This Week in SABR: October 30, 2015

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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 October 30, 2015:

SABR members, cast your vote in the 2015 Esurance MLB Awards

Once again, SABR members have the opportunity to play a key role in selecting the winners of the 2015 Esurance MLB Awards. The votes from SABR members will be equal to each of the other four categories.

  • SABR members (20%)
  • MLB.com fans (20%)
  • Front office personnel (20%)
  • Retired players (20%)
  • Media (20%)

Please see below for details on casting your SABR vote. Voting will remain open through November 13, 2015.

This year’s Esurance MLB Awards will feature nominees in two dozen categories. Individual awards will go to the Best Major Leaguer, Best Starting Pitcher, Everyday Player, Rookie, Defensive Player, Breakout Player, Bounceback Player, Manager, Executive, Social Media Personality and postseason performer. Winners will also be recognized for the year’s best offensive play, defensive play, Moment, single-game performance, Social Media Post, Celebrity Fan, Fan Catch, Interview, TV call, radio call, Player-Fan Interaction, Video Board Moment and Trending Topic.

To cast your SABR vote in the 2015 Esurance MLB Awards:

  1. Visit https://securea.mlb.com/mlb/awards/y2015/mlb-awards/?voterType=sabr
  2. Log in to your MLB.com account in the upper-right corner or register for a free account at MLB.com using your primary e-mail address on file with SABR. (See this screenshot for details.)
  3. Vote for your top selections in any award category. The deadline to cast your SABR vote is 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, November 13. You can still cast a fan vote without logging in through the end of the public voting period on MLB.com.

Visit mlb.com/awards to learn more. Winners will be announced live on MLB Network and MLB.com on November 20, 2015.

Last call: Register for 2015 SABR Arizona Fall League Experience

Baseball’s top prospects have begun play in the Arizona Fall League and the seventh annual SABR Arizona Fall League Experience — a new name, but same great experience — is coming up soon from Thursday, November 5 to Saturday, November 7, 2015.

Some sessions at the AFL Experience are open to local or visiting SABR members on an a la carte basis (without registering for the entire conference), but you must sign up in advance to attend. We hope you’ll join us for any of these special events:

  • Thursday, November 5: Ballpark dinner, guest speaker & auction, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, 5:00 p.m. dinner; 6:30 p.m. ballgame ($35; dinner and game ticket included)
  • Friday, November 6: Dinner with AZ Major League Alumni at Don and Charlie’s restaurant, 6:30 p.m. ($45)
  • Saturday, November 7: Fall Stars Game, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick 5:00 p.m. ($7 per ticket)

The deadline to register for any of these a la carte sessions is Monday, November 2. You can sign up online at SABR.org/AFL or by calling Deb Jayne at (602) 496-1460.

The full SABR Arizona Fall League Experience will feature four AFL games showcasing baseball’s top prospects, including games at Scottsdale Stadium and Camelback Ranch, our first trip to Glendale. We’ll also have dinner at Don and Charlie’s in Scottsdale, home to one of the great sports memorabilia collections you will ever see, and a ballpark dinner at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick with a special guest speaker.

On Saturday, November 7, attendees will join members of SABR’s Flame Delhi Chapter for their regional fall meeting, with research presentations and guest speakers. The conference will conclude with the nationally televised Fall Stars Game on Saturday evening at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

The Arizona Fall League (mlbfallball.com) is baseball’s premier player development league. In the first six years of the conference, attendees were treated to sneak peeks at Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg, Nolan Arenado, and Billy Hamilton before they hit the big leagues.

All baseball fans are welcome to attend, so join us in November for the SABR Arizona Fall League Experience!

Please consider making a contribution to our 2015 donation drive

This has been a banner year for SABR, and you can help us bring 2015 to an even more successful close by making a charitable contribution to our year-end donation drive.

SABR depends upon the volunteer work of members to mount our exciting events like the SABR Convention, the Analytics Conference, and the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference; to produce groundbreaking research through the SABR Digital Library e-book program, the Baseball Research Journal, and The National Pastime; and to expand the online resources of the research committees, regional chapters, the BioProject, the Games Project, and much more. SABR continues to offer unparalleled opportunities for involvement and benefits for members around the world.

As a 501(c)3 organization, tax-deductible donations allow SABR to expand member opportunities and to become an even larger voice in the baseball community. Many members have already become donors, and you can join them right now by making your gift online at SABR.org/donate. Please help us reach our donation drive goal!

You can also send your donation by check to: SABR, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

All of us at SABR appreciate your support of our great organization and the game we love.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/donate.

