This Week in SABR: August 19, 2022

August 19, 2022/in This Week in SABR /by sabr

Live from SABR 50 in Baltimore, 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 August 19, 2022:

SABR 50: F.X. Flinn selected as 2022 Bob Davids Award winner

F.X. Flinn, former SABR Treasurer and the longest-tenured member on SABR’s Board of Directors, was announced as the winner of the Bob Davids Award during the SABR 50 Awards Luncheon on Thursday, August 18 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The award — which is the Society’s highest honor — honors SABR members whose contributions to SABR and baseball reflect the ingenuity, integrity, and self-sacrifice of the founder and past president of SABR, L. Robert “Bob” Davids.

Flinn served on SABR’s Board of Directors from 2001 to 2021, working with four Executive Directors and 27 other Board members over the past two decades.

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

SABR 50: Listen to highlights from Sig Mejdal’s opening remarks

At SABR 50 on Thursday, August 18 in Baltimore, Baltimore Orioles Vice President and Assistant General Manager Sig Mejdal delivered the opening remarks.

Prior to joining the Orioles in 2018, Mejdal spent six seasons working in the Houston Astros front office and contributed to the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship. He also worked for the St. Louis Cardinals for seven seasons. He first joined SABR at 12 years old before earning his bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and aeronautical engineering from the University of California at Davis and master’s degrees in operations research and cognitive psychology from San Jose State University. He worked for NASA as a biomathematician before beginning his baseball career.

Click here to listen to highlights from this sessions at SABR.org.

More early highlights from SABR 50

Can’t make it to Baltimore for SABR 50? Check out more coverage of our 2022 convention from the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor online:

For more coverage of SABR 50, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 50: Follow along with SABR Trivia Contest on Saturday night

We steadfastly maintain there is nothing trivial about baseball trivia. The world-famous SABR Trivia Contest finals will be taking place Saturday night at SABR 50 in Baltimore, and it’s always an entertaining and competitive battle to crown the individual and team champions.

We invite you to follow along with us live on Twitter beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 20 by visiting Twitter.com and searching for the hashtag #SABR50. We’ll be live-tweeting questions (and answers if everyone gets stumped!), and you’ll have your chance to test your knowledge online with other SABR members and friends.

The SABR Trivia Contest is moderated by D. Bruce Brown, co-chair of Horsehide Trivia with T. Scott Brandon and treasurer of the host Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter.

View all past Trivia Contest winners by clicking here.

SABR 50: Single-day registration still available on-site in Baltimore

Single-day registration for SABR 50 can still be purchased on-site during convention registration hours. The single-day rate is:

Saturday, August 20: $115 for SABR members, $209 non-members

The single-day registration includes admission to all convention panels, research presentations, and committee meetings at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor on Saturday. It can be purchased on-site via cash, check, or credit card (sorry, no American Express accepted.) Please note: Admission to the Friends of SABR Breakfast is not included.

Save the date! SABR 51 will be in Chicago in 2023

Save the date! SABR will be returning to Chicago for our 51st annual convention on July 5-9, 2023, at the Palmer House Hilton hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Registration information for SABR 51 and our special hotel room block will be available at SABR.org/convention in early 2023.

The Palmer House Hilton sits in the heart of the Chicago Loop, conveniently located within walking distance from the famous lakefront, Chicago River, Michigan Avenue, and DuSable Lake Shore Drive with Grant Park, Millennium Park, the Art Institute as well as top restaurants, bars, theater, and music venues.

This will be SABR’s fifth convention held in the Windy City, and the first since SABR 45 in 2015. Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

Moses Fleetwood Walker selected as SABR’s 2022 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

Moses Fleetwood Walker has been selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend for 2022. The announcement was made on Thursday, August 18 at the Nineteenth Century Committee’s annual business meeting held during SABR’s 50th Annual Convention in Baltimore, Maryland.

Fleet Walker was the last Black player in the major leagues until Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Dodgers in 1947. For an extended biography of Walker, read his SABR bio written by John R. Husman.

This spring, 288 SABR members voted for the 2022 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Bud Fowler became the second Overlooked Legend to be voted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, following Deacon White in 2013.

