This Week in SABR: December 23, 2020

December 23, 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. Please note: The SABR office will be closed for the holidays on Friday, December 25 and January 1. The next newsletter will be sent on Friday, January 8, 2021. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of December 23, 2020:

Season’s Greetings from SABR

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Fall 2020 Baseball Research Journal is on its way!

Good news! The Fall 2020 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members. This issue includes a special illustrated cover of Hall of Fame catcher and Negro Leagues legend Josh Gibson by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski. Click here to learn more about Gary’s design for the new BRJ cover.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next two to four weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition was delivered on Monday, December 21.

All articles from the Fall 2020 Baseball Research Journal can now be read online at SABR.org.
Click here to download the e-book edition of the Fall 2020 Baseball Research Journal.
Click here to order a copy of the print edition of the Fall 2020 Baseball Research Journal from Amazon.com.

We hope you enjoy reading the Fall 2020 Baseball Research Journal!

Still time to renew your membership for 2021

While most of you are now enrolled in our automatic renewal program, for anyone whose SABR memberships expire by December 31 — you can check your current membership status here — it’s time for you to renew!

From the Baseball Research Journal and the SABR Digital Library to “This Week in SABR” and our extensive list of research resources — and, of course, all the memorable virtual chapter and committee meetings — we hope you enjoyed the many benefits of SABR membership this past year.

We hope you please continue your support by renewing your SABR membership today at SABR.org/renew.

Pay online: Click here to renew your SABR membership for 2021!
Pay by phone: To process your credit-card payment over the phone, please call the SABR office at (602) 496-1460 during regular business hours. (We accept Visa, Mastercard, or Discover Card.)
Renew by mail: To pay by check or money order, mail this downloadable PDF form and your payment to the office at SABR, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

Thank you for your support of SABR as we continue to strive to make SABR membership a great experience and a great value!

Call for papers: 2021 The National Pastime

The National Pastime is SABR’s annual summer journal, which since 2009 has been themed to the location of the SABR national convention. Last year’s theme was Baltimore, but the 2020 convention was pushed forward to 2021 due to the global pandemic — meaning that in 2021 we were free to explore a new thematic direction. We are taking advantage of this unique opportunity to expand and challenge our thinking and become Baseball Futurists.

The 2021 issue of The National Pastime will focus on the future through the lens of baseball. Just as baseball and its history is a reflection of the culture and society of the past and present, it can also serve as input, context, and/or predictor of plausible futures for sports in the United States and other countries. Tentatively subtitled The Future According to Baseball, this issue of The National Pastime will collect thought-provoking articles from a variety of disciplines.

This issue of The National Pastime will be co-edited by Marty Resnick and Cecilia Tan. Marty will be taking queries and abstracts until January 15, 2021, and will make assignments no later than January 30. First drafts of articles will be due no later than March 8 and rewrites (if needed) will be due by April 15. To query, send an email to marty@teamresnick.com with the subject line “TNP Query” and a key word or two on your subject.

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

Register now to join us for virtual SABR Day on January 30

SABR commemorates its 50th anniversary in 2021 and will launch its year-long celebration with SABR Day on Saturday, January 30. SABR Day will be hosted virtually around the globe for the first time, giving baseball fans a chance to come together — wherever they live — to share their love of the game.

The program will include conversations with broadcasting legend Bob Costas of MLB Network and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President Tim Mead.

“We are honored and thrilled to have Bob Costas and Tim Mead join us for the first-ever virtual SABR Day,” SABR CEO Scott Bush said. “There is not a better way to lead off our Golden Anniversary and we excitedly look forward to sharing SABR with the entire baseball community.”

SABR Day registration will be free for SABR members. A $10 donation will be requested of non-members. Click here to register online. The virtual SABR Day program will run from 2:00-4:00 p.m. EST on January 30.

Early registration now open for 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

Early registration is now open for the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference, which will be held over four days in online sessions from March 11-14, 2021. We’ll bring together the top minds in the baseball analytics community to discuss, debate, and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball. Register today to join us!

Programming will run on Thursday and Friday evening from 6:30-9:00 p.m. Eastern, all day Saturday from 12:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern, and Sunday afternoon from 1:00-5:00 p.m. EDT.

Registration: Click here to register for the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. Early-bird registration is $75 for SABR members, $100 for non-members, and $50 for currently enrolled high school or college students (includes one-year SABR membership). Students should email Scott Carter with a photo of their student ID to receive the discounted registration link.
Yoseloff Scholarship: Students, apply now for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. Deadline: December 31, 2020.
Research Awards: We’re seeking nominations for the 2021 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards. Deadline: December 31, 2020.

Stay tuned for more details on guest speakers, panelists, and presenters! Visit SABR.org/analytics to learn more.

Join SABR’s Golden Lineup to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary!