2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists announced

The 2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners will be unveiled during a one-hour, ESPN “Baseball Tonight” primetime special on Tuesday, November 10 beginning at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT.

For the third consecutive season, the SABR Defensive Index™ will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process that was added to the votes from the managers and coaches. The latest SDI rankings can be found at SABR.org/SDI. The final SDI results will be released following the conclusion of the 2015 season.

Following the ESPN announcement telecast, voting for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™ presented by SABR will begin at Rawlings.com, allowing the general public to weigh in as to who is “The Finest in the Field®” in both the American League and National League. Fans can only select one player among the 2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners from each League. A combination of the international fan vote and the SABR Defensive Index will determine who takes home the honor of each League’s top defensive player.

The SDI is compiled by the SABR Defensive Committee, which includes SABR President Vince Gennaro, Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference.com, Ben Jedlovec of Baseball Info Solutions, SABR Director F.X. Flinn, author and defensive metrics expert Chris Dial, and author Michael Humphreys.

Learn more about the SABR Defensive Index and view updated rankings at SABR.org/SDI.

Early registration now open for 2016 SABR Analytics Conference

SABR has a long and storied history with baseball statistical analysis, evidenced by the link between our name and sabermetrics. While SABR is a multi-faceted organization involved in virtually every aspect of baseball, we continue to build on our legacy by producing and hosting the fifth annual SABR Analytics Conference.

Once again, we’re bringing together the top minds of the baseball analytic community under one roof to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball.

The schedule will consist of a combination of Guest Speakers, Panels and Research Presentations — plus the unique Diamond Dollars Case Competition, in which undergraduate, graduate, and law school students from across the country analyze and present a real baseball operations decision.

  • Conference registration is available now at the SABR Store. Click here to register! The conference is open to all baseball fans. The early registration rate is $395 for SABR members and $495 for nonmembers, or $350 for currently enrolled high school or college students (includes one-year membership to SABR).
  • Book your hotel room: The 2016 SABR Analytics Conference will be held Thursday, March 10 through Saturday, March 12 at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, 122 N. 2nd St., Phoenix, AZ 85004. Click here to book your hotel room at the special SABR group rate of $179/night (plus tax) for double occupancy. Or call (602) 252-1234 and mention that you’re with the SABR Analytics Conference.

Check back soon at SABR.org/analytics as we announce some of our featured speakers, panels and presentations for the 2016 SABR Analytics Conference!

Related links:

It’s almost time to renew your SABR membership

For those of you whose SABR memberships expire by December 31 — you can check your current membership status here — it’s almost time for you to renew! We’re excited about the upcoming year ahead of us and we hope you’ll take advantage of all the great membership benefits offered to SABR members in 2016. Here’s a short list:

http://sabr.org/member-benefits

You can renew your membership for 1 year or 3 years online at the SABR Store; by phone at (602) 496-1460; or by mailing this downloadable PDF form and your payment to the office at: SABR, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

Dues are the same as they have been in recent years: for this, you get two editions of the Baseball Research Journal, the expanded e-book edition of The National Pastime; 8-10 free e-books published by the SABR Digital Library; “This Week in SABR” every Friday; access to research resources such as Paper of Record (with complete archives of The Sporting News); discounts to all SABR conferences such as the National Convention (Miami 2016), the SABR Analytics Conference, the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, and the Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference; discounts to MLB.TV; and much, much more.

We believe SABR has something for everyone, from the active researcher to someone passionate about baseball. We hope you’ll invite your friends, colleagues and family members to join at store.sabr.org.

  • Add a family member for $15: Any SABR member can add a family member in the same household for $15 per year; they will receive all electronic member benefits and access to the website, but no printed publications. To add a new family member, please contact Membership Director Deb Jayne. Note: In order to renew your existing family membership, you must log in to the SABR website under the family member’s username/e-mail address, not your own.

Walker: The humble (ad-free) origins of the first World Series broadcast

SABR member James Walker, author of such seminal baseball media books as Center Field Shot and the recently released Crack of the Bat, just published a terrific new article over at The Conversation about the origins of World Series broadcasts, the first of which took place in 1921. With permission, the full article is reprinted at SABRMedia.org, which you can read here:

http://sabrmedia.org/2015/10/27/the-humble-ad-free-origins-of-the-first-world-series-broadcasts/

There are some revelations that will surprise us media-savvy consumers of the early 21st century, not the least of which is the commercial- and broadcast rights fee-free nature of those early broadcasts. Another significant difference from today’s broadcasts is the multiple network coverage of the Series, as CBS joined NBC in broadcasting the Fall Classic in 1927, with Mutual becoming the third radio network to do so simultaneously starting in 1935. Both these circumstances yielded a permanent solution starting in 1939, which you can read more about below.

