This Week in SABR: March 8, 2013

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Live from the second annual SABR Analytics Conference, welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of March 8, 2013:

SABR and Rawlings team up as Rawlings Gold Glove Award adds new sabermetric component

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH), announced today during the Society for American Baseball Research’s annual SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix a new collaboration with SABR. This collaboration will add a new sabermetric-based component to the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™ selection processes. This continues Rawlings’ recent amplification and expansion of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award platform that started three years ago.

As part of the multi-year collaboration beginning with the 2013 season, 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. In addition, SABR will immediately establish a new Fielding Research Committee tasked to develop a proprietary new defensive analytic called the SABR Defensive Index™, or SDI™. The SDI will serve as an “apples-to-apples” metric to help determine the best defensive players in baseball exclusively for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award selection processes. The collaboration also installs SABR as the presenting sponsor of the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.

“The Rawlings Gold Glove Award is one of the most iconic awards in all of sports, and has continued to evolve throughout its storied history,” said Kurt Hunzeker, senior director of brand marketing for St. Louis-based Rawlings. “By marrying the ‘art of fielding’ with the ‘science of baseball,’ our new collaboration with SABR only cements the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award as the industry standards honoring defensive excellence at the highest level of baseball.”

Since its inception in 1957, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award voting process has included national sportswriters, a secret players-only ballot, and the current system where each manager and up to six (6) coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their respective league, but not for players on their own team.

Beginning in 2013, the managers/coaches vote will constitute a majority of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners’ selection tally, with the new SDI comprising the remainder of the overall total. The exact breakdown of the selection criteria will be announced once the SDI is created later this summer.

“SABR has a long history of being at the forefront of the sabermetrics movement,” said Vince Gennaro, president of SABR. “We are proud to bring our expertise to bear in the selection of future Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, and to be a driving force behind the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.”

In 2011, Rawlings incorporated the following components into its Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process: a new resource guide with advanced metrics and player eligibility parameters, the separation of the three outfield positions to accurately reward the best defenders at each specific outfield position, the announcement of finalists at each position, and the introduction of the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award to honor the best defender in each League among the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners in each season.

The SDI’s ability to accurately compare players from different positions will help determine the updated Rawlings Platinum Glove Award presented by SABR. Fans will continue to have a voice during this process, once the newest class of Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners is announced in November.

St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre won their respective league’s Rawlings Platinum Glove Award in each of the past two seasons.

For more information, please visit Rawlings.com or SABR.org.

Check out early highlights from 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’re 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 can 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’re bringing 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.

We’ve already posted some highlights of the first day at SABR.org/analytics/2013:

The full schedule is available online at http://sabr.org/analytics/schedule.

Announcing the winners of the 2013 SABR Analytics Research Awards

Dave Studeman and Lewie Pollis were announced as winners of 2013 SABR Analytics Research Awards this week at the SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Studeman was voted as the winner of the Historical Analysis/Commentary award for his article “The Most Critical At-Bat of All Time,” published at The Hardball Times on March 28, 2012. Studeman is the creator of the Baseball Graphs website and is the manager of The Hardball Times. His work has been published in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and has been mentioned in many books.

Pollis was voted as the winner of the Contemporary Baseball Commentary award for his article “Did Hall of Fame’s Founders Want Voters to Judge With Their Eyes?”, published at Beyond the Box Score on January 25, 2012. Pollis is a junior at Brown University and the editor of the website Wahoo’s On First. He is also a recipient of a 2013 Yoseloff Scholarship, which assists young researchers who want to attend SABR’s Analytics Conference and to introduce them to fellow SABR members and professionals within the baseball community.

The award for Contemporary Baseball Analysis will be announced on Saturday at the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference.

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

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.

