This Week in SABR: April 23, 2021

April 23, 2021/in This Week in SABR /by Jacob Pomrenke

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 23, 2021:

Read articles from the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal online

Good news! The Spring 2021 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 few weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition — with a special illustrated cover design of Babe Ruth by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski — was delivered on Tuesday, April 13.

All articles from the new Baseball Research Journal are now available to be read online at SABR.org.

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here. We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal!

Join the Future 50 Campaign and support the future of baseball research

As SABR celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2021, we are excited to both commemorate our history and look forward to our shared vision of the organization’s future. We hope you are able to join us as we continue to come together in thoughtful baseball fellowship, since SABR could not have reached this golden milestone without members like you.

By joining our Future 50 Campaign, you will help ensure SABR’s next 50 years are even brighter than the first 50. You can support SABR’s Future 50 Campaign by making a gift of at least $100 by June 4, 2021.

All donors joining the Future 50 Campaign with a gift of $500 or more will receive:

Customized SABR Dugout Mug featuring 50th Anniversary logo
Paperback edition of The National Pastime: The Future According to Baseball journal
SABR 50th Anniversary lapel pin
Complimentary registration to the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series
Recognition in This Week in SABR and on SABR.org
Recognition during an upcoming Summer of SABR virtual event

Ten randomly selected donors will also win an autographed copy of Eric Nusbaum’s 2021 Seymour Medal-winning book Stealing Home.

Thank you so much for your consideration in joining the Future 50 Campaign. With your support, SABR will continue to be the world’s essential baseball community for the next 50 years and beyond!

Vote now in the 2021 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, please pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you should have received a message on Monday, April 19 with a link to vote online in the 2021 SABR Board of Directors election. If you did not receive the election ballot, please email jpomrenke@sabr.org to have your ballot re-sent. You will receive a reminder email on Monday, April 26. The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Monday, May 3.

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 2021 SABR Election Guide which is available for download below:

Download the 2021 SABR Election Guide here (PDF)

When you vote, please rank the candidates in order of preference, with 1 being your top choice. SABR elections use a simplified preferential voting system, allowing voters to rank their preferred candidates 1-2-3 and transferring preferences until a winner with more than 50 percent of votes is achieved.

You will find three items on the 2021 election ballot: the election of the SABR President, Secretary, and one (1) Director’s position. The candidates are:

For President

Mark Armour

For Secretary

Todd Lebowitz

For Director

Tyrone Brooks
Tara Krieger
Alex Marks

Click here to learn more and to download the Election Guide.

SABR’s virtual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference is under way

The 11th annual SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference kicked off this week.

The 2021 virtual conference is highlighted by a keynote address from Major League Baseball’s Official Historian John Thorn, along with a panel discussion on National League president William Hulbert with Jack Bales, Richard Hershberger, Bill Lamb, and moderator Bill Ryczek; a special presentation by Jim Gates on the “Penny Marshall Sheet Music Collection” at the Baseball Hall of Fame; a Member Spotlight interview of Tom Gilbert by Bob Bailey; plus many informative and interesting research presentations.

Schedule: Click here to view the full schedule for the 2021 Ivor-Campbell Conference. Online sessions will be held from 8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 22; 12:00-5:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 23; and 12:00-5:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 24. Registration provides access to all panels and presentations for each day.
Digital Attendee Packet: Click here to download the SABR Ivor-Campbell Conference digital attendee packet (PDF), with a welcome message from conference chair Peter Mancuso and author/presenter handouts
Contact: If you have registered for this event and did not receive the Zoom meeting details, please contact events@sabr.org.

For more questions, please contact Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

To learn more about the conference, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c.

SABR Digital Library: Jackie: Perspectives on 42

Add a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:

Jackie: Perspectives on 42
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5950-9, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5951-6, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 324 pages

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Jackie: Perspectives on 42 for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Jackie: Perspectives on 42 paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

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 can download all Digital Library e-book editions for free and save 50% on purchase of the paperback editions. Visit SABR.org/ebooks to view all past titles.