As enjoyable as this article is to read, the most fun part about it might well be the two minutes and forty-five seconds you can spend watching various footage taken of the 1921 World Series in the video embedded within, which includes not only real-time speed footage, but also what can only be characterized as “super slo-mo” footage, which we are now used to seeing for events taking place in 2015 but which look completely and wonderfully anachronistic when seen for events taking place almost a century ago.

— Chuck Hildebrandt

SABR Digital Library: A Pennant for the Twin Cities: The 1965 Minnesota Twins

Add a pennant-winning book to your collection with the newest title from the SABR Digital Library:

A Pennant for the Twin Cities: The 1965 Minnesota Twins
Edited by Gregory H. Wolf
Associate Editors: James Forr, Len Levin, and Bill Nowlin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-943816-08-8, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-09-5, $19.95
404 pages

This volume celebrates the 1965 Minnesota Twins, who captured the American League pennant in just their fifth season in the Twin Cities. Led by an All-Star cast, from Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Zoilo Versalles, and Mudcat Grant to Bob Allison, Jim Kaat, Earl Battey, and Jim Perry, the Twins won 102 games, but bowed to the Los Angeles Dodgers and a herculean performance by Sandy Koufax in Game Seven of the World Series.

Included are the life and baseball stories of all 35 roster players, the coaches, and manager of the 1965 Twins, plus team owner Calvin Griffith; broadcasters Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, and Ray Scott; and sportswriters Dick Gordon and Max Nichols. A comprehensive summary of the regular season, as well as meticulous essays highlighting important games and the All-Star Game played in Minnesota, an overview of the 1965 Dodgers, and thorough summaries the World Series games are included. Chapters about how the Griffith family built its pennant winner, the fate of the Twins after 1965, Metropolitan Stadium, and the 1965 season “by the numbers” round out the book.

Contributors include Marc Z. Aaron, Mark Armour, Peter C. Bjarkman, Alan Cohen, Tracy J.R. Collins, Rory Costello, Jeff English, Greg Erion, Dan Fields, Jan Finkel, Chip Greene, Kevin Hennessy, Jack Herrman, Jimmy Keenan, Norm King, Ben Klein, Patrick Lethert, Daniel R. Levitt, Bill Nowlin, J.G. Preston, Joel Rippel, Frank Russo, Rick Schabowski, Steve Schmitt, Doug Skipper, John Swol, Stew Thornley, Tom Tomashek, Joseph Wancho, Steve West, and Gregory H. Wolf.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. To download all past releases, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

  • 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.

Call for papers: 2016 The National Pastime convention journal

The 46th annual SABR national convention will take place July 27-31, 2016, in Miami, Florida.

To coincide with the convention, the summer 2016 issue of The National Pastime will focus on Florida and particularly Miami-area baseball. Florida has had a long relationship with Major League Baseball as the home of the Grapefruit League spring training, as well as various minor leagues, college baseball powerhouses, and two current major-league expansion franchises.

This issue of The National Pastime will be edited by publications director Cecilia Tan. She will be taking queries and abstracts until November 15, 2015, and will make assignments no later than December 1. First drafts of articles will be due no later than March 1, 2016, and rewrites (if needed) will be due by April 15.

Remember that every article must include proper citation of sources and present a clear thesis, and to be published in a SABR journal, your SABR membership must be current.

Note also that the TNP will have both a print edition (given out to SABR 46 convention attendees) and an expanded e-book version that will be sent to all SABR members. Some, but not all, of the articles will be selected to appear in the print edition, while more will appear in the electronic edition.

Last call for papers: 2016 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference

All SABR members are invited and encouraged to submit a Research Presentation Proposal Abstract for the 2016 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference.

The eighth annual 19th Century Conference will be held April 15-16, 2016, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Abstracts of 200-500 words are being accepted through October 31, 2015, for a 20- to 25-minute oral research presentation on any topic about 19th-century baseball. Please include title and contact information. Proposals must be part of an e-mail or in the form of a Word or PDF document sent to Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

Details on conference registration will be available at SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c in early 2016.

To view coverage of the 2015 Ivor-Campbell 19th Century conference, click here.

