This Week in SABR: April 20, 2018

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Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of April 20, 2018:

Pirates GM Neal Huntington, analytics director Dan Fox, pitcher John Candelaria to speak at SABR 48

We are pleased to announce more of our featured speakers and panelists for the SABR 48 convention this summer in Pittsburgh.

SABR 48 will be held June 20-24, 2018, at the Wyndham Grand hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, just blocks from PNC Park. The conference is open to all baseball fans, and early registration is now available online. Click here to register!

Here is some more information about our featured speakers:

  • Neal Huntington, Executive Vice President/General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Dan Fox, Senior Director of Baseball Informatics for the Pittsburgh Pirates
  • John Candelaria, former major-league pitcher for 19 seasons who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1979 World Series
  • Thomas E. Kennedy was the project executive for the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, overseeing the public interest in the construction of PNC Park and Heinz Field

Huntington, Fox, Kennedy, and Pirates broadcaster Joe Block will speak at the SABR 48 “A Day at the Ballpark” session on Friday, June 22. They will join our other featured speakers and panelists at SABR 48, including Pittsburgh Pirates president Frank Coonelly and a special panel on the life and legacy of pioneering African American sports writer Wendell Smith that includes authors Chris Lamb, Larry Lester, Pamela E. Walck, and David K. Wiggins.

Please note: All speakers are subject to change depending on availability.

The annual SABR convention, which is open to all baseball fans, includes top featured speakers from around the baseball world — front office executives, players, managers, scouts, journalists, historians, and analysts — innovative panel discussions, groundbreaking research presentations, major and minor league games, tours of historic ballparks, the SABR Trivia Contest, the Awards Luncheon, and most of all, the opportunity to make and renew baseball friendships over the course of this exciting and memorable event.

For more information, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 48: Early registration deadline approaching soon for 2018 national convention in Pittsburgh

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a spectacular SABR 48 convention on June 20-24, 2018, at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Early registration is now available at SABR.org/convention; all baseball fans are welcome to attend. Click here for more information on SABR 48 registration rates, all-inclusive packages, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 48.

The Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh is conveniently located within walking distance from PNC Park and a light rail station, many downtown cultural amenities, and right across the street from the picturesque 36-acre Point State Park where the three rivers converge.

Click on a link below for more information about SABR 48.

  • Registration: We’re again offering a special all-inclusive rate for the annual SABR convention. For $319, a savings of $30 off the regular rate, SABR members can get:
    — Full registration to SABR 48 in Pittsburgh (early-bird: $249; regular rate: $279)
    — 1 ticket in the Corner Box (LF) section to the Pirates vs. Diamondbacks game on Friday, June 22 — includes special “A Day at the Ballpark” pregame session at PNC Park ($40 value)
    — 1 ticket to the Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 22 ($60 value)
    Non-members can pay $394 for the all-inclusive rate. The deadline to register with the all-inclusive rate is Friday, May 18, 2018. Click here for complete information on SABR 48 registration rates, all-inclusive packages, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 48!
  • Hotel: The special SABR group rate at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh of $149/night (plus tax) is only available to registered convention attendees for the nights of Wednesday, June 20 through Saturday, June 23. After you register for the SABR 48 convention, you will receive an e-mail confirmation with details on how to book your hotel room at the SABR group rate. There are a limited number of rooms in our group block, so be sure to register for SABR 48 early! The Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh is located at 600 Commonwealth Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
  • Awards Luncheon: SABR will host a special Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 22 at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh. The Awards Luncheon, which includes a full meal, will feature the announcement of SABR’s annual awards — including the Bob Davids Award, our highest honor. One ticket to the Awards Luncheon is included in the all-inclusive package or guest tickets are available for $60 when you register for SABR 48.
  • A Day at the Ballpark: For the third year in a row and fourth time in five years, SABR will present “A Day at the Ballpark” before the Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, June 22 at PNC Park. Special thanks to the Pirates for this great opportunity and for offering us a large block of tickets in the Corner Box (LF) section at an affordable price of $40 for SABR members ($45 for non-members). Purchase of SABR 48 conference registration AND a game ticket will be required to attend this special session. Guests and spouses can get in the ballpark early with purchase of a special SABR 48 Ballpark Session pass ($25) and a Pirates game ticket. Click here for more details.

