This Week in SABR: January 26, 2024
Welcome to “This Week in SABR” on Friday, January 26, 2024.
Click here to view this newsletter on the web.
Early registration ends soon for SABR Analytics Conference
Sarah Langs Women in Baseball Scholarship Award recipients announced
2024 SABR Analytics Conference Research Award finalists
Subscribe to the Baseball Research Journal
1 week left to apply for a Local Grant in 2024
Check out upcoming events on SABR Day
Last call for papers: 2024 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
 |
 |
 |
Early registration ends soon for 2024 SABR Analytics Conference
Early registration ends soon for the SABR Analytics Conference, which will be held in person from March 8-10, 2024, at the Beus Center for Law and Society on Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus in Phoenix, Arizona. 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.
- Reminder: Early registration discounts end on Friday, February 16. Registration increases $150 after the early discount ends, so register today to join us!
Students have the option of choosing virtual ($50) or in-person ($150) registration. Both include access to General Session panels and presentations on Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 10, and a student-only virtual session on Thursday, March 7. All student registrations also include a one-year SABR membership ($25 value) and a complimentary Rapsodo certification course ($395 value).
Visit SABR.org/analytics to learn more or to register.
2024 Sarah Langs Women in Baseball Analytics Scholarship winners announced
SABR is pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Sarah Langs Women in Baseball Analytics Scholarship, named in honor of baseball researcher and analyst Sarah Langs.
This year’s recipients are: Amelia Moir, Oregon State University; Abbey Poole, Miami (Ohio) University; Anika Pophali, Ridge (New Jersey) High School.
This annual scholarship, made possible thanks to the support of the Gennaro Family Fund, will provide meaningful professional development and networking opportunities for female identifying students or young professionals pursuing a career in baseball analytics and data science.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
Announcing finalists for 2024 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards
We’re pleased to announce the finalists for the 2024 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards, which will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year.
Nominations were solicited by representatives from SABR, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, and Sports Info Solutions. Voting for the winners will be conducted online beginning next week at SABR.org, BaseballProspectus.com, FanGraphs.com, and IBWAA.com.
Subscribe to the Baseball Research Journal in 2024
Beginning in 2024, all SABR members will exclusively receive the Baseball Research Journal electronically. A majority of SABR members already receive the BRJ electronically and will not be affected by this change.
For any members who are interested in a hard copy of the publication for their personal library, we are rolling out a new subscription option at a significantly discounted rate: $7 per issue for members, compared to $19.95 at retail. (International members will pay $11 per issue.)
- Visit SABR.org/subscribe to receive future printed editions of the BRJ in the mail. Or click here if you’d like a tutorial on how to subscribe.
As with any change, we understand that you may have questions or concerns that you would like to share. Please feel free to reach out to any SABR staff member.
1 week left to apply for a SABR Local Grant in 2024
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 2024 SABR Local Grant at SABR.org/local-grants. Submissions will now be accepted until January 31, 2024. A Grants Review Board will review all submissions and respond with their final determination in February 2024.
Visit SABR.org/local-grants to learn more or to apply.
Save the date: SABR Day is on February 3
Please mark your calendars for Saturday, February 3, 2024, when we will hold our annual SABR Day celebration! SABR Day is a way for all baseball fans to come together, regardless of where they live, and talk about the game we all love. Regional chapters are also encouraged to plan their own SABR Day events (virtually or in person) to celebrate the start of a new baseball season.
- Visit SABR.org/sabrday for full details on all SABR Day events — including Anaheim, Boston, Cleveland, Cooperstown, Denver, Kansas City, Kenosha, Lexington, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Tallahassee.
Some SABR Day meetings will be held this weekend on Saturday, January 27, including the Bob Davids Chapter in Washington, DC; the Schott-Pelican Chapter in New Orleans; the Hemond-Delhi Arizona Chapter in Scottsdale; and the Ted Williams Chapter in San Diego. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Details for those events can be found on the Events Calendar.
Last call for papers: 2024 Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference
SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will host the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 6-9, 2024, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees will also enjoy special presentations about lesser known Black baseball stories and a chance to see the new Hall of Fame exhibit: “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball.”
