This Week in SABR: June 19, 2026

June 19, 2026/in This Week in SABR /by wpadmin

Welcome to “This Week in SABR” on Friday, June 19, 2026.
Click here to view this newsletter on the web.

Take advantage of member discount at new SABR Shop
SABR 54: Single-day registration now open for Cleveland convention
SABR Digital Library: The 1931 Homestead Grays: The Color of Greatness
Join us next week for SABR All-Time Eras Teams webinar
Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference is under way in Memphis
US Supreme Court baseball case files added to SABR Research Resources

Take advantage of member discount at new SABR Shop

SABR is excited to announce the launch of the new SABR Shop, an online store featuring SABR-branded apparel, home goods, prints, and more for baseball fans.

Among the featured items are exclusive prints showcasing cover art from the Baseball Research Journal, along with a growing collection of SABR merchandise celebrating the organization’s worldwide community. Baseball Research Journal posters feature every edition including the artwork of acclaimed artist and SABR member Gary Cieradkowski, with iconic depictions of Babe Ruth and Satchel Paige amongst other legends of the game. Apparel options include hats, shirts, sweatshirts, and pullovers in men’s, women’s, and unisex selections. New merchandise and designs will continue to be added in the coming months, offering fresh options for the SABR fan in your life.

Current SABR members can receive an introductory 10% discount by using the coupon code SABRShop26 at checkout. The offer is good for all products in the shop through June 30, 2026. Visit the SABR Shop today at sabr.shop.

SABR 54: Single-day registration now open for Cleveland convention

There’s still time to sign up for SABR 54! The SABR 54 convention will be held July 29–August 2, 2026, at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Full registration or single-day registration can be purchased online in advance or on-site during convention registration hours beginning on Wednesday, July 29 at the Hilton hotel. Click here for complete details on SABR 54 registration rates.

The single-day rates for SABR 54 are:

Thursday, July 30: $140 for SABR members, $170 non-members
Friday, July 31: $140 for SABR members, $170 non-members
Saturday, August 1: $140 for SABR members, $170 non-members

The single-day rate includes admission to all SABR 54 convention panels, research presentations, and committee meetings at the Hilton hotel. Registration can be purchased on-site via cash, check, or credit card (sorry, no American Express accepted.)

The full schedule is now available online. Our featured speakers and panelists are expected to include Chris Antonetti, Sandy Alomar Jr., Carlos Baerga, Tom Hamilton, Mike Hargrove, Kenny Lofton, Charles Nagy, Paul Hoynes, David S. Ward, Sky Andrecheck, Keith Woolner, Kyle Burris, and more.

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

Call for on-site volunteers at SABR 54

Anyone who is interested in helping out as an on-site volunteer at the registration area during SABR 54 in Cleveland is encouraged to contact SABR’s Jessica Smyth to sign up. Convention volunteers help to pass out registration badges and goody bags, ballgame tickets, and convention merch. Volunteers will receive a free convention T-shirt if they sign up for a shift.

Join us on June 24 for SABR All-Time Eras Teams webinar on Segregation Era

Throughout the 2026 season, SABR members will have a chance to vote on SABR’s All-Time Eras Teams as we celebrate the 150 years of baseball and American history since the founding of the National League in 1876.

Join us from 8:00-9:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, June 24 for a special Zoom webinar as we reveal the Segregation Era (1920-1946) team, and hear a presentation on “Increased Access and Persistent Barriers: Professional Baseball from 1920 to 1946” by Seth S. Tannenbaum of Manhattanville University. Click here to pre-register for this Zoom event.

Tannenbaum is the author of Bleacher Seats and Luxury Suites: Democracy and Division at the Twentieth Century Ballpark and an assistant professor of sport studies at Manhattanville University, where he teaches classes including Baseball and American Society, Spectators and Fans, Urban Sport, and American Sport History.

Visit SABR.org/all-time-eras-teams to learn more about the project, including the players selected to the 19th Century Era and Deadball Era teams.

