This Week in SABR: May 4, 2012

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Here’s what we’ve been up to as of May 4, 2012:

SABR 42 research presentations, committee meetings

Listed below are the schedules for research presentations and committee meetings at SABR 42, June 27-July 1, 2012, at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402. Please note that all events are subject to change.

A full SABR 42 schedule will be available soon. Check back at SABR.org/convention for complete details. We hope to see you in the Twin Cities this summer! Scroll down for more information on registering and booking your hotel room, too.

RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

Thursday, June 28

  • RP01: Todd Peterson – “An Aggregation Of Conceit”: The Minneapolis Keystones 1907-1911. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP02: Herm Krabbenhoft – Most Runs Batted In … Lifetime … By an Individual Player … American League. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP03: Dave Laliberte – Diamond Alliances: Baseball at Minnesota’s Lower Sioux Indian Reservation, 1900-1915. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP04: Steven Glassman – Thank You for Your (Non-) Support. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP05: John Harney – The Growth and Political Roles of Youth Baseball in Taiwan, 1920-1968. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP06: Steve Treder – The Deeds of Dynamic Ducky. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP07: Robert Fitts – Murderers, Spies, and Ballplayers: The Untold Story of the 1934 All American Tour of Asia. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP08: Rod Merkle – Elden Auker: From Norcatur to the World Series. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP09: Vince Gennaro – Value Strategies for Building a Roster. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP10: Paul Hensler – Dynastic Aspirations: The Minnesota Twins, 1965-1970. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP11: William Spaniel – The Fear of Injury: Explaining Delay in Contract Extensions. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP12: Donald Frank – Trying to Get a Major League Baseball Team in Portland, Oregon, from 2000 to 2005: Political & Economic Realities and the Soft Underbelly of Baseball Exposed. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP13: David W. Smith – Shutting down the Running Game by Limiting Steal Attempts. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP14: Bill Johnson – Baseball in Norway, Iowa. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP15: Jed Dukett – A new proposal to determine home field advantage in the World Series. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP16: Bob Buege, Paul Haas – How Warren Spahn Almost Ruined SABR. (Ballroom 4)

Friday, June 29

  • RP17: Anthony Giacalone – “Hello, Goodbye:” Baseball’s Franchise Shifts and its Expansion Fight in 1968. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP18: Bruce Allardice – “The inauguration of this noble and manly game among us” – The Spread of Baseball in the South prior to 1870. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP19: Steve Steinberg – Four Days in October, 1908. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP20: John Burbridge – The Legacy of Alvin Dark as a Player and Manager. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP21: Brian Carroll — Integration or Preservation? The great dilemma for the black press presented by Negro league baseball in the 1940s and 1950s. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP22: Alan Nathan – What Have We Learned from a Decade of Bat Research? (Ballroom 4)
  • RP23: Mark Armour – Sometimes a Great Notion: Artificial Surfaces in Baseball. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP24: Mark Pankin – Reviewing the Reviews. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP25: Benjamin Wiggins – From the Diamond to the Helix: Major League Baseball and Genetic Testing in Latin America. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP26: Mark Kanter – The Decision-Making Process of Canceling and/or Postponing Games Not Due to Weather. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP27: Bryan Soderholm-Difatte – Spying at the Polo Grounds In 1951 Pennant Drive: How Much Did Giants Cheaters Prosper? (Ballroom 3)
  • RP28: Gary Gillette, Stuart Shea – Heroes at the Mike. (Ballroom 4)

Saturday, June 30

  • RP29: Lisa Lebovici, Matt McGrath, Steve Miller, Kim Miner, Peter Travers, Rory Kirchner, Andy Andres – Pitching Up a Storm: The Impact of Temperature and Humidity on Pitch Effectiveness. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP30: Steve Krevisky – Charlie Root: Beyond The Called Shot. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP31: Aaron Baggett – An Exploratory Application of Statistical Methodology to the Empirical Study of 2011 World Series Plate Umpires’ Ball-Strike Judgment and Decision-Making. (Ballroom 3)
  • RP32: Robert Garratt – The Scandal of Candlestick. (Ballroom 4)
  • RP33: Michael Humphreys – Have We Been Understating (by a Lot) the Impact of Fielding Throughout History? (Ballroom 3)
  • RP34: Michael Fallon – The Dodgers’ Class of ’68. (Ballroom 4)

 

