This Week in SABR: August 7, 2020

August 7, 2020/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 7, 2020:

Registration now open for 2020 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

Registration is now open for the second annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference on September 11-13, 2020. 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 “Celebrating African American Women in Baseball.” Presentations and panels will take place on Zoom.

In addition to learning about topics such as the Dolly Vardens, Maud Nelson, Tillie Ford, the Hagerstown Mollys, and much more, there will also be a celebration of the Negro Leagues Centennial on Saturday night, with a special design unveiling for an outdoor pylon.

Register now: Click here to register for this event at SABR.org. The All-Inclusive Package is $50, and includes access to all presentations and panels, Negro Leagues Centennial Celebration on Saturday night, 2 raffle tickets, and a commemorative program booklet. Regular registration is $25 for all baseball fans.
Schedule: Click here to view the complete schedule, along with presenter bios and abstracts.
Raffle: Purchase a raffle ticket ($5 each) when you register for a chance to win baseball memorabilia prizes, including autographed baseballs, caps, and books from IWBC authors, SPoRT Makeup kits, Rockford Peaches apparel, and the grand prize — a personal phone call from AAGPBL legend and IWBC founder Maybelle Blair!

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

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

Watch SABR Virtual panels and presentations online

Thanks to everyone who joined us throughout the month of July 2020 for SABR Virtual, a series of online presentations, chats, and panel discussions featuring authors, scholars, and figures from around the game.

SABR Virtual sessions were held each weekend from July 9 to July 26. Recordings are now available for all baseball fans to view online at SABR.org/virtual-meetings and on our SABR Virtual playlist on YouTube.

Click on a link below to watch highlights of these featured panels on YouTube:

Half a Century in Half an Hour: SABR’s 50 at 50 Project, with Leslie Heaphy, John Thorn, and Jason Schwartz
Evaluating Baseball Art: Storytelling in a Digital Age, with Graig Kreindler, Anika Orrock, Dick Perez, and Anthony Salazar
Civil Rights and Baseball: Perception and Reality, with Dr. Louis Moore and Emily Hawks
Baseball Then and Now: Arnold Hano’s 94 Years in the Bleachers, with Jon Leonoudakis, Mark Armour, and Jean Ardell. (Click here to watch the film on Amazon Prime.)
MLB Diversity Initiatives and Social Justice Resources, with Tyrone Brooks and Corey Smith
One on One: MLB’s Cory Schwartz, interviewed by Dan Evans

Visit SABR.org/virtual-meetings to view nearly 40 more baseball presentations that were delivered during SABR Virtual.

SABR Editorial Board seeks new baseball research project proposals

For the past 50 years, SABR’s mission has always been to publish and promote member research. That research has taken many forms, from the early days of committee newsletters and pamphlets to today’s collaborative model of printed and electronic books, themed research journals, and multimedia web projects.

Since the SABR Digital Library program was established in 2011, SABR has published more than 70 original books, averaging nearly one book per month in recent years. It has become clear that members will always have more ideas and more research than we can keep up with publishing in our current model. Committees, chapters, and members are working on more projects now than at any other time in SABR’s history. The newly redesigned SABR.org website, with a growing audience of nearly 2.5 million annual visitors, affords members even more opportunities to publish their work online and take advantage of digital publishing technologies.

SABR’s new Editorial Board — which includes Scott Bush, Christina Kahrl, Bill Nowlin, Jacob Pomrenke, Anthony Salazar, Cecilia Tan, and Sarah Wexler — was established to evaluate proposals for publication. The Board welcomes new 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 have no intention of being published as a book.

Visit https://bit.ly/sabr-editorial-board-proposals to submit a SABR project proposal online

Proposals will be graded using the following criteria: Significance, Interest, Marketability, Intersectionality, Originality, and Likelihood of Completion. SABR seeks to publish about four 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.

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

Take a 40% discount on University of Nebraska Press baseball books

During SABR Virtual, the University of Nebraska Press is offering its usual convention discount of 40% off and free shipping through August 15, 2020, including SABR’s upcoming 50th anniversary anthology.

Click here to browse baseball books from the University of Nebraska Press

To save 40%, enter the code 6ASAB2 in the promotion code field of your shopping cart and click “Add Promotion Code.” Offer is good for US and Canadian shipments only.