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

Download your free e-book edition of The National Pastime: Major Research on the Minor Leagues

The National Pastime serves as SABR’s convention-focused publication. Published annually, this research journal provides in-depth articles focused on the respective geographic region where the national convention is taking place in a given year.

In 2020, we published a Baltimore-themed edition of The National Pastime while the convention shifted to a virtual event. Last year, the TNP theme was on the Future According to Baseball.

For the 2022 edition of The National Pastime, we decided to focus on the history and evolution of minor league baseball, with a special cover illustration by artist Andy Brown.

Download the e-book: Click here to download a free e-book edition of The National Pastime at the SABR Store.
Purchase the print edition: Click here to pre-order the print edition of The National Pastime from Amazon.com.
Note: All articles from The National Pastime: Major Research on the Minor Leagues will be available to read online at SABR.org soon.

Having trouble downloading our e-books? Having trouble downloading SABR e-books or transferring them to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

New SABR Century project: Baseball and the Supreme Court

One hundred years ago, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Federal Baseball Club v. National League on May 29, 1922 — a ruling that granted Major League Baseball exemption from the antitrust laws of the United States. MLB is the only professional sports league in North America that continues to hold blanket immunity, although others enjoy limited immunity in regard to television rights.

Since 1922, MLB’s antitrust exemption has been upheld twice by the Supreme Court: in Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc. (1953) and Flood v. Kuhn (1972). Fifty years ago, Curt Flood’s landmark case — in which he challenged the reserve clause system that tied players to their original team forever — helped set in motion the establishment of free agency for all major leaguers in the 1970s.

At SABR.org, we are excited to unveil Baseball and the Supreme Court, edited by SABR Century Committee chair Sharon Hamilton with section introductions by award-winning historians Michael Haupert, Daniel R. Levitt, and Robert Elias.

On these pages we will dive into the SABR Research Collection archives and draw on the contributions of nearly 30 SABR authors to tell the story of baseball’s milestone cases before America’s highest court. Listen to Curt Flood’s story in his own words from our SABR Oral History Collection interview and view primary source documents from the Federal League’s lawsuit against Organized Baseball, which was overseen by federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis — soon to become baseball’s first commissioner.

Visit SABR.org/supreme-court to learn more.

Students, 10 days left to apply for a Fall 2022 internship with SABR

The Society for American Baseball Research is seeking remote interns to work during the Fall 2022 semester. An internship with SABR will involve responsibilities across a variety of disciplines, possibly including:

Working with the Director of Editorial Content or Publications Director to help publish and/or produce content for our website at SABR.org
Working during an online SABR event
Working with other SABR staff members on organizational duties, membership renewal drives, customer service

The internship is an educational opportunity that may count toward college credit, covering 15-20 hours per week with a flexible schedule. Please send a resume and cover letter in PDF form to jpomrenke@sabr.org by 5:00 p.m. MST Monday, August 29, 2022.

SABR Negro Leagues Committee awards scholarships in 2022 essay contest

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee was pleased to award scholarships to four high school seniors in its 14th annual Thomas R. Garrett Scholarship essay contest in 2022.

Tahj Arnold of Brewster, New York, was awarded the Rube Foster Scholarship.
Asjia Roberson of Redondo Beach, California, was awarded the Robert Peterson Scholarship.
Isaac Marks of Washington, DC, was awarded the Tweed Webb Scholarship.
Tyler Moore of Lowell, Indiana, was awarded the Jimmie Crutchfield Scholarship.

The contest was open to high school seniors and carrying a minimum GPA of 2.5 at the end of their junior year. Students had to write a 1,200-word essay answering a question related to one of the Negro League figures who are the namesakes of the scholarships. The Foster, Webb, and Peterson scholarships were $1,000, while the Crutchfield scholarship was $500.

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

Early registration is now open for the 2022 SABR/IWBC Virtual Women in Baseball Conference

Registration is now open for the fourth annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, which will be held virtually on September 16-18, 2022. All baseball fans are welcome to attend!

This year’s conference — co-sponsored by SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center, and hosted by Rockford University — will be a virtual event centered around the theme “Title IX and Women’s Baseball: Where We’ve Been and Where We are Headed.” Presentations and panels will take place on Zoom.

