Category: Chapter News

Rogers Hornsby Chapter Annual Report (June 2016 to May 2017)

Society for American Baseball Research

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

Central and South Texas

Annual Report, June 2016 – May 2017

By Gilbert D. Martinez

Chapter Commissioner

Rogers Hornsby Chapter

 

The Rogers Hornsby Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research in Central Texas continues to be a highly active chapter, with an annual winter meeting, several group outings to watch the Round Rock Express, and watch parties for the World Series and regular season games. In addition, chapter members have volunteered to help Alzheimer’s patients in the baseball reminiscence project.

The chapter extended its consecutive meeting streak, reaching 126 straight months with a meeting in May 2017. Many of the monthly meetings include lunch or dinner at a restaurant in the Austin area, sometimes involving baseball trivia quizzes.

The highlight of the year was the chapter’s 11th Annual Winter Meeting at historic Old Main at Texas State University in San Marcos. Guest speakers at the meeting included Dr. Bobby Brown, former World Series champion with the Yankees and retired cardiologist; Mark Saccomanno, former Astros first baseman who hit a homerun on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues; Mike Capps, entering his 18th season as broadcaster for the Round Rock Express; and Bo Carter, longtime college sports information director who co-authored a book about Dizzy Dean, and Sara Kirby Burke, daughter of longtime broadcaster Gene Kirby who collected and wrote much of the text in the Dizzy Dean book.

Meanwhile, chapter member Jim Kenton continues to lead the chapter’s effort in BasebALZ, a partnership with Alzheimer’s Texas to help Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers recover baseball memories. The therapy program involves six bi-weekly meetings, which include discussing favorite players and teams, remembering details of attending a ball game, and handling baseball items such as gloves and memorabilia.  The BasebALZ effort here was also expanded to include monthly sessions at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Kerrville, Texas. We have also been in touch with other SABR chapters in hopes of expanding this program around the country.

Another highlight of the year was Monte Cely’s dispatches from the Caribbean World Series in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Posting daily updates during the tournament, Cely shared photos and details of Puerto Rico’s 1-0 championship win in extra innings over Mexico.

The chapter also created a WordPress site to house all of the chapter’s meeting summaries and photos, giving the leadership team an effective means to collect and preserve the chapter’s activities and to communicate with other chapters and the general public.

 

BasebALZ Season 6 Sets Attendance Mark on Opening Day

Our baseball-themed Alzheimer’s reminiscence program, BasebALZ, opened “Season Six” on Monday May 8 at the Alzheimer’s Texas offices in Austin.  We had thirteen participants, caregivers and guests in attendance, and we’re expecting more as this “season” progresses.  Nine volunteers from the SABR-Hornsby Chapter and Alzheimer’s Texas were there to deliver and support the program:

BasebALZ leader Jim Kenton opens the session.

In a discussion of “Things from 1960 that we don’t use anymore”, we see if anyone can remember how to use a slide rule …

Season Six of BasebALZ will run through July.  For more information on the BasebALZ program, click here.

 

June Meeting or Let’s Play Two

Following our entertaining trip to the ol’ ballyard for our May meeting, the June Hornsby Chapter meeting will include a return trip to the Salt Lick BBQ and the Dell Diamond on Saturday, June 3 when the Round Rock Express take on the New Orleans Baby Cakes at 7:05 p.m.

Preceding the game, we will meet at the nearby Salt Lick BBQ for dinner at 5:30 p.m.  A limited number of game tickets have been reserved at the discounted price of $12 each.  If you plan to attend please RSVP with the number of game tickets you require and number in your party that will attend the dinner to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com no later than Monday, May 29 (Memorial Day).

May Baseball and BBQ

Our May meeting will take us on our first 2017 trip to the ballpark on Saturday, May 6 when the Round Rock Express host the Oklahoma City Dodgers with game time at 7:05 p.m.  Preceding the game, we will meet at the nearby Salt Lick BBQ for dinner at 5:30 p.m.  A block of seats has been reserved for $12/seat.  If you plan to attend please RSVP with the number of game tickets required and number that will attend the dinner to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com no later than Sunday, April 30.

Bill Gilbert swings a big bat at April meeting

Eleven members and guests met for Mexican food and baseball chatter in southwest Austin on Saturday.

Topics included the start of the new season, including the good baseball thus far by the Houston Astros (in sharp contrast to their start in April last year), Manny Machado’s spike-ful slide into Dustin Pedroia’s calf the night before, and the New York Yankees’ surprising start in a so-called rebuilding year.

Dan Walsh provided a quiz based on the two 2016 editions of SABR’s Baseball Research Journal. Bill Gilbert trounced the competition with a score of 9 out of 12 (note: previous report of 11 of 12 was author’s error). Tom Thayer took second with 8 points, and Jim Baker took third with 5 points. Others may or may not have scored any points on this quiz, but they could not be reached for comment after the meeting. Dan also provided trivia prizes – Bill won a mini-bat with Babe Ruth’s signature; Tom won a baseball trivia book; and Jim won a replica of an advertisement for Ken-Wel brand gloves. Many thanks to Dan for the quiz and prizes.

Next meeting will be dinner and a ballgame at the Dell Diamond on Saturday, May 6. Watch for information about tickets from Jan Larson in the coming weeks.

 

 

March Lunch Meeting Wrap-up

Twelve Hornsby chapter members and guests met for lunch on Saturday, March 18 at the Third Base restaurant at US183 and Anderson Mill Road.

Topics of discussion included the World Baseball Classic and performance of the remaining teams – Japan, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and the pending USA-Dominican Republic elimination game.  Of special interest was the “international extra-inning” rule that attempts to shorten games by placing runners on first and second with no outs, beginning in the eleventh inning.  Spring Training was another hot topic, with chapter members discussing the performance – so far – of their favorite teams.

Jan Larson provided the quiz, a review of general baseball history and records.  The results were hotly-contested and Jim Baker walked away with the valuable prize – a Mark Saccomanno Corpus Christi Hooks bobble-head.

The April chapter meeting is TBD, but April 22 appears to be a likely date.  More information will be forthcoming.