Origins of the meaning of Hot Stove as described from MLB.com

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  In the early days of baseball, the Hot Stove Season referred to an actual baseball season: Hot Stove Leagues, in which MLB players would stay in shape by playing baseball in their hometowns while staying warm with actual hot stoves.

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The term soon expanded to become a kind of predecessor to the water cooler -- on a cold day, fans would gather around the hot stove to discuss their favorite team.

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Current Hot Stove of Santa Clara Valley Banquet

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  Besides being held throughout our country for years during the cold winters, the idea of Hot Stove Meetings in Santa Clara Valley was brought to our area by the University of Santa Clara in the mid to late 1970’s. The banquet was held each winter until the early 1980’s at which time they stopped having them.

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  Then in 1984 and due to a decision by the Cupertino Union School District to disband all after school sports, two parents and educators themselves stepped forward to create a way to generate monies to keep all CUSD after school sports in the middle grades funded. Jim Hemphill and Dave “Obie” Obenour took the Hot Stove concept from SCU and moved forward in bringing it back to raise money for all of the after school sports programs. In addition, they gathered volunteers to sell a hard cover book for the 1985 Super Bowl at Stanford called “Super Bowl by the Bay” plus had a couple of sections in the stadium where volunteers could sell peanuts for additional funds.

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  After two years the school district figured out a way to get the funds to keep after school sports at their schools in place. It was at that time that Jim and “Obie” decided that they would keep the Hot Stove going but only to raise monies for schools and amateur baseball programs that were in need. With the help of our current committee and numerous others in the past to include Joe Gagliardi, Barry Colla, ex-MLB player Eddie Bressoud, professional scout Rick Schroeder, Terry Hardkte, Al Talboy, Flo Sullivan, Margaret Obenour, Harry Changnon, and the former University of Kansas Head Baseball Coach Richie Price. These banquets have been a mainstay of our baseball world in the greater Santa Clara Valley each year since 1985.

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  Thanks to everyone for their support and enthusiasm to keep the

Hot Stove of Santa Clara Valley Banquet going strong.