA is being held up by an unsustainably low home run rate and an unsustainably high baserunner strand rate, but his expected stats and peripherals point to an ERA in the high 2’s or low 3’s, not some ghastly number. Although Crochet is emphasizing his sinker more than 2024 and has added break to his cutter, his calling card remains his fastball. Batters are slugging .175 against it despite seeing it almost half the time.
NL Cy Young Frontrunners: Skenes, Wheeler, Webb
Skenes looks even better to start his first full season. Although his strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is also down (from 6.2% to 3.4%, and so is his hard-hit rate (from 36.3% to 32.5%). Right now he’s basically Greg Maddux (career 4.9% walk rate) except, you know, he throws 98 MPH and has a 93 MPH splitter.
AL Rookie of the Year Frontrunners: Kristian Campbell, Jacob Wilson, Jack Leiter
Pretty much no one was saying anything about Jacob Wilson (shortstop for the Athletics) to start the year. At least, not that I heard of. Well — that’s changed now. He sports a park-adjusted offensive line that’s 52% better than major league average, and although I’m honestly not sure how park adjustments in Sacramento are being done this year, that’s still very good. Breaking it down, he has a super weird batting line of .354/.354/.500 with 2 HR and 1 SB. Fascinatingly, he has zero walks and has struck out only 3.4% of the time. He’s not hitting the ball hard (2.5% Barrel rate), so it seems he’s shaping up to be another Luis Arraez type, who sprays singles all around the field because he’s adept at squaring up the baseball.
But crucially, unlike Arraez, Wilson is a good defender at a premium position. According to Statcast, he’s in the 82nd percentile for range and 77th at arm strength. Because of this, if he can maintain even a league-average batting line, he can be really valuable.
NL Rookie of the Year Frontrunners: Dylan Crews, Thomas Saggese, Zac Veen
The NL ROY crowd is pretty thin. But so far, Thomas Saggese has fired up the Cardinals with a .400/.389/.600 batting line. That .422 wOBA is obviously not sustainable but even his .342 xWOBA would be very good for a rookie. And combined with above-average defense up the middle (he’s a second baseman / shortstop), you have the makings of a potential breakout in St. Louis.
AL Manager of the Year Frontrunners: Hinch (Tigers), Bochy (Rangers), Schneider (Blue Jays)
The Tigers are 13-9 with a +24 run differential to start the year, 7th best in MLB. Given how they ended last year, I think many expected them to do better this year, but the fact they’re out in front counts as a mild surprise. Skubal hasn’t really looked like Skubal yet, but he’s still excellent, and Spencer Torkelson is fulfilling his prospect potential with a park-adjusted batting line 93% better than league-average. Their playoff odds have increased 27 points, most in the big leagues so far, from 37% to 64%. Those are the kinds of positive surprises that get managers awards.
NL Manager of the Year Frontrunners: Counsell (Cubs), Melvin (Giants), Shildt (Padres)
The Cubs were something of a disappointment last year. Well — not so much this year. Their playoff odds have increased 18 points, from a right-on-the-bubble 56% to a close-to-a-sure-thing 74%. Kyle Tucker has been astounding to start the year with a park-adjusted batting line 76% better than league average — pretty much right where he landed last year. Pete Crow-Armstrong has been not-terrible at the plate, which when combined with his superlative defense in CF and baserunning, has given him 1.2 WAR already. Although Justin Steele is out for the year, Colin Rea, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, and Jameson Taillon have helped keep the rotation afloat. Boyd and Imanaga are getting a little lucky, but the games they’ve helped win are in the books, so it doesn’t matter as much.
Next meeting In June, we’ll have a breakfast/brunch meeting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 14, at Rudy’s Bar-B-Cue on Capital of Texas Highway in Southwest Austin. Look for a call for RSVPs early next month.
In July, we’re headed back to watch the San Antonio Missions (Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres) host the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19. More details to come in early July.
Fifteen chapter members – including three attending their very first Hornsby Chapter meeting – enjoyed a pleasant spring day and barbecue lunch provided by the family of Nicole Bryan-Hall, Brian Hall and Bailey Hall in Central Austin on Sunday.
We extended a warm welcome to James Navarro, who is new to the Hornsby Chapter, formerly with the Rocky Mountain Chapter; Clayton Hsiung, who is an exchange student at the University of Texas at Austin and from Taiwan; and Jeff Latimer from Martindale.
Co-host Brian Hall spent weeks crafting a trivia quiz for this month’s meeting with a hodgepodge of questions that focused on baseball in recent years and introduced a new statistic that tracks teams’ opening day payrolls divided by wins.
Newcomer Clayton Hsiung took top prize (and a pair of socks, pictured above, featuring his favorite team, the Texas Rangers!) with 28 points, while Ryan Pollack took second with 25 points (winning a Jose Altuve votive candle). They are pictured above (ClaytonWhile they were the only contestants with scores in the 20s, Ira Siegel had 18 points; James Navarro and Jerry Miller had 17; and Gilbert Martinez had 16.
To learn more about his new statistic, click here.
For the list of players that have had Tommy John surgery, click here.
Many thanks to the Halls for their generous hospitality and challenging quiz and to everyone able to join us, especially the new members!
Speaking of trivia…
As you probably know, SABR 53 will be June 25-29 at the Westin DFW Airport in Irving! And the Hornsby Chapter is looking to put together a trivia team. Planning on attending and want to join our trivia team? Please reach out to Chapter Commissioner Gilbert D. Martinez.
Also, make note that early bird registration for SABR 53 ends April 25. Click this link for more details about registration, hotel, scheduled speakers and events: https://sabr.org/convention/
Hopes run high as Predictatron begins anew!
[Note: Jim Baker shared the first Predictatron update of the season with the email list on April 6.]
By Jim Baker
Sunday, April 6, 2025, edition
IT’S ALL TOO REAL NOW!
