Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 11/15/2021
Twenty-two SABR members from Houston, the United States and Canada attended our Larry Dierker Chapter meeting on November 15, 2021. Thanks to Joe Thompson and Chris Chestnut for handling the communications.
Our guest speaker was Dr. Christopher Phillips, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Chris has written a fascinating book “Scouting and Scoring – How We Know What We know About Baseball.” It details the history of data collection from as far back as the 1840s up until today with all of the varied implications including player value, potential, rank and salary. Essentially, scouts and analysts must work together using their skills to determine who gets chosen, when and how much is he worth. It all comes down to numbers.
For those not in attendance I highly recommend you watch the video of the meeting on YouTube here:
Larry Dierker made an appeal for volunteers to help him with his Dierker’s Champs Program this coming spring. His players range from elementary through middle school and he is looking for coaches and umpires who can spend several hours one afternoon a week for practice and Saturday for a game March through May. The program has been extremely successful in the past and is now gearing back up after the pandemic. Please contact Larry if you can assist.
Tony Cavender provided an interesting book report on “The Big Bam” concerning the life and times of Babe Ruth. What a life!
Bob Dorrill discussed a new SABR initiative where chapter leaders get together quarterly via Zoom to discuss key issues. The first meeting was last Friday and Bob led the discussion on recruiting meeting speakers.
Due to scheduling issues are next meeting will be on TUESDAY, December 14 with Jack Bales as our speaker and Greg Lucas on trivia.
— Bob Dorrill