This Week in SABR: August 27, 2021

August 27, 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 August 27, 2021:

SABR Defensive Index rankings released for games through Sunday, August 22

Texas shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Pittsburgh catcher Jacob Stallings have taken over the top spots in their respective leagues in the most recent SABR Defensive Index™ rankings for the 2021 Major League Baseball season.

Click here to view full SDI rankings by position through games of Sunday, August 22, 2021.

For the ninth consecutive season, the SABR Defensive Index will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process that will be added to the votes from the managers and coaches.

Kiner-Falefa’s SDI of 10.6 is the highest in the AL among all qualified defenders, ahead of Houston shortstop Carlos Correa (9.7) and Kansas City center fielder Michael A. Taylor (9.5). New York right fielder Joey Gallo (8.6) and Chicago pitcher Dallas Keuchel (7.5) round out the top five.

Stallings’s SDI of 7.7 leads all fielders in the NL, followed by St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong (7.0), San Francisco shortstop Brandon Crawford (6.6), Colorado third baseman Ryan McMahon (6.5), and Philadelphia second baseman Jean Segura (6.2).

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

Register now for 2021 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center have opened registration for the third annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, which will be held virtually on September 10-12, 2021.

The conference will be highlighted by keynote speaker Dana Bookman, founder and CEO of Canadian Girls Baseball and the founding Vice President of American Girls Baseball; a presentation about an upcoming documentary film, Her Game is Hardball, with director/producer Mark Durand and writer/producer Selena Roberts; a virtual awards ceremony and pylon unveiling; panel discussions on international umpires, with Lisa Turbitt Baker, Sophiyah Liu, Eva Moo, and Perry Barber; researching women’s baseball with Cecilia Tan and Kate Haines; and personal stories, with Laura Hirai and Suzie Hunter; and more insightful research presentations.

Attendees can also participate in the SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Raffle. Prizes include a Rockford Peaches jigsaw puzzle; Phil Niekro signed baseball; Bob Feller signed baseball; Colorado Silver Bullets baseball cards; AAGPBL bobblehead; and more.

This year’s conference theme is “Breaking Barriers: Women in Baseball Around the World.”

Register: Click here to register online. The conference is open to all baseball fans.
Cost: Virtual attendance is $50 per person, and includes access to all panels and presentations, pylon unveiling, a digital program, and 1 raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets are $5 apiece.
Schedule: Click here for complete details on panels and presentations.
Contact: For questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy or Kat Williams.

For more details, visit SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference.

Watch video highlights from the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series

As part of SABR’s 50th anniversary in 2021, all baseball fans were invited to join us online for the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series, presented by Major League Baseball and Baseball-Reference.com, for a series of presentations, chats, and panel discussions featuring authors, scholars, and figures from around the game.

Watch: Visit SABR.org/summer to watch video replays of each session, with nearly 24 hours of original programming and content to enjoy!

The Summer of SABR series included panels and presentations on the future of baseball, a preview of Team USA’s run to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and international baseball in June; the virtual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in July; and a celebration of SABR’s 50th anniversary, baseball labor relations, and the 1921 Century Project in August.

Our lineup of top speakers included award-winning author Howard Bryant; Los Angeles Dodgers Senior Vice President Janet Marie Smith; Cincinnati Reds analyst Katie Krall; Boston Red Sox coach Bianca Smith; USA Baseball GM Eric Campbell and Team Israel GM Peter Kurz; Leonte Landino and Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes; Atlantic League president Rick White; Baseball America executive editor J.J. Cooper; Negro Leagues historians James Brunson III, Todd Peterson, Larry Lester, Scott Simkus, Ted Knorr, and Phil S. Dixon; Dr. Raymond Doswell of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; MLB Official Historian John Thorn; Sports Reference president Sean Forman, and many more.

For more coverage of the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series, visit SABR.org/summer.

Last call: Students, apply for a Fall 2021 internship with SABR

The Society for American Baseball Research is seeking remote interns to work during the Fall 2021 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

Interested candidates should be able to demonstrate basic office-related computer skills and have a reliable Internet connection for remote working. Experience with WordPress (or other content management systems) and Zoom (or other virtual-conference platforms) is a plus. A working knowledge of baseball — and an awareness of the game’s general history and basic statistics — is required.

