This Week in SABR: December 9, 2022

December 9, 2022/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 December 9, 2022:

Read articles from Fall 2022 Baseball Research Journal online

The Fall 2022 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members. This issue includes a special illustrated cover of Hank Greenberg by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski.

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, November 28.

All articles from the Fall 2022 Baseball Research Journal are now available to read online at SABR.org.
Click here to download the PDF e-book edition of the Fall 2022 Baseball Research Journal.
Click here to order a copy of the print edition of the Fall 2022 Baseball Research Journal from Amazon.com.

We hope you enjoy reading the Fall 2022 Baseball Research Journal!

Help us Bring it Home and make 2022 a historic success for SABR

As SABR continues toward our vision of becoming the essential community for the world of baseball, it is gifts from members like you who sustain our organization, allowing us to produce wonderful baseball research and programming that reaches people everywhere.

You can support SABR’s end of year Bring it Home Campaign by making a gift of $150 or more today. We will use your best gift of $150, $300, $500, or $1,000 to boost SABR’s general operations.

Contributions from generous donors like you are vital in helping SABR maintain core mission programming, develop new initiatives, and ensure affordable membership access:

Support for Core Programming: Your donations help make SABR events possible and accessible, while fueling the productivity and development of our publishing efforts.
Support for New Initiatives: Your donations allow SABR to maintain its relevance and respectability in an ever-changing environment.
Support for Affordable Membership Access: Your donations are crucial to keeping SABR membership affordable for all, a critical aspect of fulfilling our vision to become the essential community for the world of baseball.

Visit SABR.org/donate/2022 to learn more.

Give the gift of SABR this holiday season!

This holiday season, it’s easy to share that passion for the game with friends and family. If you’re looking for a great gift for the baseball fan in your life, how about a SABR Gift Membership?

All baseball fans are welcome to join SABR.

Click here to learn more about how to sign up a family member or friend with a SABR Gift Membership in our latest Membership Benefit Spotlight video.

Visit SABR.org/gift-membership to learn more.

Call for papers: 2023 The National Pastime

The next SABR convention will be held on July 5-9, 2023, in Chicago, and we are seeking articles for our annual convention journal, The National Pastime, on teams, figures, and events around Chicago, Illinois, and other areas of the Midwest.

If you have an idea for an engaging, impeccably researched article on any aspect of baseball in the Midwest, including people, players, teams, stadiums, leagues, championships, and more, please email an abstract or article topic description, along with expected word count length and information on how you plan to research the topic, with email subject line “TNP: 2023” to PubDir@sabr.org by Friday, December 30, 2022. First drafts will be due in March 2023, with final drafts needed by the end of April 2023.

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

Call for papers: 2023 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will host the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on July 20-23, 2023, in Detroit, Michigan. 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 as part of the Detroit Tigers’ Negro Leagues Weekend.

This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. This year’s theme is “Turkey Stearnes Centennial, the Negro Leagues and Civil Rights.” Please email your proposal as a Word attachment to Dr. Leslie Heaphy before March 6, 2023.

For conference updates, visit SABR.org/malloy.

Related link: Learn more or apply now for the 2023 Negro Leagues high school essay contest, art contest, or school library grants

Fred McGriff elected to Baseball Hall of Fame by Contemporary Era Committee

Five-time All-Star and 1995 World Champion Fred McGriff earned election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee process.

McGriff was the only candidate elected from the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee Players Ballot, which was considered by a 16-member committee, including SABR member Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau, that held meetings in San Diego. The eight-person ballot was comprised of candidates whose primary contribution to the game came from 1980 to the present.

Click here to learn more about McGriff’s life and legacy in baseball from the SABR BioProject.

Related link: Click here to read more SABR biographies of 2023 Hall of Fame candidates

Apply now for a SABR Local Grant in 2023

The SABR Local Grants program provides an opportunity for chapters, research committees, and chartered communities to apply for funding for their projects under SABR’s Four Pillars: Research, Scholarship, Preservation, and Future of the Game. Applications are now open for a 2023 SABR Local Grant at SABR.org/local-grants. Submissions will be accepted until January 16, 2023.

All SABR chapters, chartered communities, and research committees are eligible to apply. Individual SABR members and non-SABR groups are not eligible, so if you have an individual idea for a program grant, please follow up with your local chapter leadership or appropriate research committee to discuss an application.