Baseball’s Better Together membership drive extended to April 30

Everyone knows Baseball’s Better Together! With a new season upon us, we encourage all SABR members to share details about our new membership drive with the baseball-loving fan in your life.

In honor of the 2021 season, all baseball fans can save 21% off a new SABR membership through April 30. Visit SABR.org/better-together for details on how to sign up. We could celebrate our 50th anniversary this year by eclipsing our all-time high in global membership. With your help sharing this great offer for new members, this goal is within our reach!

SABR is the essential community for the world of baseball, where we celebrate history, research, and statistics of our great game. If you’re a passionate fan, there’s a place for you in SABR!

SABR launches new email discussion forums for chapters, committees

SABR has launched a new email discussion forum for all members to enjoy. Working with the Groups.io interface, the new SABRgroups platform will help enhance participation and provide interactive collaboration tools for any chapters, committees or special-interest chartered community groups.

SABR members can visit profile.sabr.org/email-forums to learn more about the SABRgroups forums and how to subscribe. All messages come straight to your email inbox. The email forums also offer interactive file and photo sharing areas, wikis, chats, and many other intuitive features.

Members can subscribe to any existing group, or chapter and committee leaders can request to form their own new group. Some SABR committees — including the Nineteenth Century Committee, Black Sox Scandal Committee, Minor Leagues Committee, and Scouts Committee — have active email forums that have been transferred over from other platforms.

For a complete list of all SABRgroups forums, and information on how to subscribe, click here.

Deadline to submit new project proposals to SABR Editorial Board is April 30

SABR’s Editorial Board — which includes Scott Bush, Christina Kahrl, Bill Nowlin, Jacob Pomrenke, Anthony Salazar, Cecilia Tan, and Sarah Wexler — was established in 2020 to evaluate proposals for publication. The Board welcomes new research project proposals from members to be considered for publication through the Digital Library, SABR.org, or any other multimedia formats.

We strongly encourage new proposals that involve collaboration between SABR research committees and/or chapters, and web-based projects with an eye toward enhanced multimedia presentation.

Visit https://bit.ly/sabr-editorial-board-proposals to submit a SABR project proposal online
Next deadline for proposals: April 30, 2021 (for publication in late 2022 or early 2023)

SABR seeks to publish 2-4 web-based multimedia projects and 6-8 books per year. Book projects should be of a scope that can fit in a single volume, typically between 100,000 and 200,000 total words.

Two sample project proposals can be downloaded by clicking here. Previously published web projects can be viewed at SABR.org/eight-myths-out or SABR.org/gamesproj/first-games-back.

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

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org, as part of our Stay Home With SABR initiative to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Can’t-Miss Event: On Wednesday, April 28, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, SABR’s Bud Metheny Chapter in Virginia’s Eastern Shore will hold a virtual book club meeting with special guest speaker Joshua Prager, author of The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World. All baseball fans are invited to attend. Click here to register for this free Zoom event.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from longtime Texas Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan; authors Mitch Lutzke (The Page Fence Giants); Brian Frank (Blue Jays in Buffalo); Lawrence Baldassaro (Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer); Dan Taylor (Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball); and Jerry Manheim (“This Never Happened: The Mysterious Death of Christy Mathewson”). Click here to view more video replays of virtual SABR events.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can attend online; check the Events Calendar for complete details:

April 23-24: Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference (12:00 p.m. EDT)
April 25: Connie Mack (PA) Chapter weekly chat (2:00 p.m. EDT)
April 25: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
April 26: NW Ohio Chapter book club meeting (6:30 p.m. EDT)
April 27: Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter meeting with Bill Ryczek and Paul Hensler (6:30 p.m. EDT)
April 27: Pacific Northwest Chapter Meeting with David Krell (6:30 p.m. PDT)
April 28: Bud Metheny (VA) Chapter meeting with Josh Prager (8:00 p.m. EDT)
April 29: Keith Howard: Baseball in Kalamazoo 1880-1920 – A Contrast in Colors (6:30 p.m. EDT)
May 1: Talkin’ Baseball: Jerry Manheim (9:00 a.m. EDT)

In addition, the following SABR events will be held in person this week:

April 24: Schott-Pelican Chapter meeting (Gretna, LA)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Frisco RoughRiders president Victor Rojas

Baseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer.