Register now: Click here to register for this event at SABR.org. Early registration is $50, and includes Zoom access to all presentations and panels, awards ceremony, and virtual social hour. After September 7, regular registration is $60.
Schedule: Stay tuned for the full schedule of panels and presentations. Zoom sessions will be held from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 16; 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m., and 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 17, and 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 18. (All times listed are in the Eastern Time Zone.)

If you have any questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy at lheaphy@kent.edu.

Visit SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference to learn more.

TCU’s Tommy Sacco named 2022 Collegiate Baseball Player of Year by SABR Dallas-Fort Worth chapter

Texas Christian University’s Tommy Sacco has been chosen as the recipient of the 29th Howard Green SABR Metroplex Collegiate Player of the Year Award, while Texas Wesleyan’s Joseph Barfield was selected as the 11th annual SABR Metroplex Carroll Beringer Award College Division Player of the Year Award by SABR’s Ernie Banks-Bobby Bragan DFW Chapter.

The prestigious college baseball awards honor the memory of Green, the local SABR chapter’s longtime president, and Beringer, a former major-league pitching coach who was a great supporter of college baseball in the area.

Sacco was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 14th round of the 2022 MLB draft and was assigned to the Class A Fayetteville (North Carolina) Woodpeckers of the Carolina League.

Click here to read the full article 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.

Video Replays: Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.

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

August 20: Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington (KY) Chapter meeting with Bret Ripley (1:00 p.m. EDT)
August 24: SABR New Member Experience meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
August 28: 2022 SABR Jefferson Burdick Award Ceremony (3:00 p.m. EDT)
August 28: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)

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

August 19-21: SABR 50 (Baltimore, MD)
August 20: Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting (Austin, TX)
August 25: Rocky Mountain Chapter monthly luncheon (Denver, CO)
August 26-27: Hot Springs Baseball Weekend (Hot Springs, AR)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

5 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Five new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project:

Adrián Beltré, by Zac Petrillo
Bill Craver, by Josh Sullivan (first-time author)
John Henry, by Jim Rowe (first-time author)
Glenn Hubbard, by Peter Gerken (first-time author)
Billy Sorrell, by Len Pasculli

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.

Read all game stories from Baltimore Baseball at the SABR Games Project

In 2021, Baltimore Baseball, edited by Bill Nowlin, was published at the SABR Digital Library. The book focused on the rich history of baseball in the Baltimore area, through recounts of 84 games from the major-league Orioles to the minor-league Orioles to the Negro Leagues.

The following stories from Baltimore Baseball were posted online this week:

September 26, 1962: 19-year-old Dave McNally makes quick work of A’s in impressive debut, by Richard Cuicchi
July 23, 1979: Orioles’ Tippy Martinez retires 23 consecutive batters in relief, by Brian Frank
May 28, 1987: Orioles soar to victory on Mike Young’s two extra-inning home runs, by Gary Belleville
October 6, 1991: Orioles play their final game at Memorial Stadium, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
April 6, 1992: Orioles win season opener at brand-new Camden Yards, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
September 6, 1995: Cal Ripken surpasses Lou Gehrig’s ‘unbreakable’ record with 2,131st consecutive game, by Ralph Peluso
September 6, 1996: Orioles’ Eddie Murray clouts 500th career home run at Camden Yards, by Gordon Gattie
September 20, 1998: Cal Ripken decides to end consecutive game streak at 2,632, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
October 6, 2001: Orioles say goodbye to Cal Ripken Jr., by Peter Coolbaugh
September 11, 2015: Orioles exact revenge on Royals with pair of 8th-inning grand slams, by Gary Belleville

Click here to read all game stories from Baltimore Baseball online at the SABR Games Project.

Visit SABR.org/ebooks to download your free e-book edition or save 50% off the paperback edition of Baltimore Baseball.

3 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

Three new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project:

May 17, 1954: Cardinals’ Joe Presko and Tom Alston defy expectations as nine justices deal Jim Crow a mortal blow, by Larry DeFillipo
July 19, 1969: Jim Bouton ‘creamed’ in only start for the Seattle Pilots, as Minnesota Twins win in 18 innings, by Gary Belleville
October 12, 1972: Oakland earns all A’s in AL pennant clincher, by Ed Gruver

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.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch

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 #175 on Monday, August 15 featured Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He joined the Hall of Fame in September 2021 after working for a decade with the Arizona Diamondbacks, most recently as the team’s Senior Vice President of Content and Communications, and for 15 years with his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers. A bilingual Spanish-speaker, he has overseen baseball media relations efforts across the world, including serving as venue press chief for three World Baseball Classics. He is a graduate of Indiana University.

