SABR 30
Society for American Baseball Research Convention,
June 21-25,
West Palm Beach, Florida
NO 1.
Friday June 23rd – Two former major leaguers, Eldon Auker and
Monte Irvin were guest speakers at the Sabr awards ceremony.
NO 2.
Saturday June 24th – Player panel included former major leaguers,
Peter Broberg, Larry Brown, and Monte Irvin.
NO 3.
NO 4.
NO 5.
NO 6.
Sunday June 24th – Player panel included former major leaguers,
Peter Castiglione, Jeff Fisher, Mike de la Hoz and Tom Underwood.
The South Florida Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research were the hosts for SABR-30, the 30th annual convention since the group originated in 1971, which took place in West Palm Beach from 6-21 to 25-2000...Over the five day run registered participants were afforded the opportunity to take bus trips to such wide and varied locales as a tour of various Spring Training Stadium sites, the Sports Immortals Museum , Pete Rose's Ball Park Cafe, games of the Jupiter Hammerheads, of the Florida State League at Roger Dean Stadium, the Spring Training home for both the MONTREAL EXPOS and ST. LOUIS CARDINALS, and games of the FLORIDA MARLINS and the CHICAGO CUBS played at PRO PLAYER PARK...Everything officially kicked off with the welcome luncheon on Thursday, where DAVID DOMBROWSKI, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the FLORIDA MARLINS was the featured speaker and he was accompanied at the head table by TONY PEREZ, now one of his top advisers and newly elected to the BASEBALL HALL of FAME...
Afterwards the first of four days of baseball research presentations got underway where participants had an opportunity to see and hear dissertations on various aspects concerning this grand game of baseball.
Amongst the very best of these were, ITALIAN BASEBALL, which was offered by the irrepressible HERBERT JOHNSON, where one learned that baseball is not just played in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Latin American and Caribbean nations but is alive and well in Italy, too...Johnson had spent almost 50 years living overseas after World War Two and he provided most informative and interesting data regarding Italian baseball stadiums, leagues, attendance, salaries, rosters, their participation in the 2000 Olympics, American presence in the Italian leagues, plus managers, coaches and umpires...
THE FLORIDA GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE ASSOCIATION and SPRING TRAINING in FLORIDA, which was presented by DAVID CARDWELL, the Executive Director and Legal Counsel to the FGLA, who has represented the owners / operators of the spring training venues in the State of Forida, and has been directly involved with over half of them...the focus of his talk was on the history of MLB spring training in Florida and the creation of the FGLA to promote spring training in an attempt to keep the current twenty teams there, focusing on venues and venue / team relations, rather than on particular events during spring training...
THE 7th GAME of the 1960 WORLD SERIES: BASEBALL's GREATEST GAME, offered by DALE HAINS...The 7th game of the 1960 World Series ended with BILL MAZEROSKI's home run in the bottom of the 9th inning, but the events leading up to the finish were most exciting, spectacular, unusual and unpredictable...This was the last game played with the 16 team format, the end of an era...Yankees Manager CASEY STENGEL's last game in the AMERICAN LEAGUE...The small market PIRATES defeating a big market team after getting overpowered three times by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0...
WILLIAM FRAWLEY: BASEBALL FAN presented by ROB EDELMAN, author the book MEET THE MERTZES...WILLIAM FRAWLEY, better known as FRED MERTZ on the I LOVE LUCY hit TV program, was also a consummate baseball fan who had clauses in his contracts over the years allowing him to take time off each fall to attend the World Series...A close friend with dozens of ballplayers, including JOE DiMAGGIO and LEFTY O'DOUL, he was an original stockholder in the HOLLYWOOD STARS in the 1930's and over twenty years later was named as a member of the LOS ANGELES ANGELS honorary Board of Directors...During his career he occasionally appeared as managers, scouts or other baseball related characters in various films and was responsible for getting some of his baseball friends cast in movies...
WHERE THEY LIE: A TOUR OF BASEBALL GRAVESITES with STEW THORNLEY in a tremendous slide show featuring the final resting places for baseball personalities across the United States, of which he accounted for more than 100 BASEBALL HALL of FAME members...These graves included those of the greats and not-so-greats, those that have elaborate headstones and many which don't, and those which have had offerings placed there by admirers...This presentation combined history with many amusing and insightful anecdotes...
