This Week in SABR: February 22, 2013

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Welcome to “This Week in SABR”! Here’s what we’ve been up to as of February 22, 2013:

SABR teaming up with ASU’s Cronkite School for 2013 SABR Analytics Conference

SABR is teaming up with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University to host part of the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference, presented by Major League Baseball and Bloomberg Sports, on Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thursday’s programming will be held at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, 555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004.

Friday and Saturday’s programming will be held at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

The Walter Cronkite School will host the first round of the Diamond Dollars Case Competition, along with featured speakers, panels and presentations on Thursday, March 7, 2013. Details and registration information for the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference can be found at SABR.org/analytics.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting the SABR conference, a truly amazing gathering of some of the best researchers in baseball,” Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan said. “It will be a terrific opportunity for our students and our growing sports journalism curriculum.”

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University (555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004-1248) prepares the next generation of journalists in both the time-honored fundamentals embraced by the longtime CBS News anchor and the multimedia skills necessary to thrive as journalists in the digital age. Housed in a $71 million state-of-the-art media complex in downtown Phoenix, the school is consistently recognized as one of the leading journalism schools in the country. For directions, visit cronkite.asu.edu/about/directions.php.

2013 SABR Analytics: Clubhouse Confidential Panel

The SABR Analytics Conference, presented by Major League Baseball and Bloomberg Sports, announces its 2013 Clubhouse Confidential Panel. Our panelists appear regularly on MLB Network’s signature sabermetrics program, “Clubhouse Confidential” (airing at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. daily). You will have the opportunity to ask them questions related to baseball analytics, value projection and other topics.

This panel is scheduled for 4:00-5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. Click here for the full conference schedule.

The Clubhouse Confidential Panel will include:

  • Dave Cameron, FanGraphs: Dave is Managing Editor and a Senior Writer at FanGraphs. He was the co-founder of the U.S.S. Mariner blog and previously worked at Baseball Prospectus.
  • Vince Gennaro, SABR: Vince is the President of SABR and author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball. He is a consultant to MLB teams, and he teaches in the graduate programs at Columbia University and Manhattanville College.
  • Rob Neyer, Baseball Nation: Rob is the National Baseball Editor for SB Nation. He previously worked with Bill James, STATS, Inc. and ESPN.com. He has also written or co-written six baseball books, including The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (with Bill James), winner of the Sporting News/SABR Baseball Research Award.
  • Moderator: Brian Kenny, MLB Network. Brian is the host of MLB Network’s critically acclaimed “Clubhouse Confidential,” where he incorporates sabermetrics into the day’s baseball news. A 25-year national TV and radio veteran, Brian joined MLB Network from ESPN, where he was a “SportsCenter” anchor, host of the Brian Kenny Show on ESPN Radio and an Emmy Award-winning anchor for “Baseball Tonight.”

Conference registration is available now at the SABR Store. Click here to register. The conference is open to all baseball fans. 

For more details on the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

Full schedule now available for 2013 SABR Analytics Conference

We’re less than two weeks away from the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference. The full schedule is now available at:

http://sabr.org/analytics/schedule

We’ve added Yeshayah Goldfarb to the Player Development Panel. Yeshayah is the Director of Minor League Operations/Quantitative Analysis for the San Francisco Giants.

Highlights of the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference schedule include:

Conference registration is available now at the SABR Store. Click here to register.

Our room block at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown is now sold out. SABR has set up a special rate of $149/night (plus tax) at the nearby Renaissance Phoenix Downtown, 50 East Adams Street in Phoenix.

The rooms at the Renaissance are only available for the nights of March 6 through March 9 (checking out on March 10).

Rooms may still be available at both the Sheraton and Renaissance after Tuesday, February 19, but not necessarily at our special SABR rate of $149/night (plus tax.) Spring training is peak season for all Phoenix-area hotels, so the market rate may be much higher.

