This Week in SABR: January 18, 2013

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Welcome to “This Week in SABR”! Here’s what we’ve been up to as of January 18, 2013:

SABR 43 registration now online!

The SABR 43 Planning Committee began meeting in September 2011. We recruited members from the Philadelphia/Connie Mack Chapter and assessed our skills to see how best we could organize this momentous happening for the City of Brotherly Love. Fortunately, several in our crew have had experience in organizing conventions, including the 2002 Boston Convention.

SABR’s 43rd annual convention will be held July 31-August 4, 2013, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The hotel is in the Center City area, a quick light rail ride from Philadelphia Airport and Amtrak. Center City is the hub of Philly’s cultural, business and social life. It is a veritable trove of attractions served by an excellent mass transit system.

In addition to the usual fun of ballgames, research presentations and great panels with baseball executives, former players and media personnel at SABR 43, we intend to have special events that will include:

  • a Historical Philadelphia Walking Tour
  • a bus tour of historical ballpark and other baseball sites
  • a vintage 1860s-style base ball game near the home of the old Philadelphia Pythians and 19th-century Athletics (also near Pat’s and Geno’s!) 
  • a panel of Phillies greats from different eras, along with many other great speakers

Here are some details on SABR 43 registration:

When SABR last visited Philadelphia in 1974, the Phils played at the no-specific-purpose Veterans Stadium. In 2013, we will take you to cozy Citizens Bank Park, one of the more attractive baseball stadiums in the country. Despite the Philllies’ longest consecutive-game-sellout streak in baseball history, we are confident that given our good relationship with the Phils, we will obtain game tickets in several sections of the park.

The SABR 43 Planning Committee eagerly awaits the crowds of SABR’s baseball experts, historians, statisticians, general fans and their families who will visit our “olde countrie towne”. And we fully expect to declare Philadelphia as the “Baseball Capital of the World” when SABR 43 convenes here in 2013.

We’ll be announcing many more details soon. Visit SABR.org/convention to register for SABR 43 today!

— Seamus Kearney and Dick Rosen

Join us on SABR Day: Saturday, January 26

We hope you’re excited for the fourth annual SABR Day on Saturday, January 26, 2013. We’re still compiling final details on 2013 SABR Day chapter meetings around the country. Check for details of a meeting near you at SABR.org/sabrday.

SABR Day events are scheduled on January 26 in these cities:

  • Albuquerque, NM (Rio Grande Chapter)
  • Charlotte, NC (Charlotte Chapter) 
  • Columbus, OH (Hank Gowdy Chapter)
  • Cooperstown, NY (Cliff Kachline Chapter)
  • Denver, CO (Rocky Mountain Chapter)
  • Des Moines, IA (Field of Dreams Chapter)
  • Fort Lauderdale, FL (South Florida Chapter)
  • Houston, TX (Larry Dierker Chapter)
  • Indianapolis, IN (Oscar Charleston Chapter)
  • Kansas City, MO (Monarchs Chapter)
  • Kenosha, WI (co-organized by Emil Rothe and Ken Keltner Badger State chapters)
  • Little Rock, AR (Robinson-Kell Chapter) 
  • Los Angeles, CA (Allan Roth Chapter)
  • Louisville, KY (Pee Wee Reese Chapter)
  • Middletown, CT (Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter)
  • Montreal, QC (Quebec Chapter)
  • Montpelier, VT (Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter)
  • New Orleans, LA (Schott-Pelican Chapter)
  • New York, NY (Casey Stengel Chapter)
  • Oakland, CA (co-organized by Lefty O’Doul/Bay Area and Sacramento chapters)
  • Philadelphia, PA (Connie Mack Chapter)
  • Phoenix, AZ (Flame Delhi Chapter)
  • Pittsburgh, PA (Forbes Field Chapter)
  • Ponce, PR (Orlando Cepeda Chapter)
  • Seattle, WA (Northwest Chapter)
  • St. Louis, MO (Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter)
  • Tallahassee, FL (Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter)
  • Toledo, OH (co-organized by Bresnahan-Mudhens Chapter, Detroit Chapter, Don Lund Chapter, Wally Pipp Chapter)
  • Toronto, ON (Hanlan’s Point Chapter)

In addition, these chapters will be holding their SABR Day meetings on Saturday, February 2 due to scheduling conflicts with the popular team FanFests on January 26:

  • Minneapolis, MN (Halsey Hall Chapter)
  • San Diego, CA (Ted Williams Chapter)
  • Washington, DC (Bob Davids Chapter)

Chapter leaders, please send your SABR Day plans to Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org so we can add them to the map ASAP!

