This Week in SABR: June 14, 2024
Welcome to “This Week in SABR” on Friday, June 14, 2024.
Click here to view this newsletter on the web.
SABR Defensive Index rankings through June 9
SABR 52: Baseball Broadcast, St. Paul Saints panels
Check out photos and highlights from Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
Join us for Live Oral History with Harold Baines
Local Grant update: Aberdeen Pheasants historical marker
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SABR Defensive Index rankings released through June 9
Texas second baseman Marcus Semien and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte lead their respective leagues in the updated SABR Defensive Index™ rankings through Major League Baseball games of Sunday, June 9.
The SABR Defensive Index is used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
SABR 52: Future of Baseball Broadcasts and St. Paul Saints panels
Join us in Minneapolis for SABR’s 52nd annual convention! SABR 52 will be held on August 7-11, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.
- Click here for complete details on SABR 52 registration and optional sessions, including a Minnesota Twins game, St. Paul Saints game, and Target Field ballpark tour.
This week, we’re excited to announce two more panel discussions:
Future of Baseball Broadcasts Panel
- Dave St. Peter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Minnesota Twins
- Evan Drellich, Senior Writer, The Athletic
- Moderator: Adam Platt, Executive Editor, Twin Cities Business
St. Paul Saints Panel
Hosted by SABR’s Minor Leagues Committee
- Derek Sharrer, Executive Vice President and General Manager, St. Paul Saints
- Tom Whaley, Executive Vice President, St. Paul Saints
- Sierra Bailey, Vice President and Assistant General Manager, St. Paul Saints
- Moderator: Liz Fedor, Senior Editor, Twin Cities Business magazine
Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.
The Diamond King film screening with Dick Perez
We’re also excited to announce a special SABR 52 film screening of The Diamond King, a new biopic on legendary baseball artist Dick Perez, on Saturday, August 10 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. A Q&A will follow with Perez and award-winning director Marq Evans.
Perez, honored as the 2024 SABR Jefferson Burdick Award winner, is known for his Donruss Diamond King illustrations and Perez-Steele Hall of Fame postcards. The film screening will be co-hosted by the SABR Baseball Cards Committee and Baseball and the Arts Committee. Visit thediamondkingmovie.com to watch a film trailer and learn more.
Check out photos and highlights from the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held June 6-9 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Panels and presentations were also livestreamed from the Grandstand Theater for virtual attendees.
The conference was highlighted by a panel discussion on SABR’s Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee with James Brunson III, Phil S. Dixon, Kevin Johnson, Philip Lee, Adam Darowski, and Gary Gillette; and a panel on the Hall of Fame’s new Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball exhibit featuring Tom Shieber, Mary Quinn, and Cassidy Lent.
Visit SABR.org/malloy to view photos and highlights.
Join us on June 18 for a Live Oral History with Harold Baines
Baseball fans, join us for a special virtual event at 6:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, June 18, 2024: a live SABR Oral History interview with Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and Chicago White Sox great Harold Baines.
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 read the full announcement at SABR.org.
Local Grant update: Aberdeen Pheasants historical marker
A historical marker commemorating the history of the Aberdeen Pheasants baseball team in South Dakota was unveiled on Saturday, June 8. Ben Ernst, a SABR member from Aberdeen, used a SABR Local Grant to help fund and install the marker.
The marker is located on the site of Aberdeen Municipal Stadium, now on the campus of Northern State University. The Pheasants called the ballpark home from 1946 to 1971 and were a minor-league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles for many years. With future Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Luis Aparicio, the Orioles played an exhibition game in Aberdeen on June 8, 1964.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
Call for papers: 2024 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference
SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center have announced a call for papers for the sixth annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, scheduled as a virtual event for September 20-22, 2024.
Please submit abstracts of approximately 200 words, along with contact information and a short biography, by July 1, 2024, to Leslie Heaphy.
Registration information will be available soon at SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference.
Contribute to SABR’s Four Pillars Fund
Research – Preservation – Scholarship – Future of the Game. These are the four pillars on which SABR stands as an organization.
Each pillar represents one of our organizational values and the support of donors like you makes a significant impact on our ability to fortify our foundation while also fulfilling SABR’s vision of becoming the essential community for the world of baseball.
