The April meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter will be held at the Macaroni Grill in the Arboretum area in Austin on Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 12:30 p.m. Please RSVP to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com if you plan to attend.
Members enjoy barbecue as another season gets cued up
A dozen chapter members and guests shed their coats, shut off the hot stove, munched on barbecue fare and looked forward to a new season of baseball on Saturday.
-Jan Larson brought a trivia quiz of random baseball tidbits, won by Tom Thayer. Runner-up was Ira Siegel. For his efforts, Tom took home a Kyle Seager bobble-head while Ira won a Franklin Gutierrez bobble-head.
Some of the topics included Mike Trout’s record contract, Ichiro Suzuki’s retirement, and the SABR Project, Eight Myths Out, a deep dive into examining what we know, and have been told, about the infamous Black Sox Scandal in 1919. The collection of articles debuted earlier in the week. For more information about Eight Myths Out, click this link: https://sabr.org/eight-myths-out
An Ichiro Suzuki jersey and Mariners cap were worn in recognition of Ichiro’s recent retirement. Other baseball gear making appearances were a Royals cap and shirt; a t-shirt recognizing Dodgers’ spring training camps; a Cleveland Indians cap; and a Fukuoka Daiei Hawks cap. Tom Wancho wore a t-shirt that commemorated the “original” Friday Night Lights – the first football stadium in Texas to have lights was at New London in 1940.
This was the 148th consecutive month in which the chapter has met.
Next meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 14, at the Macaroni Grill at the Arboretum in North Austin. A request for RSVPs will go out on our email list next month.
March BBQ
Our March lunch meeting will be held at the birthplace of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter – the County Line BBQ located at 5204 Ranch Road 2222 in Austin (a short distance east of Hwy 360 on 2222) at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23. Members, guests and baseball fans in general are welcome to attend.
Please RSVP to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com if you plan to attend.
Black History Month-themed quiz challenges members at February meeting
A dozen chapter members gathered for tasty Mexican food and celebrated Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Tom Thayer brought a fun Black History Month-themed quiz, prompting Ira Siegel to note at outset of the quiz, with some glee, that Tom – winner of many a quiz – would not win this one. In fact, Jim Baker won, capturing the prize of “Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball” by Fran Zimniuch and foreword by Lee Smith. I couldn’t help but remark that the lack of an afterward in the book was a missed opportunity.
Some of the quiz questions included matching the first black player with the MLB team with which he started; identifying the first player who played the majority of his career in the Negro Leagues and was later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; naming the three Giants who made up the first African-American outfield in 1951; and naming all nine starters for the Pittsburg Pirates, the first all-black lineup, which occurred on Sept. 1, 1971.
Our members shared interesting stories, some about legendary players we’ve lost in recent months such as Frank Robinson and Don Newcombe. In fact, Jerry Miller shared that the first ball game he ever attended (as a 3-year-old!) involved Newcombe pitching for the Cincinnati Reds versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1959.
New member Don wore an Orem Owlz shirt, representing the Pioneer League in Utah. He also shared that his daughter was the assistant general manager for seven years for this Rookie League team affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels. Among the players she saw during his time as assistant general manager include Cole Calhoun, Cam Bedrosian and Garrett Richards.
We had other baseball logos represented at the table, including a t-shirt commemorating the 1955 World Series at Ebbets Field; a Newark Eagles t-shirt; a Philadelphia Phillies cap (perhaps foreshadowing a Bryce Harper signing?), a Bronx Bombers shirt; an Oakland A’s cap coupled with a Roberto Clemente No. 21 Pirates shirsey; an Orioles cap; a pair of Astros caps; a Brooklyn Dodger cap (with a handwritten No. 36 in honor of Newcombe); a Fukuoka Daiei Hawks cap; and a “Model 4000” shirt celebrating Ichiro Suzuki’s total professional hits.
The next meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at the County Line on the Lake, 5204 FM 2222. A request for RSVPs will go out on the chapter email list in mid-March.
February Lunch Meeting
With Spring Training getting started and a number of high profile free agents yet unsigned, the February Hornsby Chapter lunch meeting will be held on Sunday, February 24 at 12:30 pm at Serranos-Mopac at 5030 Highway 290 West, Austin, TX 78735 (near intersection of MoPac & 290). Please RSVP to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com if you plan to attend.
