This Week in SABR: March 15, 2013

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Welcome to the 100th edition of “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of March 15, 2013:

Recap of the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference

Couldn’t make it to Arizona for the second annual SABR Analytics Conference? Visit SABR.org/analytics for full coverage of this exciting event that brings together the top minds in the baseball analytics community in 2013. You’ll feel like you were wandering through the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and ASU Cronkite School with stories and multimedia clips from the great panel discussions and research presentations on our schedule, photo galleries, and much more.

  • During the conference, you could follow along on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #SABRanalytics or by reading tweets from our account (@SABR) and from other conference attendees.
  • View our photo galleries from each day of the conference at SABR.org/analytics/photos.

Once again, we brought together the top minds of the baseball analytic community under one roof to discuss, debate and share learnings of insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball. Here are some highlights: 

Thursday, March 7

Friday, March 8

Saturday, March 9

Around the Web

If you like what you see here, we hope you’ll be a part of the 2014 SABR Analytics Conference, which will be bigger and better than ever!

SABR-Rawlings deal an opportunity to integrate defensive advancements with Rawlings Gold Glove Awards

SABR’s multi-year collaboration with Rawlings — announced last Friday during the second annual SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona — is an opportunity to integrate groundbreaking advancements in defensive metrics to the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, which will be presented by SABR beginning with the 2013 season.

SABR President Vince Gennaro and Executive Director Marc Appleman said there was quite a buzz at the Analytics Conference, especially from researchers and analysts who have been working for years at improving on traditional defensive metrics.

“The Analytics Conference is a prime opportunity to bring the thought leaders of the baseball industry together,” Gennaro said. “Over the course of the conference, Marc and I had conversations with many of those leaders who are interested in being part of the Fielding Research Committee and contributing to the SABR Defensive Index.

“SABR’s proven ability to bring together the best baseball minds, as well as its reputation as a respected, independent nonprofit organization, made us an attractive partner for Rawlings. We want to put the best information available at the fingertips of Rawlings Gold Glove Award voters.”

In addition to the SABR Defensive Index, or SDI, SABR will develop an expanded statistical resource guide that will accompany the Rawlings Gold Glove Award ballots sent to major league-level managers and coaches each year. The guide, first created by Rawlings three years ago, includes advanced statistical metrics and player eligibility requirements. Only players listed in the resource guide can be selected to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

Gennaro said a high priority for the new Fielding Research Committee would be to establish a transparent index that integrates respected fielding metrics from multiple sources.

“The baseball community’s knowledge of defense, and the data we use to evaluate it, is improving every day,” Gennaro said. “In keeping with SABR’s mission, and the goal of the Analytics Conference, we hope the SDI will be an ongoing effort to integrate the best research and the best methods available to assess defensive performance.”

Gennaro said the Fielding Research Committee will be selected and announced in the coming weeks, and they will be tasked to determine which metrics will be part of the SDI.

“The SDI is an opportunity for SABR to combine the best defensive statistics available in a transparent, objective way. SABR’s involvement with the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award will help ensure that they remain the industry standards for fielding excellence for years to come.”

For more coverage of the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

— Jacob Pomrenke

Petti, Zimmerman win final 2013 SABR Analytics Research Award

Bill Petti and Jeff Zimmerman were announced as winners of a 2013 SABR Analytics Research Award last Saturday at the SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Petti and Zimmerman were voted as the winners of the Contemporary Baseball Analysis award for their article “Pitcher Aging Curves: An Introduction,” published at FanGraphs.com on April 30, 2012. Petti is a staff writer for FanGraphs.com and a regular consultant for MLB Network’s “Clubhouse Confidential.” Zimmerman was a pitcher in the Texas Rangers organization from 1998 to 2001 and began writing for FanGraphs.com in 2010. Zimmerman is considered an expert on player health and injury research.

Earlier during the conference, Dave Studeman was announced as the winner of the Historical Analysis/Commentary award and Lewie Pollis won the Contemporary Commentary award.

You can read all the 2013 finalists at http://sabr.org/latest/vote-2013-sabr-analytics-research-award-winners.

Rob Fitts to be honored at Seymour Medal Banquet on Saturday night

Rob Fitts, author of Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, and Assassination during the 1934 Tour of Japan (University of Nebraska Press), will receive his 2013 Dr. Harold and Dorothy Seymour Medal at the banquet of the 20th annual NINE Spring Training conference on Saturday, March 16 at the Fiesta Resort Conference Center in Tempe, Arizona. Banquet tickets are $40.

The Seymour Medal honors the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year.

