Welcome to the Town Ball Research Committee, formed in 2025.

Our mission is to conduct research on baseball and its cultural significance to towns and local communities. While Town Ball blurs the line between amateur and professional baseball, the committee’s approach to research seeks to answer how baseball shaped local communities, and how the communities in turn shaped baseball. By maintaining a broad definition for Town Ball research, the committee encourages collaboration with other research groups to create a more complex understanding of baseball’s impact on American culture.

This committee aims to develop a database of town baseball teams throughout history. Several focuses for this project will be recording Black baseball teams and other marginalized groups that developed organized baseball teams. Another will be identifying teams that held Major League players on their rosters.

Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

Contacts: For more information, or to get involved, contact a committee leader below:

• Jude Butler (Chair)

Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research Committee, formed in 2022.

Our mission is to promote the research and application of AI and machine learning in baseball, and to provide a community for SABR members (and attract new SABR members) interested in sports technology.

Goals:

• Host Zoom meetings that are open to the SABR community so that speakers (SABR members but also non-members in industry/academia) can explain more about the technology and work being done in the area.
• Meet at the SABR Analytics Conference to help provide a path for participation in SABR for:
  • those who submitted to the Analytics Conference but are not selected to present,
  • Diamond Dollars participants, and
  • other conference participants who are interested in technology.
• Attend and encourage committee members to submit presentations to the Annual Convention that are informative (not technical/confusing) to a general SABR member.
• Provide advice and support for SABR members interested in doing research using AI and machine learning.

Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

Contacts: For more information, or to get involved, contact a committee leader below:

• Brian Hall (Chair)
• Allison Levin (Co-Chair)

SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee, established in 1983, fosters research on all facets of baseball before 1901. Completed committee projects include full team and player statistics for the 1871-1875 National Association, two volumes of short biographies published by SABR, Nineteenth Century Stars (1989; reissued 2012) and Baseball’s First Stars (1996), and Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century (2013).

Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends: Members of SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee receive an online ballot every spring for the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend, to select the top players not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The results are announced at the committee’s annual meeting at that year’s SABR convention. To learn more about the project and get involved, click here.

Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference: The Nineteenth Century Committee organizes this conference each April in Cooperstown, New York. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. For more information, click here.

Virtual Monthly Speaker Series: All SABR members are invited to attend the virtual, monthly 19th Century Baseball Speaker Series, with research presentations that were originally presented at “The Fred” in Cooperstown. These informative talks will be re-presented on Zoom each second Tuesday of the month. The starting time for each session will be 8:00 p.m. ET and they will run for one hour. Click here to learn more or to watch past presentations on YouTube.

19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium: To help us derive a greater understanding of baseball’s early days, SABR’s Nineteenth Century and Origins Committees established the 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium. Previous symposiums were held in New York City (2014), Philadelphia (2016), Cleveland (2018), Minneapolis (2019), Brooklyn (2021), and Providence (2022).  

Donate to the 19th Century Grave Marker Project: Please consider supporting the 19th Century Grave Marker Project, which identifies 19th-century baseball notables who either lack a grave marker or whose headstone is in dire disrepair, and then rectifies those issues. Click here to learn more.

Chairman’s Award: Each year, the leadership of the SABR Nineteenth Century Research Committee selects the recipients of its Chairman’s Award. These members have lent their time and energy to enhancing our understanding of 19th-century baseball and in service to the committee. Click here for a list of past winners.

19th Century League and Team Resources: The 19th Century League and Team Resources collection aims to collect all available pre-1900 baseball documents and make them available online to future researchers. The collection includes dozens of documents from the National League’s founding in 1876 to the NL’s final season as a sole major league in 1900. It also includes National Agreements for most seasons, American Association Constitutions from 1882 to 1891, early club constitutions and rules dating back to the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules, and more.

