Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 2/24/2014
Twenty-two members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter attended the February 24th monthly roundtable, held at its usual location, The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis.
New chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order, and chapter treasurer Wayne Hebden gave a brief financial report.
Rich Applegate gave a presentation on Bob Neighbors, who had a short major league career in 1939 with the St. Louis Browns, entered the service in World War II, and remained in the military until the B-26B he was piloting on a bombing mission was shot down in August 1952 in Korea. Neighbors and his crew were never found. Rich hopes to make honoring baseball personnel who gave the ultimate sacrifice a regular feature at our meetings.
It was noted that the meeting date was Honus Wagner’s 140th birthday. While no one present ever saw him play, many shared their favorite Wagner stories. The recent passing of Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner was also mentioned and several shared their favorite stories, including longtime Met fan Steve Gietschier, who recalled a particularly humorous interview Kiner conducted with Choo Choo Coleman.
Other discussions included the upcoming season and the St. Louis Cardinals’ large contingent of pitchers, the showdown for the second base position between Kolten Wong and Mark Ellis, and whether Oscar Taveras comes north with the team.
There was also discussion and thoughts about the new rules on home plate collisions and instant replay.
Burton Boxerman grilled the attendees with some presidential trivia in honor of President’s Day. Bob Tiemann’s baseball trivia quiz on ‘East Coast’ Cardinals was won by Mark Stangl with a score of 29 out of 34.
Tuesday, March 25th is the date for the next roundtable meeting at Crusoe’s.
— Jim Leefers