Aaaaaaaaahhh ..... good ol' SABR.
Here's my trip down memory lane:
Joined SABR in late '70's, back when there was still less than 100 members.
Remember my friend getting his news letter, and me not getting it. Called John Thorn to see what's up. He said call Mark Rucker. Called Mark, and his mother answered saying he was in garage. He came to phone and said he was getting the last news letters out. Received it within a few days.
Remember going to a SABR convention in early '80's. There was a guy named Vern Luce (Luse ?) who drove an old wooden planked station wagon. In the back he had scores of shoe boxes filled with hand typed/written index cards with minor league players and stats from the late 1800's to early 1900's. He thanked me for helping him out with some NJ players. Now we can just go to baseball reference . com.
Also at that convention there were some computer (that new fangled contraption) geeks. They were working on a Baseball computer game using "basic" programs. Oh my !!!
Remember going to Cooperstown and meeting the newly retired HOF librarian. Can't remember how to spell his name, but it was pronounced "Catch-Line." My friend and I sat on his side porch with his wife, sipping lemonade, talking Baseball, and watching the sun set over the Cooperstown hills and lake.
By mid-80's SABR got too big for me, and never renewed membership.
Thanks for listening, I have a tear in my eye right now, and think I'll have a fond remembrance beer .................