This Week in SABR: September 4, 2015

September 4, 2015/in This Week in SABR /by jpomrenke

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Please note the SABR office will be closed for Labor Day on Monday, September 7. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of September 4, 2015:

Registration now open for 2015 SABR Arizona Fall League Experience

Registration is now open for the seventh annual SABR Arizona Fall League Experience — a new name, but same great experience — on November 5-7, 2015, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Click here to register for the 2015 AFL Experience
Schedule: The full conference schedule is now available at SABR.org/AFL.
Host hotel: Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Old Town Scottsdale, 3131 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251. Visit www.hiescottsdalehotel.com to book your room online or call the hotel at (480) 675-7665 and mention the “SABR Fall League Experience” to get the special group rate of $109/night (plus tax). Reservations must be booked by October 4, 2015, to get the SABR group rate.

The event 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.

Learn more about Arizona baseball history by downloading Mining Towns to Major Leagues: A History of Arizona Baseball, SABR’s 1999 convention journal that was recently republished as an e-book at the Flame Delhi Chapter’s website, SABRAZ.org.

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

Related link: 2015 AFL rosters packed with elite prospects (MLB.com)

Educators, sign up your students for a SABR Student Group Affiliate Membership

SABR’s Student Group Affiliate Membership program, established in 2014, will provide students with access to many of the electronic benefits that SABR members enjoy, including “This Week in SABR,” e-book editions of the Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime, free SABR e-books, and access to the members-only section of SABR.org. This membership will not include any printed publications or voting rights.

In order to make the Student Group Affiliate Membership affordable for groups to join, here are the options we offer:

College/University groups/classes: For an annual fee of $250, a group of up to 25 students can receive a one-year electronic SABR affiliate membership.
High School/Middle School groups/classes: For an annual fee of $100, a group of up to 20 students can receive a one-year electronic SABR affiliate membership.

Any educational class or student group at the middle school, high school or college/university level is eligible for a SABR affiliate membership, as long as a faculty member, teacher, or advisor is an active SABR member (or registers to join.) The teacher/advisor will be listed as the group contact on the SABR website.

The teacher/advisor will be asked to collect the money, names and e-mail addresses for all students wishing to join, and submit those to the SABR office at one time. In addition, the advisor/instructor must be an active SABR member or sign up for a regular SABR membership; annual dues are $65, with discounts available for adults under the age of 30 or over 65.

To sign up for a Student Group Affiliate Membership, or if you have any questions about how it might work for your group or class, please contact SABR Director Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu or (330) 244-3304.

**Get the Fall 2015 Baseball Research Journal delivered straight to your inbox**

Once again, SABR is offering its members the opportunity to opt out of receiving the printed version of the Fall 2015 Baseball Research Journal. We’ll deliver the e-book version of the Fall 2015 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 October 1, 2015, 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 2014 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.

Don’t forget to renew: You can renew your SABR membership at any time in order to continue receiving the Baseball Research Journal, The National Pastime, and many other member benefits throughout the year. Click here to view your membership status and expiration date, or renew your membership.

SABR Digital Library: Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Braves Field by adding the newest title from the SABR Digital Library:

Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Bob Brady
Associate Editors: Greg Erion and Len Levin
$9.99 e-book; $19.95 paperback
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-933599-92-2
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933599-93-9
277 pages

From its opening on August 18, 1915 to the sudden departure of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee just weeks before the start of the 1953 baseball season, Braves Field was home to Boston’s National League baseball club. The ballpark hosted many other events, from college and NFL football to major-league soccer to championship boxing, and the facility lives on as Boston University’s Nickerson Field. Many of the most memorable moments to occur in Braves Field history are portrayed here, providing a look back at a ballpark often overlooked even in Boston today.

Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond combines the collaborative effort of 43 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), including Alan Cohen, Bob Brady, Bob Goodof, Bob LeMoine, Bob Ruzzo, Brian Davenport, C. Paul Rogers III, Cecilia Tan, Chip Greene, Dan McCloskey, David C. Southwick, Donna L. Halper, Douglas Chapman, Eric Aron, Gerald E. Beirne, Greg Erion, Gregory H. Wolf, Harvey Soolman, Herb Crehan, Jack Zerby, Jim Kaplan, Jim Prime, Joe Schuster, Joe Wancho, John Delmore, John DiFonzo, Len Levin, Lyle Spatz, Mark Pestana, Mark S. Sternman, Mike Lynch, Mike Richard, Mort Bloomberg, R.E. McMillin, Raymond Miller, Richard “Dixie” Tourangeau, Rick Schabowski, Saul Wisnia, Scott Ferkovich, Thomas Mason, Tim Goehlert, Tom Hufford, Tyler Ash, W. G. Nicholson, and Warren Corbett.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond paperback edition for $9.95 (plus shipping) from CreateSpace.

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. Find all past titles at 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.

Last call: Students, apply for a Fall 2015 internship with SABR

The Society for American Baseball Research is seeking Fall 2015 interns to work in our office in Phoenix, Arizona.

