This Week in SABR: December 21, 2012

Welcome to “This Week in SABR”! Please note: There will be no TWIS next week. Our next edition will be sent on Friday, January 4, 2013. Happy holidays!

Here’s what we’ve been up to as of December 21, 2012:

It’s time to renew your SABR membership!

Thanks to all of you who have already renewed your SABR membership for 2013; we’re glad to have you aboard for another year (or three!), and we’ve got a lot of new books and projects coming up that we think you’re going to love.

Please take a minute to renew your membership for 1 year or 3 years online at the SABR Store; by phone at (602) 343-6450; or by mailing this downloadable PDF form and your payment to the SABR office at 4455 E. Camelback Road, Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.

Dues start at $45 annually and are the same as they have been in recent years. For that bargain price, you get three high-quality research publications (two issues of the Baseball Research Journal and one issue of The National Pastime, our convention journal); deep discounts to all publications in the SABR Digital Library; access to research resources such as Paper of Record (with complete archives of The Sporting News); discounts to SABR conferences such as the national convention (Philadelphia 2013), the SABR Analytics Conference, the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, and the Arizona Fall League Conference; access to a growing network of SABR baseball community, including our 27 research committees and 60+ regional chapters.

We believe SABR has something for everyone, from the active researcher to someone passionate about baseball. We hope you’ll invite your friends, colleagues and family members to join at http://store.sabr.org.

Give the gift of SABR this holiday season

Do you know a baseball-loving friend or family member who talks and reads about his or her favorite sport all the time? Give the gift of a SABR membership this holiday season, and help foster a lifelong love of baseball research.

SABR gift memberships are also available at the SABR Store starting at $45 annually for 1 or 3 years. Just click here to sign them up:

http://profile.sabr.org/general/register_member_type.asp

(Please note: If you are already logged in to the SABR website, you’ll have to log out first in order to purchase a gift membership.) If you have any questions, call Membership Director Deb Jayne at (602) 343-6455.

All new SABR members receive three high-quality research publications (two issues of the Baseball Research Journal and one issue of The National Pastime); deep discounts to all publications in the SABR Digital Library; access to research resources such as Paper of Record (with complete archives of The Sporting News); discounts to SABR conferences such as the national convention (Philadelphia 2013), the SABR Analytics Conference, the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, and the Arizona Fall League Conference; access to a growing network of SABR baseball community, including our 27 research committees and 60+ regional chapters.

Donate to SABR and support the future of baseball research

This has probably been SABR’s most active year since our founding in 1971. We held our first Analytics Conference in March and are busily planning for the next one in March of 2013. Our deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media provides a far-reaching outlet for our research. SABR 42 in Minneapolis was a tremendous success, and we are looking forward to SABR 43 in Philadelphia. On top of that we published three research journals, the Emerald Guide, and several e-books, continued to build our digital content, and held conferences covering the Negro Leagues, the Arizona Fall League, and 19th Century Baseball.

In the coming year we plan to do all of the above, plus publish a major book on the history of baseball broadcasting, continue to expand the BioProject, and create more team biography books. All of this is made possible by our strong professional staff in Phoenix and our all-star team of volunteer members around the world.

Of course, accomplishing all of this requires funding beyond the annual dues we all pay. The dues allow SABR to survive; it is donations from people like you that help us thrive. Since 2004 we have asked for, and have been fortunate to receive, additional funding from members who believe in what SABR does and can afford to give something extra. Also since 2004, we continue to say thank you to our donors by offering them small gifts to show the appreciation felt by all of our members who care about what we do in support of the greatest game on earth.

SABR is a 501(c)3 organization, which means your donation is tax deductible in the U.S. to the fullest extent of the law.

THE DONOR PROGRAM*

  • $25-$99: receive a “Donor” convention badge ribbon entitling early entry into the SABR Convention Awards Banquet
  • $100-$249: receive the above benefit plus a ticket to the SABR Convention Donor Breakfast that features a “State of SABR” presentation by our executive leadership
  • $250-$499: receive all of the above benefits plus the new SABR Lapel Pin
  • $500-$1,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a SABR MVP Polo Shirt
  • $1,500-$2,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a junior suite upgrade at the SABR Convention hotel
  • $2,500 and up: receive all of the above plus an executive level room upgrade at the SABR Convention hotel.

