Forbes Field Chapter meeting recap – 5/9/2015
SABR Forbes Field Chapter Meeting
May 9, 2015
John Heinz History Center
Our meeting opened with former Pirate Grant Jackson reminiscing not only about his stint with the 1979 World Champion Pirates, but also his tales of how he pitched to the greats of his time including Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and other power hitters of his era.
Next Herb Soltman distributed our annual “Rank the Teams” contest. This was followed by a fascinating talk by former chairman Bob Sproule on why he feels Madison Bumgarner may be the greatest World Series pitcher ever. After lunch, Gary Webster, author of, “When in Doubt Fire the Skipper”, discussed interesting cases of how teams finished after a new manager was installed sometime during the season
Alan Steinberg presented Part I of his correspondences with prominent baseball players, announcers and writers concerning free agency. Alan will continue his presentation at the fall meeting.
Our meeting concluded with the very humorous stories of the life and career of 1971 Pirate World Champion and Pirate color announcer, Steve Blass. Steve never fails to be entertaining.
Our next meeting will be September 12th at the John Heinz History Center.
— George Skornickel