COMMITTEE MEETINGS

BALLPARKS

BASEBALL AND THE ARTS

BASEBALL RECORDS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

BIOPROJECT

BLACK SOX SCANDAL

BUSINESS OF BASEBALL

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL

DEADBALL ERA (1901-19)

LATINO BASEBALL

MINOR LEAGUES

NEGRO LEAGUES

NINETEENTH CENTURY

ORIGINS

  • Lawrence McCray, chair (lmccray@mit.edu)
  • Saturday, June 30, 5:00 p.m., Deer Room

PICTORIAL HISTORY

RETROSHEET

SCOUTS

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

UMPIRES AND RULES

UNION PROJECT

WOMEN IN BASEBALL

Note: Some committees have not scheduled their SABR 42 meetings yet, and are not listed here. Please consult the bulletin board in the convention hotel lobby or check back on this page for updates to this schedule.

Click here for a list of featured speakers at SABR 42, highlighted by Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter and general manager Terry Ryan. We’ll be announcing more speakers, panelists and presenters soon, so stay tuned!

In addition to the speakers listed above, we’re also planning an exclusive tour of Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, with special access to areas of the ballpark not available to the public; a tour of the Minneapolis Public Library; a trip to the baseball exhibit at the new Minnesota African American Museum; a Twin Cities historic ballparks site tour; a one-man play on Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey; our renowned SABR Convention Trivia Contest; and much more.

Check out a preliminary schedule of events here.

Book your room now! Our room block at the Marriott City Center is going fast. Click here to book your room online or call (800) 266-9432 and mention that you are with the SABR convention.

Register for SABR 42 online at the SABR Store

Special for 2012, we’re offering an all-inclusive rate of $199 (SABR members) or $249 (non-members) for SABR 42. The all-inclusive rate includes full registration to all convention panels and presentations, one ticket to the Awards Banquet on Friday, June 29 and one Home Plate View ticket to the Twins vs. Royals game on Friday, June 29.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR SABR 42: http://sabr.org/convention/sabr42-registration

A note on off-site events: If you registered for SABR 42 before May 4, 2012, and wish to purchase any of the off-site events/tours — the Metrodome/Downtown Walking Tour, exclusive Target Field tour or Historic Ballpark Sites Bus Tour — to your convention itinerary, please contact Deb Jayne at (602) 343-6450.

We’re offering two options for registration this year:

1) All-inclusive rate
Special for 2012: We’re offering an all-inclusive rate for SABR 42. SABR members can pay $219 and nonmembers can pay $269 to receive:

  • Full registration to SABR 42 in Minneapolis (regular price: $129 for SABR members or $179 for nonmembers)
  • 1 ticket to the Awards Banquet (regular price: $45)
  • 1 Home Plate ticket to the Twins vs. Royals game on Friday, June 29 (regular price: $44)

Please note: Skyline Deck tickets are now sold out; they were available to the first 250 people who selected the all-inclusive rate. Those who select the all-inclusive rate after April 27, 2012, will receive a Home Plate View ticket instead.

2) Regular rate
SABR members and non-members who wish to purchase registration, banquet tickets, game tickets and off-site events separately can do so at the following rates:

Registration
includes access to all panel discussions, research presentations, committee meetings and other on-site events.

  • SABR members: $129
  • Non-members: $179

Metrodome/Downtown Walking Tour on Wednesday, June 27

  • Fee: $5

Led by Halsey Hall Chapter president Brenda Himrich, a tour of downtown and a tour of the Metrodome, former home of the Twins. Brenda will take you through the skyways of downtown Minneapolis and come back through the milling district along the river. You can head straight back from the Metrodome if you want or walk along the river. They can cross the river along the Stone Arch Bridge (where folks have been known to get married) and eat or drink someplace along the east bank on historic Main Street.

Exclusive tour of Target Field on Thursday, June 28

  • Fee: $15

Join us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, led by Twins curator Clyde Doepner. You will be able to visit areas not accessible on most public tours of the ballpark.

Awards Banquet on Friday, June 29

  • Awards Banquet: $45

Meal includes salad, chicken entree and dessert. (If you have special dietary considerations, please contact Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org.)

Twins vs. Royals game on Friday, June 29
SABR has reserved a block of tickets in the Skyline Deck and Home Plate View sections. (Please note: Our Skyline Deck block has already sold out as of April 27, 2012; only tickets in the Home Plate View section are available.) Click here for a seating chart at TwinsBaseball.com.