*convention-related premiums assume payment of registration fees and attendance

Please join me in supporting SABR and send your donation to the address above, or by visiting SABR.org and pressing the convenient DONATE button. By doing so you help SABR fulfill its mission and increase the impact of our baseball analysis and historical study.

— Paul Hirsch

New from SABR Digital Library: Detroit Tigers 1984: What A Start! What A Finish!

Add a championship baseball book to your collection with the newest title in the SABR Digital Library, just released this week:

Detroit Tigers 1984: What A Start! What A Finish!
Edited by Mark Pattison and David Raglin

E-book price: $9.99
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-933599-45-8
Paperback price: $19.95
Paperback ISBN:
978-1-93359-944-1
8.5″ x 11″, 250 pages

The 1984 Detroit Tigers roared out of the gate, winning their first nine games of the season and compiling an eye-popping 35-5 record after the campaign’s first 40 games — still the best start ever for any team in major league history. The Tigers led wire-to-wire in 1984, becoming only the third team in the modern era of the majors to have done so. Detroit’s determination and tenacity resulted in a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in the AL playoffs and a five-game triumph over the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Tigers fans will tell you that the bottom of the eighth inning in Game Five was the first time Kirk Gibson hit an iconic home run in the Fall Classic.

Detroit Tigers 1984: What a Start! What a Finish!, an effort by the Society for American Baseball Research’s BioProject Committee, brings together biographical profiles of every Tiger from that magical season, plus those of field management, top executives, the broadcasters — even venerable Tiger Stadium and the city itself. A team of more than 40 writers and editors compiled the biographies and supporting essays that make up the most comprehensive look at this remarkable team.

Includes bios of: Glenn Abbott * Rod Allen * Doug Bair * Doug Baker * Juan Berenguer * Dave Bergman * Tom Brookens * Marty Castillo * Scott Earl * Darrell Evans * Barbaro Garbey * Kirk Gibson * Johnny Grubb * Willie Hernandez * Larry Herndon * Howard Johnson * Ruppert Jones * Rusty Kuntz * Mike Laga * Chet Lemon * Aurelio Lopez * Dwight Lowry * Roger Mason * Sid Monge * Jack Morris * Randy O’Neal * Lance Parrish * Dan Petry * Dave Rozema * Bill Scherrer * Nelson Simmons * Alan Trammell * Lou Whitaker * Milt Wilcox * Carl Willis * Tom Monaghan * Bill Lajoie * Sparky Anderson * Gates Brown * Billy Consolo * Roger Craig * Alex Grammas * Dick Tracewski * Paul Carey * Bill Freehan * Ernie Harwell * Al Kaline * George Kell * Larry Osterman.

Articles and contributions from these SABR writers: Adam J. Ulrey, Alan Reifman, Bill Bishop, Brian Borawski, Carl Shinkle, Charles Faber, Chip Greene, Cindy Thomson, Clifford Corn, Dan Scott, Dave Gagnon, David L. Fleitz, David Laurila, David MacGregor, David Raglin, Don Peterson, Doug Hill, Gary Gillette, Glen Vasey, Jason Lenard, Jeanne M. Mallett, Jeffrey Shand-Lubbers, Jerry Nechal, Joanne Hulbert, John McMurray, John Milner, Kent and Chuck Ailsworth, Larry Hilliard, Malcolm Allen, Matt Bohn, Maxwell Kates, Mike Lassman, Mike McClary, Nick Edson, Nick Waddell, Pat Kilroy, Paul Carey, Paul Geisler, Peter M. Levine, Richard L. Shook, Richard Newhouse, Rick Vosik, Stew Thornley, Tracy J.R. Collins, Trey Strecker.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

Stay tuned throughout the year for new (and old!) titles that we’ll be adding to the SABR Digital Library. SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications.

A conversation with SABR BioProject chief editor Jan Finkel

Player profiles, ballpark histories, and other submissions to the SABR BioProject have greatly expanded our knowledge and appreciation of Deadball Era subjects.

