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SABR / South Florida (SFL) Chapter FL
Baseball History
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Saturday, June 6, 2009 Place: Land Shark Stadium - By Sam Zygner, Co-Chair South Florida SABR Chapter Not even the drizzling rain that greeted us at Land Shark Stadium could dampen the anticipation and spirit of all of the SABR members, family and guests in attendance. It was an evening that all who participated in will not soon forget.
May Abrams The
Chapter event was kicked off in style by May Abrams, wife of late major
league baseball star Cal Abrams (1924-1997), who entertained everyone
with tales of her, and her husband’s experiences during the Golden
Age of Baseball. Although all was not roses, May said, “If I had
it to do over again, I wouldn’t change a minute of it”. May
graciously shared many a fascinating story including Cal’s fabulous
1956 season with the then AAA Miami Marlins when he earned the team’s
Most Valuable Player Award. As most of you remember Cal came up with the
Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949, and along the way during in his eight year MLB
career also roamed the outfield for the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates,
Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox.
Jeff Conine on the left and Larry
Beinfest on the right Marlins
General Manager, Larry Beinfest, and Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine then
followed and shared many Despite
a rain delay, everyone enjoyed the Marlins victory over the San Francisco
Giants 5-4. The baseball banter was flying, and in addition to having
been entertaining, everyone enjoyed the excellent company and shared many
hardball memories. The camaraderie was enjoyable to watch. Matthew
Keelean, wins the award for most stalwart SABR member. Matthew drove from
Havana, Florida, that is near the Florida-Georgia border, to attend the
meeting. Matthew is currently pursuing starting a new Chapter in Northern
Florida and we look forward to seeing the Chapter coming to fruition. I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to the members who attended, and who have throughout the last couple of years, supported the re-establishment of the South Florida Chapter. Thank you and see you at the next Chapter Meeting. Many Happy Innings Sam
The Tamarac Library played host to our South Florida Chapter meeting. For all those in attendance it was an interesting day, to say the least.
Leading off the festivities was Mike Berardino, nationally known South Florida Sun-Sentinel sports and beat writer covering baseball and the Florida Marlins. Mike’s insights into such topics as Hall of Fame voting, steroids, and behind the scenes perspectives set off some lively questioning and debate from the enthusiastic capacity audience.
Berardino thoroughly enjoy answering all of the questions that were posed to him and expressed how happy he was to meet with so many baseball fans that shared his same passion.
Next up to bat was Pete Palmer, who shared many fascinating facts concerning the history of statistics. Although many of us consider baseball statistics to be quite accurate, Pete’s ongoing research has uncovered many discrepancies. Palmer shared many interesting anecdotes. Some of Pete’s major finds were early 1900’s batting and fielding statistics. Palmer shared some lesser know corrections such as Wayland Dean’s (1926 Phil NL) ERA being lowered from 6.09 to 4.91, to cup of coffee Tom Patton (1957 Balt AL) being correctly credited with the proper interpretation of his batting line.
In addition, we were also were honored to have in attendance, Tom Hufford, one of the original sixteen founding members of SABR who is currently also a SABR Director. He and his wife Nan split their time between Marietta, Georgia and Vero Beach Florida.
We would like to thank both Mike Berardino and Pete Palmer for being so tremendously generous with their time and regaling all of the SABR members, family and friends in attendance, with a meeting that we all will not soon forget
On a personal note, I would like to thank all of those in attendance that made a donation to help defer some costs. It is greatly appreciated and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting.
Many Happy Innings,
Sam Zygner, Co-Chair South Florida Chapter SABR
September
27, 2008 The Tamarac Public Library once again served as the home park for our South Florida Chapter. As promised, we had a full slate of activities. All enjoyed a day of fellowship, good speakers, and a little trivia added for spice.
Photo 1: Paul Proia:
Author of Just a Big Kid: The Life & Times of Rube Waddell
reads a passage from his book. Chapter Co-Chair Sam Zygner kicked it all off with announcements. In addition, a Thinking of You card was passed around the room for each member to sign and express their best wishes towards fellow South Florida Chapter SABR’ite (and one of 16 original SABR members), Raymond Gonzalez. He is recuperating from a recent illness. The card will be given to Ray in person in the near future. In speaking with him telephonically, he said that he always believed that he was born with little baseballs running through my veins. It was very touching. So goes his love of baseball, baseball research and the Yankees.
Thank you to all those in attendance, as well as our speakers who did an excellent job. Thank you also to our former major leaguer Jose A. Tony Zardon and his wife Marlene for attending..
Photo 4: Sam Zygner,
Co-Chair South Florida SABR Chapter, Jose A. Tony Zardon (El Guineo) and
SABR member, collector and historian Cesar Lopez.
Photo
6: Tony Zardon, former Washington Senator, shares a story with author
Photo 7: The infamous photo plaque.
Sam Zygner, Co-Chair South Florida SABR Chapter
John Virtue John
Virtue
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