Have you renewed your SABR membership for 2013?

Thanks to all of you who have already renewed your SABR membership for 2013. We wouldn’t be here without you, and we appreciate your support.

For those of you who haven’t renewed, please send in your dues by February 28, 2013, in order to continue receiving the many benefits of SABR membership all year long.

Note: If you have already renewed for 2013 or just recently sent in your dues, please disregard this notice … and thank you again! If you don’t know when your membership expires, click here.

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.

We’ve got a lot of exciting benefits in store for 2013 and we’re glad you’re along for the ride! Dues are the same as they have been in recent years: all members in good standing will receive the Baseball Research Journal (spring and fall) and The National Pastime; free and discounted books 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 ( July 31-August 4 in Philadelphia), the spring SABR Analytics Conference (March 7-9 in Phoenix), the summer Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference (June 13-15 in Newark, N.J.) and the Arizona Fall League Conference; access to our SABR-L research listserv and lending library; all 27 research committees, 60+ regional chapters; and more.

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

  • Donate to SABR: If you support SABR and all the groundbreaking research our members have and will produce, please also consider donating online at SABR.org/donate or via mail. No amount is too big or too small, and as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation to SABR is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. If you have given in the past, we remain grateful and hope you will consider giving again. If you are a first-time donor, welcome aboard!

SABR members, do you want to receive the Baseball Research Journal in e-book format?

In a world where legendary magazines such as Newsweek and The Sporting News went totally digital starting in 2013, SABR is bridging both worlds.

As an organization that prides itself on maintaining the best of its past, but also constantly striving to move forward and take advantage of exciting new opportunities and technologies, SABR is now offering its members the opportunity to opt out of receiving the printed version of the Baseball Research Journal.

To opt out of receiving the printed version of the Spring 2013 Baseball Research Journal, click here to edit your membership profile.

For those who sign up before March 1, 2013, we’ll be offering the Spring 2013 Baseball Research Journal in e-book format for those who are enjoying reading on their Kindles, Nooks, iPads or other devices. (Did you know that the Fall 2012 BRJ is already available in e-book form? Try it out now by clicking here to download your copy.)

Introducing Phil Birnbaum’s “A Guide to Sabermetric Research”

We’re often asked, “I’d like to know more about sabermetrics, but where do I begin?” Longtime SABR member Phil Birnbaum has authored a Guide to Sabermetric Research to help answer your questions. We’re pleased to publish it at SABR.org/sabermetrics.

Birnbaum is the editor of the SABR Statistical Analysis Committee newsletter, “By the Numbers”, and he can be found writing on various topics at his blog, Sabermetric Research.

Sabermetric researchers often use statistical analysis to question traditional measures of baseball evaluation such as batting average and pitcher wins. Early on, sabermetric theories were largely mocked (or ignored) by the baseball establishment, but as Joe Posnanski wrote in “The Ballad of Bill James”, over time the work of Bill James and other sabermetricians started to be recognized. Time Magazine once named James one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The Boston Red Sox hired him in 2003 and subsequently won two World Series. James is still asking relevant questions today at billjamesonline.com, and so are legions of his disciples such as Rob Neyer, baseball editor at SB Nation; Birnbaum; and all the great writers at Baseball Analysts, Baseball Prospectus, Beyond the Box Score, FanGraphs, The Hardball Times and other sites.

Want a primer on sabermetrics? Check out the FanGraphs Library for down-to-earth explanations of advanced metrics such as wOBA (weighted on-base average), FIP (fielding-independent pitching) and WAR (wins above replacement), written by Steve Slowinski. SABR members can also read cutting-edge articles on statistical analysis in every issue of the Baseball Research Journal, such as “The Many Flavors of DIPS: A History and Overview”, by Dan Basco and Michael Davies. We’ve got a full list of resources on our Related Links page at the end of the guide.