And so it begins: another season of Predictatron futility, exuberance, frustration and joy. The contest with the impossible mandate of predicting an entire baseball season is underway once more.
Breaking out on top is Team Hall, pacing the field with a score of 291 points. As you would imagine, Team Hall is also our first Player of the Week. They lead the Brian Rogers Division by 29 points over Mr. Wancho after the first go-round. Not too far behind them is Eric Robinson Division leader Mr. Dillon, who comes out of the starting blocks with 289 points. His closest pursuer is Mr. Harrell, who is just 10 points off the mark. Those blessed with keen memories will remember that Mr. Dillon came within three Yankee World Series wins of taking not only this contest, but our postseason tourney as well. If this first week’s performance is any indication, he’s trying to make up for that close loss.
Mr. Rogers, our defending champion, is showing the effects of his offseason spent celebrating his victory and making the rounds of the banquet circuit as a much-sought-after lecturer, stumbling out of the chute 81 points off the leader. As we well know, though, no lead is safe at this early point in the season. In his attempt to defend his own division, Mr. Robinson finds himself in the middle of the pack.
With 25 participants, this is our largest field ever. We are welcoming two new players this year, Mr. Barnes of the Rogers Division and Mr. Windham of the Robinson. In the battle for the mythical Rookie of the Year title, the latter leads the former 245 to 224 for starters. Watch this space for updates on that particular rivalry.
When one submits a ballot to a contest of this sort, one never knows how far removed one is from the collective group think of all the contestants. One way to measure it is to compare this year’s submissions to last year’s standings. Perhaps the safest thing to do would be to simply submit last year’s standings as your ballot for this year. If that were the case, you would have a perfect score of 1,000 in the following chart. This reckoning, known as “Mild or Wild” does just that: gives each player a score comparing their ballot to last year’s standings. The higher your score on this chart, the ”milder” your ballot is; the lowest scores are, therefore, the “Wildest.”
Mild or Wild 2025
Note that the average and median are both around 840. Which approach is best? We shall see…
897
Gilbert Martinez
894
Kevin Barnes
869
Jerry Miller
866
Scott Gay
864
Ira Siegel
860
Team Hall
858
Mike Dillon
858
Bob Windham
853
Gary McIntosh
851
Jim Baker
851
Eric Robinson
842
Don Dingee
841
Mike Harrell
839
John Rechtorovic
839
Syd Polk
835
Brian Rogers
832
Mike McNulty
830
Frank Rechtorovic
829
Ryan Pollack
822
Dan Walsh
818
Chris Crombar
815
Jan Larson
809
Raeanne Martinez
795
Tom Wancho
792
Michael Bass
In our next report, we’ll find out which teams we as a group favor for titles, Locks and all that sort of thing.
Through games of Sunday, April 6, or 5.9 percent of the 2025 season:
Brian Rogers Division
PLAYER
Points
PB
1
Team Hall*
291
2
Tom Wancho
262
29
3
Scott Gay
257
34
4
Mike McNulty
243
58
5
Kevin Barnes
224
67
6
John Rechtorovic
211
80
6
Syd Polk
211
80
6
Jim Baker
211
80
9
Brian Rogers
210
81
9
Gilbert Martinez
210
81
11
Ryan Pollack
208
83
12
Don Dingee
197
94
*Player of the Week
Eric Robinson Division
PLAYER
Points
PB
1
Mike Dillon
289
2
Mike Harrell
279
10
3
Jerry Miller
259
30
4
Frank Rechtorovic
257
32
5
Bob Windham
245
44
6
Jan Larson
244
45
7
Eric Robinson
241
48
8
Ira Siegel
237
52
9
Chris Crombar
225
64
10
Gary McIntosh
222
67
11
Dan Walsh
217
72
12
Raeanne Martinez
208
81
13
Michael Bass
127
162
A new season of Awardatron underway!
[Note: Ryan Pollack shared the following on the group email list on March 27, shortly after the start of the season.]
By Ryan Pollack
Happy baseball, y’all! The ballots are in and the season has begun. Yes, I know it began in Japan a couple weeks ago. You know what I mean.
This is the fourth year of the contest and we have a record-high 20 players. Including myself! Yes, I have no special knowledge, no crystal ball, no inside scoop that y’all don’t have. So I’m in the mix as well.
For scoring purposes, I will split us into two divisions. This year we are going with 1950 RoY winners. Yes, you guessed it, that means we will have the Walt Dropo division and the Sam Jethroe division. I have assigned you to these divisions randomly.
Let’s take a look at whom we think will take home the hardware this year:
As a group we are pretty sure BWJ will take home the hardware. I waffled between him and Judge but decided to bet on youth. The rest of the field is split between some familiar faces and names — guys who have flashed excellence and at times finished in high spots but have never won the award itself. (Yordan is on my fantasy team so I would love to see him win the award as well!)
I do so dearly hope that Gunnar wins the MVP. He was the frontrunner for much of last year but, like many of the O’s, tailed off too much to get close in the end.
Here we have another clear favorite! Can you blame folks? I predict fewer stolen bases for Ohtani, but he has shown dominance on the mound in the past, so it’s fair to expect the same from him again this year. (Side note — I’m sorry, but can we just take a moment and recognize that the first 50/50 player in major league history is also a starting pitcher, and a pretty good (at times borderline ace) one at that?!?!!?I … I need a moment to wrap my head around this. Sorry. Talk amongst yourselves. Sheesh).
Scoobs (say that in Shaggy’s voice, please) is the favorite to repeat here. I see no reason why he can’t, which is why I picked him. He’s at peak age and was absurdly dominant last year, by which I mean, did not rely on that much batted ball luck or sequencing to achieve his results. The rest of the field is pretty mixed, with some thinking that Gilbert and Ragans will take the leap, as well as recent extendee Bibee (yes, I made that joke on purpose).