2016 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference: Essay Contest, Art Contest, Library Grants

The 19th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held in the summer of 2016 at Eau Claire, Wisconsin (dates TBA soon). The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages. Applications are now available for the High School Essay Contest, the Youth Art Contest, and the Library Grant program for 2016:

  • Essay Contest: SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee will award four $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors in its eighth annual essay contest in 2016. Students must be current high school seniors, carrying a minimum 2.5 GPA, and planning to pursue a degree at an accredited U.S. post‐secondary institution. Visit SABR.org/malloy to download PDF scholarship applications for the Jimmie Crutchfield Memorial Scholarship, the Rube Foster Memorial Scholarship, the Robert Peterson Scholarship, and the Normal “Tweed” Webb Scholarship. All applications must be sent no later than March 28, 2016.
  • Library Grants: SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will award two $500 Dick Clark Memorial Library Grants for 2015-16. School and community libraries from across the country are invited to submit grant proposals centering on educating students and the community about black baseball and American history. All applications must be sent by April 4, 2016.
  • Art Contest: SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee’s will hold its seventh annual Art Contest in 2016. The theme is “Black Baseball Life.” The entry fee for professionals and amateur is $30 and the deadline for submission is May 9, 2016. The entry fee for the youth contest is $10 and the deadline for submission is May 23, 2016.

For more information, visit SABR.org/malloy.

Save the date! SABR Day is coming up on January 30, 2016

Just a reminder to all that the seventh annual SABR Day will be held Saturday, January 30, 2016. We’re starting to compile details now on 2016 SABR Day chapter meetings around the country. We’ll post them as soon as we get them at SABR.org/sabrday.

Regional SABR meetings are open to all baseball fans and are usually free to attend, so bring a friend! Guest speakers often include current and former baseball players, managers, umpires, executives, scouts, writers and authors.

Check back soon at SABR.org/sabrday for more information on a SABR Day meeting close to you.

For a complete recap of 2015 SABR Day activities, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

8 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Eight new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 3,472 published biographies. Here are the new bios:

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

  • Help us write 2016 Hall of Fame biographies: SABR Director Emily Hawks has launched a new BioProject initiative for biographies of players who are likely to be on the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot later this year, and a few players still need biographers. If you are interested in writing a SABR biography for one of these players, please contact Emily Hawks at emilyhawks@gmail.com: Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Jeff Kent, Jason Kendall, Jim Edmonds.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s This Week in SABR

We’ve heard your feedback: Some of you have said you look forward to “This Week in SABR” every Friday, but sometimes there are just too many compelling articles and announcements to read every week. We’re not complaining — hey, keep up the great work! — but we know the feeling. So in an effort to make the length of this newsletter more manageable to read, we’ll summarize some of the repeating/recurring announcements in a special “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)” section of “This Week in SABR”.

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

Welcome, new members!

We’d like to welcome all of our new SABR members who have joined this week. You can find all Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org and the New Member Handbook can be downloaded here.

Please give these new members a warm welcome and help them make the most of their membership by giving them the opportunity to get involved in their local chapter or a research committee.

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

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Brian Baughan Philadelphia, PA     Patrick Montefusco Oceanside, NY
Russell Bergtold Crown Point, IN     Christopher Shorey Dover-Foxcroft, ME
Stephen Dolan III Blue Bell, PA     Barry Spiegel Peoria, AZ
Bryce Faber Paradise Valley, AZ     Dennis Sutcliffe Cleveland Heights, OH
David Hawkins Ann Arbor, MI     David Tregerman Patchogue, NY
Dave Heath Austin, TX     Jerry Walters Charlotte, NC
Harry Hoglander Washington, DC     Michael Wickham Chula Vista, CA
Patrick Jennings Roseland, NJ     Michael Wojcik Phoenix, AZ

 

Research Committee news

There were no new SABR research committee updates this week.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

  • Rocky Mountain Chapter annual banquet: The Rocky Mountain Chapter‘s 18th annual chapter banquet will take place on Saturday, November 14 at Coors Field, home of the Rockies. Guest speakers include Oakland A’s outfielder Sam Fuld and Toronto Blue Jays scout Dan Evans. To register, go to rmsabr.org and click on “Banquet”. Registration is $60 per person. Click here for more details.
  • Magnolia Chapter annual banquet: The Magnolia/Georgia Chapter will hold its annual fall banquet on Saturday, November 14 at the Holiday Inn-Atlanta Northlake in Atlanta. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now. The featured speaker is SABR member Robert K. Fitts author of Mashi and Banzai Babe Ruth. Cost: $27 per person. Click here for more details.

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.

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.

Have trouble reading this e-mail? Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web.

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Originally published: October 30, 2015. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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