Category: Annual Reports

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

Annual Report, June 2018 – May 2019

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Chapter Commissioner

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter enjoyed another year of baseball-related activities and said goodbye to chapter founder Bill Gilbert in the last year.

Gilbert, who also founded the Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston prior to moving to Central Texas in the mid-2000s, brought baseball enthusiasts together in the Austin area to form the Rogers Hornsby Chapter. He also started our tradition of annual winter meetings filled with research presentations and visits from former ballplayers, managers, umpires, agents and front-office staff. In recognition of his contributions to SABR and the chapter, we have named our annual winter meeting after him, which will now be known as the Bill Gilbert Winter Meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter.

At the 13th annual winter meeting in January 2019, we honored Bill Gilbert and had a videoconference with acclaimed baseball writer (and commissioner of the West Coast League) Rob Neyer. Bob Joyce, son of former Major League pitcher Bob Joyce, recounted his father’s career, pitching with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1939 and with the New York Giants in 1946. In addition, Joyce won 94 games as a starting pitcher for the Double-A San Francisco Seals from 1942 to 1945, including a 31-game win total in 1945. In addition, Bob Joyce shared his own collegiate baseball experiences playing for the University of San Francisco. Other presentations included Gilbert Martinez’s “Baseball in Japan,” in which he described attending Chunichi Dragons games in June 2018, visiting the Ichiro Suzuki museum near Nagoya, Japan, and presenting Ichiro’s father with a photo of Ichiro’s 3,000th professional hit (Nippon Professional Baseball hits plus MLB hits). In addition, longtime broadcaster for the Round Rock Express Mike Capps shared details about the long-anticipated return of the Triple-A affiliate to the Astros’ farm system.

The chapter’s “Talking Baseball” reminiscence program celebrated its 100th session in April 2019. Our SABR chapter’s program in Austin, offered in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Texas, has been running for four years.  This session concluded our 11th “season” in Austin.  The monthly program in Kerrville, in cooperation with the Veteran’s Administration there, has been in operation for three years.

Monte Cely also attended and filed dispatches about the Caribbean Series 2019 from Panama City, Panama. Panama defeated Cuba to take the Serie del Caribe crown.

In May 2019, the chapter met for the 150th consecutive month, a streak dating back to December 2006.

Many of the monthly meetings include lunch at a restaurant in the Austin area, sometimes involving baseball trivia quizzes.

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

Annual Report, June 2014 – May 2015

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Chapter Commissioner

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research in Central Texas continued its consecutive meeting streak, reaching 102 straight months with a meeting in May 2015.

The chapter’s Ninth Annual Winter Meeting in January 2015 was the highlight of the year.  Thirty-five members and guests met at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and heard from Wally Moon, the 1954 National League Rookie of the Year and three-time World Series Champion, and MLB.com national correspondent Alyson Footer on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015.

Also at the winter meeting, new Hornsby Chapter member Jim Kenton talked about a successful program in St. Louis called the Baseball Reminiscence League in which volunteers spend time helping Alzheimer’s patients by discussing baseball players and games from earlier in their lives. Kenton is working with local groups who help Alzheimer’s patients in Austin in hopes of creating something similar and recruiting volunteers.

Through the rest of the year, chapter members met for BBQ in downtown Austin, watched Round Rock Express games at the Dell Diamond and gathered to watch the World Series in October at a chapter member’s home. In addition, the chapter met to celebrate the chapter’s 100th consecutive month with a meeting in March 2015, and met for lunch on SABR Day.

For the fifth consecutive year, Hornsby Chapter member Monte Cely covered the Caribbean World Series, which in 2015 was held in Puerto Rico. Cely posted updates, summaries and photos on the Hornsby Chapter website, chronicling Cuba’s first Serie del Caribe since 1960 and eighth overall.

 

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

Annual Report, June 2013 – May 2014

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Chapter Commissioner

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research in Central Texas continued its consecutive meeting streak, reaching 90 straight months with a meeting in May 2014.

