This Week in SABR: December 16, 2011

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Here’s what we’ve been up to as of December 16, 2011:

It’s time to renew your SABR membership!

‘Tis the holiday season, which means it’s time to renew your SABR membership for 2012. For most of you, your annual membership will expire on December 31*. (If you don’t know when your membership expires, go to the Members’ Info page and click the link that says “See when your membership expires”.)

You can renew your membership for 1 year or 3 years online at the SABR Store; by phone at (602) 343-6450; or by mailing this downloadable PDF form and your payment to the SABR office at 4455 E. Camelback Road, Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.

Dues are the same as they have been in recent years: for this, you get three publications (two issues of the Baseball Research Journal and one issue of The National Pastime); access to research resources such as Paper of Record (with complete archives of The Sporting News); discounts to SABR conferences such as the national convention (Minneapolis 2012), the Arizona Fall League Conference, the spring Analytics Conference and Case Competition, and the summer Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference; access to our SABR-L e-listserv; research committees, regional chapter meetings; and more.

We believe SABR has something for everyone, from the active researcher to the passionate baseball fan. We hope you’ll invite your friends, colleagues and family members to join, too, at http://store.sabr.org.

* All members are on the “rolling” calendar system as of August 1, 2011. If you signed up before that date and continue to renew, your annual membership will expire on December 31 as it always has.

Please consider a donation to SABR

Here at SABR, we are proud of our mission to foster the study of baseball, to assist in developing and maintaining the history of the game, to facilitate the dissemination of baseball research, and to stimulate interest in baseball. These are worthy goals, and when combined with fellowship, community, and our great publications, SABR has a lot to offer. Of course, all of this takes resources.

If you support SABR and all the groundbreaking research our members have and will produce, please consider donating online at SABR.org/donate or via mail. No amount is too big or too small, and as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation to SABR is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. If you have given in the past, we remain grateful and hope you will consider giving again. If you are a first-time donor, welcome aboard!

Donor Levels

  • $25-$99: receive a “Donor” convention badge ribbon entitling early entry into the SABR 42* Banquet
  • $100-$249: receive the above benefit plus a ticket to the Donor Breakfast at SABR 42* that features a “State of SABR” presentation by our executive leadership
  • $250-$499: receive all of the above benefits plus the new SABR Lapel Pin
  • $500-$1,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a SABR MVP Polo Shirt
  • $1,500-$2,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a junior suite upgrade at the SABR 42* hotel
  • $2,500 and up: receive all of the above plus an executive level room upgrade at the SABR 42* hotel.

*SABR 42 convention-related incentives assume payment of registration fees.

While the incentives are attractive, the real benefit is the satisfaction received from contributing to the continuing knowledge and appreciation of our national pastime. For more information, please contact SABR’s Director of Operations, Jim Cassandro, at jcassandro@sabr.org or (602) 343-6452.

New Analytics Conference speaker: Jerry Dipoto

Los Angeles Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto has been added to the list of speakers for the inaugural SABR Analytics Conference, joining Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, Arizona Diamondbacks president/CEO Derrick Hall, Cleveland Indians president Mark Shapiro, Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin and Cleveland Indians general manager Chris Antonetti. More speakers will be announced soon.

Don’t forget to sign up by December 31, 2011, to get the early registration rate for the:

SABR Analytics Conference, presented by Bloomberg Sports
When: March 15-17, 2012
Where: Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, 1011 West Holmes Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85210

Never before have as many of the top minds of the baseball analytic community come under one roof to discuss, debate and share learnings of insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball. Some of the topics we are planning to cover include: how technology is changing baseball; Managers Panel on how analytics has changed the game; GM Panel on how analytics shape decisions; measuring player performance; technology and in-game strategy, and much more.

The SABR Analytics Conference will begin on Thursday, March 15 and conclude on Saturday, March 17 at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa in Arizona. The schedule will consist of a combination of Guest Speakers, Panels and Research Presentations — plus the inaugural SABR Case Competition, in which graduate students will analyze and present a real baseball operations decision, and be judged by MLB front office executives.

The early registration rate ($250 for SABR members and students; $350 for non-members) is available until December 31, 2011. SABR has secured a special hotel rate of $139/night at the Hilton, which includes complimentary wireless high-speed Internet, parking and breakfast buffet for two.