Episode #107 on Monday, April 19 featured Victor Rojas, president and general manager of the Frisco RoughRiders, Class AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Before moving back into the front office, he spent 11 seasons as the TV play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Angels from 2010 to 2020. Previously, he worked for MLB Network and called TV and radio broadcasts for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks in MLB and the independent Newark Bears of the Atlantic League, where he also served as the team’s Assistant General Manager. He is a former pitcher in the Angels organization and the son of former All-Star and Angels manager Cookie Rojas.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.

Subscribe to SABRcast on your favorite podcast networks, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher, and listen to each episode as soon as it’s released on Mondays. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

6 new SABR biographies published

Six new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project. Here are the new bios published this week:

John Cerutti, by Malcolm Allen
Rodney Craig, by Eric Vickrey
Val Heim, by Monty Nielsen
Eddie O’Brien, by Tim Herlich
Johnny O’Brien, by Tim Herlich
Mo Vaughn, by Zac Petrillo

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

Find any SABR biography: You can visit sabr.org/bioproject to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Games, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires, Writers, people who were Famous Outside Baseball, and a lot more.

15 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

Fifteen new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. Here are the new game stories:

August 11, 1912: Shoeless Joe Jackson becomes first American Leaguer to steal home twice in one game, by Thomas E. Merrick
May 8, 1921: Eddie Rommel goes the distance as Athletics outlast Yankees in 14 innings, by Gordon Gattie
May 11, 1921: Dave Robertson’s reinstatement highlighted by six RBIs in Cubs’ rout of Phillies, by Richard Cuicchi
May 15, 1921: Austin McHenry and Cardinals mates shoot down Brooklyn Robins, by Neal Golden
May 1, 1933: Pirates hit two grand slams in 10-0 win over Phillies, by Tim Hagerty
October 5, 1939: Yankees’ Monte Pearson flirts with no-hitter in dominant Game Two performance, by Dan Schoenholz
August 5, 1940: Bound for majors, Fred Caligiuri, Phil McCullough square off in Class D gem, by Jack Zerby
September 28, 1947: Curt Simmons has a blazing debut for Phillies at age 18, by Russ Walsh
May 5, 1955: Dodgers overcome Lasorda’s wildness, injury to extend red-hot start, by Andrew Harner
August 4, 1960: Billy Martin ends Jim Brewer’s season in on-field brawl, by Bruce Harris
September 14, 1976: Al Autry wins debut start for Braves in his only major-league game, by Jack Zerby
November 14, 1999: Australia’s baseball dreams become reality by winning gold medal in Intercontinental Cup, by Robert Laidlaw
June 7, 2005: Pedro Martinez is almost perfect as Mets beat Astros 3-1, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
September 17, 2018: Christian Yelich makes history with second cycle of the season, by Mike Huber
October 16, 2020: Will Smith homers off Will Smith, sparking Dodgers’ turnaround in Game 5, by Laura H. Peebles

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject.

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.
Social media: Follow the SABR Games Project on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with new stories and updates.

Listen to a new episode of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Saturdays

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, is back at a new time for the regular season. Listen to new episodes at 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays on MLB Network Radio.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio app.

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.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s 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: SABR.org/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

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.

