Introducing the SABR Advisory Board
SABR is pleased to announce the formation of an Advisory Board consisting of leaders who bring unique knowledge and skills which complement the skills of the Board of Directors. The SABR Advisory Board does not have formal authority to govern the organization. Rather, the advisory board serves to make recommendations, provide key information and make networking introductions to the Board of Directors and the Executive Director.
The first seven members of SABR’s Advisory Board are:
Pat Gillick: A highly regarded baseball executive who was a general manager for 27 years and whose teams won 2,776 games, made 11 playoff appearances and captured three World Series, Gillick was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Gillick is the 32nd executive to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. SABR’s Scouts Committee presented Gillick with the Roland Hemond Award in 2003.
Derrick Hall: Hall is the President and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hall joined the Diamondbacks in 2005 as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, and served in several other roles until he was named President in September 2006. Prior to joining the Diamondbacks, Hall spent parts of 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, departing as the club’s Senior Vice President of Communications in 2004.
Roland Hemond: In 2011, the National Baseball Hall of Fame honored Hemond as the second recipient of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. Hemond is a three-time The Sporting News Executive of the Year (1972, 1983, 1989), who has helped build winning franchises with the Braves, Angels, White Sox, Orioles and Diamondbacks. A longtime member of SABR, he is currently a Special Assistant to the President & CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The SABR Scouts Committee award was first given to Hemond in 2001 and subsequently was named after him.
Jane Leavy: Leavy is the author of the New York Times best-sellers The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood and Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, as well as the comic novel, Squeeze Play. A longtime member of SABR who is active in the Bob Davids (Mid-Atlantic) Chapter, she was a staff writer at The Washington Post and has written for many other publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice and The New York Daily News. She also serves on Major League Baseball’s Baseball Origins Committee.
Laurel Prieb: Prieb was named Vice President for Western Operations and Special Projects for Major League Baseball in 2005. He serves MLB teams in the Mountain and Pacific time zones and is a point of contact for the Arizona Fall League, the Cactus League, and MLB’s business activities in the Pacific Rim. Previously, Prieb served as Vice President of Corporate Affairs for the Milwaukee Brewers and was the Traveling Secretary with the Minnesota Twins.
John Thorn: The Commissioner of Baseball named Thorn the official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball in 2011. Thorn is the author and editor of numerous baseball books, including Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game; Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball; Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame and The Hidden Game of Baseball. Thorn, a longtime member of SABR, served as the senior creative consultant for Ken Burns’ Baseball series.
Del Wilber Jr.: Wilber is the President of The Perfect Game Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with those who aspire to a business career in baseball by providing mentorship along with financial assistance for internships and course of study in sports. He is a senior executive with experience in marketing, brand building and sales management. The eldest of the Wilber siblings, he is a former Big Ten quarterback and shortstop at Purdue and he signed with the Phillies in the first Major League Baseball free agent draft.
Originally published: October 20, 2011. Last Updated: October 20, 2011.