An internship with SABR will involve responsibilities across a variety of disciplines, possibly including:

Working on-site at a local SABR conference, such as the SABR Arizona Fall League Experience
Working with our Membership Director or Director of Operations on organizational duties, membership renewal drives, customer service
Working with our Web Editor to help publish and/or produce content for our website at SABR.org

Interested candidates should be able to demonstrate basic office-related computer skills. HTML knowledge is a plus.

A working knowledge of baseball — and an awareness of the game’s general history and basic statistics — is required.

The internship is an educational opportunity that may count toward college credit, covering 15-20 hours per week (flexible schedule), at the SABR office in Phoenix, Arizona. The internship will be for a fixed period of time and is designed to provide the intern with skills and training that may be applicable to working in a nonprofit research environment or in other research-based organizations. No housing assistance will be provided.

Please send a resume and cover letter in PDF form to mappleman@sabr.org or jpomrenke@sabr.org by 5:00 p.m. MST Friday, September 4, 2015.

Listen to Eno Sarris on Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM

We invite you to listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a new radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, on Sunday nights on MLB Network Radio.

One of this week’s guests is SABR member Eno Sarris, a writer and analyst for FanGraphs, who will talk about baseball’s hardest-throwing starters, including Nathan Eovaldi and Yordano Ventura.

Baseball SABR Style focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It will air 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. (Recent shows are available afterward in the “on-demand” section of the SiriusXM app or website.)

For more information, click here.

Three iconic voices in Atlanta Braves’ first season

When the Atlanta Braves began broadcasting in April of 1966, Atlanta area listeners had a long history of baseball radio. Atlanta Crackers broadcaster Ernie Harwell famously had such a reputation in the 1940s that he was traded to a major-league team for a catcher. Because of lawsuits in Milwaukee, the Braves’ move to Atlanta was delayed a year until 1966, but Atlanta Stadium was completed a year early and exhibition games were scheduled to whet the interest of the new Braves fans.

During 1965 Milwaukee games were announced back to Atlanta by Mel Allen and Hank Morgan, with Ernie Johnson as color man. Fans naturally expected the famous former Yankees announcer to come to the Braves in 1966 and many wanted Crackers announcer Morgan to be his broadcasting sidekick. This, however, was not to be.

Instead, the Atlanta Braves hired Johnson, along with two other broadcasters who would become iconic voices in sports: Milo Hamilton, a future Ford Frick Award recipient, and Larry Munson, more famous as the voice of the University of Georgia Bulldogs.

Click here to read the full article, written by Bob Barrier, at the SABR BioProject: http://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/1966-atlanta-braves-broadcasters

Related link: Download your free e-book copy of SABR’s Calling the Game: Baseball Broadcasting from 1920 to the Present, by Stuart Shea

6 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Six new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 3,338 published biographies. Here are the new bios:

1966 Atlanta Braves broadcasters, by Bob Barrier
Alan Ashby, by Maxwell Kates
Happy Chandler, by Terry Bohn
Stew Cliburn, by Alan Cohen
Lou Legett, by Bill Nowlin
Carl Reynolds, by Bill Nowlin

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

You can find the SABR BioProject at SABR.org/BioProject.

Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment” — write the story and we’ll publish it!

Get involved! If you’d like to help contribute to the SABR BioProject, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. We’re also looking to expand the BioProject to include all “encyclopedic” articles on baseball-related subjects from past SABR publications or committee newsletters. If you come across an article you think should be included in the SABR “baseball repository” at the BioProject, send a copy or link to markarmour04@gmail.com or jpomrenke@sabr.org.

5 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

May 25, 1882: Buffalo’s Curry Foley completes first cycle in major leagues with grand slam, by Mike Huber
October 9, 1914: Rudolph outpitches Bender in World Series opener, by Mark Sternman
October 10, 1914: Bill James outduels Eddie Plank in Game Two, by Mark Sternman
October 12, 1914: Braves win Game Three in 12 innings, by Mark Sternman
October 13, 1914: Braves finish off shocking World Series upset in Game Four, by Mark Sternman

The SABR Baseball Games Project was launched in 2014 to research and write articles on major-league and Negro League regular, postseason, and All-Star Games. These game accounts will complement Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference box scores as well as BioProject essays on the players involved.

The articles are not intended to be mere play-by-play summaries, nor should they be first-person narratives. Rather the goal is to put each game in historical context — whether that history is of a particular player, team, season, or something even broader.

Visit the Games Project website at SABR.org/gamesproject.

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.
Questions: Contact Greg Erion for more information about the Games Project, James Forr to request an assignment, or Chip Greene to submit your draft article.

Find all recent articles from the SABR Games Project on one page

You can now find all recent articles published in the SABR Games Project, including essays from Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century, on one page:

http://sabr.org/gamesproject/recent

Games Project articles are not intended to be mere play-by-play summaries, nor should they be first-person narratives. Rather the goal is to put each game in historical context — whether that history is of a particular player, team, season, or something even broader.

Visit the Games Project website at SABR.org/gamesproject.

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.
Questions: Contact Greg Erion for more information about the Games Project, James Forr to request an assignment, or Chip Greene to submit your draft article.

