SABR 54: Featured Speakers
Learn more about our featured speakers and panelists at SABR 54 below.
Sandy Alomar Jr. won American League Rookie of the Year honors and a Gold Glove Award at catcher during his first season with Cleveland in 1990, then went on to become a six-time All-Star. In 1997, he hit a home run and earned MVP honors during the All-Star Game played at Jacobs Field. Since being inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 2009, he has served the Guardians as a first-base coach, bench coach, interim manager, and organizational leader.
Billy Altman is an award-winning cultural journalist, critic and historian; a founding curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland; and an official scorer for Major League Baseball at New York Mets and Yankees games since 2004.
Sky Andrecheck is in his seventh season as the Assistant General Manager of the Cleveland Guardians, after initially joining the organization in 2010 through the research and analytics department. The former freelance writer of baseball columns, statistician, and analyst worked his way up through the organization by building systems and algorithms to analyze players and performance. Andrecheck has previously served as a Baseball Analyst, Senior Director of Baseball Research and Development, and VP of Baseball Research and Development, before being promoted to Assistant GM.
Chris Antonetti is the President of Baseball Operations for the Cleveland Guardians and in his 11th season as the club’s top baseball decision-maker. He was named 2016 Executive of the Year by Baseball America following the club’s World Series run. He has been with the organization since 1999, and served as Executive Vice President/General Manager from 2011 to 2015 and Assistant GM/Vice President of Baseball Operations from 2002 to 2010.
Mark Armour is an award-winning historian on such varied subjects as the players’ union, integration, artificial turf, cheating, team building, and platooning. He was the founder and longtime director of the SABR Biography Project and co-founder of the SABR Baseball Cards Committee.
Carlos Baerga was a fan favorite as a three-time All-Star second baseman during his 14-year major league career. He spent parts of eight seasons in Cleveland from 1990 to 1996 and 1999, earning two Silver Slugger Awards. Known for his superb switch-hitting abilities, Baerga was the first major league player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning. He was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2013. Since his retirement as a player, he has also worked as a broadcaster and analyst for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Latin America.
Kyle Burris is the Vice President of Baseball Research and Development for the Cleveland Guardians. In his role, he shapes how information is utilized through the Baseball Operations Department by partnering closely with the Player Acquisition team to support on-field strategy and player development.
Ezra Frankel is the Director of Baseball Economics for the MLB Players Association. He is responsible for industry analysis relevant to the negotiation and administration of the core economic areas of both the major and minor league collective bargaining agreements. In 2024, he was named as one of Sports Business Journal’s New Voices Under 30.
Tom Hamilton, the voice of the Guardians, is now in his 37th season of calling Cleveland baseball on the radio. He was the recipient of the 2025 Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame and a seven-time recipient of the Ohio Sports Broadcaster of the Year Award. Since 1990, he has called each of the organization’s 114 postseason games, including World Series appearances in 1995, 1997, and 2016.
Mike Hargrove won 2 American League pennants and 5 consecutive AL Central Division titles as Cleveland’s manager from 1991 to 1999. He spent 12 seasons as a player in the major leagues, including seven with the Indians from 1979 to 1985. He was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2008 and returned to the organization in 2010 as a special advisor, a position he remains in today.
Mike Haupert is a Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. He is also Executive Director of the Economic History Association and co-chair of SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee. In 2020, he received SABR’s Henry Chadwick Award for lifetime contributions to baseball research.
Paul Hoynes has been covering Cleveland baseball for more than 40 years as a writer and columnist with The Plain Dealer. He was selected as the 2026 recipient of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award and will be honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this summer.
Bob Kendrick has served as president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City since 2011. He has been responsible for the creation of several signature museum educational programs and events, including Buck O’Neil’s Birthday Bash and the Hall of Game. Kendrick has been associated with the museum for more than three decades, beginning as a volunteer during his 10-year newspaper career at the Kansas City Star. He was appointed to the museum’s Board of Directors in 1993, became its first Director of Marketing in 1998, and was named Vice President of Marketing in 2009 before accepting his current position.
Jonathan Knight is the author of The Making of Major League: A Juuuust a Bit Inside Look at the Classic Baseball Comedy, a best-seller on the classic 1989 film. He has also written 10 other books on Cleveland sports history and other topics. He served as editor of the “Classic Sports” series from Kent State University Press and he is a graduate of Ohio University’s prestigious E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Katie Krall is a professor at Northwestern University, where she teaches courses in the Master’s of Sports Administration program and the Medill School of Journalism. She also makes regular appearances as on-air talent for Marquee Sports Network in Chicago. She previously worked for Hawk-Eye Innovations and as a coach and analyst in the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox organizations. She has been a SABR member since 2017, has published in the Baseball Research Journal, and was elected to the SABR Board of Directors in 2026.
Dan Levitt is the author of several award-winning baseball books and numerous essays. He is the President of SABR’s Board of Directors; co-chair of SABR’s Business of Baseball committee; and a recipient of the Bob Davids Award and the Henry Chadwick Award. His most recent book, Intentional Balk: Baseball’s This Line Between Innovation and Cheating, received the Seymour Medal.
Stephanie Liscio is the author of Integrating Cleveland Baseball: Media Activism, the Integration of the Indians, and the Demise of the Negro League Buckeyes. She is a past president of SABR’s Jack Graney Chapter in Cleveland and a board member for SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee. She earned a PhD in history from Case Western Reserve University.
Kenny Lofton was a fleet-footed center fielder and all-around star who spent the bulk of his 17-year career with Cleveland, including three stints between 1992 and 2007. He holds the franchise record for career stolen bases with 452 and ranks among the team’s all-time top 10 in runs scored and hits. He led the American League in stolen bases for five straight seasons. He was five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner who reached the postseason in 11 seasons with six different teams, including the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Charles Nagy was a stalwart on the Cleveland pitching staff from 1990 to 2000. As the organization’s most consistent starter, he helped the team win six AL Central Division titles in seven years. The three-time All-Star still ranks among the franchise’s all-time leaders in innings pitched and strikeouts. He was inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 2007. He has served as a pitching coach in the organization and a Special Assistant in Player Development.
David S. Ward is the writer and director of Major League, the classic 1989 baseball film about the Cleveland Indians, along with a pair of sequels. The Indians were his favorite childhood team while he was growing up in northern Ohio. His screenplay for The Sting won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1974. He was also nominated for an Oscar in the same category in 1994 for Sleepless in Seattle (co-written with Nora Ephron and Jeff Arch). His other feature films include Cannery Row, King Ralph, and The Program.
Keith Woolner is the Principal Data Scientist in Baseball Research and Development for the Cleveland Guardians. After a 15-year-long career in software development, including his time at Baseball Prospectus, Woolner has been heavily involved in the club’s research and analytics department since 2007. He invented VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), a well-known sabermetrics statistic. Woolner’s work leverages research and advanced analytics to support the organization’s player acquisition, live action strategy, and player projections.
For more information on SABR 54, visit SABR.org/convention.