This Week in SABR: August 2, 2013

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Live from Philadelphia, welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of August 2, 2013:

Dick Beverage selected as 2013 Bob Davids Award winner

Richard E. “Dick” Beverage, who served as President of SABR’s Board of Directors from 2003 to 2009 and presided over a period of tremendous growth in the organization, was announced as the winner of the Bob Davids Award during the SABR 43 Awards Luncheon on Friday, August 2 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The award — which is the Society’s highest honor — honors SABR members whose contributions to SABR and baseball reflect the ingenuity, integrity, and self-sacrifice of the founder and past president of SABR, L. Robert “Bob” Davids.

“I am bewitched, bothered and bewildered,” an emotional Beverage told the banquet crowd. “What a pleasure it is to be here. Some of the best people I’ve ever met in my life are in this room. … Thank you mightily. I am deeply honored. I can’t believe it.” 

Under Beverage’s leadership, SABR set a record with 7,185 members in 2006 and recorded an all-time high 726 attendees at SABR 37 in St. Louis the following year. In addition to his three terms as SABR’s President, Beverage also was elected to two terms as the Vice-President from 1995 to 1998 and also served as Secretary from 1998 to 2002. Dick has been an active member of SABR’s Minor League Committee since he joined the Society in 1980, as well as being a member of at least 10 other committees.

“His record of 13 years on the board is one of the longest tenures in the organization’s history and SABR grew substantially in organizational competence during his time, a tribute to Dick’s private sector skills as an accountant and business executive,” said Andy McCue, Beverage’s longtime friend and also a former SABR president.

Beverage is Founder and President of the Pacific Coast League Historical Society and has served for many years as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America, helping former ballplayers in need. He is a familiar face at spring training games around the major leagues. 

He is the author of more than a dozen articles and four books on the Pacific Coast League, including: The Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League: A History, 1903-1957; The Hollywood Stars; and Hollywood Stars Baseball in Movieland, 1926-1957.

He is also chair of the Seymour Medal Selection Committee, and he has been a part of two SABR Trivia Contest-winning teams at the annual convention, in 1991 and 1993.

“His circle of friends within SABR is extremely wide,” McCue said in his introduction. “He is the first to greet new members at chapter events as well as the convention, making them feel at home and connecting them with others with similar interests.

“He is curious about others’ research and always willing to share his own. He is, and remains, a gentleman and a true exemplar of what SABR strives to be.”

Previous Bob Davids Award winners in attendance Friday at the SABR 43 Awards Luncheon were: John Holway (1990), Bill Carle (1993), Len Levin (1997), Lyle Spatz (2000), Larry Gerlach (2001), Evelyn Begley (2002), David W. Smith (2005), John Thorn (2006), Andy McCue (2007), Mark Armour (2008), Tom Ruane (2009), Bill Nowlin (2011) and Jan Finkel (2012).

SABR President Vince Gennaro also announced Friday that “all past, present and future winners” of the Bob Davids Award would receive lifetime SABR memberships in perpetuity, in appreciation of their service to the organization.

The Bob Davids Award was established by the Board of Directors in 1985, and is awarded each year at the annual convention.

The Bob Davids Award Selection Committee consisted of Andy McCue, Mark Rucker (2010 winner) and Jan Finkel.

SABR 43: Listen to Phillies CEO David Montgomery’s opening remarks

David Montgomery has been the Philadelphia Phillies’ General Partner, President and CEO since 1997. He began his tenure with the organization in 1971, when he joined the sales office selling season and group tickets. He was a featured speaker at SABR 43, delivering the opening remarks on Thursday, August 1 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

For more coverage of SABR 43, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 43: Larry Bowa was special guest speaker at Awards Luncheon

At the SABR 43 Annual Business Meeting on Thursday, SABR President Vince Gennaro announced that Larry Bowa of MLB Network would be a special guest speaker at the Awards Luncheon on Friday, August 2.

Bowa has spent 40 years in Major League Baseball as a player, manager, coach and analyst. The session will be moderated by SABR member Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com, who co-wrote Bowa’s 2004 autobiography, Larry Bowa: I Still Hate To Lose.

