Houston/Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 2/10/2014
On Monday, February 10, 2014, 38 hearty SABR members and friends of the Larry Dierker Chapter traveled through rain and cold to attend our monthly meeting, where we welcomed new member Josh Sullivan and had the pleasure of greeting Dave Raymond’s mother.
We were privileged to hear 17-year professional baseball player Joe Stanka discuss his storied career which he called “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. Good represents the three complete-game shutouts he pitched to win the 1964 Japanese World Series for the Nankai Hawks, the last two coming on successive days to win Games 6 and 7. That same year, with a record of 26-7 in a 130-game season, he became the first foreigner voted league MVP.
The bad was based on a few confrontations he had with Chicago White Sox management and other players and the ugly, well Joe started four games in the minor leagues and left in the first inning after allowing four runs, then filling the bases but getting no outs.
Tom White filled us in on SABR Day activities and handed out the trivia quiz which was won by Bob Stevens. Chris Chestnut updated us on key statistical data that he follows regularly and Ira Liebman reviewed a 2006 copy of “Texas Baseball Magazine” featuring an article on our own “Red” Mahoney.
Batting cleanup, Joe Thompson delivered part one of his Master’s thesis on recreational drugs prior to the steroid era and the fact that professional baseball was the first sport to conduct drug testing.
Our next meeting will be on Monday, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. See you then.
— Bob Dorrill
bdorrill@aol.com