Houston/Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 5/19/2014
On Monday, May 19, the Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston welcomed new members Steve Abramowitz, Mark Hoose and Fred Arnold and were very pleased to have long time SABR member Mickey Herskowitz in attendance. Since our April meeting the chapter has added 10 new SABR enthusiasts.
If you haven’t already registered for the upcomoing SABR 44 convention, please do so at your earliest opportunity as the price increases effective June 1.
Chris Chestnut opened up the session with a grand slam presentation on the Designated Hitter. Chris traced a fascinating history of the DH and had prepared several spreadsheets to analyize the impace of the DH on team success.
Tony Cavender did his usual fine job in book reporting, talking about “The Kid,” a newly published book on Ted Williams. The end of the book is a bit of a bummer but Tony’s remarks were right on.
Next, Duane Stelly spoke about the Houston Astros’ Urban Youth Academy and their on-field program for this summer. They need official scorekeepers for their four-week campaign from 6 to 10 PM, 4 days a week (Monday through Thursday) beginning in middle June and thought SABR members would be a naural. For more info, please call the Urban Youth Academy at 281-260-9166.
Herb Whalley, hitting cleanup, took us on his trip this past summer to see all 30 major league ballparks in one year. He detailed how he accomplished this task and mentioned key highlights.
The Trivia Contest was written by Greg Lucas and won by Stew Schmella.
After the trivia contest there was an autograph session for those who wanted their copies of the early Houston baseball book signed.
— Bob Dorrill