The chapter’s Eight Annual Winter Meeting in January 2014 was the highlight of the year. Fifty-five members and guests met at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and heard Eddie Robinson recount his time in baseball, including as a member of the 1948 World Series Champion Cleveland Indians and later as a scout and general manager. He was also in the Houston Colt .45s front office as head of player development when the team signed future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. Robinson signed copies of his book, “Lucky Me: My Sixty-Five Years in Baseball,” and was joined by co-author C. Paul Rogers III, professor of law and former dean of Southern Methodist University School of Law. Rogers is also the chair of SABR’s Ernie Banks-Bobby Bragan DFW  Chapter in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Also at the winter meeting, former major leagurer Matt Kata shared his experiences as a member of the 2003 “Baby Backs” of Arizona and the local AAA Round Rock Express. Members also heard from Mike Capps, director of broadcasting for the Express, and active chapter members Jan Larson, who talked about a recent trip to Cooperstown, and Chuck Kaufman, who shared his experiences watching baseball games in Cuba.

Through the rest of the year, chapter members met for BBQ in downtown Austin, watched Round Rock Express games at the Dell Diamond and gathered to watch the World Series in October at a chapter member’s home.

For the fourth consecutive year, Hornsby Chapter member Monte Cely covered the Caribbean World Series, which in 2014 was held in Venezuela. Cely posted updates, summaries and photos on the Hornsby Chapter website, chronicling Mexico’s second consecutive championship.

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

 

Annual Report for January 2012 to May 2013

 

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research continued its long streak of consecutive months with a meeting, hosted its largest winter meeting thus far, recognized SABR day and organized outings to minor and major league baseball games.

In January 2013, more than 50 members and guests attended the Seventh Annual Winter Meeting in historic Old Main on the Texas State University-San Marcos campus. Featured speakers included Bill Brown, the longtime Astros broadcaster, Tom Kayser, president of the Texas League (AA), Mike Capps, radio broadcaster for the Round Rock Express and Norman Macht, Connie Mack biographer and former SABR board member. In addition, Aaron Baggett, professor of psychology at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, presented research examining umpires’ objective and subjective tendencies when calling balls and strikes. Also, Bob Tholkes, a longtime SABR member active in the Halsey Hall Chapter in Minneapolis, shared his research about the New York Knickerbockers rules of baseball from the 1840s.

Through May 2013, the Hornsby Chapter has met for 78 consecutive months, a streak dating to December 2006.

The chapter organized outings to watch the Houston Astros play at Minute Maid Park in August 2012. We also had a group outing to watch the Round Rock Express play in June 2012 and a match between the Texas Rangers and the Express in March 2012.

In 2012, the chapter held their Sixth Annual Winter Meeting, which included presentations by Branch Rickey III, president of the Pacific Coast League; Frank Coffland, a retired minor league umpire; Norman Macht, baseball historian, former SABR board member and author of the multi-volume biography of Connie Mack; and Scott Barzilla, author of “The Hall of Fame Index.”

Another 2012 chapter highlight was the book signing by Macht of his newly published “Connie Mack: The Turbulent & Triumphant Years, 1915-1931,” the second volume of his biography of the great manager.

For the third consecutive year in 2013, Hornsby Chapter member Monte Cely covered the Caribbean World Series. Cely posted updates, summaries and photos on the Hornsby Chapter website, chronicling Mexico’s championship in 2013. In 2012, Cely covered the Dominican Republic’s win in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter continued to remain active throughout the year – extending its consecutive monthly meeting streak, hosting winter meetings and SABR Day celebrations, organizing baseball trips for members and honoring the chapter founder with a lifetime achievement award.

The chapter met for the 66th consecutive month in May 2012, a streak dating to December 2006.

Chapter members honored the Hornsby Chapter founder and longtime SABR member Bill Gilbert with the inaugural Rajah Award for his significant contributions to the chapter.

At the chapter winter meeting at Texas State University in January 2011, Houston Astros television broadcaster Bill Brown, Round Rock Express radio broadcaster Mike Capps and his radio booth partner Jerry Grote, former catcher with the 1969 “Miracle Mets,” were special guests. Later that month on SABR Day, members gathered for a viewing of “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural.”

Among the highlights of the year, a dozen chapter members and guests enjoyed the “owner’s experience” at Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, the AA affiliate of the Houston Astros, in late April and early May 2011. Other chapter activities in the year included an outing to a Round Rock Express game and hosting a watch party for Game 3 of the World Series. The group also attended a showing of the film, “Moneyball,” and discussed it with Brian McNulty, a production manager on several Hollywood films.

Chapter commissioner Gilbert D. Martinez gave a research presentation at SABR 41 in Long Beach, California, in July 2011. The presentation examined the no-decision statistic. More information about the presentation can be found on the chapter website (http://chapters.sabr.org/hornsby) under the research and articles tab.

