This Week in SABR: May 5, 2017

May 5, 2017/in This Week in SABR /by Jason Best

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 May 5, 2017:

Single-day registration now available for SABR 47 convention in New York

In addition to regular registration for the full conference, single-day registration for SABR 47 is now available at SABR.org/convention.

The SABR 47 convention will be held June 28-July 2, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt New York. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Full registration or single-day registration can be purchased online by clicking here or on-site during convention registration hours beginning on Wednesday, June 28 at the Grand Hyatt.

The single-day rates for SABR 47 are:

Thursday, June 29: $149 for SABR members, $179 non-members
Friday, June 30: $99 for SABR members, $129 non-members (does not include Mets game ticket)
Saturday, July 1: $149 for SABR members, $179 non-members

The single-day rate includes admission to all SABR 47 convention panels, research presentations, and committee meetings at the Grand Hyatt New York. Registration can be purchased on-site via cash, check, or credit card (sorry, no American Express accepted.) Please note: Admission to the SABR 47 Awards Reception, the Donors Breakfast, and the Mets game are not included.

If you would like to join us for the SABR 47 “A Day at the Ballpark” pregame session at Citi Field on Friday, June 30, you must be registered for SABR 47 AND have a Mets game ticket to enter the ballpark early. You can purchase either a full registration or a single-day registration and show it to ballpark security, along with your Mets game ticket, to attend the SABR 47 pregame session at Citi Field. Our guest speakers are expected to include Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, front-office executive T.J. Barra, and more to be announced soon.

Our SABR block of New York Mets game tickets is only available until 11:59 p.m. MST on Sunday, May 7.

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

SABR 47: Two days left to get your Mets tickets; join us for “A Day at the Ballpark” on June 30 at Citi Field

For the second year in a row and third time in four years, SABR will present “A Day at the Ballpark” before the New York Mets game on Friday, June 30 at Citi Field. Our special block of Mets tickets — which includes round-trip subway transportation to Citi Field from the Grand Hyatt New York — is going fast and is only available until 11:59 p.m. MST on Sunday, May 7. Click here to register for SABR 47 and join us!

SABR 47 will be held from June 28-July 2, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt New York. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Visit SABR.org/convention for more information.

Special thanks to the Mets staff for this great opportunity and for offering us a large block of tickets in the Big Apple Reserved section. Tickets are an affordable price of $50. A special ballpark session will be held at Citi Field on Friday afternoon, followed by the game that night between the Mets and the Phillies. Our guest speakers are expected to include Mets GM Sandy Alderson, Mets Manager of Baseball Research and Development T.J. Barra, and more to be announced soon.

If you haven’t signed up for SABR 47, please note that the early registration discount and all-inclusive package are still available until May 1, but our hotel room block at the Grand Hyatt New York is now sold out.

Click here for more information on SABR 47 registration rates, all-inclusive packages, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 47.

The Grand Hyatt New York, one of the city’s most historic and luxurious hotels, is conveniently located in Midtown Manhattan just steps from Grand Central Terminal and within walking distance of many major attractions, including Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the New York Public Library.

Click on a link below for more information about SABR 47.