(Having trouble viewing our map at SABR.org/sabrday? Visit http://bit.ly/SABRday-2013-list to view all SABR Day 2013 details in a spreadsheet on the web.)

Regional SABR meetings are open to all baseball fans and are usually free to attend, so bring a friend! Guest speakers often include current and former baseball players, managers, umpires, executives, scouts, writers and authors.

To view event details for a SABR Day meeting near you, check out our SABR Day map at SABR.org/sabrday for more information.

SABR member Paul Dickson wins 2012 CASEY Award

We are pleased to congratulate SABR member Paul Dickson, author of Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick (Walker & Company), as the winner of the 2012 CASEY Award, awarded for the Best Baseball Book of the Year by Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine.

Dickson’s biography of Veeck won the Spitball Magazine award in a landslide, copping two first-place votes and one third-place vote, for a near-perfect score of 5 points (low score wins). Judge Jack Griener, a Cincinnati attorney in the firm of Graydon Head & Ritchey and an expert on baseball & the law, had this to say about Mr. Dickson’s CASEY-winning book:

“Dickson captures Veeck’s spirit in an entertaining and informative 300 pages that read as if they were only 30. What comes through so clearly is that Veeck was much more than a gimmick master. He was a visionary who consistently put together great baseball teams. And he had a blast doing it. If I were the Commissioner of Baseball I would require every owner to read this book.”

Dickson is scheduled to accept his CASEY Award, a specially made royal blue and gold engraved Louisville Slugger baseball bat, in person, at the 30th annual CASEY Awards Banquet on Sunday, March 3, 2013, at 2:00 at Crosley’s Sports Bar & Grill in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Banquet is open to the public.

The Judges of the 2012 CASEY Award: Jack Griener, Jon Leonoudakis and John Poff.

Other finalists for the award included SABR members Robert Fitts (Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, and Assassination during the 1934 Tour of Japan); Norman L. Macht (Connie Mack: The Turbulent and Triumphant Years, 1915-1931); Joseph M. Schuster (The Might Have Been: A Novel); and Marty Appel (Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss).

For more information, visit SpitballMag.com.

Want free registration to the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference?

Beginning Monday, January 21 MLB Network’s “Clubhouse Confidential” will give away 10 SABR Analytics Conference registrations via the show’s Twitter page at @CHConfidential.

With sabermetrics continually at the forefront of baseball conversations, “Clubhouse Confidential”, with host Brian Kenny, serves as an open forum to discuss and debate the day’s news and moves using modern statistical research and value projection. Watch “Clubhouse Confidential” on MLB Network at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. daily for more details.

The 2013 SABR Analytics Conference will be held Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

SABR has secured a special conference rate of $149/night (plus tax) from March 6-10, 2013, at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 — just blocks away from Chase Field. Please note: The group rate is available until February 13, 2013, or until our room block runs out so book your reservation today! Due to the popularity of spring training in Arizona, rooms may not be available at the Sheraton prior to March 6.

The schedule will consist of a combination of Guest Speakers, Panels and Research Presentations — plus the unique Diamond Dollars Case Competition, in which undergraduate, graduate and law school students from across the country analyze and present a real baseball operations decision.

Featured speakers expected for the 2013 Analytics Conference are: Stan Kasten, President/CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Jed Hoyer, Executive VP/General Manager of the Chicago Cubs; Rick Hahn, Senior VP/General Manager of the Chicago White Sox; Jon Daniels, General Manager of the Texas Rangers; Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer for Sports on Earth; and Brian Kenny, MLB Network host. More speakers will be announced soon!

