Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 3/21/2016
Eighteen members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Monday, March 21, 2016.
Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order and reminded everyone of the Chapter Research Conference that will take place in August. He encouraged those with research presentations to let him know as soon as possible. So far, no one has reserved a berth for the conference.
Barbara Sheinbein once again had a few books to give away, including some older The National Pastimes, as she continued to downsize her personal library. Carl Riechers asked if anyone had some good research books or material on the Negro Leagues that he could borrow to let him know.
Items noted in “Today in Baseball History” were Ty Cobb signing with the Tigers for $4,000 in 1908, the new Kansas City A.L. franchise choosing ‘Royals’ as their team name in 1968, Mark Fidrych injuring his left knee in 1977 during spring training effectively ending his career, and the finalization of the deal when Bill DeWitt Jr. and his partners purchased the St. Louis Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch in 1996.
A form was passed out for those present to make their annual predictions of division winners, wild card teams, LCS teams, league champions, and the eventual World Series champion. Twelve forms were turned in with the Cardinals the favorite to win it all on four ‘ballots’ followed by the Nationals on three, the Blue Jays on two, and the Yankees, Astros, and Cubs on one each.
Larry Porschen spoke briefly on his trip to spring training in Florida and the teams he was able to observe.
General discussion topics included the possible movement of team spring training sites in Florida, the final 25-man roster for the Cardinals, the signing of Ruben Tejada, former Cardinals players that spent their entire careers of 10+ years with the team and those that started their careers, moved elsewhere and then finished their careers with the team, and the Adam LaRoche situation.
Mark Stangl’s trivia topic was “The 2006 Postseason”. Bob Tiemann was the winner with a perfect 26 for 26 score.
Next month’s meeting will be Monday, April 25.
— Jim Leefers, Secretary