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This Week in SABR: October 23, 2020

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This Week in SABR: October 23, 2020

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of October 23, 2020:

2020 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists announced

SABR Defensive IndexFor the eighth consecutive season, the SABR Defensive Index (SDI) will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR.

On Thursday, Rawlings announced the finalists for the 2020 Rawlings Gold Glove Award, honoring the best individual fielding performances at each position in the American League™ and National League™. The winners will be unveiled during a live, one-hour airing of ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 3.

Following the show, voting will begin online for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, presented by SABR. A combination of the SABR Defensive Index and the national fan vote will determine who takes home the honor in each League. The final SABR Defensive Index rankings will be released at SABR.org/SDI on November 3, immediately following the ESPN broadcast.

Due to the compressed 2020 MLB season, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award qualifications have been amended to rely solely on the SABR Defensive Index this year. The SDI draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts, including data from MLBAM’s Statcast, Sports Information Solutions, and STATS, LLC.

Click here to view the Gold Glove Award finalists at SABR.org.

Watch highlights from SABR 50 at 50 panel discussion with the Pandemic Baseball Book Club

SABR 50 at 50 book coverThe Pandemic Baseball Book Club hosted a special panel discussion on SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game with editors John Thorn, Mark Armour, Bill Nowlin, and Leslie Heaphy on September 23.

The virtual Zoom chat, moderated by Jason Turbow, brought to life the 50 stories in this new anthology book and celebrates the breadth and depth of SABR’s groundbreaking research over the past 50 years.

The discussion covered how the book came to be, the criteria for selecting stories, the challenges of editing the book, how to republish original versions of the articles, and the evolution of baseball and SABR over the last half-century.

Click here to watch the replay or find more highlights at SABR.org.

Join SABR’s Golden Lineup to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary!

2020 SABR Donation DriveMembers like you are helping us turn our shared vision into a reality. As 2020 draws to a close, we hope you will renew and, if your means allow, even increase your support for SABR’s mission.

You can join SABR’s Golden Lineup by making a gift of at least $100 by December 31, 2020. We will use your best gift of $100, $250, $500, or $1,000 to bring more young people into the beautiful world of baseball; to publish groundbreaking books and articles; and to promote research, preservation, and scholarship.

All donors joining the Golden Lineup with a $100 gift or more will receive a copy of From Rube to Robinson, our anthology of research celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Negro Leagues.

Donors supporting SABR with a gift of $500 or more will also receive a miniature Rawlings Gold Glove Award replica and be entered to win the SABR Golden Ticket.

The winner of the SABR Golden Ticket will receive:

  • Lifetime membership to SABR
  • All expenses paid to a SABR conference of their choice
  • Attend the 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Banquet in New York City

Visit SABR.org/donate/2020 to learn more.

Download your free copy of Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts, Volume 2

Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts, Volume 2 (2020)A new publication produced by SABR’s Baseball and the Arts Committee vividly brings to life the art and literature of the game we all love:

Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts, Volume 2 (2020)
Edited by Joanne Hulbert and Jay Hurd
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9701-5944-8, $5.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5945-5, $9.95
6″ x 9″, 117 pages

Click here for the full description of this journal at SABR.org.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

Click here to download or purchase a copy of Turnstyle, Volume 1 (2019).

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

Stay Home With SABRSABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org, as part of our Stay Home With SABR initiative to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

This week, we heard from Eddie Cicotte author David Fleitz, Working a Perfect Game author Bill Nowlin, baseball card and pop art historian Adam Korengold, and new SABR Executive Vice President Scott Carter.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can attend online; check the Events Calendar for complete details:

  • October 24: Schott-Pelican (La.) Chapter meeting (10:00 a.m. CDT)
  • October 24: Ken Keltner Badger State (Wis.) Chapter meeting with Bill Nowlin and Bill Pearch (1:00 p.m. CDT)
  • October 25: Detroit Chapter book club meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
  • October 26: SABR Board of Directors conference call (8:00 p.m. EDT)
  • October 29: Larry Doby (S.C.) Chapter meeting with Jerry Meyers (7:00 p.m. EDT)
  • October 29: Dusty Baker-Sacramento Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. PDT)
  • October 31: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with Sharon Hamilton and Bill Nowlin (1:00 p.m. CDT)
  • November 4: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Maxwell Kates (7:00 p.m. EDT)

Find more upcoming virtual meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Click here to view replays of any SABR virtual event in 2020.

SABR Digital Library: Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games

Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games, edited by Bill NowlinAdd a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:

Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games
Edited by Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5943-1, $24.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5942-4, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 396 pages

Click here to read the full description at SABR.org.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

Having trouble downloading our e-books? To view PDF files on your computer, click here to download the free Adobe Reader software. Having trouble downloading e-books to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

SABR members can download all of our Digital Library e-books for free or get 50% off the paperback edition. Find all past titles at SABR.org/ebooks.