NEGRO LEAGUES in CUBA / CUBANS in the NEGRO LEAGUES with MARK RUCKER whose credits include SMOKE: THE ROMANCE and LORE of CUBAN BASEBALL, pictorial biographies of BABE RUTH and TED WILLIAMS, KEN BURNS' BASEBALL presentation for PBS, as well as extensive work for dozens of books annually, including many for SABR, and his company, TRANSCENDENTAL GRAPHICS, which provides images for ESPN, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, BASEBALL AMERICA, and to anyone else who is interested...This slide lecture showed images of NEGRO LEAGUE players in Cuba from the early 1900's through the 1950's, illustrated with Cubans who played in the NEGRO LEAGUES throughout the United States, including a discussion of tours of Cuba as well as cultural information and most of the photographs shown had never been previously published...
UNDER THE CANTILEVER: THE RISE AND FALL OF MIAMI BASEBALL STADIUM with ROLANDO LLANES, who serves as a ballpark consultant for the FLORIDA MARLINS, in which he recounted the extraordinary history of one of baseball's great forgotten landmarks...Erected in 1949, MIAMI STADIUM was home to over half a century of professional baseball and countless unforgettable stories...Today this beautiful ballpark lies dormant, a hollowed-out shell of concrete and steel, now awaiting the first swing of the wreckers ball...
JOE PINDER: BASEBALL's GREATEST HERO presented by DICK THOMPSON, who as a registered nurse has an interest in those who served as combat medics, covered the life of JOE PINDER, a minor league pitcher who won 17 games in 1941, as he moved his way to the majors, then enlisted in the United States Army shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, was later killed in action on Omaha Beach on D-DAY, 6 June 1944, and was subsequently posthumously decorated in early 1945 with award of the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR...In this extremely well-researched offering we learned a great deal about this largely unknown heroic combat medic and someone who should be an inspiration to the youth of today...(The citation for the award of the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR to TECHNICIAN FIFTH GRADE JOSEPH PINDER appears at the bottom of this account)...
111 YEARS OF MAJOR LEAGUE EJECTIONS with DOUG PAPPAS, a member of the UMPIRES and RULES COMMITTEE, who recounted that since 1889, players, coaches and managers have been ejected from major league games over 10,000 times, with one Hall of Fame member single-handedly accounting for more than 1% of all known ejections...The assembled were told in "baseball's last hidden statistic" more than has ever previously been compiled about career and single-season leaders, the men ejected before their first major league appearance, the managers ejected for brawling with each other on the field, the two men ejected from games over six decades, and much more...
In addition, those in attendance at the ANNUAL SABR AWARDS CEREMONY were treated to an entertaining and most informative talk with ELDON AUKER, who recounted many interesting aspects of his pitching days for the DETROIT TIGERS, BOSTON RED SOX and ST. LOUIS BROWNS, with special interest being placed on his stories of pitching in the 1934 and 1935 WORLD SERIES...also, MONTE IRVIN was present to explain his life coming up through the NEGRO LEAGUES to the major leagues and aspects of his life culminating in his election to the BASEBALL HALL of FAME (see photo No. 1)...
On Saturday afternoon the first PLAYER PANEL consisted of PETE BROBERG, LARRY BROWN and MONTE IRVIN...PETE BROBERG, a native of Palm Beach and today a most successful lawyer there, recounted his experiences playing with the WASHINGTON SENATORS and TEXAS RANGERS, with some attention paid to his time around TED WILLIAMS, never known as a friend to his pitching staffs...LARRY BROWN, a native of West Palm Beach, who along with his late brother DICK BROWN, a top catcher of his day, were amongst the very best to ever come out of south Florida climbing through the minors to the majors, spoke of what the game of baseball meant to him and of the people who had a major influence in his life...MONTE IRVIN, who had been a big hit the previous evening, fielded many questions and answered a number of inquiries from the many in attendance about his outlook on the game both in his day and as it appears now...All assembled were sorry to see the session end (see photo No. 2)...