To register for the SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

To sign up for the Case Competition, visit SABR.org/analytics/case or contact SABR President Vince Gennaro.

SABR members: Get 25% off Front Office 2012 from Bloomberg Sports

It’s never too early to fantasize about fantasy sports. Our friends at Bloomberg Sports are once again offering SABR members a 25 percent discount for their Front Office 2012 software, which is compatible with CBSSports.com, Yahoo! and ESPN fantasy leagues and customizes its recommendations to your team and league settings.

The discount offer expires on December 31, 2011.

Click here to get the discount: http://sabr.org/bloomberg-front-office-2012

Here’s how to access SABR Research Committee newsletters without logging in

Some good news for those of you who have had trouble accessing the committee newsletters this summer. You can now download all current and past SABR Research Committee newsletters (2000-present) without logging in to SABRNation. Just go to this page and select the committee you want:

http://sabr.org/research/research-committees

We know many of you have experienced log-in problems with SABRNation, and we do apologize for the inconvenience. We hope this helps alleviate that problem so you can download the newsletters again without a hassle.

For future reference, you may still receive periodic e-mail notifications from committee leaders with instructions to “view this resource” at SABRNation. Please disregard those notifications and use the link above to access all current and past newsletters. You can also find that page from SABR.org by navigating to the “Research” section and clicking the box that says “Research Committees.”

Please contact Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org if you have any questions.

Selecting the 20 greatest blunders of the Deadball Era

Of course, we don’t want you to miss any of the great research published in the newsletters this year. Here’s just one example, from the Deadball Era Committee’s The Inside Game newsletter from October 2011:

Ninety-nine years ago, the Boston Globe and other newspapers printed a syndicated article on the 20 greatest blunders of the Deadball Era. Award-winning authors Steve Steinberg and Dennis Pajot want to use this article to have a “Deadball Era Blunders” feature in the next couple of issues of The Inside Game. A list of blunders is always debatable; that is part of the fun. As The Inside Game editor Mark Ruckhaus noted, “Depends on who writes the history.”

Steve and Dennis’ goals are to 1) list, identify, and explain each of the blunders. Many of the blunders are quite obscure, almost one hundred years after this list first appeared; 2) evaluate which of these blunders still deserve to be on a “Top Twenty Deadball Era Blunders” list. This list was put together just over halfway through the Deadball Era; and 3) propose other blunders which deserve to be on the Top Twenty Deadball Era list. We do not want to rank the blunders. It will be challenging enough to come up with the list!

Click here to see the original list from 1912 and Steve and Dennis’ commentary on each: http://sabr.org/latest/selecting-20-greatest-blunders-deadball-era

Seamheads Negro Leagues Database update: Cuban Summer League

SABR member Gary Ashwill writes:

The historical Cuban League everyone knows about was played in the fall and winter months, and so is often referred to as the Cuban Winter League.  Almost nobody remembers that, in the first decade of the 20th century at least, there was a Cuban Summer League, too, the Premio de Verano, or Summer Championship.  The three major clubs of the Cuban Winter League—Almendares, Habana, and Fe—fielded teams in the Summer League, though they went by different names—Azul, Rojo, and Carmelita, respectively.  (Habana also went by the names Punzó, a shade of dark red, and Eminencia, a cigar company that evidently sponsored the team in the summer of 1905, while Fe went by the name of Alerta for a couple of years.)

The quality of play in the Summer League was nearly the same as that in the Winter League, with most of the Winter League stars (Julián Castillo, Regino García, Carlos Morán, Luis González) turning out.  The major exceptions were the players who spent the summers touring in the U.S. as the All-Cubans, and even these often returned to Cuba in time to take part in the latter stages of the Premio de Verano.

This update also includes the 1902/03 and 1903/04 Cuban Winter League, seasons in which Habana, managed by Alberto Azoy and led by their great pitcher Carlos Royer, were dominant.

Read the full article here: http://seamheads.com/2011/12/15/negro-leagues-db-update-cuban-summer-league/

The Seamheads Negro League Database can be viewed here: http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/index.php

Download your free copy of “Can He Play: A Look At Baseball Scouts And Their Profession”

As of Thursday night, more than 1,300 SABR members have downloaded their free e-book download of CAN HE PLAY? A Look At Baseball Scouts And Their Profession. We hope you’re enjoying the book!

