This is a monthly event during the year at chapters all over the country. Many, but not all in or around major league franchises or where baseball is just a good thing to talk about.
This month the guest of the Larry Dierker chapter was the first power hitter in Houston major league baseball history--Jimmy Wynn. Among the members in attendance was regular Larry Miggins who was one of the great power hitters in Houston Buff history. Miggins along with up to 30 other members heard Wynn go over some of the hilights of his career--many related in a new book just out penned by Wynn and Dr. Bill McCurdy--long time baseball fan and president emeritus of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.
While it is fashionable to think that baseball has been bypassed severely by football, particularly the professional variety, the facts don't back that up. Groups like SABR prove that baseball will remain very much alive for years to come. There is room for everyone and everyone's preferences. SABR members obviously have a preference for baseball.
One fan even drove in from Austin to be part of the meeting. Baseball fans may be outnumbered by folks who now claim football to be their favorite sport, but the passion for the national past time is still there.
Perhaps part of the lure is that baseball remains the best sport of all for stories. That is why folks who pick up a copy of Jimmy Wynn's new book, "Toy Cannon" will be enthralled. Games are played every day. They come and go. The good and important ones are remembered. The rest just fade into the quilt that is the full season or career.
Jimmy Wynn remembers the big games in his career and key figures with the teams he played with in Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and Milwaukee. His big league career ran from 1963 with the old Colt 45 to 1977 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was a peer with the greats of the game during that period. And during that period he was one of the greats of the game himself.
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