Texas Talking Baseball 2019 Opening Day(s)
“Talking Baseball” (aka BasebALZ) opened its Texas 2019 season with a session at the Kerrville, Texas VA Hospital. Six veterans, plus hospital staff and administrators, were in attendance. This is the 30th program session that we’ve delivered at Kerrville, and we continue to get great feedback from our staff contacts there.
SABR volunteers Jim, Mike, Dan & Ann join VA staff for the January 18 session.
On January 28, we kicked off our 11th “season” of Talking Baseball programs in Austin. We were very happy to welcome several new participants and their caregivers. Eleven participants, caregivers and guests joined our eight volunteers.
In addition to our usual program offerings, we experimented with some new segments. One, entitled “Baseball Time Machine“, asked “If you could go back in time to one ballgame, what game would it be?” We had some lively (and funny) examples, for instance – one of the participants missed Kirk Gibson’s classic World Series walk-off homer because his wife sent him out for Chinese food!
Another new segment was “Get Up and Move”. The idea is to add some light physical activity to the program. Our first try at this was “The Chicken Dance”, a staple at our local AAA ballpark. As you can see from the pictures above, we did get up and move.
One of our regular segments is “Stump the Experts”. Bobby (far end of table in Yankee pinstripes) and Renee attempt to stump the SABR “experts” with a series of clues about a ballplayer’s identity. Bobby took it easy on us today, as we were able to successfully identify that the ballplayer was former Rangers star Josh Hamilton.
Our 2019 season will continue in February with a session at Kerrville on February 8 and sessions at Westminster Senior Living in Austin on February 11 and 25.
We have been offering the Talking Baseball reminiscence program since the Spring of 2015. Our April, 2019 session in Austin will be our 100th session! It has been a fun and rewarding experience for all of us.
Hornsby Chapter members mark SABR Day with HOF quiz
Fourteen chapter members and guests celebrated the 10th Annual SABR Day on Saturday, Jan. 26, with a fine Italian lunch in north Austin and a novel quiz about Hall of Fame members.
Attendees were treated (tortured?) by a trivia quiz I came up with – Name all of the inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame who have double letters in their first name, last name or both. The only clues provided were the revealed double letters and blanks for the rest of the name. The names were numbered and placed in alphabetical order.
For example, for the first name on the list, the entry looked like this: _a__ Aa___
The answer, of course, is Hank Aaron. If the same letter as the double letters appear elsewhere in the name, I included it in the clues (Wheel of Fortune style).
Recently, I noticed a few other Hall of Fame players with double letters in their names and wondered how many more there were. Surely, I thought, it would just be a handful of names. Would you be surprised to learn (as I was) that more than 40 percent of Hall of Famers have double letters in their names? Try your hand at the quiz by clicking here. For the answers, click here.
Tom Thayer took away the top prize, scoring an impressive 87 points, followed by Jerry Miller with a nearly equally impressive 83 points. When I read the answers, at times, it seemed like Tom was reading from the answer sheet; he nailed so many of them. And to be fair, our limited time may have prevented some contestants to do better on the quiz. One remarked he would have filled out more names if he had more time.
For his prowess, Tom was awarded the audio book for “The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood,” which consists of 14 audio CDs.
As usual, we had a wide variety of professional teams, baseball and otherwise, represented at the meeting. David hit the trifecta by representing Philadelphia very well, wearing a new Phillies t-shirt jersey with the newest Phillie Andrew McCuthen’s No. 22, a Philadelphia Flyers cap and replica of a Philadelphia Eagles world championship ring. Other teams represented included a Seattle Mariners jersey worn by Frank (in honor of Ichiro Suzuki’s recent signing); an Astros shirt by Tom T.; Round Rock Express cap and Fredbird sweatshirt; and a Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters cap and a long-sleeved t-shirt celebrating Japan’s World Baseball Classic win in 2006 by yours truly. In addition, Tom W. wore a Cleveland Browns sweatshirt, while Tom M. wore a Cleveland Indians sweatshirt paired with a Jim Thome cap. Jerry sported a Rams Deacon Jones jersey.