In 2012, the chapter held their Sixth Annual Winter Meeting, which included presentations by Branch Rickey III, president of the Pacific Coast League; Frank Coffland, a retired minor league umpire; Norman Macht, baseball historian, former SABR board member and author of the multi-volume biography of Connie Mack; and Scott Barzilla, author of “The Hall of Fame Index.”

Another 2012 chapter highlight was the book signing by Macht of his newly published “Connie Mack: The Turbulent & Triumphant Years, 1915-1931,” the second volume of his biography of the great manager.

Hornsby Chapter member Monte Cely completed the last of three years of service as a judge for the SABR Baseball Book Research Award. For more information on these awards, go to the SABR website announcement (http://sabr.org/about/sabr-baseball-research-award).

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter, serving Central and South Texas, continued its strong streak of monthly meetings, hosted a successful winter meeting and watched minor league baseball and Major League playoff games in 2010, the fifth year since the chapter was founded.

During the year, the chapter met monthly, extending its consecutive monthly meeting streak to 49 consecutive months with a meeting. The chapter also recognized SABR Day in January with a dinner gathering in which baseball memorabilia and stories were shared.

Earlier that month, the chapter hosted the Fourth Annual Winter Meeting at historic Old Main on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos, Texas. Thirty-four members and guests enjoyed a visit from Houston Astros Broadcaster Bill Brown, who shared an essay titled “The Greatest Game in Astros History,” which was about the thrilling 18-inning Astros playoff win against the Atlanta Braves in the 2005 National League Division Series.

Norman Macht, Hornsby chapter member, a former SABR board member and author of “Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball,” shared audio clips from his interview with Ted Lyons, a 21-year veteran with the Chicago White Sox who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.

There was also a lively panel discussion with Gene Watson, coordinator of professional scouting for the Kansas City Royals; Mike Capps, the voice of the Round Rock Express and recipient of the 2009 Broadcaster of the Year from BallparkDigest.com; and Jim Baker, Hornsby chapter member and former columnist for ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus.

Other presentations included one by Dr. Fred Worth, a mathematics professor from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He shared stories and photos of baseball player gravesites, including several notable ones in Central Texas. He also brought a binder with photos of graves he has visited. His endeavor is to visit, photograph and mark by GPS gravesites of players, managers and umpires associated with Major League Baseball.

Scott Barzilla, an active member of the SABR Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston, talked about his research, which combines statistical measures of baseball players such as win shares (WS), wins above replacement player (WARP), wins above replacement (WAR), plus those values at the player’s peak. The result is a list of players by position that attempts to quantify a player’s value as compared to other players. This research served as the basis for his book, “The Hall of Fame Index,” published in November 2010.

In addition to the Winter Meeting, the chapter took in a Round Rock Express game against the Iowa Cubs in July and watched Carlos Zambrano pitch in a rehabilitation assignment.

Later in the year, members gather for an MLB Playoffs Watch Party and Cookout. A few members also traveled to Arlington in October to watch Game 1 of the American League Championship Series between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees, and Game 4 of the World Series between the Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.

In the second of a three-year term, Hornsby Chapter Member Monte Cely served on the committee to select winners of the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award, which recognizes outstanding baseball research in areas other than history and biography. The 2010 recipients are: Timothy M. Gay (Vienna, VA) for Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson (Simon & Schuster); Chris Jaffe (Schaumburg, IL) for Evaluating Baseball’s Managers: A History and Analysis of Performance in the Major Leagues, 1876–2008 (McFarland); and L.M. Sutter (Norton, VA) for New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present (McFarland).

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter, serving Central and South Texas, was officially recognized as a SABR chapter early in 2006. The Chapter held 12 meetings in 2009 with one meeting in each month, continuing a streak of 37 straight months with a meeting. Nine were dinner meetings, held on a monthly basis at a local sports bar, with an average attendance of ten people. In addition to baseball talk, these meetings allowed members to discuss areas of their research and were also used to plan chapter activities. Members are encouraged to bring guests to these meetings and some new active members have been added as a result.

The third annual winter meeting of the chapter was held in January 2009 on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos. Thirty five people were in attendance at the meeting which included 3 research presentations by Chapter members and a trivia quiz conducted by Norman Macht. The featured speaker was Larry Dierker, former pitcher, manager and broadcaster with the Houston Astros. Other guests included authors, Talmage Boston and Milton Jamail and Round Rock Express Broadcaster, Mike Capps.

• "The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball" by Dennis Pajot
• "Death at the Ballpark" by Robert Gorman and David Weeks
• "Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South" by L.M. Sutter