March 25 was the NYGPS first meeting of the 2015 year, excluding our January soiree with the World Series Trophy. Guest speaker Jaime Rupert spoke before an SRO crowd at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse. Jaime was fabulous speaking for almost 40 minutes about her life as the granddaughter of Horace Stoneham. She told us great tidbits regarding Stoneham’s love for the game and his GIANTS. She read an excerpt from her soon to be released book entitled Really? Really! and told us of her love affair with the game due to her relationship to the team.
Jaime then extolled the merits of her grandfather and how he is deserving of the Baseball Hall of Fame induction via the Golden Era Committee. Her points mainly being longevity, foreseeing baseball need to expand to the west coast, starting the Cactus League, being a forerunner of black integration to the game (starting the 1st all African-American outfield in NY), being a leader in the Hispanic movement in the game, etc. Whether you agreed with her or not, her points were all well taken and convincing to the point were members were changing their opinions on Stoneham’s election. Jaime hopes this might be the start of changing public opinion as she tries to gather steam for her dream.
I want to thank the over 40 members who showed up for a wonderful night. A special thanks to Jay Goldberg, owner of the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse for making his home ours! With Easter and Passover right around the corner, there is no better place to get the one of a kind baseball gift that Jay can offer. Check out his website athttp://www.bergino.com/