December 14, 2010

On a cool evening in December 33 SABR members and friends travelled to the Ragin Cajun to break bread and hear from 14 year major league player and 10 year Houston Astro Kevin Bass.

Bass talked about the thrill of making his first team and how he learned of his trade from Milwaukee to Houston through a newspaper article. 2 days later the Brewers still had not confirmed or denied his being traded for HOFer Don Sutton.

Quite a bit of time was spent discussing 1986 and the great Astros' teams of that era. Kevin talked about the '86 playoffs, his role in the final 16 inning game and how the pressure of post season didn't just effect the players. Bill McCurdy's blog today expains in detail what transpired from Kevin's viewpoint. If you would like a copy of Bill's blog, please advise.

A committee was formed to plan our "SABR Day in America" activity Saturday January 29th at the Houston Sports Museum. To date we have commitments from Jimmy Wynn, Larry Dierker, Scott Barzilla, Bill Brown and Bill McCurdy to particpate. This meetng will replace our Hot Stove session for January.

The deadline for tickets for the Annual Baseball Dinner is this coming Monday.

Chris Chestnut made a presentation on his baseball card player.

A group discussion was held on those candidates eligible to be elected to the HOF in 2011. The consensus is that the following players should receive the most votes: Roberto Alomar, Bert Byleven, Larry Walker, Lee Smith, Barry Larkin, Fred McGriff, John Franco, Edgar Martinez and Jeff Bagwell. While Rafael Palmerio has superior credentials he may be subject to the same scrutiny as Mark McGwire.

Mark Wilson won the trivia contest prepared by Zach Beal.

For planning purposes, following is our schedule for January and February:

January 14th. Annual Baseball Dinner at the Hilton, 6 PM
January 29th. SABR Day in America, Houston Sports Museum, 2 - 4 PM.
February 8th. Hot Stove Meeting at the Ragin Cajun, 7 PM
February 25th. Birthday party for HOFer Monte Irvin, time TBD