This Week in SABR: July 31, 2015

July 31, 2015/in This Week in SABR /by jpomrenke

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 July 31, 2015:

Last chance to register for 2015 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

The 18th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference is coming up soon and today is the final day to register online at SABR.org/malloy.

The Malloy Conference will be held August 6-8, 2015, at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages.

Register today! Click here to register online at the SABR Store. Or click here to download a registration form and information packet (PDF); please mail your check or money order before July 31 to SABR Malloy Conference, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Regular registration is $175 for an adult rate (includes all activities) or $125 for a student rate. Single-day registration for Friday or Saturday is $100. The rate for the Thursday education forum only is $20. Optional sessions are also available.
Book your hotel room: Visit Wyndham.com or call (412) 391-4600 to book your hotel room at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown. The discounted SABR group rate of $189/night (plus tax) is no longer available. Click here to download the information packet to learn more about the hotel.

The 2015 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will celebrate the rich history of black baseball in Pittsburgh. We welcome proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Presentations may focus on any topic related to the theme, “Baseball’s Best: the Grays and the Crawfords,” or other Negro Leagues issues. Some possibilities include: Josh Gibson, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Gus Greenlee, Cum Posey, Vic Harris, Cool Papa Bell, the Crawford Grill, and many others.

Visit SABR.org/malloy for information on the 2015 Call for Papers, Essay Contest, Art Contest, and Library Grant Program.

SABR is seeking a full-time Manager of Chapter/Partner Relations

SABR is seeking a full-time Manager of Chapter/Partner Relations to work in its Phoenix office.

E-mail your resume and letter of interest in PDF format to jobs@sabr.org by August 10, 2015. No phone calls, please.

Responsibilities:

Will serve as a liaison between the SABR national office and our 70 regional chapters. Will work closely with chapter leaders to brainstorm and help implement programming for chapter events, special SABR events, and SABR Day. Will work with chapters to bring in new members and to retain members.
Will serve as the liaison to SABR’s partners. Goal is to make SABR’s partners aware of SABR’s historical and current content and to deliver and help promote that content. Will work with partners on SABR conferences and events.
Will work closely with SABR’s Student Group Affiliate Members (colleges, high schools, middle schools).

Skills:

Self-starter, innovative, good problem solver.
Adept at multitasking and project management.
Good communication and organizational skills.
Strong written and computer skills.
Working knowledge of baseball and a strong passion for the game.

This full-time, salaried position will be based at the SABR headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, and include health/dental and retirement benefits. SABR is an equal-opportunity employer.

For more information, click here.

**PDF version of The National Pastime: Baseball in Chicago now available**

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.

The SABR 45 convention took place recently in Chicago, and we have dedicated the theme of The National Pastime to baseball in Chicago. All SABR members receive a free expanded e-book copy of The National Pastime as part of their membership benefits, while attendees of the national convention also received a souvenir print edition in their goody bags. This year we had such a surplus of fantastic articles and contributions that the e-book edition contains 45 contributions (the print edition just 25).

Click a link below to download the expanded e-book edition of the 2015 convention journal, The National Pastime: Baseball in Chicago.

Kindle/MOBI: To download the MOBI/Kindle version of the 2015 The National Pastime, click here (7.3 MB)
EPUB: To download the EPUB file — for use on iBooks, iPads, Nook or Sony Reader — of the 2015 The National Pastime, click here (3.8 MB)
PDF: To download a PDF version of the souvenir print edition of the 2015 The National Pastime, click here (1.5 MB). Please note: No PDF edition was produced of the expanded e-book as PDFs are made primarily for printing purposes. The PDF edition, therefore, only contains the 25 articles in the printed souvenir edition, not all 45 articles in the expanded e-book.

SABR members also have the option of the reading the TNP in these formats, too:

Read the articles online: Click here to read every article from the expanded e-book edition of The National Pastime: Baseball in Chicago at SABR.org
Purchase the paperback: Click here to purchase a softcover edition of The National Pastime: Baseball in Chicago from the SABR Bookstore.

If you weren’t able to attend the convention in Chicago, please enjoy this issue of The National Pastime as your virtual trip to the Windy City. Happy reading!