Registration: Click here for complete information on SABR 47 registration rates. Or click here to register for SABR 47! Full registration is $269 for SABR members or $344 for non-members, and includes access to all panel discussions, research presentations, and committee meetings at the Grand Hyatt New York. Single-day registration is also available ($149 for Thursday, June 29; $99 for Friday, June 30; or $149 for Saturday, July 1.)
“A Day at the Ballpark” pregame session: Attendees at our SABR 47 convention this summer in New York will have a special opportunity to visit Citi Field for an exclusive pregame “A Day at the Ballpark” session with New York Mets executives and players before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, June 30. Our SABR 47 ticket block ($50 in the Big Apple Reserved section) is only available until 11:59 p.m. MST on Sunday, May 7. Click here for more information. One round-trip subway ticket to and from Citi Field is included with your purchase of a SABR 47 game ticket.
Hotel: The special SABR group rate at the Grand Hyatt New York of $199/night (plus tax) is now sold out! If you would like to be added to a first-come, first-serve waiting list in case more hotel rooms become available in the future, please contact Deb Jayne immediately at djayne@sabr.org.
Awards Reception: SABR will host a special Awards Reception in the early evening on Thursday, June 29 at the Grand Hyatt New York. The Awards Reception will feature the announcement of SABR’s annual awards — including the Bob Davids Award, our highest honor — plus an array of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The reception will be held this year in place of the Awards Luncheon. One ticket to the Awards Reception is included in the all-inclusive package or guest tickets are available for $69 when you register for SABR 47.
Speakers: Our guest speakers are expected to include New York Mets GM Sandy Alderson, New York Yankees Senior Vice President/Assistant GM Jean Afterman, New York Mets Manager of Baseball Research and Development T.J. Barra, former major-league pitcher and Ball Four author Jim Bouton, MLB Official Historian John Thorn, MLB.com correspondent Lindsay Berra, Driving Mr. Yogi author Harvey Araton, longtime New York Times columnist George Vecsey, sports and political commentator Keith Olbermann, Henry Chadwick Award recipients David S. Neft and Peter C. Bjarkman, former Yogi Berra Museum director Dave Kaplan, authors Mark Armour, Mitchell Nathanson, and Marty Appel, Larry Ritter Book Award winner Glenn Stout, Canadian baseball broadcaster Alain Usereau, and more. Click here to learn more about our featured speakers and panelists.
Research presentations: Click here to learn more about the SABR 47 research presentations.
Poster presentations: Click here to learn more about the SABR 47 poster presentations.
Vendors Room: Click here to learn more about our vendors at SABR 47. If you would like to reserve a table in the Vendors Room, please contact Jeff Schatzki. Space is limited.

We hope you’ll join us this summer in New York City! Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

For a multimedia look at every SABR convention since 1971, click here.

SABR 47: Check out full abstracts and bios for research presentations

We’re excited to announce an All-Star lineup of research presentations for SABR 47 in New York. Click here to view full research abstracts and presenter bios.

Click here to learn more about the poster presentations that will be on display all week during the SABR 47 convention at the Grand Hyatt New York.

Thursday, June 29

RP01: Jean Hastings Ardell and Janet Marie Smith, “Dodger Stadium Redux: A Conversation with Architect Janet Marie Smith”
RP02: Chuck Hildebrandt, “Does Changing Leagues Affect Player Performance, and How?”
RP03: David Krell, “Roosevelt Stadium: The Forgotten Ballpark”
RP04: Don Zminda, “Southside Hitmen: A 40th Anniversary Celebration of a Memorable Season”
RP05: Anthony Salazar, “The Integration of Baseball Cards and Chicano Pop Art: An Appreciation and Interpretation”
RP06: Steven A. King, “The Death and Life of Harry Pulliam”
RP07: Leila Dunbar, “How To Determine Winners In Sports Memorabilia”
RP08: Marjorie P. Adams, “Doc Adams: A Founding Father of Baseball”
RP09: Steve Steinberg, “Heroes, Goats, and Myths: 1926 World Series, Game Seven”
RP10: Jacob Goldfinger, “Ball of Confusion: Dick Allen, the Arkansas Travelers and the Integration of Little Rock”
RP11: Andy McCue, ” ‘The Dictionary Definition of Perfidy’: Del Webb, Branch Rickey and the American League expansion of 1961″
RP12: Courtney Michelle Smith, “Philadelphia vs. New York: A Rivalry in the Negro National League”

Friday, June 30

RP13: David W. Smith, “The Seventh Inning is the Key”
RP14: John McMurray, “Why Didn’t Babe Ruth Ever Become a Major League Manager?”
RP15: Vince Gennaro, “Hitter Performance vs. Different Quality Levels of Pitching”
RP16: Douglas Schoppert, “Louis Armstrong: Swinging”
RP17: Chris Dial, “Defensive Evaluations of Team Constructs in the Ball-in-Play Data Era”
RP18: Karl Cicitto, “Charlie Dressen’s Pacific All Stars Tour of 1945”
RP19: Jonathan Dine, “Statcast and the Value of Defense”
RP20: John J. Burbridge Jr. and John R. Harris, “The Dodgers in Jersey City: The Giants Games”
RP21: Mark Pankin, “Are There “Pitchers” Umpires and “Hitters” Umpires?”
RP22: Alan Cohen, “Bats, Balls, Boys and Dreams: All-Star Sandlot Games in New York and the Players Who had a lasting impact on the New York Landscape (Baseball and Otherwise)”

