2010 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award Winners Announced
The 2010 winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, which honors the best articles on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year, are:
- Ron Cobb, for “The Georgia Peach: Stumped by the Storyteller”, which was published in SABR’s 2010 convention publication, The National Pastime: Baseball in the Peach State, an article that addresses two topics: The truth about the killing of Ty Cobb’s father, and how a sportswriter, Al Stump, “used” the ballplayer toward the end of his life. Among the judges’ comments: “… basic source research about the details of the killing that shaped (or warped) young Ty Cobb’s personality forever.”
- Jeff Obermeyer, for “Disposable Heroes: Returning World War II Veteran Al Niemiec Takes on Organized Baseball”, which was published in the Summer 2010 edition of the Baseball Research Journal, an article that, through the story of one player, capsulizes the way some baseball owners and officials, in disregard of federal law, discriminated against players returning from World War II. Among the judges’ comments: “ … an untold story that had larger consequences … puts the story of too many ‘unrewarded’ World War II veterans into a baseball frame.”
- Geri Strecker, for “And the Public Has Been Left to Guess the Secret: Questioning the Authorship of ‘The Great Match, and Other Matches’ (1877)”, which was published in the Spring 2010 edition of NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. Among the judges’ comments: “It does unravel nicely an authorship issue significant because it reveals the less well known attitude of female patrons to the 19th century game.”
All three winners are SABR members. Strecker was also honored with the McFarland-SABR Award last year.
The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the author(s) of the best articles or papers, published or unpublished, on baseball history or biography completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, and unpublished research papers and written versions of oral presentations. Each winner will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $200.
The awards will be presented at the 41st annual SABR convention, July 6-10, 2011, at the Long Beach Hilton in Southern California.
The selection committee consists of: Len Levin (chair), Phil Bergen, Jan Finkel, Chuck Hilty and Bill Humber. To submit a nomination for the 2011 awards, please send the work’s title, author and publisher information (if applicable) to Len Levin.
For a complete list of winners of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award back to 1986, click here.
Originally published: May 9, 2011. Last Updated: May 9, 2011.