Saturday’s banquet includes the Seymour Medal ceremony with Dorothy Seymour Mills, dinner and the NINE Keynote address by SABR member Chris Lamb, author of Conspiracy of Silence: Sportswriters and the Campaign to Desegregate Baseball and Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Spring Training. For more information on the NINE Conference, visit http://nineregistration.com.

Click here to read the announcement on Fitts winning the 2013 Seymour Medal: http://sabr.org/latest/fitts-banzai-babe-ruth-wins-2013-seymour-medal

Finalists announced for 2013 Larry Ritter Book Award

SABR’s Larry Ritter Book Award subcommittee has named four 2012 books as finalists for the 2013 award:

  • Charlie Bevis’ Jimmy Collins: A Baseball Biography (McFarland)
  • Joel Franks’ The Barnstorming Hawaiian Travelers: A Multi-Ethnic Baseball Team Tours the Mainland, 1912-1916 (McFarland)
  • Daniel R. Levitt’s The Battle that Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy (Ivan R. Dee)
  • William A. Young’s John Tortes “Chief” Meyers: A Baseball Biography (McFarland)

The winner will be announced in April.

The subcommittee, which is charged annually with selecting the best book published on baseball’s Deadball Era, consists of: Jack Carlson, Mark Dugo, David Fleitz, Craig Lammers, John McMurray, Mark Pattison, Gail Rowe, Tom Simon, Doug Skipper and Trey Strecker.

For more information, contact chair Gail Rowe at ritteraward@sabr.org.

For more information on SABR’s Deadball Era Research Committee, click here.

To view a list of previous Ritter Award winners, click here.

3 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Three new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,261 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 new 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.

Malloy Conference registration now open

The 16th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held June 13-15, 2013, at the Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel in Newark, New Jersey. The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages.

Click here to download the conference information packet and mail-in registration form. Make your checks or money orders out to “SABR – Malloy Conference,” 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.

Special registration packages are available for educators and students, along with single-day rates. The early conference registration rate ends April 15, 2013; the full rate will be available until May 31.

Hotel reservations should be made directly with the Renaissance Newark Airport; click here to book your room online or call (908) 436-4600 and ask for the “Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference.” Our special room rate for this hotel is $139/night (plus tax.) The cut-off date to book your room at the Renaissance is May 25, 2013. Directions are available in the information packet.

Those thinking about presenting at the conference should start planning their proposals, which will be due March 22, 2013. The conference theme is “Pop, Max, Effa and Black Ball in the Garden State.” Proposals should be sent to Lheaphy@kent.edu.

The Malloy Conference, hosted by SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee, promotes activities to enhance scholarly, educational, and literary objectives. For the past 15 years, the event has been the only symposium dedicated exclusively to the examination and promotion of black baseball history. The conference is open to baseball and history fans of all ages.

Each year, monies are targeted to donate books to schools or libraries; raise funds for the Grave Marker Project; and award scholarships to high school seniors in a nationwide essay contest and a nationwide art contest.

Get 25% discount on a new MLB.TV subscription for entire 2013 season

SABR members, you have the opportunity to take advantage of a special offer from MLB Advanced Media for the 2013 season:

This 25% discount is valid for each month of the 2013 season.

If you already have an MLB.com account, please sign in on the next page. If you do not, you will create a new MLB.com account as you purchase.

Watch every 2013 Regular Season out-of-market game LIVE or on-demand in HD Quality. Choose home or away broadcasts. MLB.TV is on your favorite devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation and more. Watch up to four games at once with Mosaic. DVR functionality lets you pause or rewind live games. PLUS watch select 2013 Spring Training games LIVE online.

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.

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
Jammar Allen Sacramento, CA     Rich Hand Fort Worth, TX
James Bailey Hudson, OH     Etsuko Koiso Tokyo, JP
Stephen Bond Portland, OR     Mark Levine Aurora, CO
Maxim Bouchard Andover, MA     Eric Lord Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC
Jeff Dacek Brooklyn, OH     Ben Meyer Oak Park, CA
Randy Darnowsky Lexington Park, MD     Alison Moran Chicago, IL
Mark Evans Sallisaw, OK     Jose A. Munoz Muntinlupa, PHI
Bruce Greenberg Rushden, UK     RJ Page Detroit, MI
Annika Haehle Kaysville, UT     Michael Quebedeaux Tucson, AZ
Michael Hagerty North Easton, MA     Christopher Schmidt Evanston, IL
Andrew Hammill Claremont, CA     Olivia Storey Oakland, MD

 

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 news

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: March 15, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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