Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 5/19/2025
On May 19, 2025, thirty-eight members and guests of the Larry Dierker Chapter met in person and via Zoom at the Spaghetti Western Italian Restaurant on Shepherd Drive the chapter’s monthly meeting. Chapter President Joe Thompson welcomed all those in attendance. Click here to watch a video replay on YouTube.
The first order of business was the announcement of the yearly chapter election. Chapter VP of Communications Patrick Petty explained the election for the four chapter officers up for election this year. Ballots were passed out for those who did not vote online. The board had nominated the following four people for chapter officers:
- Vice President: Herb Whalley
- Treasurer: Bob McCann
- One Newsletter Editor: Scott McCay
- Vice President Membership: Chris Chestnut
The election results have now been counted. All those up for nominated for their positions received 100% of the votes received online and in-person. Congrats to all officers re-elected!
Joe then spoke about MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s recent decision to remove players like Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson from baseball’s permanent ineligible list. He announced that SABR was having a webinar on Zoom with a group of experts on Wednesday, May 21 to discuss the news. The panelists were ESPN reporter Don Van Natta, author of Charlie Hustle, Keith O’Brien, Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs, and moderator Jacob Pomrenke. Here is the link to watch the SABR webinar. Many opinions were voiced at the meeting, some very strongly. Agreement that there is now more and more gambling going on. No consensus reached.
Joe then spoke about SABR 53 in DFW which is coming up in June. The dates for the event are June 25 – 29. Joe invited a couple of people to join us for dinner. No dinner location has been set yet and will be announced soon. One of the extra activities is a game at Globe Life Field. Joe suggested those Astros fans going to the convention should all wear our Astros gear to the Rangers game!
Joe then spoke about his appearances on Mike Acosta’s Houston City Beat show about SABR called the “Houston SABR Report.” Our SABR chapter partnered with Mike Acosta to help talk about baseball history in Houston and to spread awareness of what is going on with our local SABR chapter in Houston and overall with the organization. The most recent episode featured President Emeritus of the Larry Dierker chapter Bob Dorrill. Bob spoke about his time with SABR and his recent visit to Daikin Park and his visit with Phil Garner as the team helped celebrate Garner’s 70th birthday. The episode is now on YouTube. Joe invited anyone who wanted to join him and Mike every other Thursday for about fifteen minutes to speak about baseball in Houston and their experiences as a SABR member.
The main speaker of the evening was chapter member Jimmy Scruggs. Jimmy has been a chapter member since 2022. He is a long-time umpire in the Houston area and he spoke briefly about his upcoming annual trip to Cooperstown to umpire the annual 12U baseball tournament. His topic for the evening was the lives of Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and a brief tie-in with one of the newest Hall of Famers, Astros closer Billy Wagner. Walter Johnson was born in 1887 in Kansas and Jimmy showed a photo of Johnson that he took in Cooperstown. Johnson started in 1907 in the major leagues for Washington. In 1912, he pitched against Smoky Joe Wood in a sold-out Fenway Park. He lost 1-0, but he still earned a $500 bonus. In 1915, Jimmy explained that the Federal League was courting Johnson. He retired in 1927 and managed the Washington Senators for seven years. In 1936, Johnson was one of the original five voted in the HOF.
Christy Mathewson was born in 1880. He came from a family with money. He went to college taking calculus, trigonometry and other hard classes. He played football and was known for his speed. He signed his first major league contract for $80! He debuted with the New York Giants in 1900. He won 37 games in 1908! Jimmy explained that his last 20 game winning season was in 1914. His record that year was 24-13. Mathewson joined the military where he inhaled poisoned gas during a training exercise. The inhalation of the gas weakened his lungs. Mathewson died in 1925 after contracting tuberculosis. The long narrative of his death surrounding the inhalation of the poisoned gas combined with the tuberculosis and contraction of flu as his cause of death has become the subject of much debate in recent years. Mathewson was also one of the original five voted into the HOF in 1936.
Jimmy concluded his talk speaking briefly about Billy Wagner and his induction into the Hall of Fame. Jimmy showed a photo that he had taken of where Wagner’s HOF plaque will go on the wall. Wagner will be inducted on July 27, 2025, along with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, the late Dick Allen, and Dave Parker.
The next speaker was chapter president Joe Thompson. Joe talked about a memorable Astros game he attended at the Astrodome on September 21, 1986. He began the talk speaking about how his favorite Astros team before the World Championship teams was the 1986 team. He passed around a 1986 Astros team photo that he had received because his Dad worked at the Dome. The Astros played the Padres on that day in September. The Astros’ Bob Knepper was pitching against Jimmy Jones. Jones made his MLB debut that day and as Joe pointed out, it was a memorable debut for Jones. Jones pitched a game what some has argued the most memorable debut in MLB history. Bob Knepper got the only hit of the game for the Astros that day. Joe said that when Knepper hit the ball, he thought it was out but it ended up as a triple for Knepper. The Padres Tony Gwynn said that ball should have been caught. If it had been, Jimmy Jones would have had a perfect game. Bob Knepper was a career .141 hitter and was batting .093 coming into the game. One of the funny things Knepper said after the game about Jones performance was “Hey, I’m a heck of a hitter. It’s not a shame to give it up to me.” After losing the next game to the Dodgers, the Astros won ten out of their last thirteen games including a no-hitter by Mike Scott on September 25 over the Giants to clinch the division for the Astros.
Chapter Vice President Herb Whalley gave the trivia contest. Vince Trovato won and will have the contest in June.
Our special guest for the June 16 meeting will be Andy Greenstone. Andy has an elaborate Astrodome memorabilia collection and will give the group a virtual tour of his collection at the next meeting. This means that the group will NOT meet next month at the Spaghetti Western. Next month’s meeting will be held over Zoom ONLY.
— Gloria Rubac and Joe Thompson