2011 SABR Convention: SABR 41 in Southern California
July 6-10, 2011
Long Beach Hilton
701 W. Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90831
Cronkite School at ASU
555 N. Central Ave. #406-C
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-496-1460
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SABR 41: Panel Discussions
At SABR 41, we had five exciting panel discussions, which you can now listen to in their entirety.
Wednesday, July 6
MEDICAL PANEL (listen to the audio here): Baseball organizations lost more than $1 billion to the disabled list during the last decade. Over the history of baseball, there is a long history of what-ifs — promising careers ended or stunted by injuries. While endless discussions about what might have been if Sandy Koufax, Kerry Wood, or Mickey Mantle had just been healthy keep raising the question, the members of this panel are doing something about getting answers. In a panel moderated by Will Carroll of Sports Illustrated, this illustrious group of sports medicine professionals discussed this often neglected area of sports and sports history. Panelists included:
- Dr. Neal ElAttrache, Director of Sports Medicine at the world-famous Kerlan-Jobe Clinic and the team orthopaedist for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Dr. Kevin Wilk, Associate Clinical Director for Champion Sports Medicine and Director of Rehabilitative Research at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama.
- Ned Bergert, one of the most respected and longest-tenured athletic trainers as head trainer of the Angels baseball team from 1991 through 2010.
Thursday, July 7
MEDIA PANEL (listen to the audio here): Where will we get our baseball information a decade from now? In a discussion moderated by SABR President Andy McCue, our panel examined how baseball fans will find out more about their favorite teams and watch games online, on TV, in print and elsewhere in the years to come. Panelists included:
- Dave Cameron, Managing Editor of FanGraphs.com, one of the most dynamic websites for analysis, statistical and otherwise, of contemporary baseball
- Sean Forman, founder of Baseball-Reference.com, the premier site for baseball statistics, and a SABR member.
- Bill Squadron, head of Bloomberg Sports, developing real-time analytic tools for the fan.
- Russ Stanton, Editor of the Los Angeles Times, a mainstream media company that’s moving aggressively into putting its content online.
Friday, July 8
SABR ERA PANEL (listen to the audio here): A panel honoring SABR’s 40th anniversary discussed the changes that have taken place in the game over the last four decades. Moderated by Tom Hufford, one of SABR’s 16 founding members, who currently sits on the organization’s Board of Directors. Panelists included:
- John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden
- John Dewan, a founder of STATS, Inc., and Baseball Info Solutions, and author of the influential The Fielding Bible;
- Roland Hemond, three-time winner of MLB’s Executive of the Year Award and 2011 recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award
- Wes Parker, former Dodgers player and the team’s player representative in 1971 when SABR was founded
- Dennis Gilbert, former player agent, benefactor of scouts and minor league player.
Saturday, July 9
GENERAL MANAGERS PANEL (listen to the audio here): Moderated by SABR member and SB Nation baseball editor Rob Neyer, our panel of former general managers discussed how the role of major league general managers has changed over the years. Panelists included:
- Jed Hoyer, current general manager of the San Diego Padres
- Fred Claire, former Dodgers general manager from 1987-98
- Dan Evans, former Dodgers general manager from 2001–04 and now a consultant to the industry
Sunday, July 10
PLAYER PANEL (listen to the audio here): A traditional panel of former players followed the SABR awards presentations on Sunday morning. They discussed their careers and a lifetime spent in baseball. Moderated by Barry Mednick of SABR’s Allan Roth Chapter, panelists included:
- Tommy Davis, who led the National League in batting average in both 1962 and 1963. In 1962, he also led the league in hits (230) and RBI (153). Davis batted .313 in the postseason, including the 1963 and 1966 World Series. His career included 18 seasons and 1,999 games
- Al Ferrara, a classical pianist who played at Carnegie Hall by age 16, a World Series champion baseball player with the Dodgers by 23, and an actor sharing screen time with Tallulah Bankhead and Zsa Zsa Gabor on a top-rated television series before he turned 30.
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