Couldn’t make it to New York City for SABR 47? Check out more coverage of our 2017 national convention from the Big Apple below.
The Society for American Baseball Research held its 47th annual national convention on June 28-July 2, 2017, at the Grand Hyatt New York. A record attendance of 806 SABR members and friends joined us in New York City.
Check out stories, photos, and multimedia clips from the SABR 47 convention in New York City below:
- Listen to highlights from Jim Bouton: A Life in Baseball panel with Bouton, Paula Kurman, Mark Armour, Mitchell Nathanson, Marty Appel, and John Thorn (audio)
- Listen to highlights from “A Day at the Ballpark” at Citi Field, with Mets GM Sandy Alderson, first-base coach Tom Goodwin, broadcasters Josh Lewin, Wayne Randazzo, and Steve Gelbs, and an Analytics Panel with T.J. Barra, Joe Lefkowitz, and Pat Roessler (audio)
- Listen to highlights from Jean Afterman’s one-on-one interview with Claire Smith at SABR 47 (audio)
- Listen to highlights from A Celebration of 70 Years: Jackie Robinson’s Journey panel with William C. Rhoden, Della Britton Baeza, Lee Lowenfish, and Larry Lester (audio)
- Listen to highlights from the MLB Now: The Changing State of Sabermetrics panel with Brian Kenny, Mark DeRosa, Vince Gennaro, Joel Sherman, and Mike Petriello (audio)
- Listen to highlights from the Casey Stengel: A Man For All Seasons panel with Marty Appel, Ira Berkow, Steve Jacobson, and Ed Randall (audio)
- Listen to highlights from the It Ain’t Over: The Legacy of Yogi Berra panel with Lindsay Berra, George Vecsey, Harvey Araton, and Dave Kaplan (audio)
- Listen to Keith Olbermann’s talk about baseball cards at the SABR 47 Baseball Cards Committee meeting (audio)
- Listen to highlights from SABR 47 committee meeting guest speakers, including David Neft, Claire Smith and Perry Barber, Peter Bjarkman and Reynaldo Cruz, and more (audio)
- From Dodgers architect Janet Marie Smith to a talk on Louis Armstrong, listen to highlights from SABR 47 research presentations (audio)
- Negro Leagues historian Larry Lester selected as 2017 Bob Davids Award winner
- Chuck Hildebrandt, Richard Macaluso win SABR 47 presentation awards
- Bob Caruthers selected as 2017 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend
- Dan Massey wins dramatic SABR 47 Trivia Contest in battle of heavyweights
- Max Mannis: MLB Now panel highlights Day 1 of SABR 47 convention
- Max Mannis: Jackie Robinson panel focuses on legacy and social impact
- Max Mannis: Final day of SABR 47 focuses on the beloved Yogi Berra
- View photo galleries from SABR 47 in New York City
- View a photo gallery from the SABR 47 ballpark session at Citi Field
- Save the date! SABR 48 will be in Pittsburgh in 2018
Around the Web
SABR 47 featured speakers
Our convention in New York City included top guest speakers from around the baseball world. Click here to learn more or to listen to highlights from SABR 47.
A Day at the Ballpark: Citi Field
Attendees at the SABR 47 convention in New York City had a special opportunity to visit Citi Field for an exclusive pregame ballpark session with New York Mets executives, coaches, and broadcasters on June 30, 2017. Before the Mets’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies, special SABR 47 interview sessions took place at Citi Field with:
- Sandy Alderson, New York Mets General Manager
- Tom Goodwin, New York Mets first-base coach and former major-leaguer
- T.J. Barra, New York Mets’ Manager of Baseball Research and Development
- Joe Lefkowitz, Senior Manager, Baseball Systems & Development for the Mets
- Pat Roessler, Assistant Hitting Coach for the Mets
- Josh Lewin, New York Mets radio play-by-play announcer
- Wayne Randazzo, New York Mets pregame and postgame show host
- Steve Gelbs, New York Mets field reporter
The session was emceed by SABR CEO Marc Appleman, with interviews by Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com. Click here to listen to highlights from “A Day at the Ballpark” at Citi Field.