With less than a month to go before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the chapter will have its next monthly meeting on Sunday, Feb. 24. More details to come in our chapter email list.
Baseball HOF Members Quiz: Double your pleasure, double your fun
The following Baseball Hall of Fame members have double letters in either their first or last name, or both. 44.11 percent (147 of 331 members of the Hall of Fame) meet this criterion. Using the clues provided, filled in the names. Hint: the names are in alphabetical order by last name. Also, answers are based on the roster on the official website for the National Baseball Hall of Fame (https://baseballhall.org/)
1. _a__ Aa___
2. ____ _pp___
3. ___l _____ll
4. __ff _____ll
5. __ __rr__
6. _oo_ ____ __ll
7. ___nn_ _____
8. ____ __rr_
9. _____ __gg__
10. ____ __gg_
11. ___ __tt_____
12. ______ ___tt
13. __ll___ _____
14. ___ __nn_n_
15. __ss_ _____tt
16. ___ _______ll_
17. __pp_ ________
18. __ __bb
19. _dd__ __ll___
20. __mm_ __ll___
21. ___ __nn_ll_
22. _____ __nn__
23. ____ _oo___
24. __bb_ ___
25. _____ __mm____
26. __zz_ ____
27. __ll ______
28. ___ ____gg__
29. __rr_ ____
30. __bb_ ___rr
31. ______ ______ss
32. ____ __ff_
33. __nn__ _________
34. __ll_ _____
35. ___nn_ _____
36. ___ __ll__
37. ___ __rr_ll
38. __ll__ _______
39. __ll ______
40. __ll__ ___
41. __mm__ __xx
42. __rr__ _____
43. ___ __ll___
44. _oo__ _o____
45. _oo__ _oss___
46. ____ __ee__e__
47. ___ ___ff__ __
48. _____ ___ff___
49. ________ ___rr___
50. __n_ ___nn
51. __ss_ _____s
52. __ll_ ____l___
53. __ll _ __rr____
54. _____ __rr__
55. __bb_ ___t__tt
56. __rr_ ______nn
57. __ll_ ______
58. ____ __ll
59. ______ __ff___
60. __rr_ _oo___
61. ___ __bb___
62. ____ __bb_ll
63. __ll__ __gg___
64. __gg__ _______
65. ______ __nn_n__
66. ___pp__ _____
67. _dd__ __ss
68. ___ _ee_e
69. __ll__ _ee_e_
70. ______ __ll
71. ___ __ll__
72. ______ __ll_
73. ____ __ll_
74. ______ __ll_____
75. __ll ____
76. ____ __ __ss_
77. __rr_ __r___
78. __mm_ _______
79. ____ __zz___
80. ___dd__ _________
81. Ll___ ___
82. __nn__ ____
83. __rr_ ________
84. _ee ________
85. ____ __dd__
86. _ff_ ______
87. __bb__ _______ll_
88. _dd__ ____e__
89. __ll__ ____
90. __ll _________
91. ___ _cC_____
92. __mm_ _cC_____
93. __ll__ _cC____
94. ___ ____nn___
95. __ll _______
96.. __ll _________
97. ___ ____ee
98. ___nn_ ____
99. ____ __rr__
100. _dd__ __rr__
101. ______ ____ll__
102. ___ _tt
103. ____ __nn___
104. _______ __rr_
105. ____ ___zz_
106. _dd__ ______
107. ____ _____tt
108. _ee _ee _ee_e
109. _pp_ _____
110. ____ __zz___
111. __oo__ _o___o_
112. __ll__ _____
113. _dd _____
114. ___ __ff___
115. _____ __pp___
116. _____ _e_ee
117. ___ ____ll
118. __ __mm___
119. _zz__ _____
120. __ll_ __________
121. __rr__ _____
122. __ll__ ______ll
123. _____ __tt__
124. ____ __tt___
125. ___ __tt__ 126. __ll __rr_
127. ___ __rr_
128. _________ __rr_____
129. ____ ___mm_ll
130. __zz_ _____
131. ____ _ee__
132. ____ __dd_ll
133. B_bb_ __ll___
134. Ll___ _____
135. ______ ___ss
136. __ll__ __ll_
137. _Il_ __ll____
138. ____ __ll____
139. ___ __ll____
140. ___ __ll____
141. ___ __ll__
142. __rr_ _r____
143. _____ __nn
144. __ss _____s
This one was added to the list by the Today’s Game Era Committee in December.