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

Early registration open for 2023 SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix

Early registration is now open for the SABR Analytics Conference, which will be held in person from March 10-12, 2023, at the Beus Center for Law and Society on Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus in Phoenix, Arizona. Register today to join us!

General sessions will be held in person on Friday, March 10 through Sunday, March 12 at the Beus Center for Law and Society in downtown Phoenix. General Session registration includes access to all programming held at the Beus Center for Law and Society, including research presentations, panel discussions, Friday evening networking reception, a boxed lunch on Friday and Saturday afternoon, and coffee talks on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Students will have two registration options, virtual or in-person, with both including access to the General Session on Friday, March 10 through Sunday, March 12, and a student-only virtual session on Thursday, March 9.

Registration: Click here to register for the 2023 SABR Analytics Conference. Early-bird registration is $395 for SABR members, $495 for non-members, and $150 for currently enrolled high school or college students. Student-only virtual registration is $50.
Student Registration: Students should email Scott Carter with a photo of their student ID to receive a special link to register at a discounted rate laden with extra benefits. Students have the option of choosing virtual ($50) or in-person ($150) registration. All student registrations also include a complimentary one-year SABR membership ($25 value) and a complimentary Rapsodo certification course ($395 value).

Visit SABR.org/analytics to learn more.

Students, apply now for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2023 SABR Analytics Conference

With generous funding from The Nanar and Anthony Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to four scholarships to high school and college students who wish to attend the SABR Analytics Conference on March 10-12, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging fees associated with the conference up to a total value of $1,250.

Download a Yoseloff Scholarship application to attend the 2023 SABR Analytics Conference

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. The Yoseloff scholarship is to assist young researchers who want to attend the SABR Analytics Conference and to introduce them to fellow SABR members and professionals within the baseball community. Through this fund, SABR hopes to inspire future baseball research, expose students to high-quality research and build the research capability of interested students.

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

Sign up now for SABR Analytics Certification online course

It’s time to get SABR Certified! The first course in the new SABR Analytics Certification program — Conversational Analytics and Critical Thinking in Baseball — is available online now.

The SABR Analytics Certification program is an online, on-demand curriculum offering professional development and learning opportunities for those interested in elevating their skills and knowledge relating to baseball analytics. The curriculum was developed by current baseball professionals, including employees of Major League Baseball and its clubs.

SABR members get a significant discount on this Analytics Certification course registration, saving $55 off the regular price. Visit SABR.org/analytics/certification to sign up today or learn more.

SABR Events Calendar

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org.

Can’t-Miss Event: SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee’s Monthly Speaker Series resumes at 8:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, December 13. All baseball fans are invited to attend. Our guest speaker will be Dan Linnenberg, who will present on Long John Reilly. Click here to register in advance for this meeting. For more information or to watch replays of past presentations from the 19th Century Speaker Series, click here.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from authors Mark Armour and Dan Levitt (Intentional Balk) and Adam Korengold (“2023 baseball rule changes”). Click here to view more video replays of virtual SABR events.

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

December 10: Ike Brooks: Black Baseball Stories: A Year in Review (10:00 a.m. EST)
December 10: Bud Metheny/Virginia Eastern Shore Chapter meeting (11:00 a.m. EST)
December 10: Allan Roth (CA) Chapter meeting with Justin Mckinney and Dan Taylor (1:00 p.m. PST)
December 12: Northern New England/Gardner-Waterman Chapter meeting with Adam Korengold (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 12: Bob Broeg St. Louis (MO) Chapter meeting with Brad Snyder (6:30 p.m. CST)
December 13: 19th Century Speaker Series: Dan Linnenberg (8:00 p.m. EST)
December 13: Pacific Northwest Chapter meeting with Ryan Divish (6:30 p.m. PST)
December 14: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Justin Mckinney (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 14: New SABR Member Experience meeting with Jessica Smyth (8:00 p.m. EST)
December 15: Larry Doby (SC) Chapter meeting with Tina Whitlock (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 15: Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington (KY) Chapter meeting with Graig Kreindler (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 15: Boston (MA) Chapter meeting with David Laurila (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 15: Connie Mack-Dick Allen (PA) Chapter meeting with Justin Mckinney (8:00 p.m. EST)
December 19: Halsey Hall (MN) Chapter research committee meeting (7:00 p.m. CST)

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

December 10: Halsey Hall Chapter book club meeting (Roseville, MN)
December 10: Roush-Lopez Chapter meet-up (Pinellas Park, FL)
December 11: Central Illinois Chapter lunch meet-up (Bloomington, IL)
December 12: Rocky Mountain Chapter holiday dinner (Denver, CO)
December 15: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Sandy Springs, GA)
December 17: Babe ‘n’ Bob Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
December 17: Hank Gowdy Columbus Chapter meeting (Columbus, OH)
December 17: Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter holiday party (Berlin, CT)
December 18: Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting (Austin, TX)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

3 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

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

Tony Fossas, by Bill Nowlin
Bob Melvin, by Malcolm Allen
Mike Young, by Malcolm Allen

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.

