January 13, 2014

It was standing room only at the Larry Dierker Chapter's first meeting in 2014 on Monday, January 13 as 42 loyal SABR members gathered to kick off the new year.

To start the meeting it was our honor and pleasure to salute our own Bill Brown, Houston Astros broadcaster who last week was selected as the 2013 Texas Broadcaster of the Year. Well done, Bill!

Next we welcomed new members Todd Farquharson and Stew Schmeila and recognized Justin Wells, John Powell, Alex Milan, Mike Mulvany and Josh Sullivan who have recently jointed our chapter.

The first order of business was to sign up volunteers for SABR Day and the Astros FanFest, both to be held on January 25 at Minute Maid Park. Steve Ashy agreed to host the event along with Tom White, Ira Liebman, Tony Cavender, Bob Stevens and Erika Everett.

The Sugar Land Skeeters are having their second annual Baseball Dinner at Constellation Field on January 30, at which time they will honor local high school stars and have a program featuring Jimmy Wynn. For details, please contact Ira Liebman at iliebman@sugarlandskeeters.com.

The Dallas-Fort Worth SABR chapter has invited those who might be in their area to their next meeting on January 22 at Legends Museum at the Ballpark in Arlington starting at 7 PM where Mike Maddux of the Rangers will be a guest and original New York Met Rick Herrscher will be interviewed by Paul Rogers.

Our leadoff presenter Monday was Jim Kreuz, who put on an amazing show and tell presentation covering interviews he has conducted over the years with former major league players and an Indiana high school basketball legend. The stories they shared with Jim were priceless as were the photographs taken just days ago.

Ira Liebman, who recently returned from Cuba, followed with an interesting commentary about life in Cuba and the impact of baseball on everyday Cubans. Did you know there are two currencies in Cuba; one for locals who normally earn about $15 a month and another for tourists?

Bob Dorrill then brought the chapter up to date on SABR 44. The planning team has met six times and is well along the way in the selection of speakers and activities. Bob outlined the responsibilities of the chapter for the convention, particularly in staffing and asked for volunteers. Thirty-five members stepped to the plate and signed on the dotted line. Amazing and wonderful. We also reviewed proposed logos and voted on our favorites.

Tom White scored a perfect 10 for 10 in the trivia contest designed by Bill McCurdy.

Our next meeting will be on Monday, February 10 and we are looking for speakers. Joe Thompson volunteered and we need at least two more people to come forward.