April 20, 2015

On Monday night, April 20, 2015, we had a large and enthusiastic group of 34 including longtime member June Higgins making her first appearance at one of our sessions. Welcome, June!

Thanks to Greg Moore, Sam Quintero, Bill McCurdy and Mike McCroskey for manning the SABR table at the Astrodome's 50th Anniversary Celebration last week. What a massive turnout of 30,000-plus who wanted the opportunity to look inside this historic site that has meant so much to them.

Chris Chestnut led off the meeting with a wonderful presentation, using J.D. Martrinez as an example, of those who had a career year (hitting .300 or better for the first time) and what happened in subsequent years. The list is long but the number who continued to hit at the .300 level or better is short.

Jim Kreuz then showed us "Chop Shots" a visual program where we saw a small portion of a photo and had to determine who was in the photo. Lots of guesses and laughs. Terrific job.

Bill McCurdy next spoke and moderated a discussion on the Astrodome, including personal experiences with this landmark building including the time he owned the UH mascot and their escapades together.

Numerous members talked about their own memories of the Dome and Tal Smith related two poignant recollections of the building he helped design. The first involved getting ready for Opening Day in 1965 and then the actual day itself. The second was about the impact the Dome has had on the City of Houston, the State of Texas, the United States of America, and indeed the entire world. Nothing like it had ever been done before anywhere at any time in history. The Astrodome deserves to be preserved.

Tal then passed out his trivia contest which was won by Mike McCroskey who got 15 questions correct out of 23 in a rather difficult quiz,

Our next meeting will be on Monday, May 18 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land where we will watch the Skeeters play York. We plan to enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet and sit at the tables in the outfield area. Tickets for the buffet and game are $30 each. Please mail your checks to Mark Hudec, 235 River Grove Road, Sugar Land, TX 77478 by no later than May 8.

Thanks for your continuing support of SABR.