SABR Digital Library: The Negro Leagues’ 1931 Homestead Grays: The Color of Greatness

Add a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:

The Negro Leagues’ 1931 Homestead Grays: The Color of Greatness
Edited by Thomas Kern and Bill Nowlin
Associate Editors: Adam Hopps, Len Levin, and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-960819-69-7, $34.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-960819-68-0, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 204 pages

The 1931 edition of the Homestead Grays might be the greatest collection of talent on one team in baseball history. They not only retained all-time greats like Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, and Smokey Joe Williams from the previous year, but brought in future Hall of Famers Jud Wilson to play third base and Willie Foster to augment the pitching staff. They even briefly added Satchel Paige late in the season. Their solid supporting cast included Tubby Scales, Vic Harris, Lefty Williams, Ted Page, and Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. This awesome collection of talent combined to post an overall record of 143-29-2 once all of their games against town teams, semipro squads, barnstorming squads, and organized Black professional teams are included. The Negro Leagues’ 1931 Homestead Grays: The Color of Greatness is the ninth in a series of SABR books about the great teams which played in the Negro Leagues during the first half of the twentieth century.

Visit SABR.org/ebooks to download your free e-book edition or save 50% off the purchase of a paperback edition.

Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference is under way in Memphis

SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference kicked off this week at the SpringHill Suites Memphis Downtown in Memphis, Tennessee. On Thursday, attendees watched a special film screening of Black Diamonds, Blues City: Stories of the Memphis Red Sox and enjoyed a “meet and greet” reception at the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery.

Single-day registration is available at SABR.org/malloy on on-site at the conference. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

Schedule: Click here to view the 2026 Malloy Conference schedule.

Visit SABR.org/malloy to learn more.

Last chance to vote for 2026 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Legends of the Year

Each year, SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee selects its Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

This will be the final SABR Nineteenth Century Overlooked Legends election. From 2009 through 2025, 17 selections were made. In 2026, we will choose eight additional selections, completing the project with 25 Overlooked Legends. The ballot is split into four tracks, with two winners to be selected from each track: Players from the Major Leagues (1876–1900); Pioneers/Contributors; Managers/Executives/Umpires; and Black Baseball.

2026 finalists: Earlier this year, committee members selected the finalists for the 2026 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. Click here to view the finalists’ bios, compiled by project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams.
Vote now! Click here to access the 2026 ballot. All SABR members are eligible to vote in the election for this year’s Overlooked 19th Century Legend. You will vote for ten (ranked) candidates from the ballot, regardless of the track. ALL BALLOTS MUST BE CAST PRIOR TO 11:59 PM PDT on Sunday, June 21, 2026.

All SABR members are eligible to cast a vote. The winners will be announced this summer during the Nineteenth Century Committee’s business meeting at SABR 54 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Contribute to SABR’s Four Pillars Fund

Research – Preservation – Scholarship – Future of the Game. These are the four pillars on which SABR stands as an organization.

Each represents one of our core values, and together they form the foundation of a global community dedicated to understanding, celebrating, and advancing the great game of baseball. With the support of donors like you, we’re not only fortifying that foundation, but we’re also building what comes next.

This spring, we ask you to contribute to the FOUR PILLARS FUND. Our goal is to raise $85,000 during this campaign to strengthen each of our four pillars by supporting baseball research, committing to preservation, furthering the reach of our scholarship, and building a bridge to the future of the game.

To donate or learn more about SABR’s Four Pillars Fund and the existing efforts and exciting new initiatives that will be funded by a successful campaign, visit SABR.org/donate/four-pillars.

Join us on June 25 for dedication of Council Bluffs historical marker in Iowa

On Thursday, June 25, SABR’s Field of Dreams Chapter in Iowa will host a dedication ceremony for the installation of a historical marker where a significant ballpark in Council Bluffs once stood. All baseball fans are invited to attend. The dedication ceremony will feature guest speakers and a baseball memorabilia display provided by the Marsh Collection.

SABR members, friends, and family are also invited to attend a Triple-A baseball game that evening between the Omaha Storm Chasers and the Columbus Clippers at Werner Park in nearby Omaha, Nebraska. The Field of Dreams Chapter is reserving group tickets along the left-field foul line for $13 each. Please email John Shorey to reserve your tickets.

The Field of Dreams Chapter was a recipient of a SABR Local Grant in 2026 for this project. Click here to learn more about the Local Grants program.

Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.

Call for papers: 2026 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center have announced a call for papers for the eighth annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, scheduled as a virtual event for October 9–11, 2026. Registration information will be available soon at SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Batters Up: The Future is Now.” We welcome abstracts on all topics and time periods relating to women in all aspects of baseball, including research on history, sociological and economic impacts, and global developments; international growth of the game, MLB-sponsored girls baseball events, the first WPBL season, women in the front office, and more. Abstracts accepted for posters and/or oral presentations.

Please submit abstracts of approximately 200 words, along with contact information and a short biography, by July 6, 2026, to Leslie Heaphy.

Save the date: Join us for SABR Analytics Conference on March 12–14, 2027

Save the date! The 16th annual SABR Analytics Conference will be held on March 12–14, 2027, at the Beus Center for Law and Society on Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus in Phoenix, Arizona. Registration information will be available at SABR.org/analytics beginning in the fall of 2026.

The Analytics Conference schedule will consist of research presentations and guest speakers from throughout the baseball analytics community, career development sessions led by experienced sports professionals, industry networking opportunities, and the Diamond Dollars Case Competition — all available for any aspiring front office executive or baseball fan to attend. Students will have opportunities for skill acquisition and development, including sessions on how to work with baseball-related data sets as well as databasing and SQL.

Visit SABR.org/analytics to learn more or watch video highlights from the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference.

SABR 19th Century Grave Marker Project to honor baseball clown Frank “Slivers” Oakley on June 27

SABR’s 19th Century Grave Marker Project is pleased to announce the completion of its latest project for baseball clown Frank “Slivers” Oakley at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, New York. All baseball fans are invited to join us for a dedication ceremony at 1:00 PM on Saturday, June 27, 2026.

Oakley was a star of the circus and vaudeville acts and his one-man baseball act inspired future generations of baseball clowns and mascots. As project chair Sam Gazdizak explains in an article at RIPBaseball.com, “Oakley became one of the earliest entertainers to bring baseball into the realm of pop culture. You can draw a line from the Phillie Phanatic and Blooper and Mr. & Mrs. Met all the way back to the early days of professional baseball. That line starts with Slivers.”

MLB Official Historian John Thorn first brought Slivers’ story to light and recommended him for inclusion in the Grave Marker Project. Thorn also made available online rare film footage of Slivers’ baseball act from a 1907 Vitagraph novelty film.

Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.

Find new updates to the SABR Research Collection below, including the Baseball Biography Project, Games Project, and Oral History Collection.

US Supreme Court baseball case files added to SABR Research Resources

More than 125,000 files from US Supreme Court cases were recently acquired by the Internet Archive and made available online. About two dozen of these cases are related to baseball — from the 1922 Federal League case which established baseball’s antitrust exemption to Curt Flood’s pioneering effort to challenge the reserve clause to more recent cases about fantasy sports and sports gambling.

These Supreme Court case files, which include a variety of briefs, petitions, appendices, and supporting records, can now be viewed on the SABR Business of Baseball resource page. On that page, you can also find other documents related to the business of baseball, including MLB collective bargaining agreements, antitrust hearings, performance-enhancing drug memos and Congressional testimony, and more. Thanks to Dazhane Moseley for her work to prepare and catalog the new Supreme Court files for SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee.

Joshua Báez of Memphis Redbirds hits 4 home runs in a game

Joshua Báez of the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds hit four home runs in a single game on Tuesday, June 16 against the Nashville Sounds at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Báez hit a three-run homer in the first inning, a two-run homer in the third inning, and solo homers in the fifth and eighth innings. He finished 4-for-5 with four home runs, four runs scored, and seven RBIs. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2021 MLB Amateur Draft.

In the SABR Research Collection, click here for a comprehensive list of all 4-HR games in professional baseball history.

9 new stories published at SABR Biography Project

Curly Clement, by Kurt Blumenau
Fred Hartman, by Vincent T. Ciaramella
Joe Hornung, by Bob LeMoine
Ham Hyatt, by Mark S. Sternman
Buck Jordan, by Douglas Jordan
Ray Kennedy, by Edward Damer
Ron Musselman, by Adam Berenbak
Pat Neshek, by Jim Force
O’Neal Pullen, by Matthew Jacob

Visit SABR.org/bioproject to learn more about the SABR BioProject or to get involved.