  • Home Plate View: $38

You will be able to redeem your game ticket at the registration desk using the chit system. If you do not care with whom you sit, you should turn your chit into your game ticket right away at the hotel. But if you want to sit with a friend, wait to turn in your chits at the registration desk at the same time, thereby getting tickets next to one another.

Historic Ballpark Sites Bus Tour on Saturday, June 30

  • Fee: $15

Take a bus tour to historic Twin Cities ballpark sites, including Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, Lexington Park and The Pillbox in St. Paul, and Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington. Tour is limited to first 45 registrants. (Note: A second bus could be chartered if enough people sign up.)

We hope you’ll join us in Minneapolis this summer!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR SABR 42: http://sabr.org/convention/sabr42-registration

Save The Date: SABR Analytics Conference, March 7-9, 2013

After a very successful inaugural SABR Analytics Conference this spring, SABR is pleased to announce that next year’s SABR Analytics Conference will be held March 7-9, 2013 in the Phoenix area.

This conference will once again feature industry insiders from the baseball community, data innovators, thought leaders, members of the media and college students who will participate in the popular Case Competition.

We are very pleased to say that we received a tremendous response from last year’s conference. Here are some remarks:

  • Doug Melvin, Executive VP/General Manager, Milwaukee Brewers: “It was a good group of passionate baseball people. The analytics and SABR people stimulated great conversation, and that’s what makes our game so much fun.”
  • A.J. Hinch, VP/Assistant GM, San Diego Padres: “It was a great event of good people with great perspectives from every angle of the game. SABR provided a great forum for all involved to learn from each other and continue to grow the game.”
  • Dick Cramer, sabermetrics pioneer: “What impressed me most of all is that there wasn’t any single high event; it was high quality uniformly throughout the event. I can’t remember a meeting of this high quality. I just have to congratulate SABR for how outstanding this particular event was.”
  • John Dewan, Baseball Info Solutions: “You had the one-on-one with the owner, you had GMs, you had scouts, you had professionals in the industry, you had research, you had the Case Competition. I can’t imagine what you could do to make it better. It’s going to be an annual event for the rest of my life.”
  • Jay Jaffe, Baseball Prospectus: “It was so much better than I even imagined. It really imbued in me a sense of what it means to have the opportunity to be on a show like ‘Clubhouse Confidential’, where sabermetrics has come from, where it’s going, and to get a chance to hear from titans like John Dewan and John Thorn and Richard Cramer. This was a great idea and it is something that will turn out to be really even more popular in the years to come.”

For complete coverage of the 2012 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

2012 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award winners announced

The 2012 winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, which honors the best articles on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year, are:

All three are SABR members and all three are past winners of the McFarland-SABR award.

Altherr won in 2001 for “A Place Leavel Enough To Play Ball: Baseball and Baseball-type Games in the Colonial Era, Revolutionary War, and Early American Republic”, published in NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Social Policy Perspectives.

Lamb won in 2010 for “A Fearsome Collaboration: The Alliance of Andrew Freedman and John T. Brush”, published in Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game.

Strecker won in 2010 for “The Rise and Fall of Greenlee Field: Biography of a Ballpark”, published in Black Ball: A Journal of the Negro League; and last year for “And the Public Has Been Left to Guess the Secret: Questioning the Authorship of ‘The Great Match, and Other Matches’ (1877)”, published in NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture.

The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the author(s) of the best articles or papers, published or unpublished, on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, and unpublished research papers and written versions of oral presentations. Each winner will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $200.

The awards will be presented at the 42nd annual SABR convention, June 27-July 1, 2012, at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The selection committee consists of: Len Levin (chair), Phil Bergen, Jan Finkel, Chuck Hilty and Bill Humber. To submit a nomination for the 2013 awards, please send the work’s title, author and publisher information (if applicable) to Len Levin.

For a complete list of winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, click here.

Jeff Schatzki joins SABR as Director of Operations

SABR is pleased to welcome Jeff Schatzki as Director of Operations in the national office.

Schatzki joined SABR on May 1, 2012, after several years in the political field. Jeff worked for Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano during her six-year tenure as Governor. His responsibilities in the Governor’s Office included working with the professional sports community. He helped facilitate the growth of the Cactus League with the additions of the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition, Jeff was a liaison from the Governor’s Office to the National Football League prior to Super Bowl XLII. Jeff also practiced law as an insurance defense litigator in Washington, D.C. Jeff has a B.A. in History from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Schatzki will replace Jim Cassandro, who is leaving to join the marketing firm DoublePositive in Tempe, Arizona.