Phenom Skenes is the clear favorite here amongst the group. The young fireballer impressed everyone last year en route to NL ROY hardware. He is projected by many systems and pundits to be the best pitcher in the NL this year. Perennial also-ran Wheeler comes in (naturally!) 2nd place. After that you have a pair of previous award winners in Sale and Snell, and the very-good-but-never-quite-dominant Cease.
The AL ROY field seems wide open. In my opinion nearly all of these guys have some kind of shot, with the exception being, err, Skubal. (Yes, I gave that contestant plenty of time to change their submission. No, they did not.) The two Red Sox prospects — Anthony and Campbell — are why many think the team will do much better this year than in the last couple of years.
The NL ROY predictions are more heavily concentrated around two players — Sasaki and Crews, in this case. Also, someone is clearly hoping the Orioles trade Mayo to the NL prior for an early-season callup. (That someone is not me, not unless we get some amazing haul for him.)
Continuing the Red Sox theme, many here think Alex Cora will win AL MOY. The Red Sox had a very good offseason, so if they make the playoffs convincingly, he might. The next cluster of votes went to Dan Wilson, newly minted skipper of the Mariners. Will he succeed where Scott Servais could not? In my opinion the Mariners still lack the offense to make a run at the division; although, the Astros are probably the most vulnerable they have been in a long time, and the Rangers have holes as well.
Finally, we land on NL MOY predictions. It’s never wise to bet against Terry Francona, as he is an awesome manager and has won the hardware several times before. Can he do it again but this time in a different Ohio city? I’m not personally sure the Reds have enough talent to make a run, but hey, what do I know?
====
Stick around y’all, it’s going to be a fun season — especially in the AL, as there are a significant number of teams with a reasonable shot at the playoffs. I plan to provide updates & commentary towards the end of each month.
Thanks for playing and see ya in about a month!
Next meeting
Our next meeting will be a Round Rock Express game at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17, for Star Wars Night! More details to come early next month about a pre-game barbecue dinner at Salt Lick and where we’ll be sitting.
On the eve of the new season, 15 chapter members and guests gathered in Round Rock on Sunday to reflect on the off season, to consider our favorite teams’ moves (or inaction) and to look ahead to a new round of prognostication.
While two annual contests have been announced (more details below!), we had one wrap up in February when the last of the big-name free agents, namely Alex Bregman, signed with the Boston Red Sox.
On Sunday, Cy Morong brought a seemingly simple but challenging quiz in which we had to name each MLB team’s home run leader in the 21st century. And he gave us three names from which to make our picks. Congratulations to Ryan Pollack for besting everyone with a score of 25. With 22 points, Monte Cely and Don Dingee tied for second place, with Monte securing the runner-up spot by virtue of the tiebreaker.
For their efforts, Cy presented Ryan and Monte with baseball books to treasure (pictured above, Ryan on the right).
By Ryan Pollack (Note: Ryan shared this via email on Feb. 14 with the Hornsby Chapter email group shortly after Bregman signed with the Red Sox last month.)
Welp — it’s done. The 2024-2025 Contractatron Contest is complete! All 10 free agents have signed their deals, or so I’m told. And it means baseball is just around the corner.
We will get to the final standings in a minute, but first: Alex Bregman signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the Boston Red Sox a couple of days ago. This is slightly below the reported median guess of $150 million. Let’s see where things shook out.
Mike Cohen had the best score for Bregman. It would’ve been impossible to have a better one, as Mike guessed the $120 million deal exactly. That’s a 0% miss, in case you need reminding. On the other side of the coin, Jerry Miller was off by the most. He predicted a cool $320 million, which tabulates out to a 166.7% miss. Oof! Bregman surely would’ve preferred Jerry’s guessed salary to Mike’s, but alas, it is not to be. However, since Bregman’s deal has a player opt-out after 2025, perhaps he can land that monster deal next offseason.
As you could guess by the median $150 million prediction, we weren’t that far off as a group from what Bregman actually got. As a group we missed by 25%, which is just about the middle of the pack:
For the entire contest, the median miss regardless of player was 33.5%. Not bad for our first year of guessing!
Final Standings
With a final score of 34.9, lowest average miss of the group — JIM BAKER is your 2024-2025 Contractatron winner!!!
Here are the full standings:
Jim’s best score was Teoscar Hernandez, for whom he was 0% off. He was also 1.7% off Bregman’s deal and 8.1% off Santander’s.
His worst was Pete Alonso, for whom he was 103.7% off — but remember this miss was actually good, as it was pretty far below the median miss.
Congratulations to Mike Cohen for a pretty close second-place finish as well.
That concludes our contest… thank you and I’m already looking forward to next year’s! Tell your friends!!
Prediction contests galore!
The Hornsby Chapter has not one but two predication contests for your prognostication pleasure!
Think you know how this season will unfold – or how you hope it unfolds? The choice is yours in Jim Baker’s Predictatron. Though the MLB season kicks off with the Japan Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs this week in Tokyo, the rest of the teams open next week. For winning their divisions last year, Brian Rogers, the reigning champ, and Eric Robinson will have divisions named in their honor. Early in the new season, participants will be randomly assigned to one division or the other.
Details about the contest are in the documents below. Deadline to join is 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 28. Use the links below for rules, instructions and the ballot.
But that’s not all! Ryan Pollack’s Awardatron Contest is also open for your best shot to name the season’s award-winners for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. Ballots are due by 9 a.m. (Central Time) Thursday, March 27. Click here for the instructions and to submit your ballot.
Next meeting and beyond
Our next chapter meeting will be at the home of Bailey, Nicole and Brian Hall at noon Sunday, April 13. More details and a call for RVSPs will go out in early April.
We’re planning an outing to see the Round Rock Express (Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers) host the Oklahoma City Comets (Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers), at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, May 17, which is also Star Wars Night! We’ll have more details soon.