Recently, BioProject chief editor Jan Finkel, a most deserving recipient of the Bob Davids Award at the SABR convention this summer, responded to a series of questions posed by Deadball Era Research Committee newsletter editor Bill Lamb. Click here to read what Jan had to say on a variety of topics, including the BioProject’s goals for 2013, the recent flurry of SABR BioProject books and his own personal Deadball Era All-Star team:

http://sabr.org/latest/conversation-sabr-bioproject-chief-editor-jan-finkel

This article first appeared in the SABR Deadball Era Research Committee newsletter in November 2012.

The enduring mystery of Roberto Clemente’s Hall of Fame bat

Here’s a must-read story from Kevin Guilfoile at ESPN.com, with mention of longtime SABR members and Hall of Fame staffers Bill Guilfoile (his father) and Ted Spencer:

On Saturday, Sept. 30, 1972, Roberto Clemente arrived at Three Rivers Stadium tired and frustrated. He had 2,999 hits for his career, and the night before he would have become only the 11th player in baseball history with 3,000 hits except the official scorer had changed one of his at-bats from an infield hit to an error. Roberto hadn’t slept at all, but he desperately wanted to get to 3,000. It had been a long season. He was 38 years old and had been plagued by chronic ailments. He wanted to take a couple of games off before the playoffs.

He struck out in the first inning, but in the fourth he doubled off Jon Matlack of the Mets. No scorekeeper could take this one away. On the radio, legendary Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince was calling it: “Bobby hits a drive into the gap in left-center field! There she is!”

After the game, my dad went down to the clubhouse and waded through a media scrum to Clemente’s locker. Sportswriters were asking Roberto how he chose the bat that got him his 3,000th hit. Roberto told The New York Times that Willie Stargell helped him pick out the bat. “I haven’t been swinging good lately so Willie picked out one of my bats … a heavier one that I have been using,” Roberto is quoted as saying. “He handed it to me and told me to ‘go get it.'”

<snip>

My dad had been working at the Hall of Fame for more than a decade when, in 1993, his old friend Tony Bartirome, a one-time Pirates infielder who had become their longtime trainer, came to Cooperstown for a visit. Tony and his wife went to dinner with my folks and then came back to our house to chat. The only way to go to the first-floor washroom in that house was through my old bedroom, and on a trip there, Tony noticed that Adirondack of Clemente’s hanging on the wall.

Tony carried it into the living room. He said to Dad, “Where did you get this bat?” My dad told him that Joe Brown had given him the bat as a gift, sometime in the late ’70s. “Bill,” Tony said. “This is the bat Roberto used to get his 3,000th hit.”

Read the full article here: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Roberto-Clemente-bat/enduring-mystery-roberto-clemente-bat

Presenting Marty McHale, the lost Glory of Their Times interview

From SABR member John Thorn at Our Game on Wednesday:

Let me tell you how this wonderful reminiscence by a seemingly nondescript Red Sox pitcher came to light. When I created The National Pastime (TNP) as an annual publication for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) back in 1982, I was new to the organization, having joined only a few months earlier. I wanted to present a bang-up list of contributors, all SABR members, in order to showcase the society to those on the outside looking in. Here is a partial contributor list from that debut issue:  Bob Broeg; G.H. Fleming; John Holway; Pete Palmer; Mark Rucker; Harold Seymour, Ph.D.; David Voigt; Frank J. Willliams — and Lawrence S. Ritter.

I asked Larry, the last named — and, like most of the contributors,  a personal friend — to contribute one of the several interviews he had conducted for The Glory of Their Times (1966), which had not been transcribed in time for inclusion in that great, great book. (Red Barber and Stephen Jay Gould called it the greatest of all baseball books; I agree.) Larry said that each of the interviews had represented a great deal of work for him beyond mere transcription — that the rambling recall of men in their seventies had to be scrambled and then spliced … and he did not, in 1982, have the time to tackle George Gibson or Specs Toporcer or Hank Greenberg, or Marty McHale, all of which I knew to reside, out of public knowledge, at the Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

All but one of these raw interviews made it into the revised edition of The Glory of Their Times that appeared in 1992. But Larry never included the Marty McHale interview — conducted November 4, 1963, right after his session with Smoky Joe Wood–because he had not been the one who edited it into final shape. Now it can be revealed: I was.