Click on a link below to listen to highlights from other featured panels at SABR 47:
The One on One: Jean Afterman and Claire Smith panel included:
- Jean Afterman, New York Yankees Senior Vice President/Assistant GM
- Claire Smith, acclaimed baseball writer and 2017 J.G. Taylor Spink Award recipient
The Jim Bouton: A Life in Baseball panel included:
- Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four and former major-league pitcher
- Paula Kurman, wife of Jim Bouton and a retired psychologist and professor
- Mark Armour, author of Jim Bouton’s SABR biography and founding director of the BioProject
- Mitchell Nathanson, author of A People’s History of Baseball, God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen, and other books
- Marty Appel, author of Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character and former New York Yankees PR director
- Moderator: John Thorn, Official Historian for Major League Baseball
The A Celebration of 70 Years: Jackie Robinson’s Journey panel included:
- William C. Rhoden, columnist and editor-at-large for TheUndefeated.com and former award-winning columnist and author at the New York Times
- Della Britton Baeza, President and CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation
- Lee Lowenfish, author of Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman
- Moderator: Larry Lester is the chair of SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee and one of the founders of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City
The It Ain’t Over: The Legacy of Yogi Berra panel included:
- Lindsay Berra, MLB.com correspondent and the granddaughter of Yogi and Carmen Berra
- Harvey Araton, best-selling author of Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry and Baseball’s Greatest Gift and a New York Times reporter and columnist
- George Vecsey, best-selling author of Baseball: A History of America’s Favorite Game and former New York Times reporter and columnist
- Moderator: Dave Kaplan, former director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center
The MLB Now: The Changing Face of Sabermetrics panel included:
- Mark DeRosa, MLB Network studio analyst and a versatile former major-league player for 16 seasons
- Joel Sherman, national baseball columnist for the New York Post who appears regularly on MLB Network
- Mike Petriello, Stats Analyst for MLB Advanced Media and host of the Statcast Podcast
- Vince Gennaro, SABR President
- Moderator: Brian Kenny, host at MLB Network and the author of Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution
The Casey Stengel: A Man For All Seasons panel included:
- Ira Berkow, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and retired columnist with the New York Times
- Steve Jacobson, retired Newsday writer and author
- Marty Appel, author of Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character
- Moderator: Ed Randall, host of “Talking Baseball” on WFAN Radio and MLB Network Radio
In addition, the SABR 47 convention also included these special guests at our research committee meetings, which were open to all convention attendees. Click here to listen to highlights.
- Keith Olbermann, a longtime SABR member, author, and award-winning sports and political commentator, spoke at the Baseball Cards Committee annual meeting at SABR 47
- David S. Neft, a Henry Chadwick Award recipient and the driving force behind Macmillan’s The Baseball Encyclopedia, participated in a one-on-one interview with MLB Official Historian John Thorn at the Baseball Records Committee annual meeting at SABR 47
- Peter C. Bjarkman, a Henry Chadwick Award recipient and expert on Cuban baseball history, and Cuban journalist Reynaldo Cruz spoke at the Latino Baseball Committee annual meeting at SABR 47
- Glenn Stout, this year’s Larry Ritter Book Award winner for The Selling of the Babe, accepted his award at the Deadball Era Committee annual meeting at SABR 47
- Hal Richman, CEO and founder of Strat-O-Matic, spoke at the Games and Simulations Committee meeting at SABR 47
- Alain Usereau, French-language play-by-play broadcaster for RDS network in Canada, was interviewed by Chuck Hildebrandt during the Baseball and the Media Committee annual meeting at SABR 47
- Perry Barber, pioneering baseball umpire, author, and musician, spoke at the Women in Baseball Committee annual meeting along with Spink Award winner Claire Smith
- Jim Robinson, three-time Negro Leagues All-Star and former Kansas City Monarchs captain, spoke at the Negro Leagues Committee meeting at SABR 47
- Tom Villante, batboy for the 1944 and 1945 New York Yankees under manager Joe McCarthy, producer of Brooklyn Dodgers TV and radio broadcasts from 1950-57, and founding director of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, spoke at the Oral History Committee meeting at SABR 47
- Keith Avallone of PLAAY.com Sports Simulation Board games spoke at the Games and Simulations Committee meeting at SABR 47
Get your copy of The National Pastime convention journal
All SABR 47 attendees received a souvenir print edition of The National Pastime, our annual convention journal, focusing on baseball teams, players, and events in the New York City area.
All SABR members, whether you attended the convention or not, received the e-book edition of The National Pastime in their inboxes. Click here to download the e-book or click here to purchase the print edition at the SABR Bookstore.
The articles from this journal are now available to read online at SABR.org.