In June, we’ll have a breakfast/brunch meeting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 14, at Rudy’s Bar-B-Cue on Capital of Texas Highway in Southwest Austin.
In July, we’re headed back to San Antonio to watch the Missions (Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres) host the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks).
February 2025 Newsletter Supplemental By Gilbert D. Martinez
Seven chapter members gathered on Sunday to watch the Texas Longhorns defeat the Dartmouth Big Green 4-1 on what turned out to be a mild, sunny day at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin.
We watched a tight ball game in which both teams struggled to sustain long innings. Both teams could only muster no more than run in an inning. The difference was that the Longhorns did so in four separate innings and held the Big Green scoreless after they took an early 1-0 in the first inning. On Sunday, the Longhorns completed a three-game sweep of Dartmouth.
Longhorns freshman reliever Dylan Volantis threw 4.2 innings in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four. Second baseman Ethan Mendoza provided half the offense, going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
Many thanks to Bailey Hall for pitching the idea to catch a college ball game this month. At the game, we talked about making this an annual event.
Caribbean Series 2025 in Mexicali: The 67th edition of Serie del Caribe builds upon recent successes By Monte Cely
The Caribbean Series was conceived at baseball meetings in 1948, and the first edition of the international baseball tournament was held in 1949 at the Gran Estadio de Cerro in Havana. After record-setting attendance and interest in Miami in 2024, expectations were high for the 2025 episode. Mexicali did not disappoint, with sellouts, solid play and great weather.
Following are some highlights:
ROUND ROBIN PHASE
The 2025 Series included five teams, the four league champs and an invited team from Japan (a first for an Asian squad):
Charros de Jalisco – Mexico
Indios de Mayaguez – Puerto Rico
Leones de Escogido – Dominican
Cardenales de Lara – Venezuela
Japan – Japan Breeze
The format of competition is a single round robin, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. As of the completion of round robin play the standings stood at:
Mexico 4-0
Dominicana 2-2
Venezuela 2-2
Puerto Rico 2-2
Japan 0-4
Highlights and observations from Round Robin play:
The Japan team has been outgunned but are a plucky young team and became fan favorites here with their sportsmanship. At the end of each game, they line up on the base line and bow to the fans and then to the opposing team.
The Mexico pitching and defense have carried them to the top spot so far. They have allowed the opposition only four runs in the four games during the Round Robin Phase.
Attendance has been strong, around 13,000 for the afternoon games and sellouts (17,000+) in the evening when Mexico plays.
Albert Pujols is managing the Dominican team.
Venezuelan pitcher Jesus Vargas threw a no-hitter against Japan, only the third one in Caribbean Series history.
The Stadium (el Nido de los Aguilas – The Eagles Nest) was recently remodeled and is in great shape – comfortable with good sight lines. Dimensions are 330’ to the foul poles and 400’ to CF.
SEMIFINALS
The DR defeated Venezuela 5-4 in 11 innings to punch their ticket to the finals. The game was tied 3-3 after nine and both teams drove in their bonus runner (aka the Manfred Man) in the 10th. Likewise for the Dominicans in the top of the eleventh. In the bottom of the 11th the Venezuelans had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs but failed to score either of them thus losing the game.
Mexico scored three runs in the bottom of the first and that was all they needed as again the solid pitching and defense for Mexico shut down the Puerto Rico offense. Final score: 3-1. Mexico has won all five games so far and allowed opponents only five runs total.
Former major league speedster Billy Hamilton plays CF for Mexico. He has excited the fans with five stolen bases so far.
FINALS
Escogido (Santo Domingo, DR) defeated Charros de Jalisco (Mexico) 1-0 on Friday night to win the 2025 Caribbean Series. The Mexican squad continued their outstanding defense and pitching but could only muster one hit. There were no RBIs recorded as the one Dominican run scored on a double play.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Esmil Rogers was the tournament MVP, winning two games for the Dominican team including the final game. The all-stars for the tournament were:
C: Francisco Mejía República Dominicana 1B: Yamaico Navarro República Dominicana 2B: Michael Wielansky México 3B: Kelvin Gutiérrez República Dominicana SS: Jack Mayfield México CF: Billy Hamilton México LF: Rudy Martin Jr. México RF: Alexi Amarista Venezuela DH: Danry Vázquez Venezuela Starting Pitcher: Jesús Vargas Venezuela Reliever: Trevor Clifton México Manager: Benjamín Gil México
CLOSING OBSERVATIONS
The Caribbean Series is always a party at the ballpark, and this year was no exception. The author is second from right behind my good friend Juan Antonio from Mexico. The other two “fanaticos” were our “vecinos” (neighbors) at all the games.
The upcoming schedule for the Caribbean Series will be:
2026 – Caracas, Venezuela
2027 – Hermosillo, Mexico
2028 – Miami, U.S.A.
Next meeting
Next month’s meeting will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Hurricane Grill and Wings (2701 Parker Dr., Round Rock). With spring training winding down then, we’ll be gearing up for the 2025 season! Hope you can join us. Watch for a call for RSVPs early next month.
Join us for a supplemental monthly meeting to see the Texas Longhorns host the Dartmouth Big Green at noon Sunday, Feb. 23!
It’s difficult to know what the weather will be like — it could be frigid, it could be sunny, it could be both! — that’s Texas weather for you!
But if you’d like to join us, use the link below to purchase your ticket. A group of us are sitting in Section 101, Row 13, Seats 3 to 9. This is on the first-base (home team) side of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Ticket cost ranges from $13 to $15 (not including fees).
In celebration of SABR Day, two Texas State University graduates who have handled social media accounts for MLB teams shared their behind-the-scenes experiences and offered career advice for students who joined the meeting Feb. 1.
Remle Herzberg, the social media manager for the Texas Rangers, and Aaron Peralta, who worked on the social media team for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, told more than 30 members and guests on Zoom about how playing and loving baseball helped them find a career in MLB.
