Rocky Mountain Chapter “State of the Rockies” meeting recap – 8/20/2016
For the 45 attendees of the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s mid-summer meeting on August 20, 2016, it was a memorable afternoon. Filling up the McCormack Fish House restaurant located in the historic Oxford Hotel in Denver’s LoDo neighborhood, all the guests were treated to a fine afternoon of baseball conversation and comradery. Some of the discussions were about the recent call ups and trade deadline swaps by various clubs, as well as many other topics.
Paul Parker, esteemed Colorado Rockies Historian, Chapter President, and the afternoon’s Master of Ceremonies, provided a few chapter announcements and that lunch was available for those interested in partaking.
It was then time to move on to the afternoon’s program beginning with “State of the Colorado Rockies” with Jeff Bridich, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Colorado Rockies and fellow SABR member. As the featured speaker for the afternoon, he talked about it taking a village of people on staff from scouts, managers/coaches, and front office personnel with the ultimate goal being playing meaningful games late in the season. He spoke about construction of the team roster and how amazing it was to see the number of players on the DL and the impact for all clubs. He indicated that it was great developing young talented players that are taking steps forward to become members of a great pitching staff. Having the knowledge that there is a lot of work to do yet, and to be great in what you do and maintain a never say die attitude. Everything aimed at developing players for the big league clubs run to the playoffs and ultimately the World Series.
The afternoon continued with the Rocky Mountain SABR Trivia Contest! The contest was open for all baseball fans. All attendees were welcome to test their knowledge! The contest was informative and, above all, interesting. The early-round questions were an easy starting point, while the late-round questions became more difficult, yet still interesting to all fans and attendees. Trivia Contest Champion was Matthew K Repplinger II, Baseball Author/Historian of Denver, Colorado. The questions were provided by David Wallack, and the contest proctored by Paul Parker.
— John Paul, Secretary
Rocky Mountain Chapter of SABR