New SABR chapter in western New York is ‘scholarly, witty and exceptional’
From SABR member Ed Adamczyk at the Tonawanda News on August 11, 2013:
This is some people’s idea of a perfect evening. Put a group of informed, passionate and thoughtful lovers of the game of baseball together in a ballpark, and just listen to the conversation.
The Luke Easter chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research convened for its first meeting recently — the way Trekkies and record collectors and cat fanciers get together — but this was serious. This was about baseball.
The Society, or SABR, organized in 1971, supports the study of baseball history and almost parenthetically has revolutionized the sport through innovations in statistical analysis. Those radical, number-crunching theories about players’ records, observed in the 2003 book (and 2011 film) “Moneyball,” are examples, and they came from this non-profit organization of hardcore baseball enthusiasts.
SABR sponsors conventions and encourages members in geographic proximity to one another to get together and talk baseball. Hence, the Luke Easter chapter, for Buffalo and Rochester members (and named in honor of the big first baseman who played for both the Buffalo Bisons and the Rochester Red Wings after his Negro League and major league baseball careers ended).
The chapter, organized in several weeks by Ryan Brecker of Rochester using the Delphi method of problem-solving (i.e., send out emails to bat opinions around until consensus is reached on ideas), had its first meeting at a Batavia Muckdogs (they of the low-minor New York-Penn League) game in the bleachers of Dwyer Stadium. Of 55 SABR members in Western New York, 14 attended, and the non-stop discourse was scholarly, witty and exceptional.
Read the full article here: http://tonawanda-news.com/feature/x1084952034/Society-of-baseball-experts-are-scholars-in-the-bleachers
- Related link: To sign up for announcements and learn about upcoming events in the Luke Easter Chapter, click here
Originally published: August 12, 2013. Last Updated: August 12, 2013.