Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 12/19/2016
Sixteen members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Monday, December 19, 2016.
Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. He began by recounting some of the subjects discussed at the recent chapter board meeting, including the need to replace the stolen ballpark marker for Robison Field. Steve Gietschier will head a membership committee geared toward not only new membership but also toward renewing interest in the monthly meetings among the current membership. It was also proposed to have a chapter project in the next year to develop a database of baseball sites in and around the St. Louis area.
Flaspohler also announced the Hot Stove luncheon has been set for January 28, 2017 (SABR Day). It will be held at Favazza’s Restaurant with the doors open at 11:30 a.m., the meal beginning at noon and the program shortly thereafter. Three guest speakers have been confirmed: Randy Flores, former major league pitcher and current director of scouting for the Cardinals; Dan Martin, cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and Gary Kodner, author of a new book entitled St. Louis Cardinals Uniforms & Logos: An Illustrated History.
Items noted in “Today in Baseball History”: 1882 – Paul Krichell is born in Paris, France and after a brief MLB career with the Browns becomes the top scout for the Yankees for 37 years and signing Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and countless others; 1934 – Future Hall of Famer Al Kaline is born in Baltimore; 1986 – After finding no other clubs interested in signing him, free-agent pitcher and 20-game winner Jack Morris agrees to salary arbitration with the Tigers. Morris accuses the major league owners of collusion against free agents.
Steve Gietschier, who has the great privilege as a voter for the Hall of Fame, brought copies of his ballot for all present and a mock vote was carried out. With sixteen present, twelve votes were required for ‘election’. Each candidate was presented and a show of hands was given. Six players were ‘voted’ into the hall: Jeff Bagwell, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Mike Mussina, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez. Gietschier also mentioned that, at the recent winter meetings, the baseball writers voted to make all Hall of Fame ballots public beginning with next year’s election and there was discussion as to how that would influence the voting process.
It was announced that McFarland Publishing is currently running a holiday sale of 30% off when you order two or more books through January 2nd.
Other topics of discussion were the recent current bargaining agreement, and the free agent signings of Dexter Fowler and Brett Cecil by the Cardinals.
Bob Tiemann’s trivia topic was “Second-Place Red Birds”. Mark Stangl was the winner with a score of 57 out of a possible 60 and won a replica World Championship trophy.
In January there will be no Baseball Fellowship Gathering on the first Wednesday, or regular monthly meeting at Crusoe’s. The next event will be the annual Hot Stove Luncheon on SABR Day, Saturday January 28, 2017. The price will be $50 per person. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. with the festivities beginning at noon. Reservations can be made with Wayne Hebden, whebden@att.net, or send to his address at 6 Ravenwood Circle, O’Fallon, Illinois 62269. Please make your checks payable to ‘Bob Broeg SABR Chapter’.
— Jim Leefers