Bowa replaced MLB Executive Vice President Rob Manfred as the luncheon’s keynote speaker.

“We certainly understand that Rob Manfred had other things to deal with and wasn’t available,” Gennaro said.

“But we have a big Philadelphia name, a big baseball name, in Larry Bowa, and we’re very glad to have him here in Philly for the Awards Luncheon on Friday.”

Note: Audio/video of the keynote session will be available at SABR.org/convention soon.

Bowa played 12 seasons with the Phillies (1970-1981), winning two Gold Glove awards and appearing in five All-Star Games. He led the National League in fielding percentage six times and was a key member of the Phillies’ 1980 World Series championship team. He finished his playing career with the Cubs (1982-1985) and Mets (1985), having scored 987 runs and stolen 318 bases.

He went on to manage the Padres (1987-1988) and Phillies (2001-2004), winning the 2001 Manager of the Year Award. Bowa also coached for the Angels (1997-99), Mariners (2000), Yankees (2006-07) and Dodgers (2007-10.) He also served as bench coach for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Bloom has been a national reporter for MLB.com since 2002 and has more than 35 years of experience covering sports. He covered baseball and hockey for five years at Bloomberg News and also spent 16 years as a writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The SABR 43 Awards Luncheon was held at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, August 2 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

For more coverage of SABR 43, visit SABR.org/convention.

Follow along with the SABR Trivia Contest on Saturday night

We steadfastly maintain that there is nothing trivial about baseball trivia. The world-famous SABR Trivia Contest finals will be taking place on Saturday night at SABR 43 in Philadelphia, and it’s always an entertaining and competitive battle to crown the individual and team champions.

We invite you to follow along with us live on Twitter beginning at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 3 by visiting Twitter.com and searching for the hashtag #SABR43. We’ll be live-tweeting questions (and answers if everyone gets stumped!), and you’ll have your chance to test your knowledge online with other SABR members and friends.

The SABR Trivia Contest is moderated by D. Bruce Brown, co-chair of Horsehide Trivia with T. Scott Brandon and president of the Bob Davids Chapter in Washington/Baltimore. The questions are written and edited by Brown and Brandon, who also assembles the game boards, illustration and animation of the semifinal and final rounds

The questions that are presented in ascending difficulty. The early-round questions will be at a relatively easy starting point, while the late-round questions, though more difficult, will still interest casual fans.

You can view all past Trivia Contest winners by clicking here.

For more coverage of SABR 43, visit SABR.org/convention.

Chicago chosen as 2015 SABR convention site

The SABR Board of Directors has awarded the 2015 national convention to Chicago, Illinois. The decision was announced at the SABR 43 Annual Business Meeting on Thursday, August 1.

The 2015 convention will be SABR’s 45th annual gathering; the organization’s founding in Cooperstown in 1971 is counted as the first.

This will be SABR’s fourth national convention in the Windy City, and the first since SABR 16 in 1986.

The third annual convention in 1973 featured broadcaster Bob Elson and Negro Leaguer Dave Malarcher as guest speakers.

In 1976, SABR members gathered again in Chicago as former White Sox manager Lew Fonseca, the 1929 American League batting champion, served as the keynote speaker.

Longtime Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Gleason was the featured speaker at the 1986 convention, which attracted a then-record 479 attendees. Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

The 2014 convention will be held in Houston, Texas. Dates will be announced later this fall.

For more coverage of the SABR convention, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 43: View photo galleries from the Philly convention

Can’t make it to Philadelphia for SABR 43? Check out some early photos from the convention festivities by clicking on the link below:

http://sabr.org/convention/sabr43-photos

For more coverage of the SABR convention, visit SABR.org/convention.

And stay tuned for more coverage next from SABR 43 in Philadelphia!

The National Pastime: From Swampoodle to South Philly now available in expanded e-edition

The National Pastime, SABR’s annual convention journal, is now larger than ever — and we’re also making it available as a free e-book for your computer or e-reading device.