Schatzki can be reached at jschatzki@sabr.org.

Celebrating the New York Mets at 50 years

A grand, three-day 50th anniversary celebration of the New York Mets was held last weekend at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The was the first multidisciplinary conference to consider every aspect of a single Major League Baseball franchise.

SABR members who spoke or presented at the conference included: Ben Baumer, Ron Briley, Mike Cesarano, Alan Cohen, Nick Diunte, Rob Edelman, Alan Freedman, Jim Gates, Vince Gennaro, Craig Glaser, Michael Haupert, Leslie Heaphy, Judy Johnson, Ron Kaplan, Lee Lowenfish, Greg Prince, Rich Puerzer, John T. Saccoman, Michael Shapiro, Matthew Silverman, Mark Simon, John Thorn and Russell Wolinsky.

Here are some wonderful recaps of the event we thought all fans would enjoy:

For more coverage of the the conference, visit http://www.hofstra.edu/community/culctr/culctr_events_mets.html.

“Black Baseball in Indiana” film nominated for six regional EMMY awards

We’d like to congratulate SABR member Geri Strecker and her students at Ball State University: The “Black Baseball in Indiana” documentary film they produced in the spring of 2011 has received six regional EMMY award nominations from the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. They were nominated in the following categories:

  • Historical/Cultural Program or Special: Geralyn Strecker (project coordinator)
  • Crafts: Musical Composition/Arrangement: Brent Allred (composer/arranger)
  • Crafts: Research: Patrick Alyea, Dan Carpenter, Brandon Allmon-Jackson, Tamya Greenlee (researchers)
  • Crafts: Editor: Paul Weller (editor)
  • Crafts: Photographer, non-news: Aaron S. Mikel
  • Crafts: Technical Achievement: Paul D. Weller (Editor/Post-Production Tech), Aaron S. Mikel (Editor/Production Tech)

The EMMY awards ceremony will be held June 2, 2012, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Black Baseball in Indiana” was shown during the SABR 41 Film Festival at last year’s SABR convention in Long Beach, California, with an introduction by Strecker and a discussion with some of the students afterward.

For more information on the film, contact Geri Strecker at gstrecker@bsu.edu.

Two new biographies posted at the SABR BioProject

Two new biographies have been posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, bringing us to a total of 1,913 published biographies. Can we reach 2,000 bios before the SABR 42 convention in June? Keep ’em coming! Here are the new bios:

All new biographies can be found here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/recent

We recently relaunched the BioProject at its new home page: SABR.org/BioProject. The new BioProject fully integrates its design with SABR.org and upgrades the back-end platform, making it easier for us to post and edit new bios and eliminating some formatting problems with the original software. All of your old URLs should still work (and if you find one that doesn’t, please contact jpomrenke@sabr.org.)

Get involved! The BioProject is more than just player bios: We’d like to pass along this note from BioProject director Mark Armour:

Over the past few years, the BioProject has been evolving, not completely by design, into something like a SABR repository of baseball information — the Encyclopedia Britannica for Baseball, if you will. Any objective non-fiction topic you can think of (not just player biographies) can be written about and published on the BioProject website. Some of these subjects can be found already on our Topics page here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/topics. Five years ago, we began adding articles on Ballparks, which you can find here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/parks. As we grow, I would like to see a “Teams” page or a “Games” page or a “World Series” page, or whatever. There is no sense in having these pages yet, but I think the organization will happen organically and somewhat easily. There could be a “page” for articles related to the Deadball Era. A great game in 1913, the origin of shin guards, the Federal League, the 1957 World Series, free agency, Harry Frazee’s ownership of the Red Sox (posted above) — all of these subjects can be written about and published in an easy-to-find and easy-to-link place on the website. It has been and remains my hope that other SABR people will eventually step forward and “take over” the section on Games, or the section on World Series, or the one on Ballparks … and then expand them.

One word of caution: The project is designed so that there is one article on Henry Aaron, one article on Felipe Alou, and therefore one article on the 1913 World Series. So, if someone is writing that article it should be objective and complete. Just as we cannot publish an article on Barney Dreyfus that is only focused on his life with the Pirates, we do not wish to publish an article on the 1913 World Series focusing only on Eddie Collins. As the BioProject is an “encyclopedic” project in nature, we also do not publish interviews, recollections, opinion pieces, reviews, poems, etc.; we are not designed to do this.