This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. The deadline to submit a presentation abstract is February 1, 2024. Click here for more details on how to submit an abstract.
Visit SABR.org/malloy for more information on the 2024 conference, including the Essay Contest and Art Contest.
Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2024.
Beltré received 95.1% of the votes cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America; Helton received 79.7% and Mauer received 76.1%. They will join Jim Leyland, elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, to be honored during Induction Weekend on July 19-22 in Cooperstown, New York. Longtime SABR member Joe Castiglione, voice of the Boston Red Sox, will also be honored with the Ford C. Frick Award.
- Read Adrián Beltré’s SABR biography, by Zac Petrillo
- Read Todd Helton’s SABR biography, by Alan Cohen
- Read about Joe Mauer’s final game in 2018, by Stew Thornley and Brenda Himrich
SABR Scholar Session on February 20 with Travis Apple
All student and young professional members of SABR are invited to our next SABR Scholar Session, held virtually on Zoom at 8:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 20.
Join host Tyrone Brooks, Senior Director, Front Office and Field Staff Diversity Pipeline Program at Major League Baseball, for our free quarterly virtual series created exclusively for SABR student and young professional members. This session’s guest will be Travis Apple, Chief Revenue Officer at Logitix. A veteran of MLB, NBA, WNBA, and NHL front offices, Travis wrote the book, Hustle Your Way to $ucce$$ in Sports Sales, and hosts the 52 Weeks of Hustle podcast.
To learn more or to pre-register for the SABR Scholar Session on Zoom, please contact Jessica Smyth.
SABR Live Oral History Interview: Jon Matlack
Baseball fans, join us for a special virtual event at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, February 6: a live SABR Oral History interview with former New York Mets All-Star pitcher Jon Matlack.
All fans are invited to attend this interview session on Zoom, which will be conducted by Oral History Committee chair John McMurray. The interview will be recorded and added to SABR’s Oral History Collection archive afterward.
Click here to pre-register for this Zoom event.
Member Benefit Spotlight: Email Discussion Forums
As a SABR member, you have vast resources and benefits at your disposal. With so much information at your fingertips, we realize it can be overwhelming to absorb it all! To highlight key benefits, read on for a SABR Member Benefit Spotlight, an email series that identifies and explains some of the most valuable features of your membership. We hope this allows you to take full advantage of all SABR has to offer.
This month’s issue shows you how to connect with fellow SABR members through email discussion forums, including SABRgroups.org and SABR-L.
Click here for a short video about how to access these email forums.
Register now for the 2024 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference
Registration is now open for the 15th annual SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference, which will be held on April 19-20, 2024, at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. All baseball fans are welcome to register for this special event.
The 2024 conference will be highlighted by a keynote address from author Michael Haupert, along with a panel discussion on the Knickerbocker club with Bruce Allardice, Thomas Gilbert, Bob Tholkes, and moderator Bill Ryczek; a 19th-century artifact session with Robert Mayer, Gary Passamonte, and Jonathan Popovich; a Member Spotlight interview of Thomas Gilbert by Bob Bailey; plus research presentations.
Visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c to learn more or to register.
SABR Analytics Certification: Sign up now for new Level 3 course
We’re excited to announce that the newest course in the SABR Analytics Certification program, Level Three – Introduction to Baseball Programming, is now available.
Taught by award-winning baseball writer and analyst Rob Arthur, the Level Three course provides an introduction to programming using a practical approach in its application for baseball and focusing on R (with a dash of SQL) as a programming language, the goal of this online, on-demand course is to give learners a foundational understanding of the technical skills necessary for a career in data science and baseball analytics.
To sign up now, or to learn more about previous courses, visit SABR.org/analytics/certification.
Volunteer opportunities
SABR is seeking volunteers with professional experience in specific areas to help the organization with several upcoming projects:
- Intellectual Property Law
- Online Retail
- Data Visualization
- Nonprofit Annual Reports
Please contact CEO Scott Bush for more details.
October 28-29 Board minutes posted
Minutes from the Board of Directors meeting on October 28-29, 2023, in Cleveland, Ohio, have now been posted on the SABR website.
Click here to view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings.