On Sunday morning the second PLAYER PANEL consisted of PETE CASTIGLIONE (see photo No. 3) JEFF FISCHER (see photo No. 4), MIKE de la HOZ (see photo No. 5), and TOM UNDERWOOD (see photo No. 6), who recounted their wide and varied experiences and memories about becoming major leaguers and those they played with and against during their fine careers...TOM UNDERWOOD had some amusing things to say about various points in his career and his time with the TORONTO BLUE JAYS, while JEFF FISCHER, another native of West Palm Beach, explained how tough it was to rise to the top in the MONTREAL EXPOS organization only to then have a very short stay in the majors before injuries knocked him back and eventually terminated his career...PETE CASTIGLIONE was a popular and dependable ballplayer in his time and he spoke of the greats and near greats he played with and against, while MIKE de la HOZ, who appeared for the TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS, told of his many experiences having left Cuba at the time that he did and experiencing a most successful career in the minors and majors...Again, the time spent with these gentleman was far too short for the large number of those attendees who packed the room ...
All in all SABR-30 was a tremendous success and a great time was had by all, thanks to the fine and dedicated efforts of the South Florida Chapter of SABR and the many sponsors who aided and provided items for the registered participants...On to MILWAUKEE for SABR-31 in 2001...See you there...
CITATION
FOR AWARD OF THE
CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR
TO TECHNICIAN FIFTH GRADE
JOSEPH J. PINDER, JR.
UNITED STATES ARMY
16th INFANTRY
1st INFANTRY DIVISION
Near COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, FRANCE
6 JUNE 1944
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, near Coleville-sur-Mer, France. On D-Day, Technician 5th Grade Pinder landed on the coast 100 yards off shore under devastating enemy machinegun and artillery fire which caused severe casualties among the boatload. Carrying a vitally important radio, he struggled towards shore in waist-deep water. Only a few yards from his craft he was hit by enemy fire and was gravely wounded. Technician 5th Grade Pinder never stopped. He made shore and delivered the radio. Refusing to take cover afforded, or to accept medical attention for his wounds, Technician 5th Grade Pinder, though terribly weakened by loss of blood and in fierce pain, on three occasions went into the fire-swept surf to salvage communications equipment. He recovered many vital parts and equipment, including another workable radio. On the third trip he was again hit, suffering machinegun bullet wounds in the legs. Still this valiant soldier would not stop for rest or medical attention. Remaining exposed to heavy enemy fire, growing steadily weaker, he aided in establishing the vital radio communication on the beach. While so engaged this dauntless soldier was hit for the third time and killed. The indomitable courage and personal bravery of Technician 5th Grade Pinder was a magnificent inspiration to the men with whom he served.
Monte Irvin were guest speakers at the Sabr awards ceremony.
Peter Broberg, Larry Brown, and Monte Irvin.
Peter Castiglione, Jeff Fisher, Mike de la Hoz and Tom Underwood.
Afterwards the first of four days of baseball research presentations got underway where participants had an opportunity to see and hear dissertations on various aspects concerning this grand game of baseball.
Amongst the very best of these were, ITALIAN BASEBALL, which was offered by the irrepressible HERBERT JOHNSON, where one learned that baseball is not just played in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Latin American and Caribbean nations but is alive and well in Italy, too...Johnson had spent almost 50 years living overseas after World War Two and he provided most informative and interesting data regarding Italian baseball stadiums, leagues, attendance, salaries, rosters, their participation in the 2000 Olympics, American presence in the Italian leagues, plus managers, coaches and umpires...
THE FLORIDA GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE ASSOCIATION and SPRING TRAINING in FLORIDA, which was presented by DAVID CARDWELL, the Executive Director and Legal Counsel to the FGLA, who has represented the owners / operators of the spring training venues in the State of Forida, and has been directly involved with over half of them...the focus of his talk was on the history of MLB spring training in Florida and the creation of the FGLA to promote spring training in an attempt to keep the current twenty teams there, focusing on venues and venue / team relations, rather than on particular events during spring training...
