The Pecan Park Eagle

Tony Cavender, SABR
Larry Dierker Chapter
Houston
Baseball Movie Quiz Writer

The February 2015 monthly meeting of our Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR met last night, Monday February 16th, at the Spaghetti Western on Shepherd Drive. Our featured speaker, thanks to program planner Jim Kreuz, was Joe Brennan, a nationally known sports agent with the Legacy Agency who currently represents a number of current major leaguers, including C.C Sabathia, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Vernon Wells and Scott Kazmir. It was nice, laid back presentation which touch on myriad subjects, including the history of sports agency representation in baseball, the ins and outs of the business, and the specific evaluative efforts that agents going through in scouting and signing the players they hope to represent all the way to success in the major leagues.

In addition, Tom White of our SABR chapter reported on the trip he made as an 11 year old kid with his father to the 1953 MLB All Star Game in Cincinnati, providing us also with copies of the gazillion player autographs collected, and mostly during the pre-game period in which he made a self-authorized appearance on the field to meet, greet, and collect the signatures of all he could reach. Tom says that he lasted a good half hour before he was detected and removed back to the stands by security. We think that Tom White may have established the unofficial record for the most all-star autographs collected by any individual at a single mid-summer classic game – and that it probably is a record that will never be challenged because of the much greater security that now surrounds fan contact with the players, even at regular season games.

Wow! I’m still blown away! The young Tom White 1953 auto-grab took place at the blankety-blank  All Star Game, for Selig-Sake! – Wow again!

Tom White also showed us two photographs of the NL club in their dugout that also inadvertently captured clear images of Tom and his dad standing on the rail behind the dugout as image hitchhikers into the visual galaxy of baseball history. – What a wonderful day that must have been for our very knowledgeable SABR member and his father.

Stan “The Man” Curtis of SABR also read us a speech on “How Long is a Minute” that he had written way back in 1958. Stan’s provocative early life discourse on the way we should all value and use our time in life led me to a personal, no-offense intended, conclusion about the probable answer to this question when it comes to public presentations:

“How long is a minute? – It depends on who’s speaking.” 🙂

Tony Cavender’s baseball movie trivia quiz was a blast of good fun – and it is presented below for your own enjoyment. The correct answers are contained as the first item in the comment section which follows this column. Please feel free to leave your own comment, score, or opinion about the test as a comment too.

Again, as we expressed here the first time we presented one of our quizzes, If you really love baseball, SABR may be the place for you too. Give some thought to joining SABR, (The  Society for American Baseball Research) by contacting our Larry Dierker Chapter President, Bob Dorrill @ bdorrill@aol.com

SABR isn’t very costly – and the baseball fellowship – the talks by players and people in baseball, – and the numerous  other publication benefits are the greatest.

Now, for your enjoyment, here’s The Tony Cavender February 2015 Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR Houston Baseball Trivia Quiz:

(1) Who played Babe Ruth in:

(a) The Babe Ruth Story? ___________________

(b) Pride of the Yankees? ___________________

(c) The Babe? ____________________

(2) Who played “The Whammer” in “The Natural”? ___________________

(3) Which ballplayer is said to have introduced Marilyn Monroe to Joe DiMaggio? ____________________

(4) Who served as their host during the DiMaggios’ honeymoon trip to Japan and Korea? ____________________

(5) Who player Grover Cleveland Alexander and his wife in “The Winning Team”? ____________________

(6) Who played Monty Stratton and his wife in “The Stratton Story”? ____________________

(7) Who played Dizzy Dean and his wife in “The Pride of St. Louis”? ____________________

(8) These Hollywood figures had ownership interests in major league ball clubs: Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Name the clubs. ____________________

(9) The son of which Hollywood figure became a major league general manager? ____________________

(10) The leading roles in “Bang the Drum Slowly” were played by two young actors just beginning their careers. – Name them. ____________________

(11) A former minor league infielder starred in “Escape from New York” and “Tombstone”. Who is he? ____________________

(12) Which former Dodger farm hand starred in major Hollywood movies and a long-running action series on television? ____________________

(13) A well-known silent movie featured Mike Donlin, Irish Meusel and Tony Lazzeri, The movie is:

• (a) Safe at Third?
• (b) Slide Kelley Slide? or
• (c) Three O’Clock Lightning?      (Circle correct answer)

(14) Which players share a dugout with Cary Grant and Doris Day in “That Touch of Pink”? Were they:

• (a) Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra?
• (b) Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Pee Wee Reese? or
• (c) Willie Mays, Hank Thompson and Alvin Dark?

(Circle correct answer above)

(15) A blond Hollywood bombshell was engaged to a hard-throwing, hard-living pitcher for the Los Angels. Can you name both the bombshell and the ballplayer?

____________________ and ____________________

A total of 23 answers are requested in the above listed Cavender Baseball Movie Quiz. Give yourself one point for each request you get right. And please remember to check the first entry of Bill McCurdy in the comment section that follows this column for the correct answers and then overcome your own modesty or temerity and leave a comment with your own scores and experience from the quiz. Nobody gets everything right – and sometimes – we find ourselves getting very few things right. Nobody’s perfect. We are all in this boat ride of life together.

Hope the rest of your Tuesday is like a super cool cruise day!