All SABR 48 attendees will also receive a souvenir print edition of The National Pastime, our annual convention journal, focusing on baseball teams, players and events in the Pittsburgh area. All SABR members, whether you attend the convention or not, will receive the e-book edition of The National Pastime in their inboxes later this summer.

Stay tuned for more featured speakers and the complete schedule to be announced in the coming months. Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

We hope to see you this summer in Pittsburgh!

SABR 48: Roberto Clemente Museum tours almost sold out

SABR 48 attendees have a special opportunity to visit the Roberto Clemente Museum this summer, but there are only a handful of spots available for the tours. The museum will host four tours at $20 per person on Wednesday, June 20. Space is extremely limited, and reservations will only be made on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please call the museum at (412) 621-1268, Ext. 2, to reserve your space. No reservations can be made online; payment is due on-site when you arrive for the tour.

The tours last about 1.5 hours and the start times on Wednesday, June 20 are as follows (subject to availability):

  • 10:00 a.m. (7 spots still open)
  • 12:15 p.m. (SOLD OUT!)
  • 2:30 p.m. (SOLD OUT!)
  • 5:00 p.m. (SOLD OUT!)

Transportation to and from the museum is on your own; the museum is about 3.5 miles from the convention hotel and is accessible via taxi/rideshare or by several Port Authority bus lines in the city. All questions and inquiries should be directed to the Clemente Museum at the main number above.

The Clemente Museum is housed in historic Engine House 25, 3339 Penn Avenue, in the revitalized Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. Executive Director and Curator Duane Rieder has meticulously renovated Engine House 25 to showcase the world’s largest exhibited collection of baseball artifacts, works of art, literature, photographs, memorabilia, and related materials which focus on Roberto Clemente, his teammates, his personal life, and his humanitarian causes. For more information, visit clementemuseum.org.

Last chance to vote in the 2018 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, you should have received messages on Tuesday, April 10 and April 17 with a link to vote online in the 2018 SABR Board of Directors election. The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

The only way to vote online is through the link you will receive by e-mail. All e-mails will come from the address tellers@sabr.org; if you wish to add it to a whitelist in your e-mail client, that may help ensure that you will receive the e-mails.

You can read the candidate biographies, along with full descriptions of the positions and responses the candidates made to a series of questions, in the 2018 SABR Election Guide which is available for download below:

Download the 2018 SABR Election Guide here (PDF)

When you vote, you will find four items on the 2018 Board of Directors ballot: a proposed by-laws revision regarding changing the organization’s name (Note 4/18/18: the name change and by-laws issue has been withdrawn and any votes on that issue will be disregarded); and the election of the SABR Vice President, Secretary, and one (1) Director position — please rank the Director candidates in order of preference. The candidates are:

For Vice President

  • Leslie Heaphy (incumbent)

For Secretary

  • Todd Lebowitz (incumbent)

For Director (1)

  • Mark Armour
  • Barry Bloom
  • John McMurray
  • George Skornickel

Members who did not have an e-mail address on file with SABR as of April 1, 2018, will receive a paper ballot in the mail. Please do not vote online and send in the paper ballot; if you do, the paper ballot will be discarded, and only the online vote will count.

If you would like to register your e-mail address on file with SABR so you can vote online (and also receive our “This Week in SABR” newsletter on Fridays), please contact Membership Director Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org.

Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference under way in Cooperstown

The 10th annual SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference is being held this weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

The 2018 conference will be highlighted by a keynote address from baseball historian Don Jensen, along with a panel discussion on “Playing Ball: A Tribute to Tom Altherr” with John Thorn, David Block, and Larry McCray; a special presentation by Bill Ryczek: a re-created play-by-play broadcast of the greatest 19th-century game, Red Stockings at Atlantics, June 14, 1870; a Member Spotlight interview of Bob Tholkes by Tom Simon; plus book signings, research presentations, and a welcome dinner.

For more information, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c.

Spring 2018 Baseball Research Journal is on its way

Good news! The Spring 2018 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next two to four weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition will be delivered next week.

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here.

To read more articles from the BRJ archives, click here.

We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2018 Baseball Research Journal!

Jim Leeke’s From the Dugouts to the Trenches wins 2018 Larry Ritter Book Award

Jim Leeke’s engaging and informative historical account of the impact of World War I on the world of baseball, From the Dugouts to the Trenches: Baseball During the Great War, published by University of Nebraska Press, has earned the 2018 Larry Ritter Book Award.

