Help us Bring it Home in 2023 and build a stronger future for SABR!
Much like circling the baseball diamond, SABR rounds the bases every year through guiding principles of research, participation, and community. At first base is the fundamental component of our mission: research. At second base is participation, through which we produce wonderful baseball research and programming that reaches people everywhere. We round third at community, as we strive towards our vision of becoming the essential community for the world of baseball.
Gifts from members like you will now help SABR BRING IT HOME, making 2023 a historic success while building for a bright future.
You can support SABR’s annual Bring it Home Campaign by making a gift of $150 or more by December 31, 2023. We will use your best gift of $150, $300, $500, or $1,000 to boost SABR’s general operations.
Contributions from generous donors like you are vital as SABR expands research, creates more pathways to participation, and builds a stronger baseball community.
Here are ways we are growing these important principles of research, participation, and community as we Bring it Home in 2023:
Research
- The SABR Digital Library will soon publish its 100th book since 2011.
- Added the Historical Black Newspapers Collection as a members-only Research Resource.
- Launched the fully digitized SABR-Rucker Archive, which contains nearly 80,000 unique baseball images, and an expansive living research project to continue to add metadata and context to each image.
- Formed the Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee, convened to study pre-1920 teams and leagues, independent teams from 1920 to 1948, and the post-1948 Negro American League.
- SABR.org will soon add the Weiss Baseball Questionnaires, a collection of self-completed surveys of professional baseball players from 1945-2005 now only fully available at Ancestry.com.
- We will digitize National Association (MiLB) records acquired by SABR prior to MLB’s takeover of Minor League Baseball, which include president’s bulletins and player contracts up to 1993.
- SABR BioProject biographies will include links to all available Sporting News Player Contract Cards.
Participation
- Introduced the Second and Third Levels of the SABR Analytics Certification program, with the fourth course to come in 2024.
- Hosted our core national events, including the SABR Annual Convention, Analytics Conference, Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference, SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference.
- Recognized the work of an average of 30-40 volunteers on each of our nearly 100 SABR publications, with many contributing to multiple publications, resulting in well over 3,000 total contributions from SABR researchers, writers, and editors.
- Funded and supported five SABR Local Grants in 2023, including the Baseball Memories Program, historical markers placed by the Baltimore Babe Ruth and Cliff Kachline Cooperstown Chapters, a Negro Leagues historical exhibit by the Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter in Philadelphia, and a high school scholarship award by the Schott-Pelican Chapter in Louisiana.
- Welcomed 102 students to SABR membership via the MLB Diversity Pipeline at the 2023 Analytics Conference.
- Donations and support for fundraising drives from generous members like you.
Community
- Achieved an all-time membership high in 2023 with 7,500 active members.
- SABR will host nearly 600 events this year, including local chapter gatherings, research committee meetings, and national conferences.
- Celebrated the work of hundreds of volunteers, including chapter and research committee leadership, authors, editors, and local event and membership coordinators.
- Launched SABR’s first ever chapter awards system based on new standards and best practice benchmarks.
- Held monthly New Member Experience virtual meetings, where new SABR members are introduced to key membership benefits and encouraged to get involved with various groups, like research committees, Games Project, BioProject, and SABR publications.
- Introduced the new SABR Scholars virtual career development and networking series, a part of our plan to build a more welcoming environment and valuable experience for student and young professional members.
- SABR staff will expand new member onboarding and “re-onboarding” for veteran members, including member benefit tutorial videos.
- Continued to provide affordable membership access for all, including no dues increases since 2009.
Click here to contribute to SABR’s Bring it Home Campaign!
Plus, all donors joining the Bring it Home Campaign with a gift of $150 or more will receive the following:
$150 and up
- Paperback copy of forthcoming SABR book on Ebbets Field.
- Recognition in This Week in SABR, SABR.org, and in Annual Report.
$300 and up
- Paperback copy of forthcoming SABR book on Ebbets Field.
- Exclusive Immaculate Grid t-shirt, celebrating Baseball Reference’s online game that’s taken the SABR community by storm.
- Recognition in This Week in SABR, SABR.org, and in Annual Report.
$500 and up
- Paperback copy of forthcoming SABR book on Ebbets Field.
- Exclusive Immaculate Grid t-shirt, celebrating Baseball Reference’s online game that’s taken the SABR community by storm.
- SIGNED hardcover copy of best-selling author and SABR member Joe Posnanski’s new book Why We Love Baseball.
- Recognition in This Week in SABR, SABR.org, and in Annual Report.
Thank you for your continued support in making SABR the organization it is today and joining us in building for our future.