SABR welcomes new chapter in Baltimore, new committee focused on ballpark concessions
SABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new regional chapter and a new research committee.
The Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter serves members in Charm City and around Maryland. The chapter leader is Bernard McKenna. SABR’s 70th chapter is an offshoot of its very first regional group, the Bob Davids Chapter in nearby Washington, D.C., established in 1974.
The Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter will hold its inaugural meeting at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 25 at the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum, 216 Emory Street in Baltimore. All members and baseball fans are welcome to attend; click here for more details.
The new Concessions Research Committee, led by Bennett Jacobstein and Peter Dolgenos, is intended to document the history and evolution of food at ballparks, and its relation to baseball history and culture, as well as its relation to American popular culture in general.To sign up for e-mail announcements from this committee, click here and select the “Join Group” button at the top of the committee page.
According to Jacobstein, author of The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine, the committee’s goals include monitoring the ever-increasing variety of food items at major and minor league ballparks; documenting the life of pioneer vendor Harry M. Stevens (including the myth of whether or not he invented the hot dog); and establishing a vendors “hall of fame” for legendary vendors such as Roger Owens (the L.A. Dodgers “peanut man”).
SABR’s 70 regional chapters cover 36 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.; plus international chapters in Canada (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia), Japan, South Korea, Australia, Latin America (Venezuela, Dominican Republic), the United Kingdom, and Italy. For a list of all SABR chapters, visit SABR.org/chapters. A calendar of upcoming SABR meetings can be found at SABR.org/events.
To sign up for chapter email announcements and receive instant notification of upcoming SABR events in your area, click here to select from the list of chapters, then click “Join Group” (
) at the top of the chapter page. All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any chapter or committee.
SABR’s 29 research committees comprise a diverse variety of interests and many members are devoted to the study of a specific area related to the game — from Baseball and the Arts to Statistical Analysis to the Deadball Era to Women in Baseball. Learn more about SABR’s research committees by clicking here.
Originally published: July 7, 2015. Last Updated: July 7, 2015.