3 new stories published at SABR Games Project

September 23, 1914: Branch Rickey benches entire Browns team in fit of pique over errors, by Jack V. Morris
September 27, 1930: Brooklyn’s Eddie Moore hits last ‘bounce’ home run in National League history, by Gary Belleville
September 10, 1934: Pirates’ Burleigh Grimes earns last legal win by a spitballer in the National League, by Kurt Blumenau

Visit SABR.org/gamesproject to learn more about the SABR Games Project or to get involved.

Cape Cod Baseball League: From College Stars to Big League Futures
Edited by Mike Richard and Bill Nowlin

Visit SABR.org to download the free e-book edition or save 50% off the paperback edition of all Digital Library books.

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

Please give a warm welcome to all new SABR members who joined this week! View more Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org or click here to download the Membership Handbook. Find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.

NAME	HOMETOWN	NAME	HOMETOWN
Sam Beson	Jersey City, NJ	Nick Michael	Los Angeles, CA
Amber Brown	Laramie, WY	Matthew Nieman	Poughkeepsie, NY
John Connolly	Milton, DE	Brett Phillips	Largo, FL
John Fazio	Middleburg Heights, OH	Martha Platt	Elkins Park, PA
Merrie Fidler	Trinidad, CA	Dennis Publow	Aurora, CO
Giacomo Franco	Chesapeake, VA	Jay Reid	Cordele, GA
William Larkin	San Marcos, CA	Steve Rittenberg	Huntsville, AL
Vincent Losinno	Brooklyn, NY	Keith Schrodt	Springfield, IL
Craig Marshall	Parma, OH	Kevin Telford	Bethesda, MD
James McDonald	Essex, CT	Henry Telford	Bethesda, MD
Lenny Mendonca	Montara, CA	Martin Valk	Merrick, NY
Mark Metcalf	Independence, KS	Luke Wallace	Flowery Branch, GA

Events Calendar: Find details of all upcoming SABR events.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from Kevin Baker (The New York Game) and Marshall Garvey (Interstate ’85). Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.

Upcoming Virtual Meetings

June 22: Larry Dierker (TX) Chapter meeting with Bill Brown (7:00 PM CDT)
June 22: Asian Baseball Committee meeting with Jee-ho Yoo (8:00 PM EDT)
June 23: Quarterly Chapter Leaders Meeting (8:00 PM EDT)
June 24: All-Time Eras Teams Webinar: Segregation Era (1920-1946) with Seth S. Tannenbaum (8:00 PM EDT)
June 25: Bob Davids (DC) Chapter Analytics Club meeting with Zak Payne (6:30 PM EDT)
June 25: Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting with Brooke Lazinski (7:00 PM MDT)
June 27: Bay Area/Sacramento Chapter joint meeting with Tim Christ, Jay Wigley, and Steve Gietschier (11:00 AM PDT)
June 27: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with Michael W. Lewis (7:00 PM CDT)
June 28: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Seth S. Tannenbaum (7:00 PM EDT)
June 28: Ken Keltner Badger State (WI) Chapter meeting with Larry Hayes (7:00 PM CDT)

Upcoming In-Person Meetings

June 19-21: 2026 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference (Memphis, TN)
June 19: Friends of Hamtramck Stadium: Juneteenth Celebration (Hamtramck, MI)
June 19: Rocky Mountain Chapter: State of the Rockies Luncheon with Paul DePodesta (Denver, CO)
June 19: Halsey Hall Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Hamel, MN)
June 20: Babe ‘n’ Bob Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
June 20: Halsey Hall Chapter book club meeting (Roseville, MN)
June 20: Lajoie-Start Southern New England Chapter spring meeting (N. Attleborough, MA)
June 22: Long Island Ralph Kiner Chapter movie night (Dix Hills, NY)
June 24: Boston Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Bourne, MA)
June 25: Field of Dreams Chapter historical marker dedication ceremony (Council Bluffs, IA)
June 25: My Father, Dick Allen film screening and panel discussion (Chicago, IL)
June 27: Frank “Slivers” Oakley grave marker dedication ceremony (Maspeth, NY)
June 27: Magnolia Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Rome, GA)
June 28: Rogers Hornsby Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Round Rock, TX)

To add your SABR event to our calendar listings, please contact Jacob Pomrenke.

