Bob Davids Baseball Meetings

Bob Davids Chapter Meetings

The 33rd annual meeting of the Bob Davids Chapter will be held 9:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Saturday, Jan. 27th, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge, 1900 North Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA.

ABOUT SABR/BOB DAVIDS

Chapter Meeting• January 31, 2004

Prepared by Mark Pattison The undisputed highlight of the Bob Davids Chapter's Jan. 31 regional meeting in Tysons Corner, Va., was the hour-plus MLB's Pete Rose investigator, John Dowd, spent addressing the group and taking questions -- followed by a standing ovation from most of those present. He spent much of his time detailing how he was invited to take part in Rose gambling inquiry, and the methods used in gathering evidence, although he voiced, in response to a question, his own distress at the emerging gambling culture.
Dowd referred often to the personal attacks inflicted upon him by media types in Cincinnati and nationally -- including Howard Cosell -- and to the total lack of preparation afforded Rose by his attorneys and other representatives. Dowd didn't think much of Rose's new book, "My Prison Without Bars," or for statements and actions made by Rose in the wake of his publication. Nor did he seem to have much use for current MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.
	ESPN The Magazine senior writer (and SABR member) Tim Kurkjian got things rolling with a lively question-and-answer session about our national pastime, including vignettes of players who seemed to know too little -- or too much -- of the history of the sport or a particular player (check on Retrosheet how many 11-for-26 weeks Terry Kennedy had in his career, then ask yourself why Pete Rose was following his hitting so closely).
Author (and SABR member) Tim Wendel offered a poignant look at some of baseball's Latino stars of past and present with the help of some great color slides and anecdotes collected during the writing of his new book, "The New Face of Baseball: The One-Hundred-Year Rise and Triumph of Latinos in America's Favorite Sport." Wendel's time spent dovetailed nicely with Bob Davids Chapter member Jerrold Casway's look at the dominance of Irish-Americans in the 1890s on the field, in the dugout, and even in the owner's box.
Other chapter members' research presentations included "Twilight Teams" author Jeff Stuart asserting that baseball wanted to expand without adding teams in the 1950s, hence the move of five franchises during that turbulent decade. Marty Payne's recounting of 19th century Eastern Shore newspaper accounts of town-vs.-town ballgames (he filled in the missing consonants in one instance when The Cambridge Chronicle in 1895 quoted one umpire for calling a Salisbury player an "a--hole" when he was tagged out after drifting off second base). And Dave "God Bless Retrosheet" Smith helping clear the cloudy memories of, among others, Ron Santo, Willie Mays, Denny McLain -- and himself! -- when their accounts are contradicted by the historical record.
	Chapter member Stefan Fatsis also recounted the effort involved in uncovering the evidence that 1879 one-game Providence Grays first baseman William Edward White might have been the game's first black player -- a scoop he got published the day before on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.


Chapter president Bob Savitt was presented with a bat given to the chapter last year by the Virginia Baseball Club, one of the groups bidding to bring the Montreal Expos to the Washington area.

Back to Home Page