Who We Are
Formed during the COVID lockdown, we are a group of members primarily from the Region described in the introduction to our blog. We have writers of baseball, some published and some in the process, analytics junkies again some published and others at-work; and historians of various natures. We attempt to meet monthly; many are virtual, some are in person and try to have a featured speaker at each event.
When the organizational Zoom meeting was held and the decision was made to form this chapter, we needed to come up with a name. One of our founders, Dr. Susan Dellinger, is the granddaughter of Hall-of-Famer Edd Roush who was a long-time winter resident in the region. Roush participated in old-timers’ events and was around Spring Training over the years. The other Hall-of-Famer we wished to honor was Tampa’s native son, Al Lopez. The Tampa Baseball Museum, which opened after the chapter was formed, is in the former home of Lopez.
SABR encourages its’ members and chapters to engage in advancing baseball’s stories in their area. For our first project, we developed a trolley ride to visit all the former spring training sites in St. Pete and tell its story regarding baseball. We started to look at all of Pinellas County (includes Clearwater, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs) but decided St. Pete alone would require a good two hours to tell that story.
Hopefully, we have an announcement coming soon for scheduled tours during 2025. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, many of the posts on here will center primarily on Pinellas and the rabbit holes we chased down pursuing the story we hope to tell. The intention, over time, is to expand and tell the story region wide. It’s not intended to be just about professional baseball or spring training, it’s about all baseball. Baseball is a year-round endeavor in our region.
We have many stories ready to tell, so check back with us often. Please remember that opinions expressed in posts are those of the individual blogger and not of the chapter as a whole.
Would you like to know more about the chapter? Contact our chair at [email protected].