American Association History Project: In 1993, a new long-term committee project was introduced by late SABR founding member Bob McConnell. McConnell’s goal for The American Association History Project was to produce a book-length history of the 19th-Century American Association (1882-1891), its teams and participating cities. Initially, a great deal of research was conducted under the direction of Bob McConnell, Bob Bailey and Jonathan Dunkle. By the late 1990s, the project stalled and by 2007-08, the Nineteenth Century Committee decided to halt the project indefinitely. Thanks to Joanne Hulbert (collecting the research files), Trent McCotter (scanning the files) and Jacob Pomrenke (uploading the files on the SABR website), the files are now available to all SABR members. They are collected on this page for future researchers who might be interested in studying the American Association of 1882-1891.

• Newsletters: To find current and past Nineteenth Century committee newsletters, click here.
• Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.
• Discussion: The Nineteenth Century Committee and the Origins Committee share a Yahoo! discussion group, 19CBB, which anyone can sign up for. Or “like” us on Facebook for further updates.

Contacts:

• Peter Mancuso (Co-Chair)
• Bob Bailey (Co-Chair/Newsletter Editor)
• Jonathan Popovich (Co-Chair)
• Sam Gazdziak (19c Grave Marker Project)
• Adam Darowski (Overlooked 19th Century Legends Project)
• Joe Williams (Overlooked 19th Century Legends Project)

SABR members comprise a special breed of individuals, drawn to out-of-the-way places to spy an old ballpark, visit a historical marker, or pay their respects at the grave of a late ballplayer. Until now, there had not been a comprehensive checklist or map to document the staggering array of baseball-related sites located across North America. The Baseball Landmarks Committee endeavors to fill this need with the SABR Baseball Map:

(Click on the image above to view the map at Maptive.com.)

What will I find on the SABR Baseball Map?

• BALLPARKS – Active Major League, MiLB, Independent Minor League, and Summer Collegiate Leagues (categorized by level)
• STATUES – Statues, busts, sculptures of players, managers/coaches, broadcasters, owners
• MARKERS – Historical markers and monuments for people, places, events
• MURALS – Murals and public art featuring baseball-related themes
• MUSEUMS – Museums, permanent exhibits, displays dedicated to baseball
• GRAVES – Select gravesites with GPS coordinates to area of headstone
• MOVIE LOCATIONS – Distinctive baseball movie filming locations
• SITES – Miscellaneous roadside attractions and photo opportunities

What won’t I find on the SABR Baseball Map?

• NOTHING TO SEE – Locations, such as former ballparks, that have no remaining physical structure or marker
• NO CONNECTION – Parks or ballfields simply named after ballplayers with no additional connection to the location (i.e., played there as a youth) or for which no plaque or statue was dedicated; sites involving people associated with baseball but with no true baseball connection at the site
• RESTAURANTS – Most restaurants named after or owned by players

How can I use the SABR Baseball Map?

The map can be accessed on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the computer version for advance trip planning and mapping. 

Click here to find more Frequently Asked Questions about the SABR Baseball Map.

Click here to watch a preview of the SABR Baseball Map in action:

Or click here to watch a full tutorial of the SABR Baseball Map, led by John Racanelli.

SABR Graves Map: Click here to view the SABR Graves Map, which includes burial locations for more than 9,000 players, managers, umpires, executives, and other baseball figures, thanks to the research of Fred Worth.

Corrections: If you know of corrections to be made or have a new baseball-related site for consideration, please click here to submit any updates.

Website: Learn more about baseball landmarks at The Hardball Voyager, the Landmarks Committee website, at sabrlandmarks.com.

Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

Contacts: For more information, or to get involved, contact a committee leader below:

• John Racanelli (Co-Chair)
• Chris Kamka (Co-Chair)
• Mark Armour (Vice Chair)

Welcome to SABR’s Baseball Iconography Project.

The Baseball Iconography Project is an ongoing effort to produce a history and catalog of artistic depictions of the game in a variety of forms: fine art, photography, sculpture, illustration, caricatures, engraving, lithography.

How the game was born, how it grew, who did what and when and where — these things are the subject of SABR’s other research committees. This new initiative is to gather pictures, wonderful pictures, of baseball’s visual arts. In this we believe the Iconography Project to be distinct from the work of two other committees: Baseball and the Arts, to now largely literary; and Pictorial History, to now concerned with identifications.