145. _ee _____
Two more were added to this list (newly elected members announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019).
146. ___ __ll____
147. ____ __ss___
(Note: This is the updated quiz. Sharp-eyed Hornsby Chapter members caught two omissions when taking this quiz for the first time at SABR Day 2019 in Austin.)
Answers for Baseball HOF Members Quiz
The following Baseball Hall of Fame members have double letters in either their first or last name, or both. 44.11 percent (147 of 331 members of the Hall of Fame) meet this criterion. Using the clues provided, filled in the names. Hint: the names are in alphabetical order by last name. Also, answers are based on the roster on the official website for the National Baseball Hall of Fame (https://baseballhall.org/)
1. _a__ Aa___ Hank Aaron
2. ____ _pp___ Luke Appling
3. ___l _____ll Earl Averill
4. __ff _____ll Jeff Bagwell
5. __ __rr__ Ed Barrow
6. _oo_ ____ __ll Cool Papa Bell
7. ___nn_ _____ Johnny Bench
8. ____ __rr_ Yogi Berra
9. _____ __gg__ Craig Biggio
10. ____ __gg_ Wade Boggs
11. ___ __tt_____ Jim Bottomley
12. ______ ___tt George Brett
13. __ll___ _____ Willard Brown
14. ___ __nn_n_ Jim Bunning
15. __ss_ _____tt Jesse Burkett
16. ___ _______ll_ Roy Campanella
17. __pp_ ________ Happy Chandler
18. __ __bb Ty Cobb
19. _dd__ __ll___ Eddie Collins
20. __mm_ __ll___ Jimmy Collins
21. ___ __nn_ll_ Tom Connolly
22. _____ __nn__ Roger Connor
23. ____ _oo___ Andy Cooper
24. __bb_ ___ Bobby Cox
25. _____ __mm____ Candy Cummings
26. __zz_ ____ Dizzy Dean
27. __ll ______ Bill Dickey
28. ___ ____gg__ Joe DiMaggio
29. __rr_ ____ Larry Doby
30. __bb_ ___rr Bobby Doerr
31. ______ ______ss Barney Dreyfuss
32. ____ __ff_ Hugh Duffy
33. __nn__ _________ Dennis Eckersley
34. __ll_ _____ Billy Evans
35. ___nn_ _____ Johnny Evers
36. ___ __ll__ Bob Feller
37. ___ __rr_ll Rick Ferrell
38. __ll__ _______ Rollie Fingers
39. __ll ______ Bill Foster
40. __ll__ ___ Nellie Fox
41. __mm__ __xx Jimmie Foxx
42. __rr__ _____ Warren Giles
43. ___ __ll___ Pat Gillick
44. _oo__ _o____ Goose Goslin
45. _oo__ _oss___ Goose Gossage
46. ____ __ee__e__ Hank Greenberg
47. ___ ___ff__ __ Ken Griffey Jr.