This spring, we ask you to contribute to the FOUR PILLARS FUND. Our goal is to raise $65,000 during this campaign to strengthen each of our four pillars by supporting baseball research, committing to preservation, furthering the reach of our scholarship, and building a bridge to the future of the game.
To donate or learn more about SABR’s Four Pillars Fund and the existing efforts and exciting new initiatives that will be funded by a successful campaign, visit SABR.org/donate/four-pillars.
Find new updates to the SABR Research Collection below, including the Baseball Biography Project, Games Project, and Oral History Collection.
7 new stories published at SABR Games Project
- September 17, 1926: Frankie Frisch, Giants derail Reds’ pennant drive, by Gary Belleville
- June 24, 1949: Ted Williams’s 2 homers, 7 RBIs lead Red Sox to blowout win over Browns, by Bill Nowlin
- April 20, 1956: Banks, Irvin, Jones lead Cubs to home opener win, by Steve Dunn
- July 1, 1966: Pirates rookie Woodie Fryman faces only 27 batters in 1-hit shutout of Mets, by Thomas E. Merrick
- June 21, 1975: ‘A no-hitter is a no-hitter’ — even with 11 walks, by Kurt Blumenau
- June 17, 1987: Mariners prospect Ken Griffey Jr. hits his first professional home run in Everett, by Jake Rinloan (first-time author)
- September 15, 1991: Cardinals rookie Ray Lankford hits for the cycle, by Mike Huber
Visit SABR.org/gamesproject to learn more about the SABR Games Project or to get involved.
The 1939 Baltimore Elite Giants
Edited by Frederick C. Bush, Thomas Kern, and Bill Nowlin
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:
- SABR special committee: 1949-50 Negro American League, independent Black teams are major-league caliber
- Read articles online from Spring 2024 Baseball Research Journal
- Check out highlights, photos, and stories from the 2024 SABR Analytics Conference
- 2024 Henry Chadwick Award recipients announced
- Steve Gietschier wins 2024 SABR Seymour Medal
- Gary Belleville wins 2024 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award
- SABR Digital Library: 1939 Baltimore Elite Giants
- In Memoriam: Claudia Perry
- Learn more about recipients of SABR Local Grants in 2024
- The SABR Bookshelf: Spring 2024
- SABR announces partnership with Alzheimer’s Association
- Find complete collection of SABR-Rucker Archive baseball images online
- Historical Black Newspapers Collection added to SABR Research Resources
- 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Davis | Knoxville, TN | Charles Peters | Madison, WI | ||
| Timothy Dodson | Savannah, GA | Warren Prindle | Sharon, CT | ||
| Lance Donohue | Richardson, TX | Justin Quinley | Fairhope, AL | ||
| Gregory Duhamel | Woonsocket, RI | Tasha Rivera | New Westminster, BC | ||
| Richard Gorelick | Yardley, PA | Enrique Robinson | Metairie, LA | ||
| Bob Holt | Peterborough, NH | Henry Sakai | Germantown, MD | ||
| Ashton Hummel | Springfield, IL | Wesley Seidner | Fairfax, VA | ||
| James Lasker | Amityville, NY | Nathan Singletary | Astoria, NY | ||
| Jeffrey Latimer | Martindale, TX | Rose Taah | Texarkana, AR | ||
| George Leidig | Norfolk, VA | Theodore Tollefson | Rochester, MN | ||
| Henry Pak | Des Plaines, IL |
- Events Calendar: Find details of all upcoming SABR events.
- Video Replays: This week, we heard from J.B. Manheim (The Deadball Files; What’s In Ted’s Wallet?); Dan Schlossberg (Baseball’s Memorable Misses); and the Mathewson-Plank Chapter Hot Stove meeting. Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.
