Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 6/10/2019
Twenty members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter assembled on Monday, June 10, 2019, at the Sports Cafe, 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri.
Chapter treasurer Mark Stangl called the meeting to order. As always, our meeting started with everyone introducing themselves.
Last month there was some discussion about the qualifications of William “Wee Willie” Sherdel for the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, and the overwhelming consensus was that he was worthy of induction. An e-mail was sent to the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum Operations Manager & Team Historian, Brian Finch. In his reply Finch spoke about the election process regarding veteran players (players who retired more than 40 years ago), the category under which Sherdel qualifies. He mentioned that Sherdel has been considered for several years, has done well in the voting process, and believes he will eventually get his due.
Treasurer Mark Stangl gave a very brief treasurer’s report.
Items mentioned for this date in baseball history were: 1944–Joe Nuxhall, age 15 years, 10 months, and 11 days pitches 2/3 of an inning for the Cincinnati Reds vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. 1952-Bill Veeck fires Browns manager Rogers Hornsby and says, “ I made a mistake. I thought he had mellowed.” Veeck names Marty Marion as their player-manager and the players present Veeck with a trophy for firing Hornsby. 1975-The Yankees sponsor Army Day at Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium is being refurbished). During a ceremonial 21-gun salute, glass is splintered, the park is filled with smoke, part of the fence is blown away and another part is set on fire. Bob Tiemann also brought up the fact that on this date, in 1892, Wilbert Robinson went 7 for 7 and drove in 11 runs as Baltimore defeated St. Louis 25-4.
Bob Giovanni spoke about this year being the 85th anniversary of the 1934 World Series victory of the Gashouse Gang. He passed around his personal scrapbook from the 25th anniversary celebration in 1959, and cited two books by Bob Broeg and John Heidenry about the Gashouse Gang.
Allison Levin gave a book review on The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik. She said she was shocked that it wasn’t more analytics heavy but spoke more about traditional player development sprinkled with analytics, and actually debunks some of the recent trends in baseball such as pitch counts.
Allison also announced that the chapter’s baseball research conference will be September 21, and that she will start accepting presentation reservations.
Sam Zygner book offer for his Baseball Under the Palms: Miami Minor League Baseball 1892-1960 was announced. The cost is $20 w/shipping included. Contact Sam at sflasabr@hotmail.com.
The Cardinals road woes and disappointing May record was discussed, but fortunately no other team in the division has taken command so the local team remains in the hunt.
Bob Tiemann’s trivia quiz was titled “What’s On Second” (Cardinals Second Basemen). Mark Stangl was the winner with 28 out of 31 correct.
St. Louis Browns night at the Gateway Grizzlies game was Thursday, June 13 and was well attended, including several chapter members. The late Roy Sievers was honored for his Rookie of the Year season with a bobblehead giveaway, limited edition posters and beer cans, and 1949 replica jerseys of the Browns, worn by the Grizzlies and then auctioned off.
The next regular monthly meeting will be Monday, July 22, 2019 at the Sports Café in Bridgeton. The next Fellowship Meeting will be July 2 at Lester’s in Ladue.
— Jim Leefers