Saturday, July 1

RP23: Steve Treder, “Where Have You Gone, Master Melvin? A Re-Appreciation of Mel Ott”
RP24: Allison Levin, “All in Good Fun? The Emasculating Rituals of MLB Players”
RP25: Paul Hensler, “Baseball’s Age of Aquarius: Milestone Transformations of 1968-1969”
RP26: Rob Edelman, “Happy Felton”
RP27: Dirk Lammers, “Bedsheet Bedlam: Chronicling New York Mets history through the team’s Banner Day tradition”
RP28: George Boziwick, “ ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’: The Story of Katie Casey, Suffrage, and Our National Pastime”
RP29: Daniel Levitt, “Ejection Diaries: John McGraw Battles the National League’s Umpires and Executives”
RP30: Ed Edmonds, “Changing Trends in Baseball Salary Arbitration”
RP31: Mark Armour, “1969: A Year of Miracles”
RP32: James Goldstein and Paul Sauer, “Getting to the Money in Moneyball: Better Understanding Revenue per Win Across Different Baseball Market”

Gennaro, Flinn, Hawks re-elected to SABR Board of Directors

Members of the Society for American Baseball Research have elected three incumbents to the organization’s Board of Directors in 2017.

Vince Gennaro was re-elected as SABR’s President in an unopposed race, receiving 750 of 794 first-preference votes. F.X. Flinn was re-elected as SABR’s Treasurer in an unopposed race, receiving 740 of 794 first-preference votes.

Emily Hawks was also re-elected as a SABR Director, receiving 499 of 794 first-preference votes. Paul Parker finished runner-up for a Director’s seat with 278 first-preference votes.

Special thanks go out to Tellers Committee members Mort Bloomberg, David Petras, and Michael Holden for certifying the results on May 2 at the SABR office.

The 2017 SABR elections featured online voting for the eighth consecutive year as well as traditional paper ballots. A total of 794 votes were received, constituting about 14.37 percent of the membership.

SABR members can find complete 2017 election results, including write-in candidates and voting totals, posted here.

Bales, Barry win 2017 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards

The 2017 winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, which honors the best articles on baseball history or biography completed or published during the preceding calendar year, are:

Jack Bales, “The Show Girl and the Shortstop: The Strange Saga of Violet Popovich and Her Shooting of Cub Billy Jurges,” Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2016 (SABR)
Dan Barry, “The Big League Prospect Who Became a Mob Hit Man,” New York Times, October 30, 2016

The selection committee passed along the following comments about the winners: Both winning entries were described by one judge as “good stories, well told.” Another judge described them as “well-written and researched; splendid story telling.”

The awards will be presented at the 47th annual SABR convention, June 28-July 2, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City.

Click here to learn more.

**Read all articles from Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal at SABR.org**

Good news! The Spring 2017 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next two to four weeks, although we’ve heard reports that some have already arrived. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition was delivered to your inboxes on April 6.

All articles from the Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal are now available to read online at SABR.org.
Click here to download the e-book edition of the Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal.
Click here to order a copy of the print edition of the Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal.

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

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.

We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal!

SABR Digital Library: The SABR Book of Umpires and Umpiring

Make the right call and add this new baseball book from the SABR Digital Library to your collection:

The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring
Edited by Larry R. Gerlach and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Dennis Bingham and Len Levin
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-45-3, $21.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-943816-44-6, $9.99
8.5 x 11″, 484 pages

This nearly 500-page book on umpires and umpiring is the collaborative work of 34 members of the Society for American Baseball Research. It is, in effect, a companion book to another SABR title, Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and their Profession, edited by Jim Sandoval and Bill Nowlin.

The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring includes biographies of all the umpires in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, other notable arbiters, essays about professional female umpires, umpiring in the Negro Leagues, explorations of the baseball rules, umpire equipment, and much more.