The 2013 TNP, From Swampoodle to South Philly, edited by Morris Levin, tells a comprehensive story of baseball in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley — the site of SABR 43. SABR’s Connie Mack Chapter received well over 50 submissions in response to the call for papers, in addition to suggestions for reprints. The full electronic edition, which you can download here in PDF, EPUB (iPad/Nook) or Kindle formats, is over 160,000 words reflecting the strength and scope of the articles received.

You can read articles from the The National Pastime online by clicking on the link below:

http://sabr.org/research/2013-national-pastime

Starting this year, the print edition of the TNP — which does not include the extra articles in the expanded e-edition — is being offered as a souvenir to SABR members attending the annual convention as part of our expanded Publications program led by editor Cecilia Tan. By publishing larger versions of the TNP online and in e-book format, more SABR members will have a chance to have their work published and SABR members will have the opportunity to read more top-level articles every summer.

Since 2009, The National Pastime has served as SABR’s convention-focused publication. Published annually, this research journal provides in-depth articles focused on the respective geographic region where the national convention is taking place in a given year.

For more details and a schedule for SABR 43 in Philadelphia, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 43: Ross Barnes selected as Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2013

Ross Barnes has been selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2013. The announcement was made Thursday, August 1 at the Nineteenth Century Committee’s annual business meeting held at SABR 43 in Philadelphia.

In June, 279 members of the Society for American Baseball Research submitted their votes for the 2013 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

To read a biographical profile of Barnes written by SABR member Joe Williams, who chairs the Overlooked Legends project, click the link below:

http://sabr.org/latest/sabr-43-ross-barnes-selected-overlooked-19th-century-baseball-legend-2013

You can view Ross Barnes’ career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com.

Previous Overlooked Legends were Pete Browning in 2009, Deacon White in 2010, Harry Stovey in 2011, and Bill Dahlen last year. White was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 28.

For more information on the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project, click here or contact Project Chairman Joe Williams.

Retrosheet announces Summer 2013 update

We’re pleased to pass along this note from SABR member David W. Smith, president of Retrosheet:

I am very pleased to announce that Retrosheet.org has made its annual summer release and upgrade to our website. Our last update was in November of 2012 and we have accomplished a lot in the intervening 8 months. It is been quite some time since I gave a detailed report, so I will take this opportunity to summarize our activities by topic and indicate the contributions of volunteers for each portion.

We have added five more seasons and the second league for another. The new seasons are 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940 and 1938. The 1931 AL has also been added whereas we only had the 1931 NL before.

For a full description of the update, click the link below:

http://sabr.org/latest/retrosheet-announces-summer-2013-update

Thanks to everyone for your patience in reading this long discussion of Retrosheet activities and I hope you find the new items of interest in your own baseball research.

For more information on Retrosheet, visit Retrosheet.org.

Negro Leaguers to meet with President Barack Obama on August 5

SABR Negro Leagues Research Committee co-chair Larry Lester will be among a group of Negro Leagues historians and players who will attend a meet-and-greet with President Barack Obama at 5 p.m. on Monday, August 5 at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The event is led by organizer Andrea McCoy-Carty of the Judy Johnson Memorial Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Wilmington, Delaware.

Lester is the author or editor of many articles and books about the Negro Leagues, including: SABR’s The Negro Leagues Book; Black Baseball’s National Showcase: The East-West All-Star Game, 1933-1953; the Black Baseball series for Arcadia Publishing (Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit); Baseball’s First Colored World Series; and Rube Foster In His Time.    

The players invited include: Mrs. Leon Day, Minnie Forbes (owner), Mamie Johnson, Cliff Layton, Larry LeGrande, Carl Long, Minnie Minoso, James “Red” Moore, Jim Robinson, Bob Scott, Pedro Sierra, Mrs. Bert Simmons and Ron Teasley.

To learn more about the Negro Leagues committee, click here.

2 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Two new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,525 published biographies. Here are the new bios:

All new biographies can be found here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/recent

You can find the SABR BioProject at SABR.org/BioProject.

Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment” — write the story and we’ll publish it!

Check out the Baseball Ballparks Project: The SABR Baseball Biography Project has been accepting/publishing “biographies” of Ballparks for a few years, and we have 39 of them on our website at http://sabr.org/bioproj/parks. However, this thing just got real. Ballparks are now its very own PROJECT — the Baseball Ballparks Project, our first official spin-off. The project leader is Scott Ferkovich, who is now in charge of recruiting ballparks articles and publicizing them. Learn more by clicking here.