Herzberg said she signed the contract with the Rangers on graduation day in May 2023 and has already covered some of the biggest moments in baseball, including the Rangers’ World Series Championship in 2023, Rangers great Adrian Beltré’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and MLB’s All-Star Game in Arlington in 2024.
After learning about photographing and covering sports in high school, she sought a degree at Texas State that would allow her to develop her skills in content creation with a focus on sports media.
“The World Series (in 2023) was really an awesome experience,” Herzberg said when asked about career highlights so far. “But I think that’s almost too easy of an answer. For me, the reason it was so important is because there’s this running joke in the marketing department that I’ve done everything backwards. Because I got to the team, I hadn’t even done a spring training yet… The time that I’m doing it is for the World Series, the highest stake moments you can possibly get to.”
She remembered counting down to the final out at Chase Field when the Rangers won the World Series. She had the graphics for social media ready to go within moments of the final out.
“I think the moment of hitting ‘post’ on those graphics to go live, knowing in your head that this is going to be the highest engaged post that this social media account has ever put out was one of the coolest things.”
Aaron Peralta’s hopes for a baseball career were derailed with a bad knee injury, though he was the bullpen catcher for the Texas State baseball team. He was nearly done with a history degree at Texas State when he realized he wanted a career in sports, so he switched majors to mass communication in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, shocking his parents and everyone around him. While at Texas State, he worked with ESPN+ in sports broadcasting, especially producing and directing Texas State baseball games.
“I wanted to be on the inside, in the heart of the sport,” Peralta said. “I was fortunate enough to find an opening with the Seattle Mariners. Mind you, I had no professional work as a social media coordinator, or a social media anything, beside my own personal account, but I worked on trying to form my portfolio and I went through the interview process. I think my knowledge and my love for the game (helped me get the job).”
Peralta said he thought he missed out on the opportunity because he didn’t hear anything for three or four weeks. He got the offer four days before the start of the season in 2023.
“I get the call, and they offer the position, and I was like, absolutely,” he said. “Five days later, I drove up to Seattle.”
Both Herzberg and Peralta credited the School of Journalism and Mass Communication for developing their content creation skills and preparing them for a career in sports.
Texas State students who joined the call asked for advice and suggestions that could help them as they seek internships and jobs in the sports industry.
Dr. Amber Hinsley, journalism coordinator at SJMC, noted that Herzberg took a class called Sports as News to learn more about creating sports-focused content and shared that the program is working on updating and improving sports course offerings.
Herzberg recommended an app called Gondola that lets content creators share their social media posts and tracks engagement analytics. She shared her Gondola account to show us how she maintains her portfolio: https://gondola.cc/remleherzberg
Peralta, who is now the social media manager for the Houston Dynamo professional soccer team, also shared his portfolio for students: https://aaronperalta19.wixsite.com/portfolio
Both Herzberg and Peralta encouraged students to network and seek out opportunities to improve their storytelling skills. Texas State graduates are well known as mentors and supporters of fellow Bobcats, and both encouraged students to connect with them via LinkedIn and social media.
Many thanks to Herzberg and Peralta for being so generous with their time with the Hornsby Chapter and with current Texas State students.
Tom Thayer’s catcher-themed quiz Based in large part on Thayer’s efforts to create a catchers database and his research presentation at the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting last month, Thayer prepared a quiz about catchers.
Cy Morong took top prize with a score of 14, followed by me with 12, Peter Myers with 11, Don Dingee with 9 and guest Brenden Gilbreath with 8.
Chapter member Chris Crombar donated a nice limited-edition print of Johnny Bench by artist Tristan Votta, which served as the prize for Thayer’s quiz. I’ll deliver the print to Morong at the next meeting.
Brenden Gilbreath, a second-year student at Texas Tech University School of Law, reached out to the Hornsby Chapter to seek feedback on a research article he’s written about a critique of the 2024 MLB Negro Leagues financial assistance program.
“It doesn’t go far enough in helping the people that actually played in the league,” he said. So, he’s come up with a proposal to address the inequity.
Working closely with Sean Gibson, great-grandson of Negro Leagues legend Josh Gibson, Gilbreath has examined previous plans that provided compensation for Negro League players and their families.
Gilbreath, who can be reached by email at <bregilbr@ttu.edu>, invites feedback and suggestions on his proposal. We also encouraged him to consider presenting his work at SABR 53 in Irving in June. The deadline for proposals is Feb. 16.
Many thanks to Mr. Gilbreath for sharing his research and draft with us.
UT baseball outing on Feb. 23 Chapter member and high school senior Bailey Hall pitched an idea to have an outing to Disch-Falk Field to watch the UT Longhorns baseball team take on Dartmouth later this month. We are hoping for good weather to organize an outing to the game on Sunday, Feb. 23, which is likely to be an afternoon game.
Once UT Baseball announces the start time, we’ll select a section at the stadium where we can buy tickets and sit together. Watch for an email announcement to the group list and on this website with more details soon.
Brian Rogers receives Predictatron trophy Unable to attend the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting last month, Brian Rogers recently received his hard-earned Predictatron trophy for the 2024 full season contest. His name has been added to the trophy, and Rogers becomes the trophy’s caretaker for this season.
Would you like to see your name on a trophy and take possession of it at next year’s winter meeting? You’ll need to win Predictatron (either the full season or postseason contest) to accomplish that dream! Look for more details next month when Jim Baker invites us to submit our predictions for the 2025 season.
Remembering Rickey Henderson [The baseball world has been in mourning ever since baseball legend Rickey Henderson died in December 2024. Chapter member Syd Polk shared the time he met the Man of Steal.]
By Syd Polk
Rickey Henderson was one of the all-time great players. I did not get to see him play live that much, but I did have a memorable encounter with him.