The initial publication in the new SABR Digital Library is available to all SABR members as a free e-book download through February 29, 2012, at:

http://sabr.org/ebooks

CAN HE PLAY? collects the contributions of 26 SABR members on the subject of scouts, including biographies and historical essays. The book touches on more than a century of scouts and scouting with a focus on the men (and the occasional woman) who have taken on the task of scouring the world for the best ballplayers available. In CAN HE PLAY? we meet the “King of Weeds,” a Ph.D. we call “Baseball’s Renaissance Man,” a husband-and-wife team, pioneering Latin scouts, and a Japanese-American interned during World War II who became a successful scout—and many, many more.

SABR members, click the link below to get your free download of our new book on baseball scouts:

MLB.com seeks stats stringers for 2012 season

As a courtesy to SABR members who may be interested, we’re passing along this notice from MLB.com:

MLB.com is seeking stats stringers in Miami, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis and Atlanta for the 2012 season.

Stats stringers are responsible for digitally scoring games from an MLB ballpark in those cities. They provide the data used in the live content applications on MLB.com, including Gameday and MLB.TV, real-time highlights and text alerts, and by MLB.com’s business partners. This is a perfect part-time job for a diligent, responsible employee who happens to be a big baseball fan.

Responsibilities include:

  • Arrive at the ballpark no later than one hour prior to the scheduled start time
  • Double-check and verify all pre-game information: rosters, umpires, weather conditions, etc.
  • During the game, enter the results of every pitch and game event (plays, substitutions, etc.) using our proprietary software and coding language
  • Work closely with our game-night support staff (via AOL Instant Messenger) to ensure proper scoring of all game events and accuracy of data
  • After the game, enter all post-game information: winning and losing pitcher, saves, holds, time and attendance
  • Validate all stats in software box score against the official box score provided by the Official Scorer, and print out a final box score and game text for the club PR staff  

Qualifications include:

  • Previous experience (including pressbox exposure) with a professional or college sports team, preferably baseball
  • Exceptional (and demonstrable) knowledge of baseball and how to score a baseball game
  • Strong computer proficiency (Windows OS and Windows-based software) and the ability to quickly learn and operate new software
  • Regular availability to attend games in-person as required by the schedule: weekdays, nights and weekends
  • A “team player” with a great attitude, including but not limited to a willingness to make and learn from mistakes and the ability to work closely and cooperatively (and take direction from) our game-night staff
  • Professionalism. It’s a fun job and we pay people to watch baseball, but it’s also an important job and we want people who will take the responsibility seriously. (New stringers undergo an 8-10 week correspondence training program, and co-score several practice games in the ballpark with a returning stringer, before scoring any games solo in the ballpark.)

Those interested in applying should send a resume and cover later, addressing the above-listed qualifications, to stats@website.mlb.com.

November 11-12 Board minutes posted

Minutes from the November 11-12 Board of Directors conference call have now been posted on the SABR website.

You can view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings by going to the page below:

http://sabr.org/content/sabr-board-minutes

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

In Memoriam

  • Christine L. Putnam, 39, a member of the Allan Roth Chapter in Los Angeles, passed away December 8 in Burbank, California. A creative, talented writer, Christine earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcasting from California State University, Northridge, where she graduated Cum Laude. Christine was a freelance writer who specialized in American history. With the help of many presidential libraries, as well as the White House Office of the Curator, she published a book called But the President Wants Meatloaf! about the American presidents and their favorite foods. She was also published in Persimmon Hill magazine, the official publication of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Baseball-Almanac.com; and WorldWar1.com. In addition, she wrote a biography of Harry Wolverton for the SABR BioProject. She was also the food critic at the Burbank Leader for several years. Christine enjoyed several road trips with her mother across the United States, doing research at presidential libraries, historical sites and baseball museums, with a goal of visiting every state. A Rosary was Thursday, December 15 at Valley Funeral Home in Burbank with a Funeral Mass on Friday, December 16 at St. Robert Bellarmine Church. A private graveside service will be held on Saturday, December 17 at San Fernando Mission.

We send our condolences to Christine’s family and friends. 

