Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 5/13/2019
Twenty-one members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter assembled at the Sports Cafe, located at 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri, on Monday, May 13, 2019.
Chapter president Rick Zucker called the meeting to order. As always, our meeting started with everyone introducing themselves.
Treasurer Mark Stangl gave a very brief treasurer’s report.
Items mentioned for this date in baseball history were: 1923–Joe Sewell of Cleveland strikes out twice in a game against the Senators. 1942-Braves pitcher Jim Tobin hits three home runs in a 6-5 win over the Cubs. 1947- Pee Wee Reese puts his arm around Jackie Robinson’s shoulder in Cincinnati. 1958-Stan Musial’s pinch-hit double in Chicago gives him 3000 hits. 2001-Alex Rodriguez becomes the fifth youngest player to hit 200 home runs. 2015-Corey Kluber records 18 K’s with no walks in a win over the Cardinals.
Bob Giovanni shared an article he came across while doing some research. It was titled “The Fans Sound Off” and ran in Parade Magazine on June 7, 1959. In an earlier edition that year, the magazine asked readers to vote on ten suggestions to change baseball and also to send in suggestions of their own. Within a week they had almost 20,000 responses. The two suggestions that fans were in favor of were waving a batter to first on an intentional walk and umpires clocking teams as they change sides, requiring them to be ready to play in a stipulated time. Some that they voted down were batters not having to circle the bases on a home run, free substitution as in football, batting only eight players not including the pitcher, and no warm-up throws for relief pitchers. Some of the suggestions sent in were ideas designed to speed up the games. Sound familiar? Needless to say the article triggered some lively discussion.
Member Joan Thomas, who lives in Iowa, sent an e-mail asking the attendees to discuss and consider the case for left-handed pitcher Willie Sherdel to be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. After reviewing Sherdel’s stats and his standing in several team categories the general consensus was in favor of his eventual induction.
Allison Levin, who was recently elected to the SABR Board of Directors thanked everyone who voted.
General discussion topics were about the possible pitching needs for the Cardinals, whether to dip into their minor league pool, or sign Kimbrel, or Keuchel; Bill Lamb’s article on Joe Jackson in the recent Baseball Research Journal; and thoughts from both Steve Gietschier and Burton Boxerman on their respective favorite teams, the Mets and the Cubs.
Bob Tiemann gave a research presentation on the first official big league game in St. Louis that occurred on May 4, 1875, between the St. Louis Brown Stockings and the Red Stockings of St. Louis. The Brown Stockings won 15-9. Tiemann provided a copy of the play-by-play with the help of newspaper accounts of the game.
Bob Tiemann’s trivia quiz was titled “Regular Season Dastards” (Players who have done Bad Things to the Cardinals during the regular season). Craig Carter and Dave Sloan tied with 32 out of 33 answers. Craig Carter donated some stadium give-away bobbleheads as prizes.
The next regular monthly meeting will be Monday, June 10, 2019 at the Sports Café in Bridgeton. The next Fellowship Meeting will be July 2 at Lester’s in Ladue.
— Jim Leefers