Be sure to check out the annual SABR Analytics Conference, where we bring together the top minds of the baseball analytic community — including Bill James, Brian Kenny, Joe Posnanski, Rob Neyer and many more — under one roof to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball.

We also have a lot more online tools available for SABR members on our Research Resources page.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’d like a refresher course, whether you’re a numbers wizard or you consider yourself math-phobic, we hope you’ll find Phil Birnbaum’s Guide to Sabermetric Research informative and interesting.

Announcing the SABR 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. As of today, Ballparks are 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.

For those of you who are already writing stories of ballparks, do not fret. All of the ballparks stories will be treated just like they have always been. You should notice nothing other than maybe more buzz on Facebook or something.

What has changed?

  • Scott will be beating the drum for this work instead of me. He will work with the Ballparks Committee and with the BioProject Committee. This should be a big improvement, since, truth be told, I have not promoted this much at all. I tend to focus on biographies.
  • Scott will be keeping track of all assignments.
  • It is possible that as this project evolves it will get more and more independent.

What has not changed?

So, brave new day. Thanks to Scott for stepping up. I hope that this project takes off.

Visit http://sabr.org/bioproj/parks to read the SABR ballpark biographies published so far.

— Mark Armour

Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend preliminary election results

The results for the 2013 Primary Election are in: We have 10 candidates for the 2013 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend.

In June, SABR members will have a chance to vote for one of these 10 candidates with the winner to be announced at the Nineteenth Century Committee meeting at SABR 43, July 31-August 4, 2013, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A total of 219 Nineteenth Century Committee members participated in the 2013 primary election. Here are the 10 finalists and the number of votes they received:

  • Ross Barnes (154)
  • Tony Mullane (150)
  • Bob Caruthers (138)
  • Jack Glasscock (137)
  • Doc Adams (123)
  • Jim Creighton (111)
  • Paul Hines (111)
  • Dummy Hoy (104)
  • Bobby Mathews (102)
  • Al Reach (98)

To view the complete voting totals from the 2013 Primary Election, click here:

http://sabr.org/latest/2013-overlooked-19th-century-baseball-legend-preliminary-election-results

Here is the list of past Overlooked Legend winners:

For more information on the Overlooked Nineteenth Century Baseball Legends project, visit sabr.org/overlooked-19th-century-baseball-legends.

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; no incumbent)

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, Rick Schabowski, and Barry Deutsch.

Reviewers needed for SABR 43 research presentation abstracts

Reviewers are needed for SABR 43 research presentation abstracts.

The abstracts will be reviewed blindly (identifying information removed). Each reviewer will evaluate approximately 10 abstracts, assessing them on importance, originality, clarity, and organization. The reviews will be done during March. Potential reviewers need not be “experts” in particular topics, though they are encouraged to indicate the types of abstracts they would welcome and/or wish to avoid. If you’re interested, send a message to the Research Presentations email at either sabr2013-presentations@comcast.net or sabr43-presentations@comcast.net.

Through on-site judging, the most highly-regarded presentations will receive the Doug Pappas Award for best oral presentation and the USA Today Sports Weekly Award for best poster presentation.

SABR 43 will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from July 31-August 4, 2013. Registration and hotel information can be found at SABR.org/convention.

Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference accepting submissions for 2013 Art Contest

The fourth annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference Art Contest is now accepting applications in three categories: professional, amateur and youth. Art from the winners and runners-up will be on display in a special area at the Malloy Conference, scheduled for June 13-15, 2013, in Newark, New Jersey.

The winning entry in the professional and amateur categories will receive a $400 prize and a certificate. The winning entry in the youth category will receive $200 and a certificate.

To download a PDF application for the 2013 Art Contest, click here

  • Where to send: Lheaphy@kent.edu
  • Cost: $30 for up to 3 JPG entries; $10 for youth. Make your check out to “SABR.”
  • Deadline for submissions: May 1, 2013

Entries should show clear relation to the Negro Leagues. Detailed criteria and submission requirements can be found in the PDF application above.