Deadball Era: May 2026 newsletter
Origins: May 2026 newsletter

Sign up for SABR research committee announcements at SABR.org/research/committees.

Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter: June 3 meeting recap (Tallahassee, FL)

Sign up for SABR chapter announcements at SABR.org/chapters.

Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.

Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:

Marc Bona: 3 things about Cleveland hosting SABR’s convention this summer (Cleveland.com)
Mario Delgado Genzor: How to Scout Pitching with Basic Tools (Baseball Prospectus)
Sarah Langs: Strikeouts, streaks and 2026’s 1st cycle (MLB.com)
Jayson Stark: Nolan Ryan on Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski and radar gun readings: ‘He has a gift’ (The Athletic)
Matt Martell: To Challenge, or Not To Challenge — That Is the Question (FanGraphs)
Daniel R. Epstein: Vlad Pays Only with Loonies (Baseball Prospectus)
Mark Simon: The Dodgers’ Different Defensive Excellence (Sports Info Solutions)
Brad Balukjian: Miracle Met Jerry Koosman selling World Series ring, other artifacts from 19-year career (The Athletic)
Tyler Kepner: For years, the White Sox took their lumps. Now they’ve found an expert in Sam Antonacci (The Athletic)
David Laurila: Peyton Gray Has a Good Changeup and an Even Better Backstory (FanGraphs)
Lindsay Dial: If You Can Make It There, You Can Make It Anywhere (Baseball Prospectus)
Jay Jaffe: One Year Later, the Rafael Devers Blockbuster Doesn’t Look So Great (FanGraphs)
Thomas Gilbert: James Creighton and Death in the Strike Zone (Effectively Wild)
Jerry Crasnick: Sam “Sudden Sam” McDowell on the Birth of the MLBPA and Baseball’s Pre–Free Agency Battles (Stitch x Stitch)
Rob Mains: When 40 Isn’t Enough (Baseball Prospectus)
Davy Andrews: Wobbly Is the Head That Wears the Hat (FanGraphs)
Michael Clair: Wearing No. 32 like hero Koufax, Cards lefty revels in history of sport (MLB.com)
Thomas Love Seagull: The Legend of Eiji Sawamura (JapanBall)
Jerry Chen: Myths, Misread: Taiwanese Baseball’s Identity Gap (Taiwan Insight)
Benjamin Hill: The man who lived at the ballpark, literally, was ‘greatest ever’ for Cedar Rapids Kernels (MiLB.com)
Buster Posey, Barry Bonds and Jeff Brantley Among Legends Selected for the 2026 College Baseball Hall of Fame Class
Christopher Chavis: August 31, 1913: “Why Are You a Baseball Fan?” (Baseball and Us)
Sam Gazdziak: Ted Turner (1938-2026) (RIP Baseball)
Joel Rippel: Former Minnesota Twins pitcher Al Worthington dies at 97 (Minnesota Star-Tribune)
Mark Tomasik: Bill Sherdel sought to solve a pitcher’s hitting puzzle (RetroSimba)
Jimmy Parker: Wayland Moore’s Brave New World of the 1970s (Beauty of a Game)
Roy Carlson: Revisiting Topps Vintage Baseball Card Articles That Uncover Production Secrets (Sports Collectors Daily)
John Staton: Wilmington’s baseball history stretches back into the 19th century (Wilmington Star-News)
Barry Boughner: Researching London Baseball History, One Reel at a Time (London Public Library)
Michael O’Bryant: Cincinnati, Indianapolis Clowns were Negro League’s version of Harlem Globetrotters (Northern Kentucky Tribune)
Jay Wigley: King Raymer (SABR Baseball Cards)
Carter Cromwell: Redemption: The 1992 MLB vs Japan All-Star Baseball Series (SABR Asian Baseball)

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

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. To find past editions of TWIS, click here.

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Originally published: June 19, 2026. Last Updated: June 19, 2026.

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