Get involved! If you’d like to help contribute to the SABR BioProject, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. We’re also looking to expand the BioProject to include all “encyclopedic” articles on baseball-related subjects from past SABR publications or committee newsletters. If you come across an article you think should be included in the SABR “baseball repository” at the BioProject, send a copy or link to markarmour04@gmail.com or jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Wish a happy 90th birthday to Joe Simenic

“If you spend much time at the Hall of Fame perusing the files of obscure players, it will not be long before you find a note written by Joe Simenic. In particular, if you think you’ve found a promising new lead on one of the approximately 250 mystery major leaguers whose death information is unknown, it will not be long before you discover that Joe Simenic has been there before you. For more than four decades, Joe has been at the forefront of biographical research for major league ballplayers.”

The passage above is the opening to Peter Morris’ SABR biography of Joe Simenic. Joe is one of SABR’s 16 founding members and he is about to celebrate his milestone 90th birthday this Sunday, August 4, 2013.

Joe would like nothing more for his birthday than to receive a card from SABR members around the world.

In appreciation of his lifelong love of baseball and his efforts to advance our knowledge of the game, we invite you to send Joe a birthday card to: [address redacted].

We also encourage you to learn more about SABR’s founding members at SABR.org/about/founders. You can read more about SABR’s organizational history at SABR.org/about/history.

Happy birthday, Joe!

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

We’ve heard your feedback: Some of you have said you look forward to “This Week in SABR” every Friday, but sometimes there are just too many compelling articles and announcements to read every week. We’re not complaining — hey, keep up the great work! — but we know the feeling. So in an effort to make the length of this newsletter more manageable to read, we’ll summarize some of the repeating/recurring announcements in a special “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)” section of “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: http://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 New Member 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.

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Lee Abramson East Lansing, MI     David May Hoover, AL
Carlos Alvarez Downey, CA     Paul Moehrigner Flanders, NJ
Jeremy Disbrow Keller, TX     Keith Ordean Canyon Lake, TX
Rohit Dwivedi Glendale, AZ     Eric Robinson Austin, TX
Ty Eckert Loris, SC     Stewart Schmella Bellaire, TX
Joan Solmonson Colchester, CT     Daniel Seklecki Vineyard Haven, MA
Greg Grimm Decatur, IL     Sheila Sikorski Turnersville, NJ
Joe Hallinan Turnersville, NJ     Jake Silverman Philadelphia, PA
Dave Herman Seattle, WA     Billy Staples Nazareth, PA
Carlo Macomber Portland, ME     Matthew Yaspan Scarsdale, NY
John Malelu Sacramento, CA        

 

Research committee newsletters

Here are the new SABR research committee newsletters published this week:

  • Statistical Analysis Committee: August 2013 
  • Science and Baseball Committee/SABR 43 update: Yes, psychology is a science! One of the Science and Baseball Committee’s proposed research projects is a multi-faceted examination of what constitutes “makeup.” If you’re at SABR 43, have an interest in player psychology and any kind of background in the field (e.g., passing Psych 101), we’d love to have you join us at our committee meeting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 3.

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

Chapter meeting news

Here are the new chapter meeting recaps published this week:

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

All SABR meetings and events are open to the public. Feel free to bring a baseball-loving friend … and make many new ones! Check out the SABR Events Calendar at SABR.org/events.

Around the Web

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

Read these articles and more at SABR.org/latest.

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR”, e-mail Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Find exclusive Members’ Only resources and information here: http://members.sabr.org

Did you know you can renew your membership at any time? 1- and 3-year SABR memberships are available by clicking “Renew” at http://members.sabr.org. Please also consider a donation to SABR to support baseball research at SABR.org/donate.

Are you following us on Twitter or Facebook? Get SABR updates every day at @SABR or by searching “SABR” on Facebook.

Replying to this e-mail goes to an undeliverable address. If you would like to contact the SABR office, please visit: http://sabr.org/about/contact-sabr


Originally published: August 2, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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