Baseball statistics

You would think after a year of this, I would have the hang of this . . . I had an extensive post all written about the history of JAL Tours SAA Baseball Outings . . . and then it disappeared on me! Crap! So I am revising and replacing.

As I echo in the email that I sent out to the entire JAL Tours Baseball list (all 132 of you), I want to express my personal thanks to all of you for supporting the baseball outings over the years. We have done this seven times since 1999 and we will go for number eight next year in San Francisco.

It was expressed to me at last Thursday night's game that they thought we had seen the home team lose more often than not. With the help of this website, I have been able to prove that statement wrong. It has also gotten me to update my records, which were woefully incomplete and scattered across several file folders. Hey, now that I work with electronic records, I managed to pull everything into one spreadsheet, which I have sent out by email to everyone who has participated. Go look for your name on the all-time roster (yes, even you Anna, are on there).

But, to the statistics.

I started attending the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting in 1995. My first meeting was here in Washington, DC, but while I lived and worked in New York. The following year the conference was held in San Diego, California and I didn't go. In 1997, the meeting was held in Chicago (at the Fairmont - where I am sure the meeting that just ended was negotiated - how else could we secure a room rate of $149 in a five-star hotel?). The Society organized an outing to Wrigley Field that year, and I passed, much to my chagrin. Luckily, I was able to rectify that this year. The following year, we all went to visit the Mouse in Orlando, Florida, staying at a hotel named for a mammal, but with a fish on the top of it. There was no baseball.

Then came Pittsburgh. We arrived in the Steel City with the Pirates finishing up their final year at Three Rivers Stadium. I organized an outing to the game on Wednesday August 25, 1999. The stadium was but a short walk away (over the river, via a pedestrian walkway). There were 37 of us that first year, when we saw the Pirates defeat the Colorado Rockies, 9-3.

In 2000, we were off to Denver and to Coors Field to see the Rockies play at home. They faced the Milwaukee Brewers (who we saw again this year play against the Cubs). On September 1, Colorado won that game, 5-3. When we were there (30 of us), 1B Todd Helton was trying to match the record of Ted Williams, by batting over .400 for the season. He was not successful, although he did hit a homerun that night.

In 2001, with no baseball as yet in the Nation's Capital, I organized two groups to visit Camden Yards. On Wednesday August 29, 10 people traveled up I-95 to see the Birds fall to the Oakland A's by a score of 4-1. Sunday September 2, 15 of us went to see the Birds lose again, this time to the Seattle Mariners, 1-0.

The next year (2002) we went to Birmingham, Alabama. While we did not take in a Barons game, we did have a great evening at "America's Oldest Baseball Park, Rickwood Field, and a great "session" featuring several Negro League players, followed by a barbecue and a game.

Then it was off to Los Angeles and an opportunity to visit Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers won both games that we saw that year. First on Wednesday night (8/20), 29 archivists watched the Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos (soon to become the Washington Nationals!), 4-1, in extra innings! Two nights later, 42 of us took in the Dodgers victory over the New York Mets, 2-1.

In 2004, I was otherwise involved, working for SAA on the meeting and did not organize an outing. But two intrepid JAL Tour Devotees took up the mantle and managed to get 30 people to commute out to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to watch the Paw Sox. The bums who play in Fenway were out of town that week but we did have a nice reception at Fenway, so we had that going for us.

In 2005, I organized my favorite outing so far. The Annual Meeting was held in New Orleans, Louisiana (right before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city). I organized an outing to Zephyrs Field, home of the New Orleans Zephyrs, then a farm team for the Washington Nationals. We traveled in style that year, taking a motorcoach to and from the stadium, and had great seats behind home plate. All for the low price of $20 per person. You gotta love minor league ball. And did I mention I got to throw out a ceremonial first pitch?

Last year, the Annual Meeting returned to Washington, DC. I served as Host Committee co-chair and the Nationals were inconveniently out of town. So no outing was made. Which led us to Chicago this year and two games at Wrigley Field, where the Cubbies took on the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs lost the first game on Wednesday night, 6-1, but took the last game of the set, 5-4.

Next year, we are off to San Francisco. Will it be AT&T Park or McAfee Coliseum? Stay tuned and thanks again for supporting JAL Tours SAA Baseball events! If you are a reader of this blog and not an archivist, but would like to come out and have fun with us, please let me know!