With the holiday season upon us and our Golden Anniversary around the corner, we want to thank you for your continuing support of SABR. Gifts from members like you make it possible to sustain and grow SABR into the future.

All donors joining SABR’s Golden Lineup with a $100 gift or more will receive a copy of From Rube to Robinson, our anthology of research celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Donors supporting SABR with a gift of $500 or more will also receive a miniature Rawlings Gold Glove Award replica and be entered to win the SABR Golden Ticket. The winner of the SABR Golden Ticket will receive:

Lifetime membership to SABR
All expenses paid to a SABR conference of their choice
Attend the 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Banquet in New York City

To learn more, or to join SABR’s Golden Lineup, visit SABR.org/donate/2020.

Apply now to participate in the 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition

The 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition will be held online from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. EST on Friday, March 12, 2021, as part of the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference.

Register: Click here to register your team for the 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition. Registration is $995 per team, which includes admission to all SABR Virtual Analytics Conference sessions and a one-year SABR membership for each participants. Please include your school name, along with names and contact information for up to 5 participants.
Questions: Please contact Vince Gennaro with any questions about participating.

Visit SABR.org/analytics/case to learn more.

Students, one week left to apply for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

With generous funding from The Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to eight scholarships to high school and college students who wish to attend the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference on March 11-14, 2021. This scholarship will pay for all registration fees and expenses associated with the conference.

Download an application form: Click here to apply for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

The deadline to apply is December 31, 2020. The objective of this scholarship fund is to encourage student engagement with baseball analytics, and to engender an active interest in baseball research and SABR.

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

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

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

This week, we heard from Rob Fitts, author of Banzai Babe Ruth.

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

December 28: Elysian Fields (N.J.) Chapter meeting with Anne R. Keene (9:00 p.m. EST)
January 2, 2021: Talkin’ Baseball: Perry Barber (9:00 a.m. EST)
January 5: Bay Area/Sacramento joint chapter meeting with Jacob Pomrenke (7:00 p.m. PST)
January 6: Ottawa Chapter inaugural meeting (7:00 p.m. EST)
January 9: Detroit Chapter: Hank Greenberg Symposium with Steve Greenberg, Aviva Kempner, Herm Krabbenhoft, and John Rosengren (1:00 p.m. EST)

Find more upcoming virtual meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Click here to view replays of any SABR virtual event in 2020.

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 Negro Leagues historian Gary Ashwill

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 #91 on Monday, December 21 featured Gary Ashwill, co-founder of the Seamheads.com’s Negro Leagues Database, a comprehensive statistical record of Black baseball dating back to the late 19th century. The database won a SABR Baseball Research Award in 2012. Ashwill writes regularly on the Negro Leagues, minor leagues, and Cuban baseball at his Agate Type blog. He was a contributor to the Negro League Researchers and Authors Group (NLRAG) established by Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

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.

6 new SABR biographies published

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

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.
Seeking authors for 2021 Hall of Fame candidates: As part of our BioProject Hall of Fame Ballot initiative, we are still seeking authors for all of the first-time players on this year’s ballot, including Tim Hudson, A.J. Burnett, Nick Swisher, and Shane Victorino. Please contact bioassign@sabr.org if you are interested in writing about one of these players.

13 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

April 13, 1921: Boston’s Sad Sam Jones beats a struggling Walter Johnson on Opening Day in Washington, by Bill Nowlin
April 21, 1921: Sam Jones shuts out Senators in Red Sox home opener, by Bill Nowlin
May 2, 1921: Red Sox walk off to win in Yankees’ first visit of season to Fenway Park, by Bill Nowlin
October 5, 1921: Yankees win franchise’s first-ever World Series game against rival Giants, by Kevin Larkin
September 7, 1960: Lombardi 1, Baseball 0: Green Bay says goodbye to minor leagues, by Kurt Blumenau
April 21, 1982: Braves walk off for record-setting 13th win to start a season, by Chris Betsch
April 11, 1984: Mariners’ Alvin Davis homers off Dennis Eckersley in major-league debut, by Eric Vickrey
October 23, 2013: Ortiz homers as Cardinal errors give Red Sox the edge in Game 1, by Bill Nowlin
October 24, 2013: Cardinals even things up, taking Game 2 in Boston, by Bill Nowlin
October 26, 2013: Obstruction call at third base gives Cardinals a win in Game 3, by Bill Nowlin
October 27, 2013: Last-minute replacement Jonny Gomes homers to win Game 4 for Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin
October 28, 2013: Red Sox win a well-pitched Game 5 with no weirdness, by Bill Nowlin
October 30, 2013: Boston Strong: Red Sox go from Marathon Monday to a World Series title, by Bill Nowlin

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.
Read all stories from Babe Ruth greatest games book: Click here to read all stories from The Babe (SABR, 2019), edited by Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks, online at the SABR Games Project.

