Houston/Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 10/17/2016
On the evening of October 17, 2016, our Larry Dierker/Houston Chapter was privileged to honor fellow member and retiring Houston Astros broadcaster, the extraordinary Bill Brown.
Bill has long been an active member of the chapter and a true friend to us all. We are thankful and thrilled that, even in retirement, Bill will continue to participate in our meeting and activities.
Our first speaker was a longtime associate of Bill’s, Phil Boudreaux, who has worked tirelessly to produce and maintain statistical information for the television team on both the Astros players and the opposition. Phil shared with us his vast knowledge as well as some of the stats he has compiled over the years.
Ira Liebman, fresh back from the Atlantic League championship game in Long Island, brought with him the Sugar Land Skeeters’ winners trophy for everyone to admire. He then showed us a documentary he had produced called “The Unforgottens.” This is the first of many documentaries he hopes to develop.
Next came a humorous 50-year-old film segment of Dizzy Dean of being interviewed by TV host Dick Cavett. While it was obvious that Cavett had little knowledge on baseball, Dizzy set him straight and took over the interview as only Dizzy could.
Bob Dorrill shared his experience of being in the television booth for Bill Brown’s next-to-last broadcast and the amazing amount of pregame work done by Bill, Alan Ashby, Phil Boudreaux, the producers, and cameramen to make the telecast flow so smoothly. A wonderful experience.
Bill McCurdy supplied an oral trivia quiz which was won by Tom White.
Our next meeting will be on Monday, November 21, at the Spaghetti Western with a presentation by Brian McTaggert of MLB.com on late developments within Major League Baseball and his recently published book, 100 Things Astros Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Cliff Roberson will give his take on the Arizona Fall League and Mike McCroskey has a video to share on Spring Training in the 1930s and ’40s.
— Bob Dorrill
bdorrill@aol.com
- Related link: Bill McCurdy: Larry Dierker SABR Chapter honors broadcaster Bill Brown (Pecan Park Eagle)