Here is the April 18, 2021 Mack Chat Secretary’s Report, from Steven Glassman:
· The chat began at 2:00 p.m. with 10 people in attendance.
· The following was discussed:
– On this date in Philadelphia Phillies history (according to the National Pastime website) (The Broad and Pattinson website was initially not working during the meeting, but, it is working as of this report). I mentioned the following years (1950, 1970, 1987, 2000, and 2012). Matt Albertson shared a screen with Phillies 1921 uniform design because their pinstripes that season preceded the 1950-1969 design.
– Philadelphia Phillies born on this date (according to Baseball-Reference). I mentioned Ed Boland (1908), Jim Eisenreich (1959), Alex Madrid (1963), Rico Brogna (1970), and Henderson Alvarez III (1990).
– On this date in Major League Baseball history (according to The Official 365 Sports Facts-A-Year Page-A-Day Calendar 2021), the first Yankee Stadium opened in 1923. I, mentioned about the game and Yankee Stadium’s capacity when it opened. Yankee Stadium’s announced attendance was 74,217 (The capacity was 58,000 in 1923). According to Green Cathedrals, the Polo Grounds’ (1912-1957, 1962-1963) capacity through the 1922 season (43,000) and Braves Field in Boston (43,250) were the largest at the time before the first Yankee Stadium opened.
– 1957 Hall of Fame inductee, right fielder Sam Crawford (1880), and future Hall of Fame first baseman Miguel Cabrera (1983) were born on this date.
– We spoke about our most recent Regional Chapter meeting in Reading at First Energy Stadium on May 21, 2011.
– Peter (do not have his last name, Sorry) mentioned about Williamsport Bills catcher Dave Bresnahan. Bresnahan threw a baseball-shaped potato versus the Reading Phillies In an August 31, 1987 minor league game. I talked about getting a Bresnahan bobblehead and meeting him and getting an autograph at Bowman Field in Williamsport on August 18, 2007 for the 20th anniversary and briefly mentioned about Rodney McCray getting a bobblehead or his feat. Bresnahan is the great-nephew of 1945 Hall of Fame inductee catcher Dave Bresnahan.
– Ed Morton did a presentation about the National League Park stands collapse during an August 8, 1903 Phillies game, followed by a question and answer session. Rock shared a link for Bob Warrington’s 2013 article in The National Pastime about this subject.
– Phil Williams and Rock gave an update about getting Grave Markers for Philadelphia-area Negro League players at Eden Cemetery.
– I spoke about one of SABR’s newest books, Greatest Comeback Games. The information is based on Retrosheet’s Tom Ruane list of 630 games (since 1901), ranked by how mathematically unlikely a team would win a game. This includes regular and postseason games. The Phillies and Athletics are also mentioned this book.
– I also mentioned about accepting the Trenton Thunder Seasonal Stats Crew offer. We talked about the MLB Draft League, Toronto playing its games in Dunedin, Florida and Buffalo, New York and the Blue Jays’ AAA affiliate in Buffalo playing in Trenton this season. Trenton will return to the MLB Draft League in 2022.
– We were updating each other during the meeting about the Phillies-St. Louis Cardinals game and talked about the Phillie Phanatics’ birthday and Aaron Nola after the game ended.
– We also talked about the state of the Phillies, including the starting rotation.
· The chat concluded around 4:00 p.m.
Philly SABR 