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

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

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.

June 21 Board minutes posted

Minutes from the Board of Directors virtual meeting on June 21, 2022, have now been posted on the SABR website.

You can view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings by clicking on the link below:

https://profile.sabr.org/board-minutes

Or you can go to the Members’ Info page and click on “Org. files”, then “Board Minutes” to view the minutes.

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
Juliette Barasch	Philadelphia, PA	Laura Messer	Toronto, ON
Josiah Beck	Turners Falls, MA	Frank Mulville	Philadelphia, PA
Jean-Philippe Boucher	Montreal, QC	Ross Norwood	Houston, TX
Lee Brooks	Voorhees, NJ	Joey Philpott	Roanoke, VA
Matt Bufano	Dunmore, PA	Tom Reigstad	Kenmore, NY
Chris Conlon	Baltimore, MD	Chris Roberts	Bel Air, MD
Alan Cunningham	Wyoming, MI	Ricardo Romanelli	São José dos Campos, BRA
Larry Donahue	Johns Island, SC	Jacob Samp	Sioux Falls, SD
Barrett Easterlin	Cary, NC	Jason Sigler	Columbus, OH
Chad Gramling	Auburn, IN	Thomas Smyth	Albany, NY
Steve Huff	Phoenix, AZ	John Williams	San Diego, CA
Wayne Laufert	Baltimore, MD	Dan Wisnosky	Cherry Valley, NY
James Margarita	Kennebunk, ME	Gordon Witherspoon	Lutherville, MD

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

SABR 50: Check out the full committee meeting schedule for the Baltimore convention
Statistical Analysis: August 2022 newsletter
In addition, Charlie Pavitt maintains a bibliography of academic and journal-published sabermetric research. This version is current as of August 2022. Click here for Introduction and Description (.doc) and click here for Bibliography (.xls).

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:

San Diego Ted Williams Chapter: Click here to read the Hick Carpenter grave marker ceremony report (San Diego, CA)

Click here for more information on SABR regional chapters. Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.

Around the Web

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

Sam Gazdziak: Hick Carpenter’s grave is unmarked no longer (RIP Baseball)
Sam Draut: Louisville Negro League baseball player to be honored with graveside monument (WDRB.com)
Michael Tilka: Amazon’s “A League of Their Own” blazes new trail for queer, black stories in Rockford (WIFR.com)
Jayson Stark: How MLB’s new rule led to a slew of position players pitching — but could help fix baseball (The Athletic)
Alex Speier: Between games, the Red Sox took a special visit to Pittsburgh’s Clemente Museum for a little perspective (Boston Globe)
Noah Gittell: How John DeMarsico Made SNY’s Mets Broadcasts Go Viral (New York Times)
Russell A. Carleton: Would You Like A Slice of Pie? (Baseball Prospectus)
Jay Jaffe: Justin Verlander’s Incredible Post-Tommy John Surgery Season Continues (FanGraphs)
Tyler Kepner: Fernando Tatis Jr. Seemed Too Good to Be True. Maybe He Was. (New York Times)
David Laurila: Ten Years Later, Jameson Taillon Has Changed (Yet Is Much the Same) (FanGraphs)
Mark Simon: Michael Harris II Sparks The Braves (ACTA Sports)
Rob Arthur: Are Top Hitting Prospects Flopping More Than They Used To? (Baseball Prospectus)
Rob Mains: Are the Rays TOOTBLANing Their Way Into History? (Baseball Prospectus)
Grant Brisbee: The Giants keep winning baseball games and hitting walk-off homers (The Athletic)
Steven Goldman: Yankees Tailspin Puts Them in Uncomfortable Territory (Baseball Prospectus)
Scott Kindberg: For Baseball Fans, The Tales Are In The Tapes (Jamestown Post Journal)
Pete Peterson: When Ron Shelton met Ron Shelton (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Bill Pruden: Heroes come in all shapes and sizes: Dickey Kerr (IBWAA)

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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