Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 9/19/2022
On Monday, September 19, 2022, thirty-five members of the Larry Dierker Chapter met both in person, at the Spaghetti Western restaurant in Houston, and online via Zoom. President Joe Thompson welcomed all the new chapter members, including those in attendance.
The September 19, 2022, chapter meeting video can be found here: https://youtu.be/lW6fY8esE4k
Joe started the meeting by announcing that Bill Brown and Ted Meyer would be having an event called “Prelude to the Postseason: An evening of baseball with Ted Meyer and Bill Brown” on Thursday, September 29 from 7-9 pm at The Lakehouse at Towne Lake in Cypress, Texas. Joe then announced a new chapter event called “Meet the New Chapter Members.” The purpose of the event will be for all chapter members to meet the newest chapter members so that the group can find out the newest members interests in SABR. The event will be held on the first Saturday of every other month with the first event occurring on Saturday, October 8 starting at 11 am. All are encouraged to join to meet the newest chapter members and talk some baseball! More details about this event will be emailed out to the chapter.
The special guest of the evening was Chris Rawls, a former Astros tour operator and currently the owner and operator of Constellation Tours and the portable Houston baseball museum. Chris welcomed everyone with a very nice setup at the Spaghetti Western of various items he had collected over the years. The theme of the evening was Larry Dierker. Chris spent the evening displaying several items and telling many stories about Astros history that involved Dierker. Some of the items from his personal collection included a 1969 Dierker jersey and Dierker’s jersey from his final All-Star game in 2000. Chris reminded the group that Dierker is the only uniformed person in Astros franchise history that was a uniformed member of the team in all three stadiums (Colt Stadium, the Astrodome, and Minute Maid Park).
The second presentation of the evening was several chapter members sharing some of their favorite moments from SABR 50 in Baltimore. Bob Dorrill, Maxwell Kates, Gloria Rubac, Joe Thompson, and Herb Whalley shared some photos they took from the convention. Some of the photos featured Boog Powell, Memorial Stadium, Camden Yards, Babe Ruth’s childhood home and museum, and Bob Dorrill’s photo with Carlos Correa’s younger brother, JC Correa, member of the Astros Single A Asheville Tourists.
Finally, Chris Chestnut emerged victorious in the trivia contest. He will present the trivia contest for us in October!
Our October meeting will feature Dan Taylor, author Walking Alone: The Untold Journey of Football Pioneer Kenny Washington. Dan’s talk will focus on the baseball career of Washington. His talk is called, “The Almost Jackie.” It’s the story of the baseball part of Washington’s remarkable life – the three-times he was at the center of efforts to integrate the game, how Jackie Robinson tried to persuade Branch Rickey to also sign Washington, his brief post-football stint with the New York Giants and PCL’s Angels. Don’t miss it!
The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, October 17 but could change depending on the Astros playoff run. Stay tuned.
— Joe Thompson