During the course of working on The SABR Book of Umpires and Umpiring, interviews were conducted with 56 major league umpires currently serving, former umpires, supervisors and those involved in umpire administration, and others whose jobs cause them to interact with umpires. It is our hope that we have helped shed light on the umpiring profession past and present, the work involved on the field, and the arduous challenges and sacrifices it takes over a large number of years to become an umpire at the top of the profession. We have tried to look at the occupation of umpiring from many different angles. No one book can cover all facets of the job, but we hope this book had touched on enough to help give readers a fuller appreciation of the game of baseball and those charged with the integrity of the game.

Contributors include: David W. Anderson, Mark Armour, Perry Barber, John Behrend, Dennis Bingham, Alan Cohen, Reynaldo Cruz, Kevin Cuddihy, Reid Duffy, Rob Edelman, Eric Frost, Larry Gerlach, Dennis Goodman, Leslie Heaphy, Harold V. Higham, Joanne Hulbert, Bob Hurte, Gil Imber, Chuck Johnson, Rodney Johnson, Stephen Johnson III, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Hank Levy, Bob Luke, Shaun McCready, Clark G. “Red” Merchant, Brian Mills, Bill Nowlin, Albert Piacente, Bill Pruden, David Vincent, Bob Webster, Chris Williams, and Herb Wilson.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring paperback edition for $10.97 (plus shipping) from CreateSpace.

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. To find all past titles from the SABR Digital Library, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

Early registration now open for 2017 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

The 20th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, hosted by SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee, will be returning to its roots on July 27-30, 2017, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, site of the first Negro League conference in 1998.

Registration: All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Click here to register online. Early registration for SABR members is $170, which includes all presentations and sessions. Non-SABR members: $200. Students: $120 for SABR members, $150 for non-members. Single-day rate for Friday or Saturday: $75 for SABR members, $100 for non-members. The Education Forum on Thursday is $15. Guest tickets for friends and family can also be ordered. Click here for an information packet (PDF) with complete details on registration rates. The early registration deadline is May 29, 2017.
Hotel: The 2017 Malloy Conference will be held at the Hilton Harrisburg, 1 N. 2nd Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101. Click here to book your room online at the special SABR rate of $129/night (plus tax). Or call (717) 233-6000 and mention you’re with the “SABR Malloy Conference.” The cut-off date to book your room is July 5, 2017.
Schedule and information: Click here for the 2017 Malloy Conference information packet (PDF).
Contact: E-mail Ted Knorr with any questions about the conference.

The Malloy Conference promotes activities to enhance scholarly, educational, and literary objectives. For the past 19 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 Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project; and award scholarships to high school seniors in a nationwide essay contest and a nationwide art contest.

Visit SABR.org/malloy to learn more about the 2017 Malloy Conference call for papers, essay contest and scholarships, art competition, and school library grants.

Students, apply now for the 2017 SABR Women in Baseball Scholarship

SABR’s Women in Baseball Committee will award one $500 scholarship to a high school senior in its inaugural Women in Baseball Essay Contest in 2017.

Students must write an essay of 1,500 words or less addressing the following question: “Choose one person or event in women’s baseball history that you believe has made a significant impact on the game and explain the importance.”

Click here to download the 2017 SABR Women in Baseball Scholarship application and style guidelines (PDF)

All applications must be e-mailed or postmarked by June 5, 2017, and sent to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu or Kent State University at Stark, 6000 Frank Rd., North Canton, OH 44720. The winner will be notified by July 1.

Click here for more details and eligibility requirements.

New monument at Fort Wayne park marks first National Association game in 1871

From Blake Sebring of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:

On May 4, 1871, the first professional baseball league game was played in Fort Wayne between the Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys. There was a game scheduled for earlier in the day featuring Washington at Cincinnati but it was rained out, which meant the game in Fort Wayne was the league’s first official contest. The Kekiongas won 2-0.

Those are the accepted facts, but for decades the disputes have been over the location of the game, with five spots under consideration. Finally, in 1971, after research from local baseball historian Bob Parker, Mayor Harold Zeis held a press conference announcing the official site had been found near Camp Allen Park, two blocks south of Main Street just west of St. Joseph’s Hospital and near St. Mary’s River.