The award is granted annually by SABR’s Deadball Era Committee to the author of the best book about baseball between 1901 and 1919 published during the previous calendar year. The winner’s work must demonstrate original research or analysis, a fresh perspective, compelling thesis, impressive insight, accuracy, and clear, graceful prose.

The other finalists for the Ritter Award were:

  • Urban Shocker: Silent Hero of Baseball’s Golden Age, by Steve Steinberg (University of Nebraska Press)
  • The Half-Game Pennant of 1908: Four Teams Chase Victory in the American League, by Charles Alexander (McFarland & Co.)
  • Connie Mack’s First Dynasty: The Philadelphia Athletics, 1910-1914, by Lew Freedman (McFarland & Co.)

Conferred annually since 2002, this year’s Ritter Award will be formally presented to Jim Leeke at the DEC meeting at SABR 48 in Pittsburgh. The winner was selected by the Larry Ritter Book Award Committee chaired by Doug Skipper, with members Mark Dugo, David Fleitz, Ben Klein, Craig Lammers, John McMurray, and Mark Pattison.

Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.

New SABR Oral History interview: Sheldon Ocker, Spink Award winner

Our newest interview in the SABR Oral History Collection is with Sheldon Ocker, the 2018 recipient of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. Ocker spent more than three decades covering the Cleveland Indians for the Akron Beacon-Journal and once served as national president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America before retiring from the newspaper in 2013.

Click here to listen to Sheldon Ocker’s SABR Oral History interview online.

The interview was conducted by John McMurray, chair of the SABR Oral History Committee, on February 27, 2018.

Check out more highlights from the new SABR Oral History Collection website, which launched earlier this month, at oralhistory.sabr.org. 

SABR Digital Library: Moments of Joy and Heartbreak: 66 Significant Episodes in the History of the Pittsburgh Pirates

As we gear up for the SABR 48 convention this summer in Pittsburgh, add this new baseball book from the SABR Digital Library to your collection:

Moments of Joy and Heartbreak: 66 Significant Episodes in the History of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Edited by Jorge Iber and Bill Nowlin
Associate Editors: Russ Lake and Len Levin
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-73-6, $19.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-943816-72-9, $9.99
201 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

Click here to read the full description of this book at SABR.org.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

Having trouble downloading our e-books? To view PDF files on your computer, click here to download the free Adobe Reader software. Having trouble downloading e-books to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. For a full list of SABR Digital Library titles, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

6 new SABR biographies published

Six new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,501 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

All new biographies can be found here: SABR.org/bioproj/recent

  • Search for any SABR biography: You can now visit sabr.org/bioproj_search to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. You can also browse all of these BioProject categories and a lot more, including 300-game winners, Hall of Famers, 1960s All-Stars, or Negro Leaguers, at our Browse page: sabr.org/bioproj/browse.
  • Read bios from SABR’s No-Hitters book: In SABR’s No-Hitters, edited by Bill Nowlin and published in 2017, we focused on pitchers who threw no-hitters and the no-hitters they threw. Naturally, we couldn’t present biographies of everyone who ever threw a no-hitter nor could we present Games Project accounts of all of them. From around 300 no-hitters thrown in the majors (out of over 213,000 games), we have selected 59 no-hitters to include, along with the biographies of the men who threw them. All of the biographies — from Hall of Famers such as Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson to more obscure pitchers such as Larry Corcoran, Charlie Robertson, and Dallas Braden — that appeared in No-Hitters can now be read online at the SABR BioProject. More game summaries from the No-Hitters book will be posted at the SABR Games Project soon. You can also download the No-Hitters e-book for free or purchase the paperback edition at 50% off by clicking here.

1 new story published by the SABR Games Project

One new game story was posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. Here is the new game story:

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles at SABR.org/GamesProject.

If you have any questions about the Games Project, please contact Mike Huber. To request an assignment, please contact Steven C. Weiner. After the article has been completed in accordance with our Authors’ Guidelines, please submit it to Len Levin, who will initiate the editing process and get your story started toward publication.

  • Get involved: Have memories of a game you attended? Or a game you watched that caught your interest? Write about it! Writing for the Games Project is an easy way to get involved as a SABR member. Find out how by reading the Games Project FAQs section or checking out the Authors’ Guidelines. We have editors and fact checkers who are willing to help you write your first article.