Upcoming Virtual Meetings
- June 17: Central Florida Chapter meeting with Doug Kurkel (7:00 p.m. EDT)
- June 17: Clyde Sukeforth (ME/NH) Chapter meeting with Ken Smoller (7:00 p.m. EDT)
- June 17: Halsey Hall (MN) Chapter research committee meeting (7:00 p.m. CDT)
- June 18: SABR Live Oral History: Harold Baines (6:00 p.m. EDT)
- June 18: New SABR Member Experience Meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
- June 20: Bay Area/Sacramento Chapter joint meeting (7:00 p.m. PDT)
- June 23: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Committee meeting (12:00 p.m. EDT)
Upcoming In-Person Meetings
- June 15: Babe ‘n’ Bob Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
- June 15: Bob Davids Chapter Nationals Park ballgame/meet-up (Washington, DC)
- June 15: Larry Dierker Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Sugar Land, TX)
- June 15: Pee Wee Reese Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Louisville, KY)
- June 18: Rocky Mountain Chapter happy hour (Denver, CO)
- June 18: Bob Davids Chapter Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
- June 20: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Sandy Springs, GA)
- June 22: Lajoie-Start (RI) Chapter spring meeting (N. Attleborough, MA)
To add your SABR event to our calendar listings, please contact Jacob Pomrenke.
- Business of Baseball: Spring 2024 newsletter
Sign up for SABR research committee announcements at SABR.org/research/committees.
- Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter: June 5 meeting recap (Tallahassee, FL)
- Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter: June 2024 newsletter (Milwaukee, WI)
- Rickwood Field Chapter: June 2024 newsletter (Birmingham, AL)
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:
- Matthew Ritchie: Black Barons games at Rickwood Field were more than social events (MLB.com)
- Patrick Sauer: Everyone Should Know About Rickwood Field, the Alabama Park Where Baseball Legends Made History (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Walter O’Malley Archive Added to Collection at National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (BaseballHall.org)
- Tyler Kepner: The Wizard’s wisdom: In tough era for the Cardinals, Ozzie Smith shines on (The Athletic)
- Mark Simon: Yes, Joey Gallo Has A League-Leading Defensive Runs Saved Total (Sports Info Solutions)
- Jay Jaffe: Climbing Out of the Deep End: Five Hitters Who Have Turned Their Seasons Around (FanGraphs)
- Rob Mains: Some Records are Meant to Be Broken (Baseball Prospectus)
- Jayson Stark: Orioles’ amazing AL East series streak is most impressive run of division-play era (The Athletic)
- John Eisenberg: The One and Only Harry Dalton (The Bird Tapes)
- Sarah Langs: Yanks-Dodgers anti-slugfest, a Royal rally and other wild stats (MLB.com)
- Emma Baccellieri: Meet the Mets’ Most Unlikely Fans—the No. 1 Belgian Jeff McNeil Fan Club (Sports Illustrated)
- Michael Baumann: Are Pitchers Hunting Hitters’ Weaknesses, or Avoiding Their Strengths? (FanGraphs)
- Eno Sarris: Which young MLB starters who recently debuted are best set up for success? (The Athletic)
- Stephanie Apstein: The Yankees’ Candlelit Clubhouse May Be Their Secret Weapon (Sports Illustrated)
- Michael Clair: Joe Ryan wrangled snakes before reaching the big leagues (MLB.com)
- Matt Monagan: History of the knuckleball academy in California (MLB.com)
- Rachel Bachman/Lindsey Adler: This U.S. Soccer Star Got a Crucial Assist—From the Shortstop of the Chicago Cubs (Wall Street Journal)
- Daniel R. Epstein: How Luis Became King of the Gil (Baseball Prospectus)
- Davy Andrews: When Squaring It up Goes Sideways (FanGraphs)
- Derrick Goold: Upswing for Cardinals’ Nolan Gorman reveals mindset of developing impact hitter pitch by pitch (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Grant Brisbee/Richard Sutcliffe: Explaining cricket to a baseball expert … now that the U.S. is apparently good at it (The Athletic)
- Abigail O’Brien: What the Pirates need to do now to extend their impending playoff window (Rum Bunter)
- Alex Speier: Recalling the epic Luis Tiant-Nolan Ryan pitchers’ duel in 1974 — something it’s safe to say we’ll never see again (Boston Globe)
- Amanda Lane Cumming: Internet Fandom and the Seattle Mariners (NW Baseball History)
- Sam Gazdziak: A Gravestone for Slivers (RIP Baseball)
- Richard Cuicchi: They Were Yankees, Too! (Start Spreading the News)
- Nick Vossbrink: Sal Maglie Stori-View (SABR Baseball Cards)
- Jason Schwartz: Hank Aaron’s Mobile: See It While You Can! (SABR Landmarks)
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.
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Originally published: June 14, 2024. Last Updated: June 14, 2024.