Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 11/18/2019
Twenty-two members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter assembled at the Sports Cafe, located at 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton on Monday, November 19, 2019.
Chapter president Rick Zucker called the meeting to order. Under old business, there was some brief discussion of the October meeting, which was largely a watch party for Game 3 of the NLCS between the Cardinals and the Nationals that was an 8-1 runaway for the eventual World Series champions. While most thought it to be one of our most disappointing meetings, our resident Cubs fan, Burton Boxerman, believed it to be one of our best meetings ever.
Under new business the chapter’s Hot Stove Luncheon is tentatively scheduled for February 1, 2020 at Favazza’s on the Hill.
Items mentioned for this date in baseball history were: 1926–Roy Sievers is born in St. Louis. 1949-Jackie Robinson is named the NL MVP. 1958-Red Schoendienst is diagnosed with tuberculosis. 1966-Sandy Koufax retires 3 weeks after winning the NL Cy Young Award. 1985-Dwight Gooden (20) and Bret Saberhagen (21) win Cy Young Awards in their respective leagues while Willie McGee wins the NL MVP. 1987-Andre Dawson wins NL MVP over Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark. 2008-Dustin Pedroia becomes the third player to be named MVP one year after winning the Rookie of the Year Award.
Brian Flaspohler gave a report on the November 5th trip that he, Rick Zucker, and Rich Applegate made to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The current president of the museum Bob Kendrick was available to welcome and speak to the trio about the plans for the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues next year.
General discussion time included some analysis of the World Series. Jim Leefers announced the results of the chapter’s pre-season predictions. Sixteen members submitted their prognostications at the March meeting choosing division winners, wild card teams, LCS opponents, league champions and of course the World Series champions with weighted points awarded for each. The person with the most points was our chapter president Rick Zucker with a total of 26 points out of a possible 45. Rick was the only one to have the Nationals winning it all.
Other topics were the Astros sign-stealing scandal, the recently named league awards, and what the Cardinals needs are in the off-season. Rick Zucker provided copies of the current 40 man roster (actually 38 at the time), the Cardinals top prospects, and the available free agents to enhance the discussions.
Earlier in the day the 2020 HOF ballot was released and ballots were given to everyone to submit and discuss at the next meeting.
Bob Tiemann’s trivia quiz was titled “Backstops – St. Louis and Beyond”. Prizes awarded to the top finishers included a book & Christmas baseball ornaments.
The next regular monthly meeting will be Monday, December 16, 2019 at the Sports Café in Bridgeton. The next Fellowship Meeting will be December 4 at Lester’s in Ladue.
— Jim Leefers