This Week in SABR: September 23, 2016

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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 September 23, 2016:

SABR members, cast your vote in the 2016 Esurance MLB Awards

SABR members once again have the opportunity to play a key role in selecting the winners of the 2016 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%)

This year’s Esurance MLB Awards will feature nominees in 20 suspenseful categories. Individual awards will go to the Best Major Leaguer, Best Hitter, Best Pitcher, Best Rookie, Best Defensive Player, Best Social Media Personality, Best Play-Offense, Best Play-Defense, Best Moment, Best Performance, Best Social Media Post, Best Fan Catch, Best MLB Interview, Best Call, TV/Radio, Best Player-Fan Interaction, Best Trending Topic, Best Manager, and Best Executive.

Plus, check out the top MLB Fans of the Year presented by Esurance, including SABR member Emma X. Amaya, who was voted as the Los Angeles Dodgers Fan of the Year.

To cast your SABR vote in the 2016 Esurance MLB Awards, click here. Voting will remain open through November 11, 2016.

Visit mlb.com/awards to learn more. Winners will be announced live on MLB Network and MLB.com on November 18, 2016.

SABR Digital Library: Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings

The newest publication from the SABR Digital Library focuses on the first great dynasty in professional baseball:

Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings
Edited by Bob LeMoine and Bill Nowlin
Associate editor: Len Levin
397 pages, 8.5″ x 11″
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9438-1628-6, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9438-1629-3, $19.95

Before the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Braves, there were the Boston Red Stockings. They were “Boston’s First Nine” and 1871 through 1875, they won four consecutive pennants in the old National Association, considered by many to be baseball’s first major league. In this five-year period, the team only fielded 22 players — but, then again, these were the days of the “one-man rotation.” Who needed two pitchers, when one would do? And if that pitcher was Al Spalding, who won more than 50 games in back-to-back seasons of 1874 and 1875, that one pitcher was pretty good. Of the 22 players on the team, five of them are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

These were different days. The game was played a little differently from today — but not that differently. Take some time and enjoy the work of 38 SABR members. Several are among our leading 19th-century baseball experts; others became enthralled digging into the early days of professional baseball in Boston. There are fascinating stories of the men who played the game, the games, the seasons, the tours of Canada and even England and Ireland, where they took on some of the better cricket players of the British Isles, and beat them, too. 

Take a trip back to those glorious days of yesteryear, and see if you don’t become captivated as we were in learning about stories of baseball and life from more than 140 years ago. The book includes recaps of each season, 1871-75, informative articles about the team and front office, and player biographies.

Contributors include: Matt Albertson, David Arcidiacono, Andrew Arends, Charlie Bevis, Christopher J. Devine, Paul E. Doutrich, Brian Engelhardt, Charles F. Faber, Scott Fiesthumel, Terry D. Gottschall, Gerry Goulet, Donna L. Halper, Richard Hershberger, Joanne Hulbert, Jay Hurd, Bill Lamb, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Michael R. McAvoy, David McDonald, William McMahon, Eric Miklich, Peter Morris, David Nemec, Bill Nowlin, Mark Pestana, Mike Richard, Bob Ruzzo, William J. Ryczek, Mark Souder, David C. Southwick, Mark S. Sternman, John Thorn, Richard “Dixie” Tourangeau, Joe Williams, Jim Wohlenhaus, Gregory H. Wolf, and John Zinn.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

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.

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. To find more SABR Digital Library books, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

One week left! Get the Fall 2016 Baseball Research Journal delivered straight to your inbox

Once again, SABR is offering members the opportunity to opt out of receiving the printed version of the Fall 2016 Baseball Research Journal. We’ll deliver the e-book version of the Fall 2016 BRJ in the format of your choice (EPUB, MOBI/Kindle or PDF) straight to your inbox in early November. Click here to learn more about receiving the e-book edition of the BRJ.

Opt out of receiving the printed edition by Saturday, October 1 in order to get early access to all the great content in the BRJ in e-book format and online at SABR.org.

  • To opt out of receiving the printed version of the Baseball Research Journal: Click here to edit your membership profile. Scroll to the bottom and select “Receive publications electronically.” Then save your changes.

Please note: If you do nothing, you will continue to receive two print editions of the Baseball Research Journal every year by mail.

If you’ve never read a Baseball Research Journal in e-book form, click here to try it out with the Spring 2015 edition. The Baseball Research Journal, and all SABR e-books, are available in EPUB, MOBI/Kindle or PDF formats.

To read articles from the BRJ archives, click here.

Registration now open for 2016 SABR Arizona Fall League Experience

We hope you’ll join us for the eighth annual SABR Arizona Fall League Experience, which will be held Thursday, November 3 to Saturday, November 5, 2016. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

The event will feature four AFL games — at four different ballparks — showcasing baseball’s top prospects. We’ll also have a ballpark dinner at Scottsdale Stadium with a special guest speaker and the Arizona Major League Alumni auction on Friday evening.