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here.

— Cecilia M. Tan, editor

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.

Toledo’s Mike Hessman ties minor-league career home run record

Mike Hessman is best known as a modern-day Crash Davis — and like the fictional character from the classic film Bull Durham, he’s closing in on the all-time career home run record in Minor League Baseball.

The 37-year-old Toledo Mud Hens first baseman cracked his 432nd career home run on Wednesday, July 29, in a game against the Rochester Red Wings. Hessman is now tied with Buzz Arlett atop the all-time list for minor leaguers. Arlett was a Pacific Coast League legend who was once named as the greatest minor-league player in baseball history in a survey of SABR members.

You can view Hessman’s career statistics in the SABR Minor League Database, which has been licensed to Baseball-Reference.com. Hessman began his professional career in 1996, when he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 15th round of the amateur draft. He reached the major leagues in 2003, and hit .188 with 14 home runs in 109 games over parts of five seasons with the Braves, Detroit Tigers, and New York Mets.

For the record, four other minor-league players from the Mexican League have also hit more home runs than Arlett. The Mexican League joined Organized Baseball in 1955, but it is not part of the U.S.-based affiliated minor-league system. Hector Espino holds the all-time minor-league record in North America with 484 home runs; he surpassed Arlett during the 1977 season. Click here for the full list of minor-league players with 400 career home runs.

A comprehensive list of minor-league home run records can be found in Going for the Fences: The Minor League Home Run Record Book, edited by the late SABR founding member Bob McConnell and published by SABR in 2009. (Click the link to download the free PDF e-book.) In Going for the Fences, McConnell painstakingly compiled statistics, facts, and stories about home run records in the minor leagues from the 19th century through 2008 — the only reference work dedicated to minor-league home runs. Records in more than 50 categories are listed, and helpful annotation throughout enables the researcher or casual fan to place these statistics in context.

To purchase a paperback version of Going for the Fences, click here to visit Createspace.com. SABR members, visit our Research Resources page for a coupon code to get a 50% discount on the paperback edition at Createspace.

Geno Auriemma: ‘Baseball still the game I love the most’

Karl Cicitto had an insightful Q&A in the SABR Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter’s Summer 2015 newsletter with longtime University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma. The 10-time NCAA champion, as Cicitto wrote, is a Philly guy of a certain age and he has an enduring love for the first sports franchise to lose 10,000 games. He recently responded to 10 baseball questions via e-mail for the inaugural Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter newsletter and his answers resonated with passion and loyalty. Here is a preview:

Question: In your book (Geno: In Pursuit of Perfection) you write lovingly about playing ball and the first glove Mom bought for you. What difference did baseball make in your youth?

Answer: Baseball made all the difference in my youth. If it wasn’t for baseball, I have no idea what I would have done with my life from the time I was 11 to the time I was 18. I don’t know if there was ever a time in those seven years between March and September that I didn’t play baseball as much as I could. I loved everything about the game. It’s the first game I fell in love with and the still the game I love the most.

Q: You became a Phillies fan in 1964, the year of the September collapse. How did this affect you? What do you remember?

A: I was a fan before 1964 but that was the first year I really remember everything. Back in those days, not every game was televised. I do remember having a mini little transistor radio, maybe the size of my phone. You had to be in bed by a certain hour and the Phillies were playing the Reds, I believe in Cincinnati, and we were just on this slide. We had a 6.5-game lead and we lost nine straight. There’s just nothing that can prepare you for that. Even to this day, if somebody mentions Chico Ruiz I get this rash. He stole home one night and they lose 1-0. I’m thinking at that point that you can’t invent more ways to lose than that during the streak.

Read the full article here: http://sabr.org/latest/geno-auriemma-baseball-still-game-i-love-most

Dynamic Duos: ‘Game of the Week’ dominates frequent announcer pairings

At SABRMedia.org this week, Tony Miller started looking at the 20 most frequent two-man announcer combinations in the SABR national-telecast database by sharing combos 20 through 11. Jim Simpson appeared three times, between 11th and 18th, but with legends like Curt Gowdy, Vin Scully, and Joe Garagiola not showing up on that list, there’s clearly more star power to come.