The aim of the Iconography Project is not to create a pictorial history of baseball but an imaginary museum or gallery through which we may catalog and see the game’s art in the round. If this research committee is successful in its aim the outcome may be, eventually, a web or print opus that might be termed The Iconography of Baseball.

Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

Contacts:

• Kevin Reichard (Chair)
• James E. Brunson III (Co-chair)
• John Thorn (Co-chair)

SABR’s Century Research Committee, formed in 2020, provides a research hub for SABR research and activities to memorialize the anniversaries of important milestones in baseball history.

Although the Century Committee is designed to primarily focus on 100th anniversary events, its work will encompass other significant anniversaries — e.g. 25th, 50th, 75th — as well, by using some of these SABR resources:

• Games Project stories to complement existing articles on significant games and stories on games that took place while other important historical events were occurring
• BioProject assignments on players and figures who played instrumental roles in upcoming anniversary events
  
• Oral History interviews with figures connected to anniversary events
• In-depth showcase of the work by other SABR research committees, including Women in Baseball, the Negro Leagues, the Minor Leagues, Asian Baseball, and Latino Baseball
• Dedicated Web Features on the SABR website to celebrate significant anniversaries in baseball history
• Podcasts with SABR members who have written books on upcoming anniversary events

This committee’s goals are to help broaden the potential audience and membership for SABR through a specific focus on baseball as a lens through which to view American and world history. We are also exploring ideas to promote use of SABR materials in schools.

SABR has long had a Deadball Era Committee and Nineteenth Century Committee. The idea for this committee sprang from the idea of a look at the “Jazz Age” of the 1920s. It is a decade that is rich in baseball history, when we will witness the 100th anniversaries of many significant moments in baseball history (and, later, the Depression Years of the 1930s). Yet no other SABR committee existed that was committed to bringing researchers together around these themes.

Check out new Century Committee projects below:

• Baseball and the Supreme Court: In 2022, we took a look back at the 100th anniversary of baseball’s antitrust exemption in Federal Baseball v. National League, and the 50th anniversary of Curt Flood’s landmark case before the Supreme Court that was decided in 1972.
• Jackie Robinson 75: Baseball’s Re-Integration: In 2022, we commemorated the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, a historic moment in baseball and in American society, drawing on the contributions of more than 85 SABR authors and historians to tell the story of Jackie Robinson’s complicated, never guaranteed, journey as a civil rights pioneer on and off the field.
• 1921 Year in Review: In 2021, we published a comprehensive look at the 1921 baseball season, including the first radio broadcast, the new Negro National League, the rise of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees dynasty, the all-New York World Series, and the Black Sox trial.

Committee website: Check out the Century Committee website to find articles on memorable players, games, and moments from 100 years ago.

Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

Contacts: For more information, or to get involved, contact a committee leader below:

• Sharon Hamilton (Chair)
• Bill Nowlin (Vice Chair)

Welcome to the Asian Baseball Committee!

The primary goal of the Asian Baseball Committee is to introduce Asian baseball to the North American public. Although there have been several notable books published on Japanese baseball, most American fans are still unfamiliar with the Japanese game. Furthermore, the lack of sources in English make details of Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and Filipino baseball nearly unknown in the United States.

The Asian Baseball Committee hopes to increase awareness of Asian baseball by producing and distributing a committee newsletter; encouraging serious studies of Asian baseball by helping researchers network; encouraging members to publish their studies in the SABR journals and elsewhere, host research symposiums and meet annually at the SABR convention.

• Newsletters: Click here to read all past Asian Baseball Committee newsletters
• Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.
• Website: Click here to visit the committee website at sabrasianbaseball.com

Committee contacts are:

• Rob Fitts (Co-chair & Japanese Baseball Coordinator)
• Bill Staples Jr. (Co-chair & Nikkei Baseball Coordinator)
• Zachary Petrillo (Korean Baseball Coordinator)
• Jerry Chen (Taiwanese Baseball Coordinator)
• Coop Daley (Social Media Coordinator)

The Ballparks Committee was founded in 1982 to research and collect the history of current and past ballparks in the major, minor and Negro leagues. The committee now has an extensive set of files containing thousands of documents pertaining to ballparks.