Zeis promised a permanent marker but it never happened. On Thursday, May 4, a monument was placed on the site to commemorate the game’s 146th anniversary. After Northeast Indiana Baseball Association member Don Graham sent him clippings of the 1971 press conference, local sports historian and current Kekionga SABR chapter president Bill Griggs started a campaign in September. That was also the month his friend local SABR chapter founder Bob Gregory passed away, giving Griggs more motivation.

With help from the Paddock and donations from the TinCaps, SABR members, the NEIBA, the Huntington Hilltoppers Vintage Baseball Team and other individuals, along with selling Gregory’s collection of baseball books, more than $1,500 was raised for the monument, which was designed by Archie Monuments of Elkhart, suggested by SABR member Steve Krah.

Read the full article here: http://www.news-sentinel.com/sports/20170502/monument_to_mark_site_of_1871_pro_baseball_game&profile=1183

Related link: Read about the May 4, 1871 game between the Kekiongas and Forest City at the SABR Games Project
SABR BioProject: Read the SABR ballpark biography of the Kekionga Ball Grounds, by Bill Griggs and Jim Nitz

6 new SABR biographies published

Six new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,053 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

Joe Battin, by Charlie Weatherby
Ed Goodson, by Paul Goodson (first-time author)
Bill Kennedy, by Bill Nowlin
Eddie Mayo, by David E. Skelton
Chet Nichols, by Bill Nowlin
Skippy Roberge, by Charlie Bevis

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

Search for any SABR biography: You can now visit sabr.org/bioproj_search to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. You can also browse all of these BioProject categories and a lot more, including 300-game winners, Hall of Famers, 1960s All-Stars, or Negro Leaguers, at our Browse page: sabr.org/bioproj/browse.
1871-75 Boston Red Stockings biographies posted: All biographies from SABR’s Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings, edited by Bob LeMoine and Bill Nowlin and published in 2016, are now available online. In this book, we focused on the first great dynasty in professional baseball. The Red Stockings won four consecutive pennants in the old National Association, considered by many to be baseball’s first major league. Boston’s First Nine includes biographies of all 22 players who played on the team in those years — including five future Hall of Famers, Jim O’Rourke, Al Spalding, Deacon White, George Wright, and Harry Wright — along with other fascinating stories. Click here to read more.

10 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

April 26, 1901: Baltimore Orioles win home opener in a new major league, by Jimmy Keenan
April 30, 1939: Lou Gehrig plays his final game with Yankees, by Kevin Larkin
October 5, 1942: Cardinals clinch World Series on Kurowski’s ninth-inning clout, by Greg Erion
August 11, 1943: Mickey, Rube, Harry the Hat, and Volo Song, by Jack Zerby
August 30, 1953: Milwaukee Braves set National League home run record, by Bob Wood
July 31, 1963: Indians smack four consecutive home runs off Paul Foytack, by Joseph Wancho
September 12, 1969: Mets pitchers drive in all the runs in doubleheader sweep, by Bob Wood
April 17, 2003: Cubs explode for 16 runs in win over Reds, by Rachel Tucker and Gregory H. Wolf
October 30, 2015: Syndergaard, Mets stop Royals in Game Three, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
October 31, 2015: Royals rally to beat Mets and take 3-1 lead in World Series, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

New Games Project stories can be found at http://sabr.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles at SABR.org/GamesProject.

If you have any questions about the Games Project, please contact Greg Erion. If you want to know if a game is available to write about, please contact Bruce Slutsky. After the article has been completed in accordance with our Authors’ Guidelines, please submit it to Len Levin, who will initiate the editing process and get your story ready for toward publication.

Get involved: Have memories of a game you attended? Or a game you watched that caught your interest? Write about it! 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. We have editors and fact checkers who are willing to help you write your first article.
Contributor Release Form: As of January 1, 2017, all writers publishing articles (biographies, essays, game pieces, etc.) are being asked to sign a Contributor Release Form which can be sent via email to jpomrenke@sabr.org or hard copy to SABR, 555 N. Central Ave., Suite #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004. The form only needs to be filed once for all future SABR publications. Click here to download the form.
Seeking volunteers to help enhance Games Project articles on website: Any volunteer who is willing to assist with linking player biographies in previously published Games Project stories on the SABR website, please contact Jacob Pomrenke. No experience necessary. Must be comfortable working in Drupal, WordPress or other standard content management systems.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM will air at its regular time on Sunday nights

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro will air at its regular time: 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on Sundays, on MLB Network Radio.

