Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 12/11/2018
Twenty members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at the Sports Cafe, located at 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton on Monday, December 11, 2018.
Chapter president Rick Zucker called the meeting to order.
The chapter’s Hot Stove Luncheon will be held on February 2, 2019. It will be held at Favazza’s on the Hill (5201 Southwest Ave.) with the doors opening at 11:30 and lunch being served at noon. The cost this year will be $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Advanced reservations can be sent to Mark Stangl, 11683 Chandellay Drive, St. Louis, MO. 63146. Please make your checks out to the Bob Broeg SABR Chapter. Special guests will be Brad Thompson, Marty Maier, and Benjamin Hochman. Thompson is a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals and is currently a co-host on “The Fast Lane” afternoon show on 101.1 ESPN Sports Radio in St. Louis and also splits time between the studio and the ballpark booth for televised Cardinals games on Fox Sports Midwest. Maier is a former minor leaguer with the Royals and Yankees organizations, a long time scout for the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Royals, serving as the scouting director for the Cardinals, and is currently an Assistant to the General Manager for the Cincinnati Reds. Hochman is a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Items mentioned for this date in baseball history were: 1928 – The National League proposes a 10th regular in the lineup (DH) but the American League opposes it. 1941 – The Cardinals trade Johnny Mize to the New York Giants for Bill Lohrman, Johnny McCarthy, Ken O’Dea and $50,000. 1951 – Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement. !959 – The Kansas City Athletics trade Roger Maris, Joe DeMaestri, and Kent Hadley to the Yankees for Don Larsen, Norm Siebern, Hank Bauer, and Marv Throneberry. 1959 – Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley dies of a heart attack, in his car, in downtown St. Louis while his wife was Christmas shopping.
A mock vote, for the Baseball Hall of Fame, was held by those in attendance, with 15 votes out of 20 required for “induction”. The candidates were presented alphabetically, with some discussion along the way, and voted on by a show of hands. Mariano Rivera was the only candidate elected with 17 votes. Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina each received 13 votes, Roger Clemens 11, and Barry Bonds and Omar Vizquel 10 each. 126 total votes were cast with 16 candidates receiving no votes. The vote generated some lively discussion about the worthiness of some that were already elected to the hall.
There was general discussion on the recent Cardinals trade for Paul Goldschmidt and what the team’s remaining needs might be, and where Brian Harper may end up. There was also discussion on extreme defensive shifts and whether they should be banned.
The meeting dates for 2019 have been scheduled as follows: Regular monthly meetings at the Sports Café (all Mondays) will be January 14, March 18, April 15, May 13, June 10, July 22, August 26, October 14, November 18, and December 16. The Hot Stove Luncheon at Favazza’s will be Saturday, February 2. The Rygelski Research Conference wiil be at Webster University on Saturday, September 21.
Bob Tiemann gave a research report on a pair of 1880 games, when a new league rule about the ending of ball games was implemented, and the first walk-off hit and the first walk-off home run occurred.
Bob Tiemann’s trivia quiz was on the 2019 Hall of Fame candidates. Rick Zucker was the winner with 27 out of 39 answers.
The next regular monthly meeting will be Monday, January 14, 2019 at the Sports Café in Bridgeton.
— Jim Leefers