8 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

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

September 23, 1893: Chamberlain ices Beaneaters in darkness-shortened no-hitter, by Gregory H. Wolf
July 4, 1905: Rube Waddell pitches 20 innings, wins both games of doubleheader for Philadelphia A’s, by Bill Nowlin
June 3, 1925: Eddie Collins joins the 3,000-hit club, by Douglas Jordan
May 9, 1938: Willard Hershberger stars as Reds pound Phillies, by Kurt Blumenau
August 16, 1969: Boog Powell’s inside-the-park home run caps 15-run Orioles slugfest over Pilots, by Mike Huber
October 17, 1973: Mets tie World Series with Matlack’s pitching, Staub’s hitting, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
October 16, 1991: Avery, Braves edge Pirates 1-0, force Game 7 in NLCS, by John Fredland
May 23, 1998: Mike Piazza makes his Mets debut, by Dan Cichalski

In addition, these stories from Metropolitan Stadium: Memorable Games at Minnesota’s Diamond on the Prairie were posted online this week:

June 9, 1966: Twins come from behind to defeat A’s 9-4 behind 5 home runs in the 7th, by Bob Webster
September 25, 1966: Jim Kaat outduels Earl Wilson for 25th win, by Steve Ginader
June 3-4, 1967: Harmon Killebrew blasts two tape-measure home runs on consecutive days, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
June 18, 1968: Twins-Senators game has almost everything, by Rich Arpi
September 22, 1968: César Tovar plays all nine positions, leads Twins to victory, by Mike Huber
April 18, 1969: Billy Martin makes home debut as Twins manager, by Dave Mona
May 18, 1969: Cesár Tovar, Rod Carew steal home in the same inning, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
July 4, 1969: Early fireworks doom A’s in big series opener vs. Twins, by Steve Ginader
July 6, 1969: Harmon Killebrew does it again with game-winning homer to defeat A’s, 7-6, by Bob Webster
April 29, 1970: Stan Williams, Frank Quilici pick off a Twins win versus Cleveland, by Tom Hawthorn
August 10, 1971: Harmon Killebrew ends home run drought by joining 500 club, by Richard Cuicchi

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 Brian McRae

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 #191 on Monday, December 5 featured Brian McRae, who spent 10 seasons as an outfielder in the major leagues with the Kansas City Royals and four other teams. From 1991 to 1994, he played for his father, Royals manager Hal McRae. After retiring in 1999, he worked as an analyst for the Chicago Cubs, MLB.com Radio and ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. He is currently the general manager of the Kansas City Sluggers, a youth travel ball organization.

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 archives of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM

During the MLB offseason, you can listen to archives of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, 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.

Call for SABR award nominations

Seymour Medal (history/biography books; deadline: 12/31/2022)
SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards (baseball analytics research; deadline: 12/31/2022)
Larry Ritter Book Award (Deadball Era books; deadline: 12/31/2022)
Ron Gabriel Award (Brooklyn Dodgers research; deadline: 12/31/2022)
Russell Gabay Award (New Jersey baseball; deadline: 12/31/2022)
SABR Baseball Research Award (outstanding research articles/projects: deadline: 12/31/2022)
McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award (best history/biography articles; deadline: 12/31/2022)