Larry wanted to help SABR by taking part in the launch of TNP and he knew that I was, at that time, an editor by trade. So with plenty of caveats about how tough it would be to rearrange the several tapes into a more or less linear narrative, he invited me to take a whack at the job. Creating the transcription, marking it up, then taking scissors to create congruent parts and laying the sections out on the floor, Marty McHale sprang to life. My appreciation — call it awe — for Larry’s skill in presenting Harry Hooper, Sam Crawford, and more was magnified tenfold. Here is Larry’s interview, the one that remains missing from The Glory of Their Times.

Read the full article here: http://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2012/12/19/ladies-and-gentlemen-presenting-marty-mchale/

Apply by December 31 for Yoseloff Scholarship to attend 2013 SABR Analytics Conference

With generous funding from The Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to four scholarships to college students who wish to attend the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 7-9, 2013. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging up to a total value of $1,250.

The objective of this scholarship fund is to encourage student engagement with baseball analytics, and to engender an active interest in baseball research and SABR. The Yoseloff scholarship is to assist young researchers who want to attend SABR’s Analytics Conference and to introduce them to fellow SABR members and professionals within the baseball community. Through this fund, SABR hopes to inspire future baseball research, expose students to high-quality research and build the research capability of interested students.

All applications must be postmarked or e-mailed to Jeff Schatzki at jschatzki@sabr.org no later than December 31, 2012.

For details on the scholarship requirements or to download an application form, click here. 

Students must be currently enrolled in a high school, college undergraduate or graduate program, and be between 18 and 29 years of age at the time of the conference.

Register today for 2013 SABR Analytics Conference

Once again, SABR is bringing together the top minds of the baseball analytic community under one roof to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball for the second annual:

SABR Analytics Conference
presented by Major League Baseball and Bloomberg Sports
March 7-9, 2013
Sheraton Phoenix Downtown
Phoenix, Arizona

SABR has secured a special conference rate of $149/night (plus tax) from March 6-10, 2013, at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 — just blocks away from Chase Field. Please note: The group rate is available until February 13, 2013, or until our room block runs out so book your reservation today! Due to the popularity of spring training in Arizona, rooms may not be available at the Sheraton prior to March 6.

The schedule will consist of a combination of Guest Speakers, Panels and Research Presentations — plus the unique Diamond Dollars Case Competition, in which undergraduate, graduate and law school students from across the country analyze and present a real baseball operations decision.

Featured speakers expected for the 2013 Analytics Conference are: Stan Kasten, President/CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Derrick Hall, President/CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Jed Hoyer, Executive VP/General Manager of the Chicago Cubs; Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer for Sports on Earth; and Brian Kenny, MLB Network host. More speakers will be announced soon!

The World Baseball Classic will also be held in the Phoenix area that weekend, with first-round games scheduled at Chase Field and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. We plan to talk more about global baseball issues at the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference.

Some of the other topics we are planning to cover include:

  • General Managers Panel on how analytics shapes front-office decisions
  • Measuring Player Performance
  • New innovations in baseball analytics
  • Player Agents — their view of analytics
  • Advances in medical information and its impact on decisions
  • New applications of PITCHf/x data
  • The use of analytics in scouting
  • Player panel — the impact of data and information on performance
  • The International Game — the next hot spot for talent development

The inaugural SABR Analytics Conference in 2012 was an enormous success. For complete coverage of the 2012 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics/2012.

Join us on SABR Day: January 26, 2013

The fourth annual SABR Day is coming up sooner than you think: January 26, 2013. We’re compiling details now on 2013 SABR Day chapter meetings around the country. We’ll post them as soon as we get them at SABR.org/sabrday.

So far, we have SABR Day events scheduled in these cities:

  • Columbus, OH (Hank Gowdy Chapter)
  • Cooperstown, NY (Cliff Kachline Chapter)
  • Denver, CO (Rocky Mountain Chapter)
  • Fort Lauderdale, FL (South Florida Chapter)
  • Houston, TX (Larry Dierker Chapter)
  • Indianapolis, IN (Oscar Charleston Chapter)
  • Kenosha, WI (co-organized by Emil Rothe and Ken Keltner Badger State chapters)
  • Little Rock, AR (Robinson-Kell Chapter) 
  • Los Angeles, CA (Allan Roth Chapter)
  • Louisville, KY (Pee Wee Reese Chapter)
  • Middletown, CT (Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter)
  • Montreal, QC (Quebec Chapter)
  • New Orleans, LA (Schott-Pelican Chapter)
  • New York, NY (Casey Stengel Chapter)
  • Oakland, CA (Lefty O’Doul Chapter)
  • Philadelphia, PA (Connie Mack Chapter)
  • Pittsburgh, PA (Forbes Field Chapter)
  • Seattle, WA (Northwest Chapter)
  • St. Louis, MO (Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter)