On Saturday, November 5, attendees will join members of SABR’s Flame Delhi Chapter for their regional fall meeting, with research presentations and guest speakers. We’ll conclude the conference with the nationally televised Fall Stars Game on Saturday evening at Surprise Stadium. All of this, including transportation, is included in one low registration price.

  • Register now by clicking here! Registration is $175 for all SABR members and guests before October 7, 2016; $195 afterward.
  • Host hotel: SABR’s recommended hotel is the Holiday Inn Express & Suites (3131 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251) in Old Town Scottsdale. Click here to book your room online or call the hotel at (480) 675-7665 and mention “SABR” to book your room at our special group rate of $116/night (plus tax).

Your registration fee includes all game tickets; an AFL Media Guide; a special evening with Arizona Major League Alumni; and transportation to and from all events.

The Arizona Fall League (mlbfallball.com) is baseball’s premier player development league. In the first seven years of the conference, attendees were treated to sneak peeks at Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Nolan Arenado, Gerrit Cole, Billy Hamilton, and Gary Sanchez 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!

Register now for the 2016 SABR Philadelphia 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

Join us for the Philadelphia 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium, co-hosted by SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee and the Connie Mack/Philadelphia Chapter, will take place from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 12, 2016, at Maggiano’s Restaurant, 1201 Filbert St. in the Center City of Philadelphia.

We’ll have a full day of programming that will include a Welcoming Address by Major League Baseball’s Official Historian John Thorn; a Luncheon Keynote presentation by veteran Philadelphia newspaper reporters and editors Daniel R. Biddle and Murray Dubin, co-authors of Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America; a panel discussion on Philadelphia’s 19th Century Baseball’s Movers & Shakers, moderated by Dick Rosen; four other Research Presentations devoted to seldom addressed aspects of 19th-century baseball by such experts as Jerrold Casway, Ralph Carhart, Richard Hershberger, John Shiffert, and Matt Albertson.

Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

For more information, please contact Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

It’s official! SABR 47 will be in New York City in 2017

Save the date! SABR will be returning to the Big Apple for our 47th national convention on June 28-July 2, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt New York. Registration information will be available at SABR.org/convention in early 2017. The New York Mets are scheduled to play the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game series at Citi Field during 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.

SABR 47, which is open to all baseball fans, will include top featured speakers from around the baseball world — front office executives, players, managers, scouts, writers and analysts. More details will be announced in early 2017 at SABR.org/convention.

SABR’s 2017 national convention will be our 47th annual gathering; the organization’s founding in Cooperstown in 1971 is counted as the first. Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

For more information on the SABR convention, visit SABR.org/convention.

Call for papers: 2017 SABR Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference

All SABR members are invited and encouraged to submit a Research Presentation Proposal Abstract on any topic of 19th-century baseball for the 2017 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The ninth annual Ivor-Campbell Conference is scheduled for April 21-22, 2017.

The deadline for proposal Abstracts is October 31, 2016. Your abstract must be between 200-500 words for a 20- to 25-minute presentation. Please include name, title, and contact information and send your proposal as a Microsoft Word or PDF attachment to Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

This deadline enables us to publish the complete program and schedule in time for the release of our 2017 Winter Issue of our quarterly newsletter, “Nineteenth Century Notes,” in early January, when registration for “The Fred” begins.

For any questions, please contact Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

SABR BioProject: Vin Scully

Chances are if one were to poll SABR members about the greatest left-hander in the more than century-long history of the Dodgers franchise, the most frequent response would be, “Sandy Koufax.” But they would be incorrect. Without a doubt, the honor of greatest southpaw in organizational history belongs to Vincent E. Scully.

So writes Greg King in his SABR BioProject article on the iconic Dodgers broadcaster, who is about to wrap up his illustrious 67-year career next week. The Los Angeles Dodgers are celebrating Vin Scully Appreciation Weekend against the Rockies in their final home series beginning tonight and Scully is scheduled to call his final games from AT&T Park when the Dodgers travel to San Francisco to finish the regular season against their longtime rivals, the Giants.

Scully’s association with the Dodgers goes back to their days in Brooklyn, when the “Boys of Summer” of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and Duke Snider were contending for the National League pennant every year. In Scully’s very first Dodgers broadcast, during spring training of 1950, he called a triple play — and met Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack! Today, he still calls the exploits of Dodgers stars Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager, both of whom were born years after Scully was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award in 1982. 

As King writes, Scully’s “signature is an easy-going, golden-throated delivery, displaying a great command of the English language, deployed in a manner that has been called nothing short of an art form. USA Today called him ‘the poet laureate of baseball.’ ”

Click here to read more about Vin Scully at the SABR BioProject.

Related links:

6 new SABR biographies published

Six new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which — along with the publication of Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings — brings us to a total of 3,869 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

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

Nuclear Powered Baseball biographies now posted online

In SABR’s Nuclear Powered Baseball: Articles Inspired by The Simpsons Episode “Homer At the Bat,” edited by Emily Hawks and Bill Nowlin and published by SABR in 2016, we paid tribute to an iconic episode of the long-running animated show’s that featured the National Pastime.