The “Game of the Week,” in its various iterations and networks, appears nine times in the top 10. Among those nine pairs are two pairs who worked together simultaneously for the same network and two sets of dueling duos who worked games that competed against each other for “Game of the Week” status.

Click here to read the full article: http://sabrmedia.org/2015/07/30/dynamic-duos-ii-game-of-the-week-dominates-frequent-pairings/

Related link: Visit SABRMedia.org for more great content every week from the SABR Baseball and the Media Committee, including a recent article about a “baseball lifer,” Steve Selby, who has spent 30 years broadcasting Minor League Baseball games.

Listen to a preview of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM

We invite you to listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a new radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, on Sunday nights on MLB Network Radio.

Audio: Click here for a preview clip from last week’s show, as Vince Gennaro talks about the updated SABR Defensive Index rankings (MP3)

Baseball SABR Style focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It will air 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. (Recent shows are available afterward in the “on-demand” section of the SiriusXM app or website.)

For more information, click here.

10 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Ten new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 3,311 published biographies. Here are the new bios:

King Bailey, by Chris Rainey
Frank Foutz, by Bill Lamb
John Franco, by Rory Costello
Billy McCool, by Doug Wilson
Doc Miller, by Terry Bohn
Billy Myers, by Charles F. Faber
Bennie Tate, by Bill Nowlin
Fred Waterman, by Charles F. Faber
Johnny Welch, by Bill Nowlin
Bob Wood, by David Nemec

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.

2 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

Two new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. Here are the new game stories:

June 26, 1977: Adams’ 8 RBIs, Carew’s 5 runs lead Twins in slugfest, by Jim McKernon
June 19, 2015: Matt Wisler earns win in debut with help of reunited Braves prospect, by Jack Zerby

The SABR Baseball Games Project was launched in 2014 to research and write articles on major-league and Negro League regular, postseason, and All-Star Games. These game accounts will complement Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference box scores as well as BioProject essays on the players involved.

The articles are not intended to be mere play-by-play summaries, nor should they be first-person narratives. Rather the goal is to put each game in historical context — whether that history is of a particular player, team, season, or something even broader.

Visit the Games Project website at SABR.org/gamesproject.

Get involved: 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.
Questions: Contact Greg Erion for more information about the Games Project, James Forr to request an assignment, or Chip Greene to submit your draft article.

Help us write biographies for 2016 Hall of Fame candidates

Want to write a Hall of Fame biography for the SABR BioProject?

SABR Director Emily Hawks is launching a new BioProject initiative for biographies of players who are likely to be on the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot later this year. Note that these biographies will be assigned with a MUCH shorter timeline, with the aim of all editing and fact-checking to be complete by the time the Hall of Fame voting “debate season” begins in November. As such, we need completion by October 1, 2015. In addition, we will be checking in more frequently to try to head off bios that are in danger of not being finished. All of these are famous people, so the research should be easier than many of our more obscure bios.

If you are interested in writing a SABR biography for one of these players, please contact Emily Hawks at emilyhawks@gmail.com:

Sammy Sosa
Mark McGwire
Trevor Hoffman
Jeff Bagwell
Edgar Martinez
Larry Walker
Jeff Kent
Mike Mussina
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Kendall
Jim Edmonds

You can now read SABR BioProject articles for the entire 2015 induction class at the links below:

Craig Biggio, by Frederick “Rick” Bush
Randy Johnson, by Joseph Wancho
Pedro Martinez, by Norm King
John Smoltz, by Warren Corbett

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.

You can find contact information for any SABR member in the online membership directory (SABR.org/directory).