In addition, these chapters will be holding their SABR Day meetings on Saturday, February 2 due to scheduling conflicts with the popular team FanFests on January 26:

  • Minneapolis, MN (Halsey Hall Chapter)
  • San Diego, CA (Ted Williams Chapter)
  • Washington, DC (Bob Davids Chapter)

Chapter leaders, please send your SABR Day plans to Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org so we can add them to the map ASAP!

(Having trouble viewing our map at SABR.org/sabrday? Visit http://bit.ly/SABRday-2013-list to view all SABR Day 2013 details in a spreadsheet on the web.)

Regional SABR meetings are open to all baseball fans and are usually free to attend, so bring a friend! Guest speakers often include current and former baseball players, managers, umpires, executives, scouts, writers and authors.

To view event details for a SABR Day meeting near you, check out our SABR Day map at SABR.org/sabrday for more information.

7 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Seven new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,193 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!

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.

2013 The National Pastime: Call for Papers

The 2013 issue of The National Pastime, our annual convention journal, will be published at SABR 43 in Philadelphia next summer.

Our theme will be baseball in the Philadelphia area (the Tri-State area of Southeast Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware.) We are looking for submissions dealing with various levels of baseball from Little League and sandlot ball to all levels of professional leagues. Philly has a rich tradition of baseball from its early beginnings in the 1830s, to the National League and American Association Athletics, to Connie Mack’s A’s, the Hilldale Daisies, the Philadelphia Bobbies, the Philadelphia Stars and, of course, the Phillies. We are looking to provide a broad perspective of Philadelphia baseball from its early years to the present day.

If you are interested in submitting an article, please send an abstract to Morris Levin. Please include not only your topic, but why it interests you, and how you are qualified to research it. What sources do you plan to use? A typical article in The National Pastime runs 2,000 to 5,000 words. Upon receipt of your abstract, we will forward a copy of the SABR guidelines for submission of papers.

All interested authors should make sure their SABR membership is up to date. It is longstanding SABR policy that only the work of SABR members is published in our journals. You can renew your membership online at members.sabr.org before you submit your paper.

To read articles from this year’s The National Pastime, focusing on baseball in Minnesota, click here. The TNP archives can be found here.

You can also follow the SABR Connie Mack Chapter on its new Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/SabrConnieMackChapter

Call for SABR award nominations

  • Larry Ritter Award, due 12/31/2012: Each year, SABR’s Deadball Era Committee presents the Larry Ritter Book Award to recognize the best new book primarily set in the Deadball Era that was published during the previous calendar year. The award is presented during the committee’s meeting at the annual SABR convention. If you have a book to nominate with a 2012 publication date, contact Gail Rowe at growes36@comcast.net by December 31, 2012. Deadline for receipt of nominated books by the committee is January 16, 2013. 
  • SABR Baseball Research Award, due 1/31/2013: The SABR Baseball Research Award (formerly the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award) honors those whose outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Steve Gietschier at sgietsch@gmail.com.
  • Ron Gabriel Award, due 1/31/2013: The Ron Gabriel Award annually honors the author(s) of the best research, published or unpublished, on the subject of the Brooklyn Dodgers completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include but are not limited to magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, unpublished research papers, written versions of oral presentations, books, databases and websites. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Stephanie Liscio at stephanieliscio@yahoo.com.
  • McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, due 2/15/2013: The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the authors of the best articles on baseball history or biography completed or published during the preceding calendar year. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Len Levin at lenlevin5@hotmail.com.

Call for 2013 SABR Election Nominations

The SABR Nominating Committee seeks nominations for candidates for the Spring 2013 elections. All candidates for the Board of Directors must have been members of the Society for at least the preceding four years to be eligible for election. Deadline for nominations is March 1, 2013. Nominees must prepare a Candidate Statement Form following guidelines that will be available from any Nominating Committee member.

