Upcoming events

Our February meeting will focus on the early 20^th century, the 2011 season, and the future. Chapter members John Simpson and Steve Steinberg will make presentations based on their recently published books. Both authors have many historical photographs to show.

John’s book is "The Greatest Game Ever Played in Dixie.” It’s about the Nashville Vols 1908 season and championship game.

Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg wrote “1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York.” John McGraw's Giants played baseball in the then conventional way, while the Babe Ruth-led Yankees were changing the game with home runs. The NY teams met in the World Series.

Mike Rice will host our Mariners roundtable discussion. Mike always infuses thought-provoking statistical analysis into these discussions. Last year, his compelling reasons why the Mariners weren’t likely to win more games proved to be accurate.

Dwight Jaynes, a recent inductee to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, will be our special guest. Dwight will discuss the future of sports journalism and how it will affect baseball fans and researchers, and other relevant topics. He recently left his sports talk show on 95.5 The Game to take an online job with Comcast SportsNet. His impressive background includes coaching college baseball, working for the Portland Beavers, writing a sports column for The Oregonian for many years, hosting a general talk show on KPAM, managing the Portland Tribune, and currently hosting Blazers talk on television. Known as “The Godfather” of Oregon sports coverage, Dwight is a five-time winner of the “Oregon Sports Writer of the Year” award.

I promise an entertaining circular trivia quiz. Prizes will be design-your-own-logo baseball caps. One will go to the winner and one to the rookie of the year; a young or new member who impresses us with a solid effort.

Our member-host-a-member program begins with this meeting. I encourage all members who have available space and a cooperative spouse or significant other to offer to host out-of-town members. Our chapter spans Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and some of British Columbia. This program will make it easier and more affordable for our distant members to travel to meetings. In the spirit of SABR, it’s also a great opportunity to make new friends with a common interest and share baseball knowledge.

If you live in the Portland area and would like to host a member, please send a message to the Yahoo group or to me. My wife and I don’t have a spare bedroom, but we have a comfortable couch. For more privacy, someone can sleep in a sleeping bag in my home office.

If you would like to stay with a member, please respond to me or directly to anyone who offers to host via the chapter Yahoo group.