But any article that has been published in any SABR publication, including committee newsletters, can be published on our site as well, assuming it fits. I guarantee you will get more readers, and it will much more web-sharable with your friends, colleagues, family, and students. The author and SABR will have joint copyright to the work, meaning you can continue to publish it anywhere else you wish. And so can SABR. Our articles tend to be between 1,500 and 5,000 words, with a handful of exceptions. Articles on non-people really do not have to be this long. If 500 words covers the subject, then that is what it shall be.

If you’d like to help contribute, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. Or send me an e-mail at markarmour04@gmail.com with questions. If you come across an “encyclopedic” article in a past SABR publication that you think would fit this vision of a SABR “baseball repository”, send a copy or link to me or jpomrenke@sabr.org and we will take a look at it. If you have any other ideas for what the BioProject could or should become, send those along, too.

The BioProject was started 10 years ago and is, without question, SABR’s best web publishing platform. I wrote an article on Felipe Alou, and it was edited and published and viewable by friends and family in a week’s time. If an error is found, it can be fixed in minutes. SABR does not have anything else remotely like this. And with your help, we can expand it and make it even better.

  • 1964 Phillies editors needed: Mel Marmer is looking for a volunteer to serve as a co-editor/fact checker on a work-in-progress SABR BioProject book on the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. If you are interested, please contact Mel at melmarm@verizon.net.
  • 1914 Braves biographer needed: Of the 34 individual player biographies for the upcoming SABR BioProject book on the 1914 “Miracle” Boston Braves, we have someone who is writing (or has already written) every one of them — except for poor Dick Crutcher. Dick needs a biographer. He passed away in 1952, so his feelings aren’t hurt. But it would nice if someone would sign up to write his biography. If you are interested, please contact Bill Nowlin at bnowlin@rounder.com.

Paperback version of Emerald Guide to Baseball 2012 now available 

The Emerald Guide to Baseball 2012, edited by Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer with Rod Nelson and Ted Turocy, is the most comprehensive record of the 2011 baseball season. And now it’s updated with Opening Day rosters and a paperback version at Lulu.com!

Historically, the primary purpose of annual baseball guides has been the publication of the official league standings plus the official team and individual statistics for both Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball. Our new Emerald Guide follows faithfully in that tradition, containing the official batting, pitching, and fielding statistics for every team and every player in the Major Leagues plus extensive lists of league leaders.

The Emerald Guide to Baseball is our attempt to fill the gap in the historical record created by the recent demise of The Sporting News Baseball Guide. First published in 1942, The Sporting News Guide was truly the annual book of record for our National Pastime. It is our great privilege to document for posterity a slice of recent baseball history in our new book.

The 2012 edition of the Emerald Guide runs nearly 600 pages and covers the 2011 season; it also includes a 2012 directory of Major League Baseball. The Emerald Guide is available in both a printed version and in a downloadable PDF format.

Add SABR’s Great Hitting Pitchers to your baseball library

Last week, we added a new version of a SABR classic to the SABR Digital Library:

GREAT HITTING PITCHERS
Edited by L. Robert Davids, updated for 2012 by Mike Cook, aided by David Vincent

Ebook price: $5.99
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-933599-31-1
Paperback price: $9.95
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-933599-30-4
102 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

First published in 1979, GREAT HITTING PITCHERS was one of SABR’s early publications. Including the contributions of several members of the Society and edited by SABR’s founder, Bob Davids, the book compiled together records and anecdotes about pitchers excelling in the batters box. Now updated for 2012 by Mike Cook and overseen by SABR’s Publications Editor Cecilia Tan, GREAT HITTING PITCHERS has been updated so that all tables include 1979-2011 data, and previous stats have been corrected to reflect the most recent updates in the record books. Joining the original chapters on pitchers hitting grand slams, pitchers’ hitting performances in World Series play, and how the pitchers of no-hitters performed at bat in those games, an all-new chapter by Mike Cook explores the top hitting pitchers since 1979, including Mike Hampton, Micah Owings, and CC Sabathia.

Buy the book:

SABR members:

To view all books in the SABR Digital Library, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

To learn more about SABR Publications, contact Publications Editor Cecilia Tan at ctan@sabr.org.

1970 Baltimore Orioles book published as part of “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” series

Pitching, Defense, and Three-Run Homers, edited by Mark Armour and Malcolm Allen, was published Tuesday as the second book in SABR’s “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” series with University of Nebraska Press.