For more information on the Youth Art Contest, click here.

The winners and runners-up art will also be displayed this summer at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. Photos of the art will also be included in an upcoming issue of Black Ball: A Negro Leagues Journal, published by McFarland & Co.

For more information on the 2013 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, visit SABR.org/Malloy.

10 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Ten new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,247 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.

In Memoriam

  • Jeffrey Charles Cranston, 54, of Reynoldburg, Ohio, passed away suddenly at home on February 16, 2013. He was a SABR member since 2004 and active in the Hank Gowdy Chapter. A lifelong fan of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Browns, he was a regular attendee of the national SABR convention and an active participant in the local SABR book club. His particular interests varied, but often centered around the Deadball Era. He was also known to create his own All-Star Baseball discs to re-create season play from that era. Born May 10, 1958, in Portsmouth, Ohio, he retired in 2010 after 32 years at OPERS. He was preceded in death by his brother Jack, father Charles, and grandparents Cranston and Anderson. He is survived by his mother Lucille Cranston, loving wife Lisa Adams Cranston and dog Wallace Cranston, sister Jenny Jones, nephew Kollin and niece Bailey, mother-in-law Laura Adams, sister-in-law Kate Storm (Gary Saum). He will be greatly missed by special friends Karen, Mitch, Margie, Cathy, Mikey B., Eric, Snook and Billy C. He was treasurer and member of CONA and a Civil War historian. A funeral service was held Thursday, February 21 at Evans Funeral Home with interment at Glen Rest Cemetery.

Exclusive opportunity for SABR members from Bowman

Our partners at Bowman are giving you the chance to compete against fellow baseball fans for the chance to win Autograph Cards of top prospects in the “Bowman Prospect Challenge.” Build your roster full of MLB prospects, start your best prospects and watch them accumulate points based on their in-season performance and progression to the Majors. The better your players perform and progress toward the Majors, the more points you accumulate. The highest point earners will win autographed cards of top baseball prospects each month with a Grand Prize to be awarded at the end of the 2013 Minor League season!

Step Up To The Bowman Prospect Challenge: Visit Topps.com/BowmanGame and use this FREE CODE — PR-8YP2V — to start playing now.

Be sure to stop by Bowman’s table at the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference. They will be distributing free packs of cards to all attendees.

SABR members, get a 6-issue trial subscription to Baseball America

Our friends at Baseball America are bringing passionate fans and industry insiders the most complete coverage of the game.

SABR members can get a trial subscription of six issues of Baseball America magazine for just $9.95. Visit http://www.baseballamerica.com/6-issues/?BNWOFP for details.

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.

Here is a list of new members:

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Dean Abelon San Diego, CA     Steve Millard Dayton, OH
Anthony Aloisi Seattle, WA     Marie Mize Athens, GA
Frank Amoroso Wrightsville Beach, NC     Fabio Montella Shirley, NY
Michael Cole Moorpark, CA     Clint Myers Bryant Pond, ME
Ed Evans San Mateo, CA     David Nadelle Ottawa, ON
Michael Friedman Potomac, MD     Robert Oliveri Washington, DC
Rick Gieseler St Louis, MO     Thomas Orsag Demotte, IN
Benjamin Graefser St Peters, MO     Brandon Paredes Alameda, CA
Iain Hamilton Atascadero, CA     Mike Pitman Overland Park, KS
Bruce Heard Fair Oaks, CA     Daniel Ricciardi Yonkers, NY
Daniel Kaufman Washington, DC     Larry Ruttman Brookline, MA
David Kisor Bluffton, OH     Gene Sunnen Oakland, CA
Kenneth M. Koff Cangoa Park, CA     Roland Walker Palm Springs, CA
Michael Lassman San Antonio, TX     Ed Washuta Belvidere, NJ

 

Research committee newsletters

There were no 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.

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: February 22, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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