Baseball has seen many changes in the last 50 years, and SABR’s upcoming 50th anniversary provides an opportunity to highlight the most memorable players, teams, and events from the game’s glorious past. SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game, edited by Bill Nowlin and now available for pre-order from the University of Nebraska Press, celebrates and highlights SABR’s wide-ranging contributions to baseball history. Click here to learn more about this book.

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.

This week, we heard from Adam Darowski and Joe Williams on SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend: Bud Fowler, and The Baltimore Black Sox author Bernard McKenna.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can attend online:

August 9: Robinson-Kell (Ark.) Chapter meeting with John Thorn (7:00 p.m. CDT)
August 10: Casey Stengel (NYC) Chapter meeting with Tom Stone (7:00 p.m. EDT)
August 10: SABR Board of Directors conference call (8:00 p.m. EDT)
August 10: Elysian Fields (N.J.) Chapter meeting with Joshua Prager (9:00 p.m. EDT)
August 15: Latino Baseball Committee meeting with Lou Hernández (11:30 a.m. PDT)
August 15: Educational Resources Committee meeting (4:00 p.m. EDT)
August 16: Century Committee: Ray Chapman 100th anniversary panel discussion with Mike Sowell, Don Jensen, Kevin Trusty, and Sharon Hamilton (12:00 p.m. EDT)
August 17: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting with Jacob Pomrenke (6:30 p.m. CDT)
August 17: Larry Dierker (Houston) Chapter meeting (8:00 p.m. CDT)
August 18: Sacramento / Bay Area Chapter joint meeting with John Shea and Marty Lurie (7:00 p.m. PDT)
August 19: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Frank Amoroso (12:00 p.m. EDT)
August 19: Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting with Todd Zolecki (12:00 p.m. MDT)
August 20: Goose Goslin (N.J.) Chapter meeting with John Thorn (7:00 p.m. EDT)
August 20: Ken Keltner (Wis.) Chapter meeting with Maxwell Kates (7:00 p.m. CDT)

Find more upcoming virtual meetings and watch replays of past events on our SABR Virtual Calendar page.

SABR Century Committee: 100th Anniversary Panel on Ray Chapman

SABR’s Century Committee will host a special panel discussion on the 100th anniversary of the death of Ray Chapman at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 16, 2020. All SABR members are invited to attend this free virtual event on Zoom.

Our guest speakers are expected to include: Mike Sowell, author of The Pitch That Killed; Don Jensen, editor of Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game; Kevin Trusty, who writes on baseball history at RadbournsRevenant.com; and moderator Sharon Hamilton, co-chair of SABR’s Century Committee.

Chapman, the popular Cleveland Indians shortstop, suffered a fatal blow after he was hit in the head by a pitch from New York’s Carl Mays on August 16, 1920. He died hours later from his injuries. Chapman’s death remains the only on-field fatality in major-league history.

To RSVP for this Zoom event, please contact Bill Nowlin or Sharon Hamilton.

Friends of SABR: July 2020

Here is a list of SABR supporters for the month of July 2020. Want to become a Friend of SABR? Click here to make a recurring monthly contribution or click here to learn more about our Giving Circles to make a one-time contribution.

NAME		NAME
Perry Barber		Peter Mancuso
D. Bruce Brown		Geoff Mills
John Burbridge III		Bill Nowlin
Ken Carrano		James Odenkirk
Peter Coolbaugh		Virgilio Partida
Jim Cox		Gregg Pericich
Charles Crutchfield III		Michael Rosenwasser
Richard Cuicchi		Charles Roussel
Mike Dickerman		Bob Russon
Steven Elsberry		Robert Sawyer
Joseph Favano		Douglas Schoppert
Diane Firstman		Jeff Self
F.X. Flinn		Thomas Stone
Adam Foldes		Wesley Story
Leslie Heaphy		Joseph Thompson
Chuck Hildebrandt		John Thorn
Rockwell Hoffman		Richard B Tourangeau
David Holtz		Neal Traven
David Hughes		Steve West
Thomas Lee		Jeffrey Wood
Charles Levihn		Don Zminda

Visit SABR.org/donate to learn more.

SABR 50, Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference to swap dates in 2021

SABR is pleased to announce a trade — between the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and the 50th annual National Convention.

Two of SABR’s signature events will switch dates in the summer of 2021 to enhance the experience for everyone involved. The SABR 50 convention will now take place on June 16-20, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. The Malloy Conference will be held on July 29-31, 2021, at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama.