THE 7th GAME of the 1960 WORLD SERIES: BASEBALL's GREATEST GAME, offered by DALE HAINS...The 7th game of the 1960 World Series ended with BILL MAZEROSKI's home run in the bottom of the 9th inning, but the events leading up to the finish were most exciting, spectacular, unusual and unpredictable...This was the last game played with the 16 team format, the end of an era...Yankees Manager CASEY STENGEL's last game in the AMERICAN LEAGUE...The small market PIRATES defeating a big market team after getting overpowered three times by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0...
WILLIAM FRAWLEY: BASEBALL FAN presented by ROB EDELMAN, author the book MEET THE MERTZES...WILLIAM FRAWLEY, better known as FRED MERTZ on the I LOVE LUCY hit TV program, was also a consummate baseball fan who had clauses in his contracts over the years allowing him to take time off each fall to attend the World Series...A close friend with dozens of ballplayers, including JOE DiMAGGIO and LEFTY O'DOUL, he was an original stockholder in the HOLLYWOOD STARS in the 1930's and over twenty years later was named as a member of the LOS ANGELES ANGELS honorary Board of Directors...During his career he occasionally appeared as managers, scouts or other baseball related characters in various films and was responsible for getting some of his baseball friends cast in movies...
WHERE THEY LIE: A TOUR OF BASEBALL GRAVESITES with STEW THORNLEY in a tremendous slide show featuring the final resting places for baseball personalities across the United States, of which he accounted for more than 100 BASEBALL HALL of FAME members...These graves included those of the greats and not-so-greats, those that have elaborate headstones and many which don't, and those which have had offerings placed there by admirers...This presentation combined history with many amusing and insightful anecdotes...
NEGRO LEAGUES in CUBA / CUBANS in the NEGRO LEAGUES with MARK RUCKER whose credits include SMOKE: THE ROMANCE and LORE of CUBAN BASEBALL, pictorial biographies of BABE RUTH and TED WILLIAMS, KEN BURNS' BASEBALL presentation for PBS, as well as extensive work for dozens of books annually, including many for SABR, and his company, TRANSCENDENTAL GRAPHICS, which provides images for ESPN, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, BASEBALL AMERICA, and to anyone else who is interested...This slide lecture showed images of NEGRO LEAGUE players in Cuba from the early 1900's through the 1950's, illustrated with Cubans who played in the NEGRO LEAGUES throughout the United States, including a discussion of tours of Cuba as well as cultural information and most of the photographs shown had never been previously published...
UNDER THE CANTILEVER: THE RISE AND FALL OF MIAMI BASEBALL STADIUM with ROLANDO LLANES, who serves as a ballpark consultant for the FLORIDA MARLINS, in which he recounted the extraordinary history of one of baseball's great forgotten landmarks...Erected in 1949, MIAMI STADIUM was home to over half a century of professional baseball and countless unforgettable stories...Today this beautiful ballpark lies dormant, a hollowed-out shell of concrete and steel, now awaiting the first swing of the wreckers ball...
JOE PINDER: BASEBALL's GREATEST HERO presented by DICK THOMPSON, who as a registered nurse has an interest in those who served as combat medics, covered the life of JOE PINDER, a minor league pitcher who won 17 games in 1941, as he moved his way to the majors, then enlisted in the United States Army shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, was later killed in action on Omaha Beach on D-DAY, 6 June 1944, and was subsequently posthumously decorated in early 1945 with award of the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR...In this extremely well-researched offering we learned a great deal about this largely unknown heroic combat medic and someone who should be an inspiration to the youth of today...(The citation for the award of the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR to TECHNICIAN FIFTH GRADE JOSEPH PINDER appears at the bottom of this account)...
111 YEARS OF MAJOR LEAGUE EJECTIONS with DOUG PAPPAS, a member of the UMPIRES and RULES COMMITTEE, who recounted that since 1889, players, coaches and managers have been ejected from major league games over 10,000 times, with one Hall of Fame member single-handedly accounting for more than 1% of all known ejections...The assembled were told in "baseball's last hidden statistic" more than has ever previously been compiled about career and single-season leaders, the men ejected before their first major league appearance, the managers ejected for brawling with each other on the field, the two men ejected from games over six decades, and much more...