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. Listen to new episodes at 4:00-5:00 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.

Last call for SABR award nominations

Seymour Medal (history/biography books; deadline: 12/31/2020)
SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards (baseball analytics research; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Larry Ritter Book Award (Deadball Era books; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Ron Gabriel Award (Brooklyn Dodgers research; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Russell Gabay Award (New Jersey baseball; deadline: 12/31/2020)
SABR Baseball Research Award (outstanding research articles/projects: deadline: 1/31/2021)
McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award (best history/biography articles; deadline: 2/15/2021)

Please note: Only ONE entry per nomination will be considered (do not submit multiple nominations for the same award). For more information on SABR Awards, click here.

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: 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
Shane Barclay	Santa Cruz, CA	Rolland Hofstedt	Pasco, WA
Matthew Bernstein	Atlanta, GA	Alexander Hynes	Champaign, IL
Peter Blasevick	Newfoundland, NJ	John Lindo	Whitby, ON
Jim Buck	Brighton, MI	Robert Meyers	Alexandria, VA
Jason Bugg	San Jose, CA	Lynn Poppe	Omaha, NE
Brendan Connolly	Hanover, MA	Steve Reynolds	Painesville, OH
Joseph DeCaro	Staten Island, NY	Gian Severini	Hewitt, NJ
Elias Fedele	Pittsburgh, PA	Chris Soltow	Thousand Oaks, CA
Joe Genovese	Raleigh, NC	Craig Timberlake	Corydon, IN
Michael Hanson	Portland, OR	Bob Wechsler	Bahama, NC

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

BioProject: We are seeking additional volunteers to serve as fact-checkers for future BioProject submissions. If you are interested in joining the team, please contact Alan Cohen.
Black Sox Scandal: December 2020 newsletter

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Boston Chapter: Read a new “Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau,” by Joanne Hulbert (Boston, MA)

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:

Jesus Ortiz: MLB rightfully elevates Negro Leagues to Major League status (Our Esquina)
James Fegan: Minnie Miñoso’s Hall of Fame case gets a boost from MLB’s Negro Leagues news (The Athletic)
Mike Petriello: 661? Mays’ iconic HR total could go up by 1 (MLB.com)
Gabe Lacques: How baseball historians are coming together to add Negro Leagues stats to MLB history (USA Today)
Tyler Kepner: Baseball Hall of Fame Hopes to Contextualize Problematic Inductees (New York Times)
Howard Megdal: Major League Baseball’s Negro Leagues Recognition Is Just The Beginning (Forbes.com)
David Von Drehle: Why the Negro Leagues will never fully be integrated into Major League Baseball (Washington Post)
Mike Freeman: Women of the Negro Leagues: 3 American heroes you may not know (USA Today)
Erik Brady: Home Run Johnson, Negro Leagues pioneer, deserves spot in Baseball Hall of Fame (Buffalo News)
Fadia Patterson: Buffalo Historian Howard Henry Highlights Negro League Baseball History (Spectrum News)
Emma Baccellieri: Why Is Waiting Through MLB’s Slow Offseason So Hard? We Asked an Expert (Sports Illustrated)
Hannah Keyser: How will MLB handle clubhouse divisions over COVID-19 vaccine as baseball seeks return to normalcy? (Yahoo! Sports)
Jayson Stark: How many games in the 2021 MLB season? Take the under (The Athletic)
Andy McCullough: Should MLB ban the shift? Managers debate how to revive baseball (The Athletic)
Rob Arthur: Sprint Speed Can Predict Breakouts (Baseball Prospectus)
Lindsey Adler: CC Sabathia’s new documentary is an honest look at overcoming demons and trauma (The Athletic)
Rob Mains: A Three-Year Review of Non-Tenders (Baseball Prospectus)
Ryan Fagan: Baseball card collections evolved in 2020 as pandemic pause inspired creativity, charity, reflection (The Sporting News)
Roger Cormier: The Worthiest Spider (Baseball Prospectus)
Daniel Brown: Why baseball’s Hall of Fame hopefuls follow a shy Bay Area vegan on Twitter (The Athletic)
Jay Jaffe: JAWS and the 2021 Hall of Fame Ballot: One-and-Dones (FanGraphs)
Sam Gazdziak: Charley Pride and Nashville’s lethal ignorance (RIP Baseball)
David Laurila: Winter Meetings Manager Potpourri (FanGraphs)
Levi Weaver: How Eric Nadel went from college janitor to Rangers icon and Hall of Famer (The Athletic)
Andrew Simon: Comeback king Daniel Bard earns Tony Conigliaro Award (MLB.com)
Mark Simon: Stat of the Week: MLB Year-End Awards (ACTA Sports)
Jason Schwartz: Overanalyzing 1933 Goudey, part six (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jeff Katz: Nothing to Gloss Over (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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