“The Jerry Malloy Negro League Committee has decided to trade conference dates with SABR’s 50th National Convention in Baltimore next season,” said Larry Lester, chair of SABR’s Negro League Committee. “The trade will provide us with more time to develop incoming rookies as the Malloy Conference reboots after a three-year hiatus. We promise to put a solid team of presenters at the podium en route to another championship season.”

The switch also ensures SABR 50 attendees will be able to attend a Baltimore Orioles game at Camden Yards. The Orioles are scheduled to play the Toronto Blue Jays in a weekend series at home on June 18-20, 2021.

“I didn’t expect SABR to make a trade before Jerry Dipoto this summer, but we’re receiving tremendous value from the Malloy Conference in the month of June,” SABR CEO Scott Bush said. “We are excited for the return of our National Convention in 2021!”

Stay tuned for more information on registration and hotel availability for SABR 50 and the Malloy Conference in early 2021 at SABR.org/events.

SABR Digital Library: Pride of Smoketown: The 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords

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

Pride of Smoketown: The 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords
Edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors Len Levin and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-970159-25-7, $34.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-970159-24-0, $9.99
8.5” x 11”, 349 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 Pride of Smoketown for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Pride of Smoketown paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

SABR members can download all Digital Library e-books for free or save 50% off the paperback editions. To find all titles, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

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 office continuing to work remotely

The SABR office, housed at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona, has been closed indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Staff members will work remotely until it is advisable to resume normal operations on-site.

Please contact a member of the SABR staff by email or phone with any questions.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with author Jon Pessah

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 #71 on Monday, August 3 featured Jon Pessah, the best-selling author of Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask, a biography of New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra. Jon’s first book, The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball’s Power Brokers, was a critically acclaimed examination of the power brokers who built Major League Baseball into a multi-billion dollar business. He is a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine, where he ran the investigative team, and he has also managed the sports departments for Newsday and the Hartford Courant during a four-decade career in sports journalism.

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

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

4 new SABR biographies published

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

Gil Coan, by Jack Zerby
Bill Cooney, by Mike Cooney
Rick Reed, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
Bert Thiel, by Dennis Degenhardt and Thomas Van Hyning

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 by the SABR Games Project

Fifteen new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project — including a few as part of our brand-new First Games Back project. Here are the new game stories:

April 20, 1886: The triumphant return of Tony Mullane, by Bill Lamb
April 27, 1897: Amos Rusie returns from a year away with dominant start for Giants, by Gregory H. Wolf
September 22, 1911: Boston’s Cy Young blanks Pirates in Forbes Field for 511th career win, by Thomas E. Merrick
September 30, 1951: Giants defeat Braves to set up playoff for NL pennant, by John Burbridge
April 23, 1952: Browns’ Bob Cain beats Bob Feller in a battle of one-hitters, by Joseph Wancho
April 12, 1955: Connie Mack, Harry Truman see Athletics win in Kansas City debut, by Stephen V. Rice
October 5, 1961: Underdog Reds win first World Series game in 21 years, by Tim Otto
August 3, 1969: Fan favorite Chico Fernandez survives near-fatal beaning in minors, by Kurt Blumenau
September 18, 1985: Roger Craig wins debut as Giants manager, by Tom Schott
October 28, 1989: Oakland A’s sweep Giants in World Series interrupted by earthquake, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
September 18, 2001: Yankees return to the field for first game after 9/11, by Alan Cohen
October 11, 2003: Aramis Ramirez’s grand slam powers Cubs to the brink of a World Series berth, by Cosme Vivanco
September 26, 2016: Dee Gordon homers in Marlins’ first game after Jose Fernandez’s death, by Laura H. Peebles
September 15, 2017: Rays drop first home game after Hurricane Irma, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
April 28, 2019: Washington Nationals youngsters Soto, Robles, Kieboom set home run record, 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 recent episodes 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. Listen to new episodes at 5:00-6:00 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

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.