In addition, those in attendance at the ANNUAL SABR AWARDS CEREMONY were treated to an entertaining and most informative talk with ELDON AUKER, who recounted many interesting aspects of his pitching days for the DETROIT TIGERS, BOSTON RED SOX and ST. LOUIS BROWNS, with special interest being placed on his stories of pitching in the 1934 and 1935 WORLD SERIES...also, MONTE IRVIN was present to explain his life coming up through the NEGRO LEAGUES to the major leagues and aspects of his life culminating in his election to the BASEBALL HALL of FAME (see photo No. 1)...
On Saturday afternoon the first PLAYER PANEL consisted of PETE BROBERG, LARRY BROWN and MONTE IRVIN...PETE BROBERG, a native of Palm Beach and today a most successful lawyer there, recounted his experiences playing with the WASHINGTON SENATORS and TEXAS RANGERS, with some attention paid to his time around TED WILLIAMS, never known as a friend to his pitching staffs...LARRY BROWN, a native of West Palm Beach, who along with his late brother DICK BROWN, a top catcher of his day, were amongst the very best to ever come out of south Florida climbing through the minors to the majors, spoke of what the game of baseball meant to him and of the people who had a major influence in his life...MONTE IRVIN, who had been a big hit the previous evening, fielded many questions and answered a number of inquiries from the many in attendance about his outlook on the game both in his day and as it appears now...All assembled were sorry to see the session end (see photo No. 2)...
On Sunday morning the second PLAYER PANEL consisted of PETE CASTIGLIONE (see photo No. 3) JEFF FISCHER (see photo No. 4), MIKE de la HOZ (see photo No. 5), and TOM UNDERWOOD (see photo No. 6), who recounted their wide and varied experiences and memories about becoming major leaguers and those they played with and against during their fine careers...TOM UNDERWOOD had some amusing things to say about various points in his career and his time with the TORONTO BLUE JAYS, while JEFF FISCHER, another native of West Palm Beach, explained how tough it was to rise to the top in the MONTREAL EXPOS organization only to then have a very short stay in the majors before injuries knocked him back and eventually terminated his career...PETE CASTIGLIONE was a popular and dependable ballplayer in his time and he spoke of the greats and near greats he played with and against, while MIKE de la HOZ, who appeared for the TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS, told of his many experiences having left Cuba at the time that he did and experiencing a most successful career in the minors and majors...Again, the time spent with these gentleman was far too short for the large number of those attendees who packed the room ...
All in all SABR-30 was a tremendous success and a great time was had by all, thanks to the fine and dedicated efforts of the South Florida Chapter of SABR and the many sponsors who aided and provided items for the registered participants...On to MILWAUKEE for SABR-31 in 2001...See you there...
CITATION
FOR AWARD OF THE
CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR
TO TECHNICIAN FIFTH GRADE
JOSEPH J. PINDER, JR.
UNITED STATES ARMY
16th INFANTRY
1st INFANTRY DIVISION
Near COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, FRANCE
6 JUNE 1944
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, near Coleville-sur-Mer, France. On D-Day, Technician 5th Grade Pinder landed on the coast 100 yards off shore under devastating enemy machinegun and artillery fire which caused severe casualties among the boatload. Carrying a vitally important radio, he struggled towards shore in waist-deep water. Only a few yards from his craft he was hit by enemy fire and was gravely wounded. Technician 5th Grade Pinder never stopped. He made shore and delivered the radio. Refusing to take cover afforded, or to accept medical attention for his wounds, Technician 5th Grade Pinder, though terribly weakened by loss of blood and in fierce pain, on three occasions went into the fire-swept surf to salvage communications equipment. He recovered many vital parts and equipment, including another workable radio. On the third trip he was again hit, suffering machinegun bullet wounds in the legs. Still this valiant soldier would not stop for rest or medical attention. Remaining exposed to heavy enemy fire, growing steadily weaker, he aided in establishing the vital radio communication on the beach. While so engaged this dauntless soldier was hit for the third time and killed. The indomitable courage and personal bravery of Technician 5th Grade Pinder was a magnificent inspiration to the men with whom he served.