In 1985, the committee published Green Cathedrals, which was reissued in 1993, 2006, and 2008. The most recent and fifth edition was published through the SABR Digital Library in 2020 and is available as a free download for SABR members. The committee completed City Baseball Magic, the SABR Urban Baseball Design Project, in 1989.

An ongoing committee project is to make an effort to erect plaques or memorials for historic ballparks sites. The committee has lent its efforts to publicize the historical importance and value of parks such as Detroit’s Tiger Stadium and Chicago’s Wrigley Field. A subcommittee is collecting photographs of ballparks.

• Newletters: The committee publishes a newsletter twice a year. To find current and past Ballparks committee newsletters, click here.
  
• Social media: For timely updates from the Ballparks Committee, like our Facebook page at SABR Ballparks or follow our Twitter account @SABRBallparks.
  
• Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.

To learn more about the Ballparks Committee, contact:

• Kevin Johnson (Co-Chair)
• Ron Selter (Co-Chair)

Welcome to the Baseball and the Arts Committee!

SABR’s Baseball and the Arts Committee promotes the research, education and appreciation for the rich history of performance, literary and visual art inspired by the game of baseball and expressed in the areas of music, poetry, theatre, cinema, painting, sculpture and illustration inspired by, or pertaining to The National Pastime. 

Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts: A special publication produced by SABR’s Baseball and the Arts Committee vividly brings to life the art and literature of the game we all love with poems, short stories, articles, and baseball art from a variety of contributors. Click on a link below to purchase a copy:

• Volume 1 (2019)
• Volume 2 (2020)
• Volume 3 (2023)
• Volume 4 (2024)

SABR members can download the e-book edition for free or get 50% off the paperback edition.

Other Committee Projects:
1) Compile an index of songs related to baseball.
2) Compile an index of poetry related to baseball.
3) Compile an index of movies and plays related to baseball.
4) Compile a list of players, past and present, who are known for their artistic talents.

• Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.
• Newsletters: To find current and past committee newsletters, click here.
• Facebook: Find us on Facebook and participate in group discussions online.

Committee Contacts:

• Joanne Hulbert, Committee Co-chair
• Jay Hurd, Committee Co-chair

Re-established in 2016, the Baseball Cards Research Committee has the following purposes and goals:

A. Encourage more interactive knowledge sharing about the history and importance of baseball cards as a representation of the game itself. This research will help document the link between the baseball card industry and the game’s popularity.

B. Research the history of the relationship between statistics and baseball cards. (i.e. when baseball cards starting publishing RBI, Stolen Bases, etc.)

C. Provide a forum for discussion on the following aspects of the baseball card industry: Memorable, important and famous series designs; the late ’80s, early ’90s influx of new card sets and limited edition inserts, and their effect on the hobby’s health; documentation on all of the major card companies and important figures in the evolution of the baseball card industry; research into the evolution of the game as viewed through the lens of baseball cards (batting gloves, player/managers, the DH, record-setting achievements, the steroids era, etc.)

• Newsletters: To find current and past Baseball Card History and Influence committee newsletters, click here.
• Website: For articles and updates about the committee, check out our committee website at https://sabrbaseballcards.blog. For more discussion of baseball cards on social media, check out our committee’s Facebook group or Twitter feed, too. 
• Jefferson Burdick Award: In 2020, SABR’s Baseball Cards Committee established the Jefferson Burdick Award, honoring individuals who have made significant contributions to the baseball card hobby. Click here to learn more and to view award winners.
  
• Announcements: To sign up for email announcements from this committee, click the “Announcements” button above, then click “Join Group” (). All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any committee.
   

• Jason Schwartz (Co-Chair)
• Nick Vossbrink (Co-Chair)
• Mike Eisenbath (Vice Chair, Communications)
• Tyler Giles (Vice Chair, Communications)
• Brent Ingram (Vice Chair, Communications)
• Matthew Glidden (Vice Chair, Events)
• Jimmy Parker (Vice Chair, Events)
• Wayne Strumpfer (Vice Chair, Events)
• Jason Christopherson (Vice Chair, Membership and Outreach)
• John McMurray (Vice Chair, Membership and Outreach)
• Bill Slankard (Vice Chair, Membership and Outreach)