Read all articles from SABR book on greatest games at Milwaukee’s County Stadium

In SABR’s From the Braves to the Brewers: Great Games and Exciting History at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, edited by Gregory H. Wolf and published in 2016, we told the stories of memorable moments from the heart of the Badger State. All of the stories that appeared in this book are now available to be read online at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Here is a sampling of articles from this book:

To read more articles from the SABR Games Project, visit SABR.org/GamesProject.

Listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Sunday nights

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, is back for the 2018 season at its regular time: 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on Sundays, on MLB Network Radio.

This week’s guests are Zach Schonbrun, author of The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience Is Redefining Athletic Genius, and Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight.

You can listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App, and you can watch video highlights of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on MLB.com. Click here to watch more video highlights of Baseball SABR Style from MLB.com.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It airs weekly throughout the year on MLB Network Radio, available to subscribers nationwide on XM channel 89, Sirius channel 209, and on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

Listen to a new episode from the SABR Media Committee’s Baseball Buffet podcast

SABR’s Baseball and the Media Committee welcomes you to The Baseball Buffet, our monthly roundtable podcast focusing on recent baseball events, the media’s coverage of the national pastime, and more.

Our buffet of baseball commentators include Andie Giafaglione, Thom Henninger, Chuck Hildebrandt, Stuart Shea, and host Jim Walker. Each podcast runs about 20-25 minutes, a length which fits quite nicely as a quick listen into your own lunch schedule.

Listen now to the April 2018 episode, where our hardball-obsessed lunch munchers look at the new “Phillie Phanatic”, aka manager Gabe Kapler; the implications of expanded protective netting at the ballpark; the early season weather—everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it; and the latest beast from the East: Ohtani, how we love you, how we love you. (24:21)

To learn more about The Baseball Buffet podcast, or to listen to recent episodes, click here.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s This Week in SABR

We’ve heard your feedback: Some of you have said you look forward to “This Week in SABR” every Friday, but sometimes there are just too many compelling articles and announcements to read every week. We’re not complaining — hey, keep up the great work! — but we know the feeling. So in an effort to make the length of this newsletter more manageable to read, we’ll summarize some of the repeating/recurring announcements in a special “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)” section of “This Week in SABR”.

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: https://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

For more information, click here.

Welcome, new members!

We’d like to welcome all of our new SABR members who have joined this week. You can find all Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org and the Membership Handbook can be downloaded here.

Please give these new members a warm welcome and help them make the most of their membership by giving them the opportunity to get involved in their local chapter or a research committee.

You can find contact information for any SABR member in the online membership directory (SABR.org/directory).

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Thomas Brooks River Forest, IL     Robert Northington Radnor, PA
Jack Coleman-Levy West Hills, CA     Peter Oh Pittsburgh, PA
John Cunninghwm Cincinnati, OH     Michael Ousky Litchfield Park, AZ
Vincent Daly Leduc, AB     John Semlak New York, NY
David Decker Martinsburg, WV     Lonnie Smith Conway, SC
Joseph DeLeonard Vestavia Hills, AL     Shawn Smith Caledonia, ON
Scott Eccher Lewisville, TX     Wayne Soini Gloucester, MA
Gary Euler Pittsburgh, PA     Daniel Sorenson Tucson, AZ
Brian Geurts Milwaukee, WI     Trevor Thornton Minneapolis, MA
Jim Griffin Glenside, PA     Jared Vasiliauskas Glen Ellyn, IL
John Kling Naperville, IL     Maureen Walsh Tallahassee, FL
Matthew Krisch New York, NY        

 

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Find all SABR research committee newsletters at SABR.org/research.

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Visit SABR.org/chapters for more information on SABR regional chapters.

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming events on the SABR calendar:

All SABR meetings and events are open to the public. Feel free to bring a baseball-loving friend … and make many new ones! Check out the SABR Events Calendar at SABR.org/events.

Around the Web

Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:

Read these articles and more at SABR.org/latest.

This Week in SABR is compiled by Jacob Pomrenke. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR,” e-mail jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Have trouble reading this e-mail? Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web.

Are you receiving our e-mails? “This Week in SABR” goes out by e-mail to all members on Friday afternoons. If they’re not showing up, try adding “sabr.notes@sabr.org” to your contact list to ensure they show up in your inbox (and not the spam folder.)

 

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Originally published: April 20, 2018. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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