Feb. 20, 2003
This is another "B" Line column, a periodic collection of news items of particular interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Lee Harrington (leenelaine@281.com), Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714
TEAM DINNER - With the Minute Maid Park College Classic as a backdrop, "B" Association member Chip Hubbard and his "Houston area committee" put together highly successful back-to-back events for the Baylor baseball team and dozens of letter winners in town for the Feb. 15-17 winter baseball tournament. The Bears responded by winning two of their three games. Hubbard's committee, which included Art Whitmer, Faith Beaty and Bill McCleary, played its first ace on the night preceding opening day of the Classic. With the financial help of other Houston/Gulf Coast letter winners, the "B" Association hosted a post-workout meal at the Metropolitan Club for BU Coach Steve Smith, his players and assistants. Association president Ronnie Goodwin came in from San Angelo for the dinner and was on hand Friday when Baylor defeated the University of Houston 14-4. Then prior to the Bears' 4-3 loss to the No. 2 nationally ranked Rice Owls on Saturday, Hubbard's group presided over a luncheon for more than 60 "B" Association members and guests at the Houston Center Club, just a few blocks from Minute Maid Park . . . Austin resident Jinx Hoover rushed home from a Shreveport golfing outing to attend the Saturday activities. Had he stayed one more day he would have seen Baylor's 12-4 win over Louisiana-Lafayette . . . And BU President Robert Sloan and wife Sue had to leave Friday's game early following a call from their pilot that there was increasingly bad weather brewing between Houston and Waco . . .
TIGER TALES - One table at the Saturday luncheon was dominated by former Waco High School baseball players. Former Tigers Matt Miller, Gerald Johnson, Lee Harrington and Don Riddle all told terrific stories about their high school and college playing days in the 1950s. Miller recalled that when he and Jerry Mallett were scholarship freshmen at Baylor in 1954 the BU athletic department gave them a pair of boxed baseballs prior to workouts with these instructions: "Don't lose 'em." Miller remembers the freshman team worked out in the far left-field reaches of old Dutton Field, sans backstop or a pitching mound. Perhaps those memories were responsible for Miller's key role in raising money for the construction of Baylor Ballpark, recently ranked the No. 3 collegiate baseball stadium in America by one national publication . . . Dutch Schroeder, the former BU coach and current "B" Association executive vice president emeritus, brought his lovely wife Betty to Houston for the doings. On Thursday morning they drove from Waco to Dallas for a funeral, then on to the Bayou City in time to watch the Bears take batting practice at 6:45 p.m. And, of course, being the proprietors of the famous Cotton Palace Bed & Breakfast in Waco, the two chose to sample a B&B in Houston . . .
UT? NO SWEAT - Frank Golden, a Houston resident who lettered as a pitcher in 1939-40-41 and was All-Southwest Conference in 1941, was present for the luncheon. Golden, a lefthander, was noted for being able to beat the Texas Longhorns when few pitchers could do so . . . Dr. Ernest Gregory came in from San Antonio for the fun. He played baseball at Baylor before and after World War II and then went on to become one of the state's best fast-speed softball pitchers. He was caught telling stories about playing against Schroeder when Dutch was a freshman at UT . . . BU coach Steve Smith entertained fans on Thursday night with an interesting story about Jim Morris, the high school coach who became a big league pitcher in the film "The Rookie." Morris, who recently dropped in on the Bears to watch practice, told Smith that the screenplay adaptation of his book by the same title was a bit exaggerated. "But he said the part about throwing 98 miles per hour during his major-league tryout was accurate," Smith said . . .
JACK LOFTIS
CHAIRMAN
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