Name	Hometown	Name	Hometown
Neil Aquino	Houston, TX	George Martin	Sacramento, CA
Sam Bass	Decatur, GA	Tanner McClure	Crystal River, FL
Bill Biletski	Delta, BC	Ken Melley	Falls Church, VA
Jesse Borek	Centereach, NY	William Mullin	Doylestown, PA
Scott Citron	Henderson, NV	Kyle Newsom	Conway, AR
Mark Dahlstrom	Bradenton, FL	Jeff Orner	York, PA
Peter Dreier	Los Angeles, CA	William Rhoden	New York, NY
Aaron Gaberman	Wilton, CT	Janeen Schneider	Pasadena, TX
Karl Glaser	Petoskey, MI	Ronald Socash	Pembroke Pines, FL
Jon Goldberg	Plainview, NY	Daniel Steinberg	Las Vegas, NV
Liam Horr	Columbus, OH

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee updates for this week:

Baseball Records: August 2015 newsletter
Concessions: Bennett Jacobstein is seeking submissions for the new committee’s inaugural quarterly newsletter starting in October 2015. If you are interested in contributing with media articles relating to ballpark food or your own interesting or insightful experiences with concessions at your local ballpark, please contact Bennett at bjacobstein@gmail.com.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap (July 20; St. Louis, MO)
Bob Gregory, founding chair of the Kekionga Chapter of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is stepping down from his leadership role. He will be replaced by Bill Griggs. We thank Bob for his time and efforts in leading the Kekionga Chapter.

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

August 1: Robinson-Kell Chapter meeting (Little Rock, AR)
August 1: Talkin’ Baseball: Ralph Peluso (Columbia, MD)
August 5: Hank Gowdy Chapter-Clippers outing (Columbus, OH)
August 6: Mark Armour/Steve Steinberg book signing (Seattle, WA)
August 6-8: 2015 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
August 8: Halsey Hall Chapter book club meeting (Roseville, MN)
August 8: Quebec Chapter meeting (Quebec City, QC)
August 8: Northwest Chapter summer meeting (Vancouver, BC)
August 12: Bob Davids Chapter Monthly Hot Stove Dinner (Arlington, VA)
August 12: Peter Gorton: “When John Donaldson Played in Murray County” (Slayton, MN)
August 15: Smoky Joe Wood Chapter chapter breakfast (Hamden, CT) — please note the date change
August 15: Pee Wee Reese Chapter meeting/ballgame (Louisville, KY)
August 15: Lefty O’Doul Chapter ballgame meet-up (San Jose, CA)
August 16: SABR Board of Directors conference call
August 18: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
August 20: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Atlanta, GA)
August 22: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter research conference (St. Louis, MO)
August 22: Larry Dierker Chapter meeting (Houston, TX)
August 22: 21st annual Pacific Coast League reunion (San Leandro, CA)
August 22: Maddux Brothers-Las Vegas Chapter ballpark meet-up (Las Vegas, NV)

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:

Scott Reifert: White Sox legend Billy Pierce, 88, epitomized class (MLBlogs.com)
Read the SABR biography of 1950s star left-hander Billy Pierce, by Rob Neyer (BioProject)
Merritt Clifton: Where the twain shall meet, Japanese and American baseball (Our Game)
Diane Firstman: Q&A with Mashi author Rob Fitts (Value Over Replacement Grit)
John P. Owens: Commissioner Manfred denies latest appeal for Buck Weaver reinstatement (Chicago Tribune)
Wayne McDonnell Jr.: 2015 Hall of Fame class shines with emphasis on paying it forward (Forbes.com)
Ryan Whirty: Linwood Negro League enthusiast raises funds for Waxey Williams grave marker (Atlantic City Press)
Joe Posnanski: Who are baseball’s No. 1 starters? (NBC Sports)
John Dewan’s Stat of the Week: Tulowitzki is a defensive upgrade over Reyes (ACTA Sports)
Mike Berardino: Twins take a page from visiting Pirates, embrace ‘geek squad’ (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
Scott Cummings: Q&A with Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin (Twins Daily)
Cory Collins: Wilmer Flores’ tears draw empathy from Jose Cardenal (Sporting News)
K.M. McFarland: A computer umpire just called a professional baseball game (Wired)
Hang Up and Listen: An interview with SABR member Brad Balukjian about new Wax Pack book (Slate)
Bill Lucey: Historic baseball saloons are relics from a bygone era (The National Pastime Museum)
Nathaniel Grow: The uncertain scope of baseball’s antitrust exemption (FanGraphs)
Jeff Fedotin: Why baseball managers wear uniforms (The PostGame)
Bill Felber: A woman and a diamond, Helene Britton and the St. Louis Cardinals (The National Pastime Museum)

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

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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