The World Baseball Classic will also be in Phoenix that weekend, with first-round games scheduled at Chase Field and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, and we plan to talk more about global baseball issues at the second annual Analytics Conference.

For more details on the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

Seeking nominations for 2013 Greg Spira Baseball Research Award

The Greg Spira Baseball Research Award Committee has announced the rules and procedures for nominations for the inaugural Greg Spira Baseball Research Award. The winner of the Greg Spira Award will receive a cash prize of $1,000. The committee will also recognize two additional writers with awards of $200 for second place and $100 for third place.

The Nomination Period will open at 12:01 a.m. EST on January 16, 2013, and remain open through 11:59 p.m. EST on February 15, 2013. Nominations received before or after the Nomination Period will not be considered.

The Nomination Form for the Greg Spira Award can be found at www.SpiraAward.org. Anyone can nominate a qualifying piece for the Award, and self-nominations by authors are welcome. Note, however, that only one entry per author will be considered for the Greg Spira Award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, a piece or book must be about baseball and must contain original analysis or research. Nominated pieces or books must have been published between January 16, 2012, and January 15, 2013. Articles, papers, and books eligible for consideration include those published in print or in e-books, those published or posted on the World Wide Web, academic papers or dissertations, and papers presented at professional or public conferences.

The inaugural Greg Spira Baseball Research Award winners will be announced on April 27, 2013, the 46th anniversary of Greg’s birth. Future awards will be announced on April 27 of succeeding years. Winning entries must display innovative analysis or reasoning by an author who was 30 years old or younger at the time of the entry’s publication.

For details on the nominating criteria, click here: http://sabr.org/latest/seeking-nominations-2013-greg-spira-baseball-research-award

Working with the Spira family, the creators of the Greg Spira Award include Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference.com, Joe Hamrahi and Dave Pease of Baseball Prospectus, Sean Lahman of Baseball1.com, and Gary Gillette of 24-7 Baseball, L.L.C.

For more information, please go to www.SpiraAward.org or send a message to Info@SpiraAward.org.

Related links:

Last call for nominations for SABR Analytics Research Awards

What was the best analytical baseball research published in 2012? Send us your nominations today!

The new SABR Analytics Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year in the following categories:

  • Contemporary Baseball Analysis: Honoring the best analysis focusing on a subject related to the modern game(s), team(s) or player(s).
  • Contemporary Baseball Commentary: Honoring the best commentary focusing on a subject related to the modern game(s), team(s) or player(s). 
  • Historical Baseball Analysis/Commentary: Honoring the best original analysis or commentary focusing on a subject related to a game(s), team(s) or player(s) throughout baseball history.

Works of “Analysis” will be judged on the following criteria: thorough examination of the subject matter; originality of research; factual accuracy; significance in advancing our understanding of baseball.

Works of “Commentary” will be judged on the following criteria: distinguished writing; profound insight; factual accuracy; significance in advancing our understanding of baseball.

A work can be in any format except books, including but not limited to articles, columns, blog posts, television, film, websites, spreadsheets or databases, but it must have been first published in the preceding calendar year. No unpublished work will be considered. No work published, in part or in whole, prior to the preceding calendar year will be considered.

No work will be considered in more than one category.

Nominations will be solicited by representatives from SABR, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs and The Hardball Times. Please send your nominations to Jacob Pomrenke at the SABR office. SABR will choose the final 3-4 nominees in each category, from the list submitted by each group. Voting for the winners will be conducted online at SABR.org, BaseballProspectus.com, FanGraphs.com and HardballTimes.com, with results weighted equally at 25%.

Results will be announced and presented at the second annual SABR Analytics Conference, March 7-9, 2013, at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown in Phoenix, Arizona. Learn more or register for the conference at SABR.org/analytics.

SABR Negro Leagues Committee announces 2012-13 essay contest, library grant program

SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee is pleased to announce its 2012-13 essay-writing contest for high school seniors and school library grant program.

Each summer, the Negro Leagues Committee hosts the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference. The 2013 conference will be held in Newark, New Jersey (dates TBA). Check SABR.org/malloy soon for more details.