Register for Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference

The fifth annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference will be held April 19-20, 2013, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

The conference is highlighted by high-quality research presentations, a special session with Richard Hershberger, “The Two Faces of Baseball’s Creation Myth”; a panel discussion with John Thorn, Peter Morris and Eric Miklich, “The Evolution of the Pitching/Catching Battery”; an artifact presentation from Hall of Fame Librarian Jim Gates; a Member Spotlight interview with author Peter Morris; and a keynote address by Tom Shieber of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

To view the full schedule, download the 2013 conference program here:

https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/ljvqrtqidk8ql1rjnp5u.pdf

Registrations can be accepted by mail only. Send completed 19th-Century Base Ball Conference Registration Form to: Peter Mancuso, 6970 Ely Road, New Hope, PA 18938. Enclose your personal check for the appropriate amount and made payable to: “SABR – 19c BB Conference.” Please, mail prior to April 9, 2013.

For more information, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c.

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.

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 2,258 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.

Pre-order SABR’s new “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” books

SABR continues its longstanding partnership with the University of Nebraska Press in 2013 with two new titles in the “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” series, which focuses on iconic teams with an unquestionable legacy in baseball history.

Each book focuses on a team’s memorable single season and collects essays detailing the players, moments, and games that define these teams. The essays bring together contributions of many SABR writers and devoted fans who share passions for these teams and wish to relive those exceptional seasons.

You can now pre-order our two new books, to be published on April 1, 2013:

Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals
Edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin
Associate Editors: Tom Heinlein, Russell Lake, and Leonard Levin

By 1964 the storied St. Louis Cardinals had gone seventeen years without so much as a pennant. Things began to turn around in 1953, when August A. Busch Jr. bought the team and famously asked where all the black players were. Under the leadership of men like Bing Devine and Johnny Keane, the Cardinals began signing talented players regardless of color, and slowly their star started to rise again.

Drama and Pride in the Gateway City commemorates the team that Bing Devine built, the 1964 team that prevailed in one of the tightest three-way pennant races of all time and then went on to win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in the full seven games. All the men come alive in these pages—pitchers Ray Sadecki and Bob Gibson, players Lou Brock, Curt Flood, and Bobby Shantz, manager Johnny Keane, his coaches, the Cardinals’ broadcasters, and Bill White, who would one day run the entire National League—along with the dramatic events that made the 1964 Cardinals such a memorable club in a memorable year.

To pre-order Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals, click here

Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees
Edited by Lyle Spatz
Associate Editors: Maurice Bouchard and Leonard Levin

Of all the New York Yankees championship teams, the 1947 club seemed the least likely. Bridging the gap between the dynasties of Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel, the team, managed by Bucky Harris, was coming off three non-pennant-winning seasons and given little chance to unseat the defending American League champion Boston Red Sox. And yet, led by Joe DiMaggio, this un-Yankees-like squad of rookies, retreads, and a few solid veterans easily won the pennant over the Detroit Tigers and the heavily favored Red Sox, along the way compiling an American League–record nineteen-game winning streak. They then went on to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in a dramatic seven-game World Series that was the first to be televised and the first to feature an African American player.  

Bridging Two Dynasties commemorates this historic club—the players, on the field and off, and the events surrounding their remarkable season. Along with player biographies, including those of future Hall of Famers DiMaggio, Bucky Harris, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto, the book features a seasonal timeline and covers pertinent topics such as the winning streak, the Yankees’ involvement in Leo Durocher’s suspension, and the thrilling World Series.

To pre-order Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees, click here

In 2012, SABR and UNP published the first two books in the “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” series: The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America: The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers (ed. Lyle Spatz); and Pitching, Defense, and Three-Run Homers: The 1970 Baltimore Orioles (eds. Mark Armour and Malcolm Allen.) For more information on the series, click here.

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
Gary Abbott St. Louis, MO     Jason Lukehart Oak Park, IL
Mike Bosanko Latham, NY     James McCurdy Spokane, WA
Elijah Brook Hudson, OH     Stephen Miller Mansfield, MA
Meredith Evans Chicago, IL     Michael Ruslander Delmar, NY
Damian Ford Ottawa, ON     Terry White Lubbock, TX
Robert Heugh Madison Heights, MI        

 

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 8, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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