The series has a long history with baseball and, in Season Three, the episode “Homer at the Bat” aired on February 20, 1992. Co-editor Emily Hawks writes in her Introduction, “To see so many of the biggest MLB stars of the day in Simpsonian animated form — Ken Griffey Jr., Ozzie Smith, and Jose Canseco, just to name a few — seemed the most exciting thing in the world to this ’90s kid. And the fact that they all lent their own voices to the parts seemed even cooler. It may have also been one of my first glimpses into baseball’s early days. As a kid, I had no idea that Mr. Burns’ dream squad — comprised of colorful names like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pie Traynor, and Napoleon Lajoie — actually referenced real players. Those seemed like decidedly fabricated names to me!”

They weren’t. They were real ballplayers. And in Nuclear Powered Baseball, we wrote about them all, telling the stories of each player — past and present — featured in the classic Simpsons episode. The biographies compiled here take the players well beyond their two-dimensional caricatures, and present a well-rounded view of their lives in baseball. Even Homer Jay Simpson gets his own biography, too.

The SABR BioProject biographies that appeared in Nuclear Powered Baseball can now be read online at: http://sabr.org/category/completed-book-projects/nuclear-powered-baseball

You can also purchase the book or download the e-book by clicking here. SABR members can download all SABR Digital Library e-books for free at SABR.org/ebooks.

6 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

All new Games Project stories can be found here: http://sabr.org/gamesproject/recent

  • Get involved: 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.
  • Thanks to our editors and fact-checkers: For those of you who have reached out offering to edit or fact-check games over the past few weeks: Thank you! Thanks to numerous responses, we are now sufficiently staffed in this area to more quickly process game articles toward publlication. If you have any questions about the Games Project or would like to help, please contact Greg Erion or Bruce Slutsky for more information.
  • Still waiting for your story to appear? Due to changes in the editing team, it may be possible that Games Project stories submitted in the past few months for editing have been lost prior to their being vetted and published. If you have submitted an article and not heard back from an editor or seen your article published yet, please resubmit your article(s) to Len Levin at lenlevin5@hotmail.com. We are working hard to post all back stories that were submitted and we apologize for any inconvenience this development may have caused.

Listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Sunday nights

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

This week’s guest is Scott Spratt of Baseball Info Solutions.

Now, you can also watch video highlights of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on MLB.com and you can also listen to all recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

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.

SABR 46 Board minutes posted

Minutes from the Board of Directors meetings during SABR 46 in Miami, including the Annual Business Meeting, have now been posted on the SABR website.

You can view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings by going to the page below:

http://sabr.org/content/sabr-board-minutes

Or you can go to the Members’ Info page and click on “Org. files”, then “Board Minutes” to view the minutes.

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
Christopher Brazda Puyallup, WA     Dave Melkonian Gaithersburg, MD
Bud Crotteau Sandown, NH     Trevor Mills Talent, OR
Alexander Feng Plainsboro, NJ     Steve Ohnsman South Haven, MI
Patrick Griffin Oakville, ON     Bill Pearch Elmhurst, IL
John Gustafsson Staten Island, NY     Brad Porter Los Altos, CA
David Marmor West Hills, CA     Gerald Ramsdell North East, PA

 

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee updates this week:

  • Oral History: Barry M. Bloom has been a national reporter for MLB.com since 2002 and has more than 35 years of experience covering sports. He covered baseball and hockey for five years at Bloomberg News and also spent 16 years as a writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune. John McMurray interviewed him for SABR’s Oral History Collection on July 30 at the SABR 46 convention in Miami. Click here to listen to the interview with Barry Bloom. To learn more about the Oral History Collection, click here.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

  • Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap (September 19; St. Louis, MO) 
  • Halsey Hall Chapter: October 2016 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)
  • Rocky Mountain Chapter annual banquet: Register now for the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s 19th annual banquet on Saturday, November 5, 2016, at Coors Field in Denver. Our special guest speakers this year are Vinny Castilla and Ellis Burks, who were stars when the “Blake Street Bombers” ruled Denver in the 1990s. Additionally, Rockies then-General Manager Bob Gebhard will be on hand to receive the Rocky Mountain SABR Award for lifetime achievement in baseball. Our Master of Ceremonies will be former Rockies pitcher Jason Hirsh. Tickets are $65 and open to all SABR members and guests. Visit RMSABR.org to learn more.
  • Rogers Hornsby Chapter: Check out the Austin (Texas) chapter’s new and improved website at sabrhornsby.org.
  • Chapter websites/social media: Chapter leaders, all chapters are encouraged to have a presence online to help raise awareness of SABR and bring extra attention to our research, events, and activities. Click here if your chapter is interested in learning more about creating a new chapter website or social media accounts, and for a complete list of chapter sites and social media accounts.
  • Best Practices handbook: Chapter leaders, download the new 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:

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: September 23, 2016. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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