The internship is an educational opportunity that may count toward college credit, covering 15-20 hours per week with a flexible schedule. The internship will be for a fixed period of time and is designed to provide the intern with skills and training that may be applicable to working in a nonprofit research environment or in other research-based organizations.

Please send a resume and cover letter in PDF form to jpomrenke@sabr.org by 5:00 p.m. MST Monday, August 30, 2021.

Call for papers: 2022 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

In 2022, SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will host the SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 2-4, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees will also enjoy special presentations about local black baseball and a baseball game with the Birmingham Barons.

This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Presentations may focus on any topic related to the Negro League centennial, black baseball in Birmingham, or other related topics, especially the Negro Southern League. Some possibilities include: Rube Foster; the 1920 season; the formation of the NSL, the formation of the NNL, the original eight teams, and so much more.

Please email your proposal as a Word attachment to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu before March 1, 2022.

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

Check out SABR Century Committee’s new 1921 Year in Review project

The 1921 season was a pivotal one in baseball history. SABR’s Century Committee invites you to join us on a journey back in time to learn more about baseball during the Jazz Age one hundred years ago with our 1921 Century Project, featuring stories, games, and highlights with contributions from more than 70 SABR members.

Click here to view SABR’s new 1921 Century Project

Led by Babe Ruth’s record-setting 59 home runs, the New York Yankees began establishing a dynasty that would span most of the twentieth century by winning their first American League pennant, setting up an epic all-New York City matchup in the World Series with the rival Giants of John McGraw. The Negro National League celebrated its second season of play in 1921, led by stars like Triple Crown winner Oscar Charleston and two-way phenom Bullet Rogan. And baseball at all levels saw a growing trend toward home run-happy offenses as the game entered the Lively Ball Era.

The sport also became more widely accessible in the early 1920s to fans who were able to follow along from their homes by tuning in to games on the radio. Finally, American culture still reverberates with the ruling made by baseball’s newly hired commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banning eight disgraced Black Sox players for life after they were caught fixing the 1919 World Series.

SABR Digital Library: When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions

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

When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions
Edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5952-3, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5953-0, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 268 pages

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of When the Monarchs Reigned for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the When the Monarchs Reigned 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.

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: SABR’s Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter in Tallahassee, Florida, will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 1. All SABR members are invited to attend. We’ll hear from author Clayton Trutor (SABR’s Vermont chapter chairman) on his upcoming new book, Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta — and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports. We’ll also hear from Chuck Rosciam on baseball catchers. To RSVP for this Zoom meeting, please contact Matt Keelean.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from former Seattle Mariners All-Star Ruppert Jones and a 100th anniversary panel on the Black Sox Scandal trial with Sharon Hamilton, Bill Lamb, Dan Levitt, Jacob Pomrenke, and Willie Steele. 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:

August 28: Mathewson-Plank (PA) Chapter meeting (3:00 p.m. EDT)
August 29: Baltimore Babe Ruth (MD) Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
September 1: Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter meeting with Clayton Trutor and Chuck Rosciam (7:00 p.m. EDT)
September 1: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Jim Cryns (8:00 p.m. EDT)
September 4: Talkin’ Baseball: Steve Steinberg (9:00 a.m. EDT)

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

August 28: Hot Springs Baseball Weekend (Hot Springs, AR)
September 4: SABR Night with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Moosic, PA)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

Jackson Glenn named 2021 Collegiate Baseball Player of Year by SABR Dallas-Fort Worth chapter

Jackson Glenn of Dallas Baptist University has been chosen as the winner of the 28th Howard Green SABR Metroplex Collegiate Player of the Year Award, while A.J. Liu of the University of Dallas was honored with the ninth 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.