Tune in to the final episode of SABRcast with Rob Neyer, hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer. Episode #250 on Monday, January 22 featured John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian and Henry Chadwick Award recipient. Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode or find any of the show archives from the past five years.
Find new updates to the SABR Research Collection below, including the Baseball Biography Project, Games Project, and Oral History Collection.
6 new stories published at the SABR Games Project
- April 22, 1914: Red Sox, Athletics tie for second day in a row, by Bill Nowlin
- August 21, 1950: AAGPBL barnstormers delight Montreal fans with a ‘jeu spectaculaire’, by Gary Belleville
- May 4, 1966: Astros’ Robin Roberts hurls final shutout of his career to beat Cubs, by Thomas E. Merrick
- September 18, 1972: Mets’ Jon Matlack beats Pirates, Nelson Briles 1-0 for second time, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
- May 19, 1975: An embarrassment of riches: Triple-A Hawaii Islanders enjoy 15-run inning and perfect game, by Kurt Blumenau
- August 16, 2011: Chien-Ming Wang records second win for Nationals after 2-year absence from majors, by Madison McEntire
Visit SABR.org/gamesproject to learn more about the SABR Games Project or to get involved.
Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1960-2019 (Volume 2)
Edited by Robert K. Fitts, Bill Nowlin, and James Forr
Visit SABR.org/ebooks to download the free e-book edition or save 50% off the paperback edition of all Digital Library books.
Here are some SABR headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:
- Save the date! SABR 52 will be in Minneapolis in 2024
- Find complete collection of SABR-Rucker Archive baseball images online
- SABR member Joe Castiglione honored with 2024 Ford C. Frick Award
- Giménez, Tatis win 2023 Rawlings Platinum Glove Awards, presented by SABR
- Read articles online from Fall 2023 Baseball Research Journal
- Interviews with Italian American major leaguers added to SABR Oral History Collection
- Historical Black Newspapers Collection added to SABR Research Resources
- SABR forms new Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee
- SABR Landmarks Committee unveils new Baseball Grave Map
- Get a gift for baseball fan in your life with the SABR Store @ CafePress
Please give a warm welcome to all new SABR members who joined this week! View more Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org or click here to download the Membership Handbook. Find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.
| NAME | HOMETOWN | NAME | HOMETOWN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell Christian | Las Vegas, NV | Donald Mielke | Littleton, CO | ||
| George Flores | Phoenix, AZ | Robert Mineo | Rochester, NY | ||
| Ronald Garcia | Tampa, FL | Zachary Obel-Omia | Norwood, OH | ||
| Noah Gremo | Ambler, PA | Derek Pavlik | Nesquehoning, PA | ||
| Sean Kane | Egg Harbor Twp, NJ | Samantha Pietsch | East Northport, NY | ||
| Greg King | Prospect, Ky | Matthew Pyfer | Bozeman, MT | ||
| Jon Klein | Sandy Springs, GA | Gregory Rautzhan | Orwigsburg, PA | ||
| Brody Klich | Wauconda, IL | Caleb Sorchilla | South Fork, PA | ||
| Jake Krieger | New York, NY | Pat Sparks | Katy, TX | ||
| Christian Krueger | Fulshear, TX | Rowan Stewart | New Orleans, LA | ||
| Ryan Leone | Wappingers Falls, NY | Edward Stoutenburg | Imlay City, MI | ||
| Timothy Martin | Fort Collins, CO | Patrick Studdert | Santa Clarita, CA | ||
| Michael Mayer | Thorndike, ME | Marty Wilke | Chicago, IL |
- Events Calendar: Find details of all upcoming SABR events.
- Video Replays: Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.