This week’s guests are SABR member Rob Arthur of FiveThirtyEight and Scott Spratt of Baseball Info Solutions.

Video highlights: Bill Petti talks about using Statcast to predict hits (MLB.com)

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App, and you can watch video highlights of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on MLB.com. Click here to watch more video highlights of Baseball SABR Style from MLB.com.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It airs 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.

Seamheads.com updates Negro Leagues Database with 1944 stats

We are pleased to pass along this update from SABR member Gary Ashwill at Seamheads.com on April 28:

Another wartime season, 1944 saw a large number of the most promising young players, as well as many players in the primes of their careers, off to the war. In the NAL, the Kansas City Monarchs struggled without sluggers Willard Brown and Ted Strong and sank to fourth place. The NNL’s Newark Eagles, missing their core of Monte Irvin, Larry Doby, Leon Day, and Max Manning, finished fifth. In an effort to protect themselves from the draft, the Black Yankees announced an effort to sign players who had been declared 4-F. This plan enabled them to improve from a 4-24 league finish in 1943 to…8-35 in 1944.

The war did open up opportunities for promising young players like Don Newcombe, Sam Hairston, George Jefferson, Clyde Nelson, and Bill Ricks. Teams also brought in Latin American players who had never appeared in the U.S. before: Cubans such as Claro Duany, Héctor Rodríguez, Leovigildo Xiqués (known in the U.S. as Leo Lugo), as well as a contingent of players from Panama: Patricio Scantlebury, Vic Barnett, Archie Brathwaite.

Two of the year’s most noteworthy rookies were shortstops with remarkably parallel careers— the Black Barons’ Artie Wilson and the Philly Stars’ Frank Austin (another Panamanian). Both were Negro league batting champions who didn’t get much of a chance in the majors after integration (Wilson got 22 at bats with the Giants, Austin never went up at all), but went on to play for many years in the Pacific Coast League.

Click here to learn more.

To view the award-winning Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, visit Seamheads.com/NegroLgs/index.php.

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.

For more information, click here.

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 Membership 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
Jerry Amernic	Toronto, ON	Michael Josephson	Orono, MN
Samuel Anthony	Coraopolis, PA	King Kaufman	Berkeley, CA
Linda Bekermeier	Marshall, VA	Kristina Maldre Jarosik	Chicago, IL
Ted Brooke	Pittsburgh, PA	Scott Maples	Coffeyville, KS
Jim Burke	Naperville, IL	Nils Montan	Playa del Rey, CA
Lydia Carter	Arlington, MA	Wendy Sarrett	Reston, VA
Jonathan Dine	Washington, DC	Paul Sauer	Getzville, NY
Ryan Dischinger	Louisville, KY	Steven Sistrunk	Gaston, SC
Robert Drudy	Grabill, IN	Steve Topolewski	Livonia, MI
Leo Ducharme	Manchester, NH	Robert Weintraub	New York, NY
David Headley	Phoenix, AZ	Chuck Wessell	Gettysburg, PA

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee updates this week:

Baseball and the Arts: The new SABR Journal of Baseball Arts is now accepting submissions. We will include contemporary works mixed with masterpieces from the past. We encourage submissions of art, poetry, fiction, memoir, and all musings about baseball. So if you are thinking about a short story, or have one in the works and are looking for a place to publish it, here’s the place for you. The length of a story should be less than 5,000 words, and artwork should be original and baseball-related. Email your proposals, finished work, or any questions to artsjournal@sabr.org. Click here to learn more.
Biographical Research: March/April 2017 newsletter
Minor Leagues: Members of the Minor Leagues Committee are planning a trip during SABR 47 to see a Brooklyn Cyclones game on the night of Saturday, July 1. About 10 tickets are still available in our block if you are interested in attending the game with us. The tickets are $15, for the Field Box level behind the first-base dugout, and include a complimentary Cyclones hat. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Joe Wancho.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Juan Marichal Chapter meeting recap (April 27; Santo Domingo, DOM)
Halsey Hall Chapter May 2017 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)
Best Practices handbook: Chapter leaders, you can download the updated Chapter Leaders Best Practices Handbook on the Admin Tools page at admin.sabr.org. The handbook offers suggestions and guidelines for meetings, speakers, revitalizing a chapter, and getting publicity for SABR and chapter events.