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

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Cobra co-authors Dave Parker and Dave Jordan

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 #125 on Monday, August 23 featured Dave Parker and Dave Jordan, co-authors of Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood. Parker is a former National League Most Valuable Player and two-time batting champion. He played nineteen seasons in the major leagues, was a seven-time All-Star, and won three Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger Awards. He was the 1979 All-Star MVP, played on two World Series champion teams, and was the first million-dollar-per-year player. He currently lives in Ohio, where he has created the Dave Parker 39 Foundation, an organization focused on finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Jordan is a writer and filmmaker living in New Jersey. He founded Instream Sports, the first athlete-author writing platform. He has written for Sporting News, SB Nation, and the Hardball Times, and he is the coauthor (with John D’Acquisto) of Fastball John.

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.

SABR BioProject adds more than 3,000 Negro League player pages

Following a recommendation from SABR’s Negro Leagues Task Force, SABR has licensed biographical data for more than 3,000 major-league players from the Seamheads.com Negro Leagues Database and added new player pages to the SABR BioProject. More than 250 completed Negro League biographies can be found online at the BioProject now. If you are interested in writing up a biography for any unassigned Negro League player, click here to get involved.

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

Lew Drill, by Terry Bohn
Chuck Knoblauch, by Ralph Caola
Lerrin LaGrow, by Malcolm Allen
John Trautwein, by Bill Nowlin
Walt Wilmot, by Terry Bohn
Russ Wrightstone, by Russ Walsh
Federal League Park (Indianapolis, IN), by Bill Lamb

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:

September 13, 1935: A’s score 19 runs to cushion unique win for Oklahoma sandlotter Earl Huckleberry, by Jack Zerby
September 23, 1945: At 49, Jud Wilson becomes oldest player to hit a home run in the Negro Leagues, by Gary Belleville
May 11, 1955: Ernie Banks homer sets the stage to stop Dodgers’ road winning streak, by Jeff Allan Howard
April 25, 1969: Ted Simmons drives in four runs as ‘designated pinch-hitter’ for Tulsa Oilers, by Kurt Blumenau
June 11, 1979: Ted Simmons homers twice, drives in six runs to lead Cardinals over Dodgers, by Tom Schott
September 13, 1984: Maine Guides’ Cinderella story ends one game short of International League title, by Kurt Blumenau
August 12, 1985: Larry Walker launches Hall of Fame career with a productive night in Utica, by Kurt Blumenau
June 3, 1986: Ted Simmons’s pinch-hit grand slam caps ‘Bomb Squad’ Braves’ 7-run rally against Pirates, by John Fredland
May 10, 1991: Larry Walker’s first career two-homer game lifts Expos over Padres, by Gary Belleville
May 21, 1996: Larry Walker collects 13 total bases, drives in six runs at Coors Field, by Mike Huber
October 13, 2001: Derek Jeter’s iconic flip helps Yankees stave off elimination against Oakland, by Tim Odzer
September 18, 2006: Dodgers hit four consecutive home runs in 9th inning, rally to beat Padres, by Bob Timmermann
July 9, 2011: Derek Jeter homers at Yankee Stadium for 3,000th career hit, by Andrew Harner
July 7, 2013: Derek Jeter thrills Pennsylvania fans in minor-league rehab stint, by Kurt Blumenau
July 17, 2016: Mets’ Jacob deGrom notches his first career complete-game victory with 1-hitter, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

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
Courtney Baker	Scottsdale, AZ	Bill Kabaker	Los Angeles, CA
Kianey Carter	Gilbert, AZ	Tom Orr	Ballwin, MO
Jason Clagg	Fort Wayne, IN	Adam Rosenbaum	Williamsville, NY
Gus Conroy	Spring, TX	Heather-Rose Ryan	Intervale, NH
Anton Dahbura	Hagerstown, MD	Robert Sebring	Cogan Station, PA
Eric Ferguson	Syracuse, NY	Tristan Smith	Missouri City, TX
Ryne Gery	Tucson, AZ	Marty Sullivan	Little Rock, AR
Frank Guridy	New York, NY	Wes Tervo	Flanders, NJ
Mike Hoffmann	Branchville, NJ	Matthew Ward	Castle Rock, CO
Chi Ibekwe	Bentonville, AR

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Negro Leagues: September 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:

Halsey Hall Chapter: September 2021 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)

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:

Miriam Gottfriend/Andrew Beaton/Juliet Chung: The Day Topps Lost Its 70-Year Grip on the Baseball-Card Market—and Its Billion-Dollar SPAC (Wall Street Journal)
Chad Finn: Sports card collecting is booming, but it looks a lot different than you might remember (Boston Globe)
Mark Simon: The Baserunning Ways of the Rays (ACTA Sports)
Jason Mackey: Pirates’ historic all-minority lineup, turning 50, as relevant today as in 1971 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Emma Baccellieri: Miguel Cabrera’s Swing Stands Up to Father Time (Sports Illustrated)
Stephen J. Nesbitt: Retracing Miguel Cabrera’s road from his first homer to No. 500: ‘Just an unbelievable hitter’ (The Athletic)
Eno Sarris: Is the battle over spin-enhancing substances over? Or is spin creeping back in? (The Athletic)
Rob Arthur: The Pitchers Who Lost The Most RPM Are Suffering (Baseball Prospectus)
Hannah Keyser: MLB seeking player input on baseball prototypes that could be long-term sticky stuff fix (Yahoo! Sports)
Alex Speier: Red Sox’ Chris Sale joins Sandy Koufax as only pitchers to throw three immaculate innings (Boston Globe)
Tyler Kepner: The Orioles Are Bad and It Just Might Get Worse (New York Times)
Grant Brisbee: Fun facts about the 2021 Giants’ record-setting pinch-hit home run barrage (The Athletic)
Jayson Stark: Joey Votto on round numbers, his approach to hitting and why he loves Statcast (The Athletic)
R.J. Anderson: How MLB pushed back the Atlantic League mound and pushed fed-up players to the brink of a work stoppage (CBS Sports)
Tonya Simpson: Durham Bulls pitcher Tyler Zombro’s remarkable recovery after being hit by a line drive (ESPN.com)
Nick Lozito: Why is Major League Baseball losing Black players? (San Francisco Chronicle)
Aimee Crawford: Q&A: Former Pro Coach Justine Siegal Wants Women to Know They Belong in Baseball (Sports Illustrated)
Howard Megdal: Baseball For All’s message to women and girls: You don’t have to stop playing the game you love (Deadspin)
Bradford William Davis: Who Erased Devin Williams’ Tribute to Black Lives Matter? (Business Insider)
Sheryl Ring: Why Trevor Bauer Won the Hearing, but Lost Anyway (Beyond the Box Score)
Daniel R. Epstein: Wanted: A Higher Standard for MLB Broadcasters (Baseball Prospectus)
Zach Helfand: Invasion of the Robot Umpires (The New Yorker)
Michael Clair: Summer Koshien: Dreams are made, crushed (MLB.com)
Jay Jaffe: Remembering Bill Freehan, the Thinking Man’s Catcher (1941–2021) (FanGraphs)
Vince Guerrieri: When the Buckeyes Played in Cleveland (Belt Magazine)
Dan Wallach: The place where magic happens: Field of Dreams (Greenville Journal)
Glynn A. Hill: Bo Jackson left a legacy – and a void (Philadelphia Tribune)
Derek Rhoads/Rob Mains: Visualizing the Infirmary: COVID-19 and the 2021 season (Baseball Prospectus)
Jason Turbow: Steve Vucinich of the Oakland A’s Is the Clubhouse Man Who Has Seen It All (New York Times)
David Laurila: Keegan Akin, Kolby Allard, and Jharel Cotton on Learning and Developing Their Changeups (FanGraphs)
Steven Goldman: Losing Streaks Ranked! (Baseball Prospectus)
Thomas Gilbert: Sex and Sox (How Baseball Happened)
John W. Miller: The true history of baseball is much better than its creation myth (America Magazine)
Matt Monagan: A ballgame played among Egypt’s pyramids (MLB.com)
Russell A. Carleton: Evidence of Bleeding (Baseball Prospectus)
Ryan Hockensmith: The incredible story of Ray Caldwell, the MLB pitcher who survived a lightning strike to finish a game (ESPN.com)
James Dator: The forgotten tale of Harry Colliflower, baseball’s worst ever pitcher (SB Nation)
Steve Dittmore: Dodgers collection of 50 years: 23,000 pieces of memorabilia & counting for David Petersen (True Blue LA)

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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