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: 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
Ben Abel	North Vancouver, BC	Floyd Lapp	New City, NY
Mike Barrett	Baltimore, MD	Phil Lewis	Bridgewater, NJ
Lynsey Barron	Atlanta, GA	Brian Logan	Tallahassee, FL
Mickey Bates	Burkeville, VA	Michael Madden	San Diego, CA
Garrett Brock	Palm Bay, FL	Silvio Magino	Stuttgart, GER
Matthew Burke	Leesburg, VA	Adam Micklos	Braidwood, IL
Rebekah Callari-Kaczmarczyk	Durham, NC	Brian Morris	Ann Arbor, MI
Jon Carson	Toronto, ON	Ross Retterer	Fredericksburg, VA
Louis Charlip	Rockville, MD	Mark Richardson	Los Angeles, CA
John P. Clark	Cranford, NJ	Keley Russo	Lunenburg, MA
John Congleton	Allendale, NJ	Andrew Schaefer	Houston, TX
Bill Daniels	Stockbridge, GA	Aaron Schwartz	Wilton, CT
Nick Desrocher	Etobicoke, ON	Steven Schwartz	Parker, CO
David Drewry	Durham, NC	Mark Solomon	Roswell, GA
Ronald Driscoll	Marstons Mills, MA	Michael Sparkman	Georgetown, TX
Jason Fibble	New Orleans, LA	Mike Steveline	Columbus, OH
Davis Hebert	River Ridge, LA	Doug Thompson	Washoe Valley, NV
Dale Jenkins	Cincinnati, OH	Dennis Thompson	E. Liverpool, OH
Steven Jones	Alameda, CA	Timothy Tyler	Indianapolis, IN
Joel Kaplan	St Pete Beach, FL	Harry Williams Jr.	La Crosse, WI
Josh Kuh	Kalamazoo, MI

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Business of Baseball: Fall 2022 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:

Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter: December 2022 newsletter (Milwaukee, WI)

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:

Andrew Marchand: Inside Sarah Langs’ inspiring ALS fight — which hasn’t slowed her baseball media rise (New York Post)
Tyler Kepner: The Yankees Got Their Man and Judge Got His Money (New York Times)
Jayson Stark: It’s just like ‘old’ times for big-budget free agents at the 2022 Winter Meetings (The Athletic)
Emma Baccellieri: The Mets Just Keep on Spending—but They Shouldn’t Be Done Yet (Sports Illustrated)
Michael Baumann: Willson Contreras May Be the Stylistic Opposite of Yadier Molina, but He Makes the Cardinals Much, Much Better (FanGraphs)
Derrick Goold: There’s a growing argument that the Cardinals can’t compete without spending big (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Jim Margalus: The White Sox missed out on buying low, and now everybody’s buying high (Sox Machine)
Grant Brisbee: Can the Giants save their offseason? (The Athletic)
Bradford William Davis: MLB Used Two Balls Again This Year, and Evidence Points to a Third (Insider.com)
Jay Jaffe: Remembering Gaylord Perry, Rule-Bending Rogue (1938-2022) (FanGraphs)
Chicago Cubs announcer Pat Hughes wins Ford C. Frick Award (BaseballHall.org)
Stephanie Apstein: Wordplayer Agent: Scott’s Puns Never Bore Us (Sports Illustrated)
Stephen J. Nesbitt: Tony Reali on life, grief, empathy and two decades of ‘Around the Horn’ (The Athletic)
Clinton Yates: Ken Griffey Jr., Swingman Classic bringing HBCU baseball to 2023 MLB All-Star weekend (Andscape)
David Laurila: Rebuffing Criticism, Bill Schmidt Likes The Rockies’ Direction (FanGraphs)
Mark Simon: MLB’s Best Players Are Entrenched (ACTA Sports)
Steven Goldman: Bauer’d Out of a Shortstop (Baseball Prospectus)
Rob Mains: Just When I Had It Figured Out … (Baseball Prospectus)
Russell A. Carleton: How the Pitch Clock Could Go Wrong (Baseball Prospectus)
Kevin Baxter: How Jorge Pasquel broke baseball’s color barrier — in Mexico (Los Angeles Times)
Jon Caroulis: A Hall of Fame Rap (BallNine.com)
Matt Monagan: Tony Batista’s batting stance gave new meaning to ‘facing a pitcher’ (MLB.com)
Dan Levitt: Anticipating and Controlling Cheating and Unwanted Behavior—Lessons from Baseball (CEOWorld Magazine)
M. Shawn Hennessy: Threads of Lefty: From Ace Farmhand to the GI World Series (Chevrons and Diamonds)
Joe Guzzardi: The MLB umpire who learned in a German POW camp (Gettysburg Times)
Roger J. Ratzenberger Jr.: Remembering Marjorie Adams And Her Great-Grandfather’s Appearance On A HOF Ballot (DocAdamsBaseball.org)
Darrell Proctor: Be A Manager Baseball Board Game — Bamco (SABR Baseball Gaming)

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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