Name	Hometown	Name	Hometown
George Alfano	Redlands, CA	Patrick McGinn	Montgomery Village, MD
Jack Benjamin	Grove City, OH	Joyce Miller	Richmond, VA
Thomas Bergamasco	Edgewood, PA	Gene Moreland	Tucson, AZ
David Branson	Greensboro, NC	Jim Reid	Louisville, KY
Isaac Braun	Arnold, MD	Dominic Santanasto	Bethlehem, PA
Jesse Cook	Mesa, AZ	Larry Schimka	Des Plaines, IL
Bob Ellis	Greenwood, MO	Mark Shirk	Cambridge, ENG
Jake Freppel	Napoleon, OH	Carey Singer	Toronto, ON
Sam Guggenheimer	Arlington, VA	Frank Tursi	Swansboro, NC
Jay Koch	Springboro, OH	Gregory Vince	Lansdale, PA
Richard Korber	Tarzana, CA	Rob Watts	Lexington, SC
Craig Leff	Reading, ENG	Jenna Weinstein	New City, NY
Sandra Malloy	Oakland, CA	Jason Winston	Riverside, CA
Andrew Maraniss	Brentwood, TN

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Minor Leagues: Spring 2021 newsletter

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter and chartered community updates this week:

Juan Marichal Chapter: April 20 meeting recap (Santo Domingo, DOM)
Larry Dierker Chapter: April 19 meeting recap (Houston, TX)

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

Around the Web

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

William Weinbaum: A handshake from a white teammate signaled Jackie Robinson’s arrival in America’s game (The Undefeated)
Ken Rosenthal/Eno Sarris: How the difference between sunscreen and advanced grip substances could help MLB navigate tricky enforcement landscape (The Athletic)
Rob Arthur: This Baseball Isn’t What MLB Said It Would Be (Baseball Prospectus)
Alden Gonzalez: How the pandemic has changed going to MLB ballparks in 2021 — and forever (ESPN.com)
Joon Lee: Don’t be fooled by Kim Ng’s hiring. Women in baseball say MLB has a long way to go (ESPN.com)
Madison Hedding: Women in Sports: SABR’s Chanel Zapata (Sports As A Job)
Mike Petriello: How Fernando drew thousands of extra fans (MLB.com)
Jay Jaffe: Corbin Burnes’ Walkless Run Is Incredible (FanGraphs)
Hannah Keyser: Shohei Ohtani inspires the masses to feel the angst of pitching in the majors (Yahoo! Sports)
Emma Baccellieri: The Novelty of Position Players Pitching Is Becoming Practical (Sports Illustrated)
Evan Drellich: ‘It’s very valuable’: What would change if MLB lost its antitrust exemption? (The Athletic)
RJ McDaniel: Decades in the Making, the Dodgers-Padres Rivalry Has Arrived (FanGraphs)
Jayson Stark: Can the Blue Jays be baseball’s next behemoth? (The Athletic)
Rob Mains: So, You Hate Home Runs? (Baseball Prospectus)
Tom Verducci: Baseball’s Mental Health Reckoning (Sports Illustrated)
Stephanie Apstein: Mets Director of Baseball Analytics Ben Zauzmer Has All the Answers—At the Oscars (Sports Illustrated)
Gregory S. Schneider: A Black high school baseball team won a championship in 1969. Their hometown waited 50 years to celebrate. (Washington Post)
Eric Nusbaum: Fain in Vain (Sports Stories)
Steve Buckley: A baseball Super League? The Yankees, Red Sox and others tried and failed long before soccer (The Athletic)
David Laurila: Ross Stripling Talks Curveballs (FanGraphs)
Mark Simon: Mookie Betts’ brain has all the angles covered (Sports Info Solutions)
Shakeia Taylor: Jazz (We’ve Got) (Baseball Prospectus)
Matt Monagan: The man with the most baseball cards (MLB.com)
Todd Radom: Cincinnati, City of Logo Champions (ToddRadom.com)
Gary Cieradkowski: Paul Derringer: Highs and Lows (Studio Gary C)
Al Yellon: They’ve changed the ‘NITE GAME’ display on the Wrigley Field scoreboard (Bleed Cubbie Blue)
Jason Schwartz: Josh Gibson MVP campaign comes to Chicago (SABRChicago.com)
Andrew Forbes: Mr. Blue Jay (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jason Schwartz: Collecting the 100 HR Club in Four Iconic Sets (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Matthew J. Prigge: “Now With …” (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

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.

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