Ball, Nemec, Overmyer win 2015 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards
The 2015 winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, which honors the best articles on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year, are:
- David Ball with David Nemec, for “The Sam Barkley Case,” Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Vol. 7 (McFarland & Co.)
- James Overmyer, “Black Baseball at Yankee Stadium,” Black Ball: A Negro Leagues Journal, Vol. 7 (McFarland & Co.)
All three are winning the McFarland-SABR award for the first time.
Ball and Nemec’s article is a look at the tangled world of player transactions in 19th-century baseball. One judge’s comment was: “A first-class piece of research.” Ball died in 2011 and Nemec completed the project.
Overmyer’s article is an overview of the 225 games Negro League teams played in The House That Ruth Built between 1930 and 1948. Judge’s comments were: “Well researched” and “original and well-done.”
The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the author(s) of the best articles or papers, published or unpublished, on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, and unpublished research papers and written versions of oral presentations. Each winner will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $200.
The awards will be presented at the 45th annual SABR convention, June 24-28, 2015, at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.
The selection committee consists of: Len Levin (chair), Phil Bergen, Warren Corbett, Chuck Hilty and Bill Humber. To submit a nomination for the 2016 awards, please send the work’s title, author and publisher information (if applicable) to Len Levin.
For a complete list of winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, click here.
Originally published: May 5, 2015. Last Updated: May 5, 2015.