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
Hugh Atkins	Pleasant View, TN	Michael Passey	Fairfax, VA
Steven Breen	Nashua, NH	Colin Quinton	Menlo Park, CA
Steven Davis	Abbeville, SC	Benjamin Schwartz	Charleston, SC
Jovita De Loatch	San Francisco, CA	Tony Shupenko	Louisville, KY
James Hurt	St. Paul, MN	Stace Sisco	Turlock, CA
Roy Levy	Phoenix, AZ	Dudley Williams	Stamford, CT
John Murphy	East Hartford, CT	Jeffrey Williams	St. Paul, MN
Thomas Nakamura	Brookeville, MD	Morgan Wiper	Ithaca, NY

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee updates this week:

Biographical Research: July/August 2015 newsletter

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter meeting recap (August 29; Hartford, CT)
Pee Wee Reese Chapter: In addition to current chapter leaders Harry Rothgerber, Bud Thieman, Bill Marshall, Rodger Payne, Craig Combs and Brent Kelley, the following three members have been added to the Louisville chapter’s Steering Committee: Chris Krebs of Bowling Green, Kentucky; Brian Lepley of Louisville; and Robert Sawyer of Louisville.
Rogers Hornsby Chapter-North inaugural meeting: RSVP now for the inaugural meeting of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter-North on Saturday, September 19 in Waco, Texas. All baseball fans are welcome to join us. Please reserve your spot now to David Skelton at dsbaseballfan@yahoo.com. Expected speakers include: former major-leaguer Lindy McDaniel, author John Wood, Texas League historian Mark Presswood, Eric Robinson on Negro League history in Central Texas, Eugene Baker, David Lintz, Robert Gamboa, and Gale McCray. Click here for more details.
Combined tri-chapter minor-league meeting in Lancaster, PA: We hope you’ll join us on Saturday, September 19 at a Lancaster Barnstormers game for a tri-chapter regional meeting hosted by the Bob Davids Chapter, Connie Mack Chapter, and Babe Ruth Chapter. Tickets are $40 per person (includes dinner) and limited to the first 25 people who register. Click here for more details and a registration form.

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

September 5: Talkin’ Baseball: Cesar Brioso (Columbia, MD)
September 5: Maine Chapter meeting (Portland, ME)
September 5: Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Game of the Month (Denver, CO)
September 5: 2015 International Women’s Baseball Symposium (Louisville, KY)
September 9: Bob Davids Chapter Monthly Hot Stove Dinner (Arlington, VA)
September 10: St. Louis Browns Fan Club luncheon (St. Louis, MO)
September 11: Steve Bratkovich: “Bob Oldis: A Life in Baseball” (Iowa City, IA)
September 12: Halsey Hall Chapter Hot Stove Saturday Morning (Minneapolis, MN)
September 12: Diamond State vintage baseball exhibition (Wilmington, DE)
September 12: Forbes Field Chapter meeting (Pittsburgh, PA)
September 14: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting (St. Louis, MO)
September 15: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
September 16: Rocky Mountain Chapter monthly luncheon (Denver, CO)
September 17: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Atlanta, GA)
September 19: Smoky Joe Wood Chapter chapter breakfast (Hamden, CT)
September 19: Combined SABR chapter summer meeting (Lancaster, PA)
September 19: Rogers Hornsby Chapter-North inaugural meeting (Waco, TX)

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:

Baseball-Reference introduces new player pages for non-MLB stats (Baseball-Reference.com)
Rob Neyer: The secrets of baseball management, with Mark Armour and Dan Levitt (FoxSports.com)
Doug Wilson: Say what you will about Shoeless Joe, but these things ain’t so (Seamheads)
Arash Markazi: Meet Arlene Marcley, the 73-year-old lady fighting for Shoeless Joe Jackson (ESPN.com)
Matt Dahlgren: My grandfather’s baseball vision through the viewfinder (WordPress)
Marty Appel: Was Casey Stengel a racist? (The National Pastime Museum)
Benjamin Hill: Devotees bid adieu to beloved New Britain Rock Cats (MiLB.com)
Tim Wendel: Tommy John, the pitcher, the surgery (The National Pastime Museum)
Jeff Sullivan: Clayton Kershaw and the quest for 300 strikeouts (FanGraphs)
Russell Carleton: A veteran and his presents (Baseball Prospectus)
Jonah Keri: Madison Bumgarner and the rapid decline of the hitting pitcher (Grantland)
Graham Womack: Mike Mussina’s HOF case is strong, so why aren’t voters buying it? (The Sporting News)
John Dewan’s Stat of the Week: Who are the 2015 MVP candidates? (ACTA Sports)
Eno Sarris: Three at-bats with Brandon Moss (FanGraphs)
J.G. Preston: From Jekyll to Hyde in consecutive starts (J.G. Preston Experience)
Al Yellon: I was a minor-league official scorer; it’s not as easy as you think (Bleed Cubbie Blue)
Gary Cieradkowski: Jake Atz, his whole story from A to Z (The Infinite Baseball Card Set)
David Moriah: Cooperstown 2015: Pedro danced, Reggie cursed, Pete disappeared (Sports Collectors Digest)

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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