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

May 6: Kekionga Chapter meeting (Fort Wayne, IN)
May 6: Forbes Field Chapter spring meeting (Pittsburgh, PA)
May 6: Northwest Chapter spring meeting (Seattle, WA)
May 6: Rogers Hornsby Chapter Baseball and BBQ Outing (Round Rock, TX)
May 6: Talkin’ Baseball: David Paulson (Columbia, MD)
May 7: SABR Board of Directors conference call
May 8: Larry Dierker Chapter ballgame/meeting (Sugar Land, TX)
May 8: Fred Waterman grave marker dedication ceremony (Cincinnati, OH)
May 9: Gibson House Museum: “Early Baseball in Boston” (Boston, MA)
May 10: Bob Davids Chapter Monthly Hot Stove Dinner (Arlington, VA)
May 12: Dennis Snelling: “Lefty O’Doul: Baseball’s Forgotten Ambassador” (San Francisco, CA)
May 13: Maddux Bros.-Las Vegas Chapter ballgame/meeting (Las Vegas, NV)
May 13: Halsey Hall Chapter Hot Stove Saturday Morning (Minneapolis, MN)
May 13: Dayton Chapter spring meeting (Dayton, OH)
May 15: Peter Gorton: “John Donaldson: The Showpiece of the Game” (Burnsville, MN)
May 16: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
May 17: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter “Called Shot” monthly meeting (Baltimore, MD)
May 17: Rocky Mountain Chapter monthly luncheon (Denver, CO)
May 17: Leslie Heaphy: “A Black Baseball Journey” (Cleveland, OH)
May 18: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Sandy Springs, GA)
May 20: Hank Gowdy Chapter book club meeting (Columbus, OH)
May 20: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter Orioles gameday/meeting (Baltimore, MD)
May 21: Field of Dreams Chapter meeting/ballgame (Des Moines, IA)

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:

The Baltimore Orioles turned the first triple play of 2017 this week; check out the updated SABR Triple Plays Database (SABR.org)
Adam Darowski: The Overlooked Legends panel at ‘The Fred’ (Hall of Stats)
Rob Neyer: Before Baseball-Reference, statheads relied on the ‘Big Mac’ (FiveThirtyEight)
SABR Media Committee: Listen to a new episode of “The Baseball Buffet” podcast (SoundCloud)
Alex Coffey: A field of dreams in the Arizona desert (BaseballHall.org)
Isabelle Minasian: On diversity: baseball and its fans fall short (The Hardball Times)
Jay Jaffe: Comparing Theo Epstein’s turnarounds of Cubs, Red Sox (Sports Illustrated)
Adam Willis: Will pro sports teams ever figure out how to quantify clubhouse chemistry? (Slate)
John Thorn: Ralph Carhart’s ‘Hall Ball’ goes Hawaiian (Our Game)
Rob Neyer: When Tigers manager Mayo Smith started center fielder Mickey Stanley at shortstop (The National Pastime Museum)
Gary Cieradkowski: Jack Kloza: Home runs, mosquitos, hats, and the Rockford Peaches (The Infinite Baseball Card Set)
Jacob Pomrenke: The early origins of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award (The National Pastime Museum)
Meg Rowley: RIP PITCHf/ox (Baseball Prospectus)
John Dewan’s Stat of the Week: Who’s hot and who’s not, according to Bill James (ACTA Sports)
Travis Sawchik: The new generation of ballparks is pushing us away (FanGraphs)
Jason Lukehart: The ‘Maddux’ on a baseball card (Ground Ball With Eyes)
Steve Krah: Indiana’s Peter Bjarkman to receive SABR’s Henry Chadwick Award (IndianaRBI.com)
Kris Rutherford: Jess Derrick: A Texas League milestone (WordPress)
David Kronheim: 2016 MLB Attendance Analysis (Baseball Tamer)
Mark Armour: Hooked on Heritage (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jeff Katz: Great Expectations (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)

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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