48. _____ ___ff___ Clark Griffith
49. ________ ___rr___ Vladimir Guerrero
50. __n_ ___nn Tony Gwynn
51. __ss_ _____s Jesse Haines
52. __ll_ ____l___ Billy Hamilton
53. __ll _ __rr____ Will Harridge
54. _____ __rr__ Bucky Harris
55. __bb_ ___t__tt Gabby Hartnett
56. __rr_ ______nn Harry Heilmann
57. __ll_ ______ Billy Herman
58. ____ __ll Pete Hill
59. ______ __ff___ Trevor Hoffman
60. __rr_ _oo___ Harry Hooper
61. ___ __bb___ Cal Hubbard
62. ____ __bb_ll Carl Hubbell
63. __ll__ __gg___ Miller Huggins
64. __gg__ _______ Reggie Jackson
65. ______ __nn_n__ Hughie Jennings
66. ___pp__ _____ Chipper Jones
67. _dd__ __ss Addie Joss
68. ___ _ee_e Tim Keefe
69. __ll__ _ee_e_ Willie Keeler
70. ______ __ll George Kell
71. ___ __ll__ Joe Kelley
72. ______ __ll_ George Kelly
73. ____ __ll_ King Kelly
74. ______ __ll_____ Harmon Killebrew
75. __ll ____ Bill Klem
76. ____ __ __ss_ Tony La Russa
77. __rr_ __r___ Barry Larkin
78. __mm_ _______ Tommy Lasorda
79. ____ __zz___ Tony Lazzeri
80. ___dd__ _________ Freddie Lindstrom
81. Ll___ ___ Lloyd Pop
82. __nn__ ____ Connie Mack
83. __rr_ ________ Larry Macphail
84. _ee ________ Lee Macphail
85. ____ __dd__ Greg Maddux
86. _ff_ ______ Effa Manley
87. __bb__ _______ll_ Rabbit Maranville
88. _dd__ ____e__ Eddie Mathews
89. __ll__ ____ Willie Mays
90. __ll _________ Bill Mazeroski
91. ___ _cC_____ Joe McCarthy
92. __mm_ _cC_____ Tommy McCarthy
93. __ll__ _cC____ Willie McCovey
94. ___ ____nn___ Joe McGinnity
95. __ll _______ Bill McGowan
96. __ll _________ Bill McKechnie
97. ___ ____ee Bid McPhee
98. ___nn_ ____ Johnny Mize
99. ____ __rr__ Jack Morris
100. _dd__ __rr__ Eddie Murray
101. ______ ____ll__ Walter O’Malley
102. ___ _tt Mel Ott
103. ____ __nn___ Herb Pennock
104. _______ __rr_ Gaylord Perry
105. ____ ___zz_ Mike Piazza
106. _dd__ ______ Eddie Plank
107. ____ _____tt Kirby Puckett
108. _ee _ee _ee_e Pee Wee Reese
109. _pp_ _____ Eppa Rixey
110. ____ __zz___ Phil Rizzuto
111. __oo__ _o___o_ Brooks Robinson
112. __ll__ _____ Bullet Rogan
113. _dd _____ Edd Roush
114. ___ __ff___ Red Ruffing
115. _____ __pp___ Jacob Rupport
116. _____ _e_ee Frank Selee
117. ___ ____ll Joe Sewell
118. __ __mm___ Al Simmons
119. _zz__ _____ Ozzie Smith
120. __ll_ __________ Billy Southworth
121. __rr__ _____ Warren Spahn
122. __ll__ ______ll Willie Stargell
123. _____ __tt__ Bruce Sutter
124. ____ __tt___ Mule Suttles
125. ___ __tt__ Don Sutton
126. __ll __rr_ Bill Terry
127. ___ __rr_ Joe Torre
128. _________ __rr_____ Cristobal Torriente
129. ____ ___mm_ll Alan Trammell
130. __zz_ _____ Dazzy Vance
131. ____ _ee__ Bill Veeck
132. ____ __dd_ll Rube Waddell
133. B_bb_ __ll___ Bobby Wallace
134. Ll___ _____ Lloyd Waner
135. ______ ___ss George Weiss
136. __ll__ __ll_ Willie Wells
137. _Il_ __ll____ Billy Williams
138. ____ __ll____ Dick Williams
139. ___ __ll____ Joe Williams
140. ___ __ll____ Ted Williams
141. ___ __ll__ Vic Willis
142. __rr_ _r____ Harry Wright
143. _____ __nn Early Wynn
144. __ss _____s Ross Youngs
Bonus Questions:
This one was added to the list by the Today’s Game Era Committee in December.
145. _ee _____ Lee Smith
Two more were added to this list (newly elected members announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019).
146. ___ __ll____ Roy Halladay
147. ____ __ss___ Mike Mussina
SABR Day Lunch Meeting
As per our usual custom we will gather at the Macaroni Grill in the Arboretum in Austin to celebrate SABR Day on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 12:30 p.m. Please RSVP to Jan Larson at jan.a.larson@gmail.com if you plan to attend.
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