The Candidate Statement Form, which will be available for download from the SABR website soon, must be received by the Nominating Committee chair no later than March 15, 2013.

The offices to be filled:

  • President (2-year term; currently Vince Gennaro)
  • Director (3-year term; currently Leslie Heaphy)
  • Director (3-year term; currently Tom Hufford)

The Nominating Committee also seeks your input. Members are asked to submit office-specific questions for each of the offices open in this election. We also seek input on general questions for every nominee. Candidates will answer selected questions on the Candidate Statement Form. Regional Chapter Leaders and Research Committee Chairs are especially encouraged to pass along this request to their respective members to better address member needs.

Self-nominations are welcome. If you would like to nominate yourself or another candidate or suggest a question for the candidates, contact a member of the Nominating Committee: chair Barry Mednick (bmednick@adelphia.net), Rick Schabowski (RICKIU76@aol.com), and Barry Deutsch (barryid@pobox.com).

In Memoriam

Eric Andrew Errickson, 76, of Ocala, Florida, passed away on December 12, 2012. He was a SABR member since 2010.

Eric was born November 12, 1936 to Arthur and Dorothy (Mayden) Errickson in Independence, Kansas. He grew up in Kansas but later moved to Minnesota in 1963. He received his undergraduate degree at Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas, his Master’s Degree in Psychology from Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and eventually attained his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Therapeutic Recreation.

Eric worked at the Hastings State Hospital as the Director of Rehabilitation, and then worked as the Program Director for the Faribault Hospital. Later, he worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. Afterward, he took a job as the Director of the Behavior Analysis Program at Cambridge State Hospital before serving in private practice and eventually retiring to Florida in 1997.

Eric was an avid sports fan with a great affinity for golf. He participated in many golf tournaments and even played internationally. He also had a knack for playing cards, where he was well known for his blackjack skill and, most recently, duplicate bridge. Eric may be best known for his lifelong musical gifts. He was a talented blues and folk singer/songwriter who performed regularly and recorded multiple albums.

Eric is survived by his loving wife, Vivian Errickson; his children Kurt (Cathlyn Garrett), St. Paul; Heidi (Jon) Errickson-Grahek, Centerville; Art (Kate) Errickson, St. Paul; four grandchildren; and his sister Sonja (Jerry) Franklin, Kansas City, KS. He was preceded in death by his parents Dorothy and Arthur Errickson.

Memorial services were held on Wednesday, December 19 at the Miller Carlin Funeral Home.

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.

Here is a list of new members:

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Zain Akbari Stamford, CT     Steve Jacks Kingston, TN
Reed Anderson Ramah, NM     Frank Kadwell New Brighton, MN
Zak Basch West Sacramento, CA     Richard Kane Scranton, PA
Joe Chang Encino, CA     Ian Kenyon Eau Claire, WI
Alex Cohen Washington, DC     Fletcher King Chandler, AZ
Kim Contreras Phoenix, AZ     Janne Lehikoinen Hyvinkaa, Finland
Marty Cook Mechanicsburg, PA     David Letizia Alexandria, VA
Matthew Dobbe Glendale, WI     Luca Messina New York, NY
Liam Dolan Westborough, MA     Ellis Miller Lodi, CA
Robert Dooner Shaker Heights, OH     Bob Nishimura Irvine, CA
William Dorman Baltimore, MD     Ryan Pinheiro North Canton, OH
Ryan Finnerty Fairfield, OH     Brian Purvis Chattanooga, TN
Luke Fountain Lisle, IL     Scott Rose San Antonio, TX
Keith Friedman LaGrange Park, IL     Michael Rosenband Baltimore, MD
Louis Galgano White Plains, NY     Phil Sasser Cary, NC
Matthew Haywood Cromwell, CT     Dean Simmer Detroit, MI
Kevin Horan Willow Grove, PA     Debora Tienou Urbana, IL
Spencer Jackman Bloomfield Hills, MI     Alexander Tsipis Wayland, MA

 

Research committee newsletters

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

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

Chapter meeting recaps

Here are the 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.

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Originally published: December 21, 2012. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.