Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap – 7/21/2014
The Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Monday, July 21, 2014, with 23 members and guests in attendance.
Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. There was discussion, and universal agreement, on the suggestion by Kris Lokemoen to establish an annual chapter award to honor the late Jim Rygelski.
Items noted in “Today in Baseball History” were Hank Aaron hitting his 700th career home run in 1973 and Joe Torre of the Mets grounding into four double plays in 1975, each time following a Felix Millan single.
Rich Applegate’s presentation on baseball personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country featured Canadian-born Don Stewart this month. Stewart was an excellent semi-pro player who had a brief trial in the Pacific Coast League in 1938. He eventually became an umpire in the Class B Western International League through the summer of 1940. Stewart enlisted after the 1940 season with the Calgary Highlanders, a regiment of the Canadian Army. Stationed in Glasgow, Scotland in March 1941 Stewart was killed during a bombing raid by the German Luftwaffe.
Jim Leefers spoke about his recent trip with Jay Buckley’s Baseball Tours (www.jaybuckley.com) to 11 different ballparks. The trip which began with Wrigley Field also went to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York (Yankees), Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and back to Chicago for a White Sox game. The tour also included several extras like sightseeing in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, D.C., and Cleveland.
In keeping with the theme of baseball road trips Kris Lokemoen gave a book review on I Don’t Care if We Never Get Back: 30 Games in 30 Days on the Best Worst Baseball Road Trip Ever by Ben Blatt and Eric Brewster. She spoke how the well-planned trip needed some modification, because of the weather and also a miscalculation involving time zones, and how the friendship between the two authors was tested.
Barbara Sheinbein gave a book review on Baseball: The Fans’ Game by Gordon S. ‘Mickey’ Cochrane. She shared some anecdotes from the book about Ty Cobb, Judge Landis, and Babe Ruth. She also mentioned that this book is available as a free download from the SABR Digital Library.
Brian Flaspohler announced an upcoming book signing at Half Price Books in Chesterfield, Missouri on August 13. Bob May, author of The Best Season – The First Ninety Games: Honoring Black Ball Through Baseball Board Game Simulation, will be signing from 6-9 p.m.
After some general baseball discussion, mostly surrounding the Cardinals, Mark Stangl presented this month’s trivia quiz on the Hall of Fame Class of 2014. Jim Leefers was the winner with 21 out of 31 correct and won two tickets to a future Cardinals game, compliments of Barbara Sheinbein.
Tuesday, August 26 is the date for the next roundtable meeting at Crusoe’s.
— Jim Leefers, Secretary