South Florida Chapter meeting recap – 5/19/2012
To our South Florida Chapter members, family, friends and guests:
I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who attended our South Florida Chapter Meeting on May 19 for their continuing support. I would especially like to thank those who left donations that help defer the costs of our meetings. It is greatly appreciated.
In addition, thanks go out to our keynote speaker, Donald Spivey and presenters Stephen Smith and Sam Bradley who did an excellent job in sharing their research with everyone. We look forward to the continuing success of Don’s book, If You Were Only White: The Life of Leroy “Satchel Paige”, and we are all anticipating with excitement Sam’s upcoming documentary on the 1952 Florida International League pennant race coming to fruition.
Here’s a recap of the meeting:
Stephen Smith and Sam Bradley kicked off the meeting with their presentation on the Florida International League and the exciting 1952 pennant race between the Miami Sun Sox and the Miami Beach Flamingos. Our keynote speaker, Donald Spivey, author of: If You Were Only White: The Life of Leroy “Satchel” Paige addressed the group regarding his newest book. He offered new and revealing insights and photos into the life of this charismatic Hall of Famer. In the audience, Humberto “Chico” Fernandez (accompanied by his wife Lynne), was recognized with a plaque for stellar baseball career, including eight (8) years in the Major Leagues, Ten (10) years in the Cuban Winter Leagues and starring with the 1952 Miami Sun Sox. Much to the delight of those present, “Chico” shared stories about his career.
Be sure to check out our Chapter website at southfloridabaseball.sabr.org to see photos from the meeting. Fellow SABR member John Munns does a great job putting together our website, and addition to carrying information from our meetings, it has many useful links to research and other types of websites. I encourage everyone to check it out.
Other Notes
One of our fellow local SABR members, Rick Gross, has brought to my attention something I think everyone would be interested in. Go to the website baseballspast.com to register and receive historic baseball stories in your email on a daily basis. There is a four-week free trial subscription and if you choose to continue receiving stories you can order them ongoing at a very reasonable rate.
Thanks to Rick for this tip.
Many Happy Innings,
Sam Zygner
Chair, South Florida Chapter