In 2005, my wife and my baby girl went to see a traveling tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame at the Oakland Museum on a Saturday afternoon. The exhibit was packed. Basically, there was a line snaking through the entire exhibit. It was a really cool exhibit with lots to see.
While we were looking at a display, a docent was bringing somebody through the museum not in the line. Initially annoyed, I looked up, and there was Rickey Henderson! The docent was giving him a personal tour. He told her that he had never had time to learn much about the history of the game; he was too busy trying to play it. He seemed particularly fascinated at the exhibit of a mechanical scoreboard device where somebody would recreate a game based on telegraph signals when the team was on the road.
I looked over at my wife, who had our almost-toddler in her arms, and they both were staring at Rickey. My wife looked every bit as starstruck as I was. Rickey saw my daughter, and said, “Oh, and who is this cutey?” and walked over to both of them, and said, “Goochey-goochey-coo!” and reached out and tickled my daughter, who giggled. He said, “That’s a beautiful baby!” to my wife, then waved bye to the baby and moved on.
Later, as we were nearing the end of the tour, Rickey was still talking to the docent. My wife told me to hold the baby and dug around in the baby backpack for the Sharpie she always had. She then took the baby over to Rickey, and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Henderson, would you sign the back of my daughter’s onesie?”, and he said, “Of course!”, took the pen, and signed it. He smiled at the baby again, waved, and then left the museum. We were on Cloud 9 the rest of the weekend.
Appendix My wife has a cousin, who collects memorabilia. They had not talked in a while. She called him, and he recognized the Caller ID, and answered, “OK, who’d you get?”
He said that Rickey’s signature was difficult to get, and he normally did not sign things. The cousin sent us some memorabilia and baseball cards to make a shadow box display with. We’ll get around to that someday.
Research Spotlight: The Most Productive Players in 2024 Those who knew Bill Gilbert, who founded both the Rogers Hornsby and Larry Dierker chapters, remember his annual research to identify the most productive offensive players in baseball. Dierker Chapter member Christopher Chestnut has continued Bill’s work with an analysis of the 2024 season. He also includes a table that shows the Bases per Plate Appearance leaders from 1912 to 2024.
Many thanks to Chris for this research and keeping Bill’s memory alive and well. Click here to see Chris’ report: 2024 BPA Report
Next meeting For next month’s meeting, we’ll be back in person at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Hurricane Grill and Wings (2701 Parker Dr., Round Rock). With spring training winding down then, we’ll be gearing up for the 2025 season! Hope you can join us. Watch for a call for RSVPs early next month.
The February meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter will feature two Texas State graduates who have managed social media accounts for Major League Baseball teams at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, to celebrate SABR Day.
Remle Herzberg (Texas Rangers) and Aaron Peralta (Cincinnati Reds) will share their experiences engaging with fans through social media.
An Austin-born former Major League pitcher, a longtime broadcaster and his best year yet, the new voice of the Round Rock Express, special memories shaped by baseball, the chapter’s mock Hall of Fame vote and a new way to evaluate catchers filled the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting on Saturday.
With the start of the 2025 season about three months away, more than 30 chapter members and guests joined the winter meeting in person at Texas State University and on Zoom. We paid tribute to the late Bill Gilbert, who was the driving force in creating the Hornsby Chapter and the Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston.
Ross Ohlendorf
Longtime broadcaster and chapter member Mike Capps (pictured above, right, with Ohlendorf) reunited with former broadcast partner Ross Ohlendorf, who pitched eight years in MLB, from 2008 to 2016, with the Pirates, Yankees, Padres, Nationals, Rangers and Reds, and one year with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Cappy covered a range of topics with Ohlendorf, including his time as a dual-sport athlete (basketball and baseball) at St. Stephen’s Episcopal High School in Austin and as a pitcher at Princeton University, where he published a senior thesis that examined the top 100 draft picks from 1989 to 1993 to determine the value of each pick. Essentially, he said, he used win shares to evaluate player performance. In 2009, Tim Kurkjian wrote an article about Ohlendorf and his thesis for ESPN.com.
We also watched video of Ohlendorf’s immaculate inning, when he struck out three Cardinals batters on nine pitches on Sept. 5, 2009. He said he remembered thinking about the possibility of an immaculate inning on the third batter.
Ohlendorf talked about how valuable it was to him to have effective coaching to help him improve throughout his career. He also appreciated talking a lot about pitching with teammate Steve Jackson when they played for the Yankees and Pirates early in their careers. He found this kind of collaboration rare in baseball because of the inherent competition between relievers.
He said he found game preparation often focused on the weaknesses of the opposing hitters, but he felt best prepared when there were discussions about his strengths as a pitcher.
“You get lost in what you do well as a pitcher sometimes,” he said.
Ohlendorf also shared his experience playing for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in his last year of professional ball. In MLB, he said pitching coaches wanted him to throw his best pitches more often, while in Japan, the team and pitching coaches encouraged him to throw more kinds of pitches to keep hitters off balance. For example, if he threw a good split-finger fastball in practice, the team wanted him to throw it during games. But if he didn’t have good command of the pitch, he said he’d find himself in bad counts.
A question from the audience about injuries to pitchers and the increased prevalence of Tommy John surgeries prompted Ohlendorf to reflect on another difference between baseball in America and Japan. He said when there are two outs in an inning in Japan, starting pitchers typically hop out of the dugout to throw additional warmup pitches before the side is retired. He said he thinks this would help pitchers stay warm and may help prevent injury. He also shared that in Japan, pitchers work more on holding runners and being quicker to the plate, probably indicative of the small-ball type of play often seen in Japan as compared to MLB.
Since retirement, Ohlendorf, as a sixth-generation rancher, has gotten more involved with the family business raising Texas Longhorns at the Rocking O Longhorns in Lockhart.