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
Joe Book	Lombard, IL	Joe Leisek	Petaluma, CA
Charlie Brown	London, ENG	Suzanna Monahan	Arlington, VA
Vic DiEleanora	Elk Grove, CA	Patrick Montefusco	Oceanside, NY
Johnny Gangemi	Buffalo, NY	David Orlinsky	Pacific Palisades, CA
Donald Goldman	Morganton, NC	John Shiffert	Flourtown, PA
Robert Gritsavage	Endicott, NY	Bill Shkurti	Columbus, OH
Harriet Hamilton	Old Hickory, TN	Berta Tassinari	Hillsboro, OR
Peter Hand	Chicago, IL	Daniel Visser	Holland, MI
Steven Hyland	Valencia, CA	Jay Wolfe	Laguna Woods, CA
Audrey Kalman	Eugene, OR	Walter Woodie	Fort Smith, AR
Colin Kelly	Washington, DC

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Games Project: Check out the new First Games Back project

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter: Summer 2020 newsletter (Baltimore, MD)
Boston Chapter: Read a new “Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau,” by Joanne Hulbert (Boston, MA)
Detroit Chapter: July 26 meeting recap (Detroit, MI)
Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter: August 2020 newsletter (Milwaukee, WI)
Larry Dierker Chapter: Summer 2020 newsletter (Houston, TX)
Oscar Charleston Chapter: July 25 meeting recap (Indianapolis, IN)

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

SABR Events Calendar

Scroll up to the top of this newsletter to learn more about the upcoming virtual events on the SABR calendar. In addition, the following in-person meetings are scheduled on our Events Calendar:

August 10: Halsey Hall Chapter Research Committee meeting (St. Paul, MN)
August 12: Northeast Florida Chapter monthly meeting (Jacksonville, FL)
August 15: Hot Springs Baseball Weekend (Hot Springs, AR)

We strongly recommend that all SABR chapters follow CDC public health guidelines and your local/state government regulations when scheduling any in-person meetings and events.

Find details on all upcoming meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Around the Web

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

Rob Arthur/Daniel R. Epstein: Why are there no Black catchers in baseball? (Baseball Prospectus)
Marc Carig/Patrick Mooney: Road trip: Teams like Yankees, Cubs search for this season’s competitive advantage (The Athletic)
Bill James: The 20-Mile Mark (Bill James Online)
Doug Glanville: Why it’s so hard for baseball players to give up seeds and high-fives (The Athletic)
Eddie Rivera: Baseball Reliquary Founder Terry Cannon Dies at 66 (Pasadena Now)
John Schulian: Terry Cannon, The Great Enthusiast (The Stacks Reader)
Hannah Keyser: What MLB should have learned from America’s botched pandemic response, but didn’t (Yahoo! Sports)
Jayson Stark: Next up: The first two-time Rookie of the Year? (The Athletic)
Jay Jaffe: Starting Pitcher Workloads Have Been Significantly Reduced in 2020 (FanGraphs)
Eno Sarris: Seven pitchers throwing new pitches this year (The Athletic)
Emma Baccellieri: The Confusing Logic Puzzle of Scheduling Pandemic Baseball (Sports Illustrated)
Marc Bona: Who was Karl Spooner? Shane Bieber tied pitcher’s 2-game strikeout mark (Cleveland.com)
Alex Coffey: The 1955 Mays-Newcombe All-Stars might be the best team you’ve never heard of (The Athletic)
Frederic J. Frommer: Bert Shepard: WWII hero with one leg pitched one game for Washington Senators in 1945 (Washington Post)
Dan Joseph: A Great Yankee’s Indian Summer: Did Lou Gehrig Experience a Temporary ALS Reversal While Playing in August 1938? (RRNMF Neuromuscular Journal)
Cassidy Kendall: Baseball veterans to attend Majestic Park groundbreaking (Hot Springs Sentinel-Record)
Mark Simon: The Best Mets Ejections I Know (Mark Simon Sports)
Kevin Kernan: You Don’t Know Shoeless Joe (BallNine.com)
John Paschal: Introducing the 1ABHR Club (FanGraphs)
Rob Mains: The Best Base Stealers Should Steal Third More Often (Baseball Prospectus)
Sarah R. Ingber/Davy Andrews/Roger Cormier: Too Far From Town: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Baseball Prospectus)
Matt Monagan: Yaz, Williams wanted no part of softball star Joan Joyce (MLB.com)
Ryan Whirty: Friends and peers tip their caps for Negro Leagues Centennial (Home Plate Don’t Move)
Pete Peterson: The Pirates’ First Great Rivalry: The Dreyfuss-McGraw Feud (Pittsburgh Quarterly)
David A. Scott: 1920 Indians: The Squirrel Hunter Shines (Medium.com)
Jeff Katz: An Unnecessary Premium (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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