Abby Altman wins Halsey Hall Chapter’s Minnesota History Day prize

Abby Altman, a senior at Highland Park High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, was honored recently by the SABR Halsey Hall Chapter, which sponsored a prize for Minnesota History Day, an annual project-based competition for high school seniors. Sarah Johnson served as the chapter coordinator for the regional History Day competition.

With a theme of “Breaking Barriers,” Altman won for her exhibit on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Her exhibit was chosen from a range of projects involving baseball and other sports. Altman will receive $150, an invitation to present her exhibit at an upcoming chapter meeting, and information on other student opportunities to get involved in SABR.

To learn more about the Halsey Hall Chapter, visit HalseyHall.org.

SABR office continuing to work remotely

The SABR office, housed at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona, has been closed indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Staff members will work remotely until it is advisable to resume normal operations on-site.

Please contact a member of the SABR staff by email or phone with any questions.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Sean Gibson

SABRcast #82: Sean GibsonBaseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer.

Episode #82 on Monday, October 19 featured Sean Gibson, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Josh Gibson Foundation and the great-grandson of the Negro Leagues catcher. Since 1994, the foundation has been dedicated to providing academic and athletic programs for under-served youth, including the Josh Gibson Negro Leagues Youth Classic tournament and Josh Gibson Field in The Hill district of Pittsburgh, and to establish a museum in honor of the Baseball Hall of Fame legend.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.

Subscribe to SABRcast on your favorite podcast networks, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play, and listen to each episode as soon as it’s released on Mondays. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

8 new SABR biographies published

Rodney McCray (THE TOPPS COMPANY)Eight new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project. Here are the new bios published this week:

All new biographies can be found here: SABR.org/bioproject

  • Find any SABR biography: You can visit sabr.org/bioproject to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Games, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires, Writers, people who were Famous Outside Baseball, and a lot more.
  • Sign up to view Trello submission pipeline: Chief Editor Rory Costello has made the BioProject submission pipeline visible to project contributors using the signboard app Trello. If you would like to see the pipeline — to know where your story stands in the review process or how many articles we have in the system — e-mail Rory for an invitation to become an observer.

Read all SABR bios from our 1946 Newark Eagles book

1946 Newark Eagles book coverIn SABR’s The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions (2019), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin, we captured the stories of a Negro Leagues team for the ages, the 1946 squad that ran away with the Negro National League and then triumphed over the Kansas City Monarchs in a thrilling seven-game World Series.

Four of the Eagles’ stars — Leon Day, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, and player/manager Raleigh “Biz” Mackey, as well as co-owner Effa Manley — have been enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the veterans on that team composed a veritable “Who’s Who in the Negro Leagues.”

You can now read all of the biographies that appeared in our 1946 Newark Eagles book at the SABR BioProject:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/category/completed-book-projects/1946-newark-eagles

SABR members can download The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions as a free e-book or get 50% off their purchase of the paperback edition at SABR.org/ebooks.

14 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

Johnny Damon (TRADING CARD DB)Fourteen new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. Here are the new game stories:

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject.

  • Get involved: Have memories of a game you attended? Or a game you watched that caught your interest? Write about it! Writing for the Games Project is an easy way to get involved as a SABR member. Find out how by reading the Games Project FAQs section or checking out the Authors’ Guidelines. We have editors and fact checkers who are willing to help you write your first article.
  • Social media: Follow the SABR Games Project on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with new stories and updates.

Listen to recent episodes of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Saturdays

Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM with Vince GennaroBehind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, is back at a new time. Listen to new episodes at 5:00-6:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays on MLB Network Radio.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio app.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It airs weekly throughout the year on MLB Network Radio, available to subscribers nationwide on XM channel 89, Sirius channel 209, and on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s This Week in SABR

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: https://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

Welcome, new members!

We’d like to welcome all of our new SABR members who have joined this week. You can find all Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org and the Membership Handbook can be downloaded here.

Please give these new members a warm welcome and help them make the most of their membership by giving them the opportunity to get involved in their local chapter or a research committee.

You can find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Jim Baird Novato, CA     Baron Hamman Ann Arbor, MI
Alan Barnes Ivins, UT     James Logan Fairway, KS
Joshua Casper Brooklyn, NY     Ryan Pugh Parker, PA
Ted Cogswell Everett, WA     Don Rice New York, NY
Mark DeBlois Springfield, VA     Gloria Smith Short Hills, NJ
Allen Ghazarian Glendale, CA     Greg Souders Highspire, PA
Robert Hamm Shepherdsville, KY     Kevin Yocum Beloit, WI

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Find all SABR research committee newsletters at SABR.org/research/committees.

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Visit SABR.org/chapters for more information on SABR regional chapters.

SABR Events Calendar

Scroll up to the top of this newsletter to learn more about the upcoming virtual events on the SABR calendar.

  • We strongly recommend that all SABR chapters follow CDC public health guidelines and your local/state government regulations when scheduling any in-person meetings and events.

Find details on all upcoming meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Around the Web

Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

This Week in SABR is compiled by Jacob Pomrenke. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR,” e-mail jpomrenke@sabr.org.

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Originally published: October 23, 2020. Last Updated: October 30, 2020.

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