There will be two $2,500 scholarships awarded by SABR in the high school essay context. Download an essay contest application form here (PDF). Essays, of 1,000 words or less, must answer one of the following questions: “What influence or impact did the Negro Leagues have on African American communities, past and present?” or “What is the legacy of Satchel Paige?” For more details on the essay contest, click here.

The school library grant program donates books to local schools and/or libraries. Download a school library grant application form here (PDF). The Planning Committee of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Committee will review all the applications and make two selections. The winners will be notified by Jackie Robinson Day, April 15, 2013. Books will be delivered to the winning libraries. For more details or to apply, click here.

8 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Eight new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,212 published biographies.

Here are the new bios:

All new biographies can be found here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/recent

You can find the SABR BioProject at SABR.org/BioProject.

Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment” — write the story and we’ll publish it!

Get involved! If you’d like to help contribute to the SABR BioProject, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. We’re also looking to expand the BioProject to include all “encyclopedic” articles on baseball-related subjects from past SABR publications or committee newsletters. If you come across an article you think should be included in the SABR “baseball repository” at the BioProject, send a copy or link to markarmour04@gmail.com or jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Call for other SABR award nominations

  • SABR Baseball Research Award, due 1/31/2013: The SABR Baseball Research Award (formerly 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. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Steve Gietschier at sgietsch@gmail.com.
  • Ron Gabriel Award, due 1/31/2013: The Ron Gabriel Award annually 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. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Stephanie Liscio at stephanieliscio@yahoo.com.
  • McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, due 2/15/2013: 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. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Len Levin at lenlevin5@hotmail.com.

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:

Of course, all previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://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 New Member 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.

Here is a list of new members:

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Raanan Agus New York, NY     John Lord Philadelphia, PA
Ryan Altfillisch Kenosha, WI     Roger Lundstrom Arlington Heights, IL
Robert Anderson Kirkwood, MO     Mike McNulty Austin, TX
Jerome Baran Fallbrook, CA     Zach Nadel La Mesa, CA
Joseph Bartolotta Minneapolis, MN     Samuel Nasci Columbia, MO
Jason Bernard Far Rockaway, NY     Gary Pederson Tacoma, WA
Richard Blyther Mill Valley, CA     Jamie Pederson Tacoma, WA
Kyle Boe Albuquerque, NM     Troy Perlowitz Ossining, NY
P. Lars Bostrom Elmhurst, IL     Marshall Pike Prince Frederick, MD
Daniel Brook East Lansing, MI     Davis Reagan Lovettsville, VA
Fran Caplan Pittsburgh, PA     Anthony Reid Jamaica, NY
Adam Collazo Sunnyvale, CA     Shirley Reiser Tuber Granada Hills, CA
Brad Copeland Alba, MO     Gregory Smith Waldorf, MD
Hillel Goelman Vancouver, BC     Tommy Szarka Massena, NY
Minda Haas Omaha, NE     Dan Todesco Richmond, TX
James Johnson Beavercreek, OH     Michael Tritz Omaha, NE
Dennis Laudal Grand Forks     Daniel Twohig Bryn Mawr, PA
James Lawry Inverness, CA     Luca Valentino Naperville, IL
Steve Lenger Nashville, TN     Chris Wise Easley, SC
Ira Liebman Stafford, AL     Blaine Yoho Weaverville, CA

 

Research committee newsletters

Here are the new SABR research committee newsletters published this week:

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

Chapter meeting recaps

Here are the chapter meeting recaps published this week.

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

All SABR meetings and events are open to the public. Feel free to bring a baseball-loving friend … and make many new ones! Check out the SABR Events Calendar at SABR.org/events.

Around the Web

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

Read these articles and more at SABR.org/latest.

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

Find exclusive Members’ Only resources and information here: http://members.sabr.org

Did you know you can renew your membership at any time? 1- and 3-year SABR memberships are available by clicking “Renew” at http://members.sabr.org. Please also consider a donation to SABR to support baseball research at SABR.org/donate.

Are you following us on Twitter or Facebook? Get SABR updates every day at @SABR or by searching “SABR” on Facebook.

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: January 17, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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