All “In Memoriam” notices are posted in the SABR Bulletin group here: http://sabrnation.sabr.org/groups2/discussion/list/groupid/1960. Please send notices to Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Five new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Five new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, bringing us to a total of 1,750 published biographies:

All new biographies can be found here: http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=n&m=61

Writing a biography for the BioProject is an easy way to get involved as a SABR member. Find out how by visiting our BioProject Resources page or reading the FAQs section.

DFW Hall-Ruggles Chapter to select top Texas Rangers moments

Fresh off a second consecutive World Series appearance, the Texas Rangers on Thursday announced a number of initiatives that will be taking place in conjunction with the team’s 40th anniversary season in 2012. The Rangers’ first year in Texas was 1972 after the franchise moved from Washington, D.C., following the 1971 season.

In addition to a 40th anniversary uniform patch, four “Turn Back The Clock” games and other promotional items, SABR’s local chapter, the DFW Hall-Ruggles Chapter, will put together a list of the 40 Most Memorable Moments in Rangers history.

“It promises to bring great visibility for SABR and for our chapter,” said C. Paul Rogers, co-chair of the DFW Hall-Ruggles Chapter.

For more information, contact a chapter leader here: http://sabr.org/chapters/dfw-hall-ruggles-chapter.

Calls for award, election nominations

  • Larry Ritter Award, due 12/30/2011: Each year, SABR’s Deadball Era Committee presents the Larry Ritter Book Award to recognize the best new book primarily set in the Deadball Era that was published during the previous calendar year. The award is presented during the committee’s meeting at the annual SABR convention. If you have a book to nominate with a 2011 publication date, contact Gail Rowe at growes36@comcast.net by December 30, 2011. Deadline for receipt of nominated books by the committee is January 16, 2011. 
  • Ron Gabriel Award, due 1/31/2012: This award honors the author(s) of the best research, published or unpublished, on the subject of the Brooklyn Dodgers, completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include but are not limited to magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, unpublished research papers, written versions of oral presentations, books, databases and websites. Nominations should be sent to William Dahlberg at dahlbergwn@gmail.com no later than January 31, 2012. All nominations must include one (1) copy of the research material, a link to the material or some other reference enabling the award committee to review the work.
  • Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award, due 1/31/2012: The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award honors those whose outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. Each award shall consist of a cash prize of $200, to be provided by The Sporting News. To submit a nomination for the 2011 awards, please send back this downloadable nominating form plus FIVE (5) copies of the work by January 31, 2012, to: (e-mail) jcassandro@sabr.org; (fax) 602-595-5690; or (mail) Jim Cassandro c/o SABR, 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.
  • SABR election candidates, due 2/1/2012: The SABR Nominating Committee seeks nominations for candidates for the 2012 SABR Board of Directors elections. Deadline for nominations is February 1, 2012. Nominees must prepare a Candidate Statement Form following guidelines that will be available from any Nominating Committee member: chair Barry Mednick, Rich Schabowski, and Barry Deutsch. Self-nominations are welcome. The offices to be filled are Vice President (2-year term: currently Bill Nowlin); Secretary (3-year term; currently Todd Lebowitz); and Director (3-year term; currently Gary Gillette.)
  • McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, due 2/15/2012: The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the authors of the best articles on baseball history or biography completed or published during the preceding calendar year. A $200 cash award accompanies the honor. To submit a nomination for the 2011 awards, please send back this downloadable nominating form plus FIVE (5) copies of the work by February 15, 2012, to: (e-mail) lenlevin5@hotmail.com; or (mail) Len Levin, 282 Doyle Ave., Providence, RI 02906-3355.

Chapter meeting recaps

Attention, chapter leaders: Just a reminder that the third annual SABR Day is scheduled for January 28, 2012. Please send the details of your SABR Day meeting to Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org. A few are already posted now at SABR.org/sabrday, and we’ll post the rest as soon as we get them.

Upcoming SABR events:

Visit SABR.org/latest for details on all upcoming SABR events.

In other recent SABR news:

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

Find more information about SABR at the Members’ Info page here: http://sabr.org/about/members-info.

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

Replying to this e-mail goes to an undeliverable address. If you would like to contact the SABR office, please visit: http://sabr.org/about/contact-sabr


Originally published: December 16, 2011. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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