Upcoming Virtual Meetings
- January 27: Schott-Pelican (LA) Chapter SABR Day meeting with Carlis Wright Robinson and Javik Blake (10:00 a.m. CST)
- January 29: Northern New England Chapter meeting with Jacob Pomrenke (7:00 p.m. EST)
- January 29: Bay Area/Sacramento Chapter SABR Day meeting with Micah Franklin (7:00 p.m. PST)
- January 30: 19th Century Baseball Book Club (8:00 p.m. EST)
- January 31: Hanlan’s Point (ON) Chapter SABR Day meeting with Pat Hentgen (7:00 p.m. EST)
- January 31: Halsey Hall (MN) Chapter SABR Day meeting with Steve Gietschier (7:00 p.m. CST)
- February 3: 2024 SABR Day
Upcoming In-Person Meetings
- January 27: Bob Davids Chapter SABR Day meeting (Washington, DC)
- January 27: Ted Williams Chapter SABR Day meeting (San Diego, CA)
- January 27: Hemond-Delhi Arizona Chapter SABR Day meeting (Scottsdale, AZ)
- February 1: Goose Goslin Chapter meeting (Mt. Laurel, NJ)
- February 4: Kekionga Chapter of Fort Wayne meeting (Fort Wayne, IN)
To add your SABR event to our calendar listings, please contact Jacob Pomrenke.
- Games and Simulations: SABR members are invited to participate in one of our three weekly transaction Rotisserie 5×5 leagues. In addition, the committee is creating a daily transaction league as well. Rules and more information are available at sabrbaseballgaming.
com.
Sign up for SABR research committee announcements at SABR.org/research/committees.
- Larry Dierker Chapter: January 15 meeting recap (Houston, TX)
- Seymour-Mills Chapter: January 19 meeting recap (Naples, FL)
Sign up for SABR chapter announcements at SABR.org/chapters.
Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.
Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:
- Registration is now open for the 2024 NINE Spring Training Conference in Arizona
- Jay Jaffe: A Candidate-by-Candidate Look at the 2024 Hall of Fame Election Results (FanGraphs)
- Tyler Kepner: Rings? Yes. Plaques? Maybe not. Examining the World Series title teams without a Hall of Famer (The Athletic)
- Mike Petriello: What does future hold for starting pitchers and the Hall of Fame? (MLB.com)
- Jayson Stark: 5 things we learned from the Baseball Hall of Fame election (The Athletic)
- Derrick Goold: My imperfect, completely debatable, properly defendable Hall of Fame ballot (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Grant Brisbee: Looking at Buster Posey’s Hall of Fame case through the lens of Joe Mauer (The Athletic)
- Brian Menéndez: What Is A Deathball and Who’s Throwing It? (Baseball Prospectus)
- Lucas Seehafer: The Biomechanics Behind Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña’s Prodigious Power (Pitcher List)
- Alex Speier: Don’t call 2024 a Bridge Year for the Red Sox. What’s actually happening with the payroll? (Boston Globe)
- Davy Andrews: When Are They All Coming? (FanGraphs)
- Russell A. Carleton: How the Starter Lost Control (Baseball Prospectus)
- Esteban Rivera: Blake Snell Has Better Command Than You Think (FanGraphs)
- Zack Meisel: Total Eclipse of the Park: The Guardians’ home opener coincides with a rare solar eclipse (The Athletic)
- Patrick Dubuque: A Good Walk-Off Spoiled (Baseball Prospectus)
- David Laurila: Cooperstown Could Use More Closers (FanGraphs)
- Daniel R. Epstein: Become a Free Agent by 31 or Suffer the Consequences (Baseball Prospectus)
- Michael Baumann: Can Matt Chapman Find Glove in a Turfless Place? (FanGraphs)
- Edward Robert McClelland: The White Sox Need a New, Old-School Park (Chicago Magazine)
- Sam Gazdziak: Obituary: Bud Harrelson (1944-2024) (RIP Baseball)
- Amanda Lane Cumming: Ice, Ice, Baseball: A Delightful History of Baseball Played on Ice (NW Baseball History)
- Purdue’s Tom Schott recognized with Lifetime Achievement Award by College Sports Communications
- Jeff Cohen/Len Aberman: Baseball and BBQ interview with Kelly Stinnett (Baseball and BBQ)
- Jason Schwartz: Hank Aaron insert set: home run or strikeout? (SABR Baseball Cards)
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. To find past editions of TWIS, click here.
Are you receiving our e-mails? “This Week in SABR” goes out by e-mail to all members on Friday afternoons. If they’re not showing up, try adding “sabr.notes@sabr.org” to your contact list to ensure they show up in your inbox.
Originally published: January 26, 2024. Last Updated: January 26, 2024.