Cappy asked Ohlendorf if he’s considered joining a team’s front office, but with three young children and another on the way, he said, “Not right now,” but he also didn’t rule it out in the future.
Mike Capps’ 2024 broadcast adventure
After 24 years as the voice of the Round Rock Express and a distinguished career in broadcast news before that, Mike Capps decided to take on new challenges in 2024. He joined the Wichita Wind Surge, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, broadcasting all of their games in Texas. He also became the voice for the baseball team at the University of Texas–San Antonio.
He credited longtime baseball executive Jay Miller for supporting him throughout his career. Miller, who retired as president of the Wichita Wind Surge last month, brought Cappy onboard at the Express in 2000 and then tapped him for broadcasting duties with the Wind Surge in 2024.
Last year, he said, was “the best year I’ve had in baseball since Jay Miller” brought him to Round Rock in 2000, he said.
But he said one of the biggest surprises of the year was getting the call from the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate, which is one of his favorite minor league venues.
He said he was grateful for his time with the Express, but calling games with other teams was great fun.
“This last year for me and my family was just incredible,” Cappy said. “(Having) friends in baseball – they take care of you.”
He’s looking forward to broadcasting with the Wichita Wind Surge and UTSA in 2025 and is hopeful to return to the Iowa Cubs broadcast booth.
A new broadcast voice in Round Rock: Rylan Kobre
Rylan Kobre, manager of public relations and broadcasting with the Round Rock Express
With Mike Capps’ departure, the Round Rock Express turned to Rylan Kobre as the new voice of the Express in the 2024 season. He joined us via Zoom to talk about his first full year in the booth.
He also identified several players in the Rangers’ minor league system that might get some serious playing time with the Express in 2025, unless some of them leap to the big league club. He suggested watching out for hitters with a good, disciplined approach at the plate such as Blaine Crim and Trevor Hauver. He also thought that right-handed pitcher Justin Foscue might start in Round Rock this year.
Kobre also shared that clubhouse renovations are underway at the Dell Diamond to give more room for the larger rosters in Triple-A. He noted that when the stadium was first built, it was designed to accommodate smaller Double-A rosters, so renovations were long overdue. The home clubhouse is beyond the left field side while the area behind right field will have the new visitors’ clubhouse.
Chapter’s mock HOF vote By Ryan Pollack
In its annual mock election held at the chapter’s winter meeting, the Rogers Hornsby Chapter elected trailblazing international superstar Ichiro Suzuki to the Hall of Fame. Ichiro was named on 38 of the 42 ballots submitted, giving him 90.4% of the vote. Candidates must appear on 75% of ballots to gain election.
Ichiro redefined what it means to be a Japanese player in MLB. Immediately upon arriving in the United States in 2001, he won the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since Fred Lynn in 1975. This performance played a key role in the Mariners’ 116-win year and set the tone for what was to come. Throughout his long career, Ichiro showcased a keen batting eye, incredible skill for contact, great baserunning, a strong right arm and a colorful personality. He tallied 3,089 hits and set the single-season hits record with 262. But more than that, he became an international representative for the game of baseball.
Tallying 22 votes each for a vote share of 52.3% were left-handers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. Sabathia notched 3,093 strikeouts and won a Cy Young Award in a 19-year MLB career. Wagner boasts a career 2.31 ERA, 422 saves and the highest strikeout rate (33.2%) of any retired pitcher with at least 800 innings pitched.
The other players reaching double-digit vote totals were Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Carlos Beltran and Manny Ramirez, each with 17 (40.4%); and Andruw Jones with 14 (33.3%).
See below for the full totals:
Player
Number of votes
%
Ichiro Suzuki
38
90.4
Billy Wagner
22
52.3
CC Sabathia
22
52.3
Alex Rodriguez
17
40.4
Andy Pettitte
17
40.4
Carlos Beltran
17
40.4
Manny Ramirez
17
40.4
Andruw Jones
14
33.3
Bobby Abreu
8
19
Chase Utley
8
19
Felix Hernandez
8
19
Dustin Pedroia
6
14.2
Omar Vizquel
5
11.9
Torii Hunter
5
11.9
Jimmy Rollins
4
9.5
David Wright
2
4.7
Francisco Rodriguez
2
4.7
Mark Buehrle
2
4.7
Adam Jones
1
2.3
Ben Zobrist
1
2.3
Brian McCann
1
2.3
Hanley Ramirez
1
2.3
Ian Kinsler
1
2.3
Troy Tulowitzki
1
2.3
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America will announce official results at 5 p.m. (Central) Jan. 21 on MLB Network. If any on the ballot achieve 75 percent of the vote or better, he or they will join Dave Parker and Dick Allen, who were selected by the Veterans Committee in December, at Cooperstown, New York, for the induction ceremony in July.
Predictatron trophy presentation
Ryan Pollack, left, accepts the post-season Predictatron trophy from predictions guru Jim Baker.
Predictatron impresario Jim Baker presented Ryan Pollack with the trophy for winning the postseason Predictatron contest. The winner of the season-long prediction contest, Brian Rogers, was unable to join us on Saturday and will receive his trophy at a later time. Baker noted that Mike Dillon came within a few games of achieving victories in both the season-long and postseason contests, but the Dodgers’ memorable (or forgettable, depending on one’s perspective) fifth inning comeback in World Series Game 5 sunk not only the Yankees’ chances, but Dillon’s, too. Nonetheless, Baker applauded Dillon’s near achievement.
A whole new Predictatron for chapter members commences soon. Watch for email announcements from Baker in mid-March.
Trivia quiz focusing on famous baseball trades
Cy Morong, left, Jim Baker, middle, and Tom Thayer take top honors, and baseball books, for their trivia quiz successes.
A chapter winter meeting wouldn’t be the same without a trivia quiz, and winter meeting coordinator Jerry Miller brought a doozy. He challenged us to recall details of players and teams involved with memorable trades throughout baseball history.