At SABR.org, you can read a special excerpt from the new book in a chapter called “The Oriole Way” by Warren Corbett. Here’s a sample:  

The seed that sprouted into the powerful Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1960s and ‘70s was planted by two baseball lifers who despised each other. Together they lifted the once-woeful St. Louis Browns into the ranks of the game’s elite.

The Orioles were just one season removed from their sorry history in St. Louis when Paul Richards took over as both general manager and manager in September 1954. He proclaimed, “I’m running the show.” A lanky, hard-eyed Texan—a friend’s wife described him as “a cold fish”—Richards came from Chicago, where he and general manager Frank Lane had transformed the sagging White Sox into a consistent winner. Wearing his two hats in Baltimore, Richards exercised total control over baseball operations.

The scouting and farm director he inherited, Jim McLaughlin, had come with the franchise from St. Louis. The farm system was a joke; the Browns had been too poor to invest in scouting and player development. But McLaughlin convinced Richards that he could do better with money to spend. It was a marriage made in hell. The two had just one thing in common: Each of them got up every morning, looked in the mirror, and thought he saw the smartest man in baseball.

The 1954 Orioles played like the old Browns; they lost 100 games, the same as in their final season in St. Louis. It took Richards and McLaughlin six years to build them into pennant contenders. By 1960, when the Birds flew with the Yankees until the last two weeks of the season, the foundation for future success had been laid.

Read the rest of Warren’s essay on “The Oriole Way” at http://sabr.org/latest/1970-baltimore-orioles-oriole-way.

You can order the 1970 Orioles book from the University of Nebraska Press website or from the SABR Bookstore. The Memorable Teams in Baseball History series, written by SABR members as part of the Baseball Biography Project, will focus on iconic teams with an unquestionable legacy in baseball history. Each book will collect essays detailing the players, moments and games that define these teams.

For a complete list of biographies included in the 1970 Orioles book, click here.

Spring 2012 Baseball Research Journal articles are now online

Many members have received their copy of the new Baseball Research Journal in the mail. If you haven’t received yours, it should be arriving soon. Meanwhile, you can get started reading the Spring 2012 BRJ (online articles for members only!) at:

http://sabr.org/research/spring-2012-baseball-research-journal

That link also offers you a way to download the PDF version of the magazine to read on your computer or e-reader device, as well as a chance to purchase additional copies of the BRJ for any baseball-loving family members or friends at the SABR Bookstore.

In addition to all of the BRJ articles you will find in the print edition, we’re also proud to once again present special supplemental material, available exclusively at SABR.org, related to Herm Krabbenhoft’s ongoing research of Hank Greenberg’s RBI totals.

Click here to read more articles from the Spring 2012 “Baseball Research Journal”

Vote in the 2012 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you should have received a message earlier today, on Friday, May 4, with a link to vote online in the 2012 SABR Board of Directors election. The poll will close at 12:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on Sunday, May 20.

The only way to vote online is through the link you will receive by e-mail. All e-mails will come from the address tellers@sabr.org; if you wish to add it to a whitelist in your e-mail client, that may help ensure that you will receive the e-mails. You will receive at least one more voting e-mail between now and May 20 with an active voting link. If you did not receive a voting e-mail on Friday, May 4, you can contact Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org to send you a custom voting e-mail.

Members who do not have an e-mail address on file with SABR as of April 5, 2012, will receive a paper ballot in the mail. Please do not vote online and send in the paper ballot; if you do, the paper ballot will be discarded, and only the online vote will count.

If you would like to register your e-mail address on file with SABR so you can vote online (and also receive our “This Week in SABR” newsletter on Fridays), please contact Membership Director Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org.  

When you vote, you will find three items on the 2012 Board of Directors ballot: the election of the SABR Vice President, Secretary, and one Director. The candidates are:

For Vice President

  • Bill Nowlin (incumbent)
  • Chris Dial

For Secretary

  • Todd Lebowitz (incumbent)

For Director (open)

  • Bill Staples Jr.
  • Ty Waterman

You can read candidate biographies, along with full descriptions of the positions and responses the candidates made to a series of questions, in the 2012 SABR Election Guide below.

Download the 2012 SABR Election Guide here: http://sabr.org/about/2012-sabr-board-directors-election

Research committee newsletters

Here are the SABR research committee newsletters published this week:

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

Chapter meeting recaps

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://sabr.org/about/members-info

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Originally published: May 4, 2012. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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