Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter meeting recap – 5/1/2024
Members and guests of the Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter gathered on May 1, 2024, at The Blu Halo in Tallahassee, Florida, for their monthly meeting. In attendance were:
- Matt Keelean, President
- Rene Watters, Communications Co-Director
- Brent Kallestad, Communications Co-Director
- Rick Swain, Treasurer
- Kent Putnam, Secretary
- Frank Alarcon
- Franklin Billingslea
- Jim Crosby (guest of Brent Kallestad)
- John Nogowski
- Chuck Rosciam
- Jim Turner
- Jim Wolf
President Keelean called the meeting to order at approximately 6:10 PM. Brent introduced his guest Jim Crosby, a fixture on the local sports scene. His resume includes sports reporter, radio play-by-play broadcaster, and author of several books.
Chuck reviewed the current standings for both the FAMU Rattlers and the FSU Seminoles baseball teams in their respective conferences. He followed that up with an early look at the Chapter’s MLB prediction contest and who’s doing well and who isn’t. But we all agreed it’s early yet.
Kent offered a “puzzler” where he gave clues to how Wayne Garrett (Kent’s HS classmate) answered when asked which pitcher he least liked to face during his MLB career. Jim Turner correctly guessed Juan Marichal and won the prize, a signed Wayne Garrett baseball card.
John Nogowski and President Keelean talked about their evening in attendance at a FAMU home baseball game. Diana Kampert and Jeff Lickson were also among the Chapter’s contingent at the game.
Next up was show and tell with members sharing artifacts from their collections and the stories that went with them. Items included tickets and program from the first Marlins game (Jim Wolf), Brooks Robinson signed ball (Brent), balls signed by Johnny Bench and Pudge Rodriguez (Chuck), an original copy of the first baseball novel (Frank) and signed photos of Willie Mays and Al Rosen (also Frank).
The final order of business was a round table talk about our all time favorite players. The list looks like this:
- Chuck: Frank “Pig” House
- Jim Crosby: Dale Murphy
- Brent: Willie Mays
- Renee: Hank Aaron
- John Nogowski: Carl Yastrzemski and John F. Nogowski
- Jim Turner: Graig Nettles, Don Mattingly, Jamey Carroll
- Frank: Willie Mays
- Kent: Ken Boyer
- Rick: Norm Cash
- Jim Wolf: Mickey Mantle
- Franklin: Mickey Mantle, Bryce Harper
- Matt: Roberto Clemente, Kirby Puckett
Next month’s meeting will be held on June 5.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Kent Putnam
Chapter Secretary