Tom Thayer proved to be equal to the task, nabbing 42 out of 49 points on the quiz, winning a book about Nolan Ryan. Cy Morong came in at second with 36 points, winning a biography about Cal Ripken Jr. (co-authored by friend of the chapter Mike Bryan), and Jim Baker took third with 30 points and won a book about Mickey Mantle.
Chapter member Tom Thayer gave a presentation that offered a new way to evaluate catchers. Noticing that catchers seem to be devalued by modern-day metrics such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement), he’s working on a way to more accurately assess catchers by incorporating their defensive skills and contributions to improving pitching performance.
He said it’s a work in progress that confirms some of the conventional wisdom concerning catching greats, but it also may encourage baseball historians and statisticians to revisit others.
Jerry Miller opened the meeting with a brief presentation featuring his 2024 ballpark memories, followed by those of Ira Siegel and Gilbert Martinez. Click here for the presentation slides: Ballpark Memories 2024
Members of the audience including Syd Polk and Dierker Chapter President Joe Thompson also shared their baseball memories of the year.
Chapter members Frank Rechtorovic, Jan Larson, Jerry Miller and Nicole Bryan-Hall brought presentations that tied important baseball memories to baseball history.
Frank Rechtorovic
Frank Rechtorovic, who became a middle school math teacher after a 22-year career in the Army and National Guard, gave a compelling presentation about how his birthday (9-7-61) was the greatest date in baseball — not just because that’s when he was born, but because of the significance of the numbers as they relate to his favorite team, the New York Yankees. Click here to see his presentation: SABR Presentation by Frank Rechtorovic
Jan Larson, one of the Hornsby Chapter directors, gave his presentation via Zoom to recount his lifelong journey to see every major league team play in person, accumulating visits to stadiums across the country and around the world, some of which are no longer standing. He also has plans to see games at future stadiums that may be built in the coming years. Click here to see his presentation: Stadiums by Jan Larson
Jerry Miller
Jerry Miller, who shared that he has boxes and shelves full of receipts, programs and other baseball memorabilia, took on the task of fully documenting every game he’s attended and the players and feats he witnessed. During the pandemic a few years ago, he wondered exactly how many games he’s seen, and so began his quest to find the answer. Click here to see his presentation slides: Baseball Game Project presentation by Gerald Miller
Nicole Bryan-Hall tells how much baseball has and continues to be a big part of her life.
Nicole Bryan-Hall said she was inspired by her daughter, Bailey Hall, who won the top poster presentation at SABR 52 in Minneapolis in August. In fact, Bailey gave her presentation, which sought to evaluate whether a leadoff walk or leadoff single was more damaging, at last year’s Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting, which then led to her poster creation of her findings for SABR 52. Nicole said she wanted to tell her own story about how baseball has helped shape her life, including her stint as an intern with the St. Louis Cardinals, her love of the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs, and her surprise when Bailey, as a child, took to baseball, which led both to the Hornsby Chapter. Click here to see her presentation slides: A LIFE OF BASEBALL MEMORIES by Nicole Bryan-Hall
Other News
Dierker Chapter celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Astrodome all year By Joe Thompson President, Larry Dierker Chapter (Houston)
On April 9, 2025, the Astrodome will celebrate its 60th birthday. The Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston will spend the entire year celebrating the birthday of the Dome. Almost every chapter event in 2025 will have either a special guest or a chapter member who will give an Astrodome-related presentation.
I hope to invite former players, managers, executives, journalists and fans who would like to speak to the group about their memories of the Dome. For example, on Jan. 20, the chapter meeting will feature Astrodome expert and historian Mike Acosta.
Each edition of the Houston chapter newsletter for the upcoming year will have at least one article about an event at the Astrodome. I also intend to show at least one video of an Astros game in the Dome at a chapter event this year. The game I have in mind for SABR Day (Saturday, Feb. 1) is the oldest TV broadcast involving the Astros known: Astros vs. Dodgers (Sept. 4, 1965). The broadcasters for the game are Keith Jackson and Jackie Robinson. Here is the link from Rare Sports Films, the company that I purchased the DVD from at SABR 50 in Baltimore (https://raresportsfilms.com/1965-la-astros.html).
I hope to get as many SABR members as I can who want to participate in celebrating the 60th birthday of the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Houston Astrodome.
In closing, if anyone can connect me with a former player or manager who played in the Astrodome, a member of a team’s front office with the Astros during the era of the Dome, if anyone has ideas on a presentation, if someone wants to volunteer to write an article or series of articles for the chapter newsletter, or if someone would like to help put a panel of speakers together one month or a group of speakers throughout the year, please have them reach out to Joe Thompson, Houston SABR chapter president (splendorajoe@gmail.com).
Hornsby Chapter’s Baseball Memories 2024 year in review
Monte Cely, who leads volunteer efforts in our innovative baseball memories program, recapped the chapter’s activities for the year. To read more about the program and learn how to get involved, click here for the 2024 year in review.
Many thanks and gratitude!
We offer our greatest appreciation for everyone that made the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting so much fun! Thanks to Ross Ohlendorf and Mike Capps! Thanks to Rylan Kobre! Thanks to all of our presenters: Frank Rechtorovic, Jan Larson, Jerry Miller, Nicole Bryan-Hall and Tom Thayer! Many thanks to Monte and Linda Cely for arranging our lunch with ballpark fare! And a huge thanks to Jerry Miller for coordinating the winter meeting!
Next meeting: SABR Day on Feb. 1 on Zoom
The Texas Rangers social media manager and Texas State graduate Remle Herzberg will join us at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, to help us recognize and celebrate SABR Day!
Unable to attend the 19th Annual Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting last month, Brian Rogers recently received his hard-earned Predictatron trophy for the 2024 full season contest. His name has been added to the trophy, and Rogers becomes the trophy’s caretaker for this season.
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