This Week in SABR: June 21, 2019

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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 June 21, 2019:

SABR 49: Kelsie Whitmore added to Women in Baseball panel

Kelsie WhitmoreWe’re excited to announce that Kelsie Whitmore will be joining the Women in Baseball Panel on Thursday, June 27 at SABR 49 in San Diego.

Whitmore plays on the US National Women’s Baseball Team and was a pitcher/outfielder with the Sonoma Stompers from 2016-18.

She will join our other Women in Baseball panelists, who are expected to include Ila Borders, who broke barriers and became a role model to millions in 1997 when she became the first woman to pitch in baseball’s minor leagues with the Northern League’s St. Paul Saints; Perry Barber, professional baseball umpire for more than 30 years and 2018 recipient of SABR’s Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award; Jewel Greenberg, producer of Girls of Summer: Big Diamond Dreams documentary film; Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball For All and the first female coach in Major League Baseball; Janet Marie Smith, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers; and moderator Jean Ardell, author of Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime and co-author with Ila Borders of Making My Pitch: A Woman’s Baseball Odyssey.

Click here to learn more about our SABR 49 featured panels.

SABR 49: One week left until our spectacular San Diego convention!

We’re just one week away from SABR‘s 49th annual convention on June 26-30, 2019, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Regular and single-day registration is open to all baseball fans on-site at the Grand Hyatt throughout the convention.

SABR 49 will be highlighted by these innovative and interesting featured panels:

  • Opening Remarks: Josh Stein: San Diego Padres Assistant GM Josh Stein will be on hand to deliver the opening remarks at SABR 49. 9:30 a.m., Thursday, June 27
  • 1984 San Diego Padres Panel: Panelists include Kurt Bevacqua, former Padres infielder and fan favorite; longtime Padres president Ballard Smith; sports columnists Ron Rapoport and Bill Center; and moderator Bob Chandler, Padres broadcaster from 1970-2003. 10:35 a.m., Thursday, June 27
  • Women in Baseball Panel: Panelists include Ila Borders, minor-league baseball pioneer; Perry Barber, professional baseball umpire for more than 30 years and 2018 recipient of SABR’s Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award; Jewel Greenberg, producer of Girls of Summer: Big Diamond Dreams documentary film; Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball For All and the first female coach in Major League Baseball; Janet Marie Smith, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers; Kelsie Whitmore of the US National Women’s Baseball Team; and moderator Jean Ardell, author of Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime and co-author with Ila Borders of Making My Pitch: A Woman’s Baseball Odyssey. 2:15 p.m., Thursday, June 27
  • Increasing Diversity in Youth Participation: Guest speaker is Del Matthews, Vice President of Baseball Development at Major League Baseball. 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 28
  • Padres Player Panel: Panelists include Randy Jones, 1976 National League Cy Young Award winner; Carlos Hernández, a key contributor on the Padres’ 1998 World Series team and now an analyst on Fox Deportes; Mark Sweeney, pinch-hitter extraordinaire from 1995 to 2008 and an analyst on Fox Sports San Diego; and moderator Rob Neyer, award-winning author and host of the weekly baseball podcast, SABRcast with Rob Neyer.11:00 a.m., Friday, June 28
  • The Baseball Encyclopedia 50th Anniversary Panel: Panelists include Sean Forman, founder of Baseball-Reference.com; David S. Neft, the driving force behind The Baseball Encyclopedia in 1969; David W. Smith, president and founder of Retrosheet.org; and moderatorJohn Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian. 3:15 p.m., Friday, June 28
  • MLB Umpires Panel: Panelists include Gerry Davis, MLB umpire crew chief who has called more postseason games than any umpire in baseball history; Greg Gibson, MLB umpire who called the 2011 World Series and was behind the plate for Randy Johnson’s 2004 perfect game and Clayton Kershaw’s 2014 no-hitter; Mike Port, MLB Vice President of Umpiring from 2005 to 2011; and moderator Fred Rodgers of SABR’s Ted Williams Chapter. 9:15 a.m., Saturday, June 29
  • Early California Baseball History Panel: Panelists include Carlos Bauer, a prolific baseball historian whose specialties include early California baseball and the minor leagues; Angus Macfarlane, a San Francisco-based “baseball treasure hunter” who focuses on baseball’s pre-history in the Bay Area; and moderator Bill Swank, author of numerous books and articles on San Diego baseball history. 1:00 p.m., Saturday, June 29

We’ll also have some special guest speakers at our research committee meetings. The Black Sox Scandal Research Committee will host a special 100th anniversary “Eight Myths Out” panel discussion with authors Bruce Allardice, Rick Huhn, Bill Felber, and Jacob Pomrenke. Other guest speakers are expected to include Padres official scorer Bill Zavestoski, award-winning authors and historians Rob Fitts, Roberta J. Newman, Herm Krabbenhoft, Norman Macht, and more.

Attendees also have the opportunity to catch a San Diego Padres game at Petco Park; tour the San Diego Central Library’s Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center, home of the SABR Collection; and view a film screening of the new documentary film Moe Berg: The Spy Behind Home Plate, with filmmaker Aviva Kempner on hand.

There will also be 32 groundbreaking research presentations — including studies of all aspects of baseball past and present, such as future stars Ted Williams and Minnie Miñoso with the minor-league San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, the 50th anniversary of the expansion Padres entering MLB, modern pace-of-play concerns and rules changes, and much more.

As always, there’s the highly competitive and entertaining SABR Trivia Contest finals on Saturday night, not to mention informed and opinionated baseball talk all week long. A full rundown on the schedule, bios of speakers and panelists, and summaries of research presentations can be found at sabr.org/convention.

We hope to see you all soon in San Diego!

SABR Defensive Index rankings released through games of June 16

Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien and Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed lead their respective leagues in the first SABR Defensive Index™ rankings of the 2019 season.

Click here to view full SDI rankings by position through games of Sunday, June 16, 2019.

For the seventh consecutive season, the SABR Defensive Index will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process that will be added to the votes from the managers and coaches.

Ahmed’s SDI of 9.4 is the highest in the game among all qualified defenders, just ahead of Los Angeles right fielder Cody Bellinger at 8.3 and Philadelphia catcher J.T. Realmuto at 8.1. St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong (7.7) and San Diego catcher Austin Hedges (7.4) round out the top five in the NL.

Semien’s SDI of 8.4 leads all fielders in the AL, followed by Minnesota center fielder Byron Buxton at 7.1. Houston center fielder Jake Marisnick (6.2), Boston right fielder Mookie Betts (6.2), and Tampa Bay shortstop Willy Adames (5.4) round out the top five.

The updated SDI results were released today by the Society for American Baseball Research. To learn more, visit SABR.org/SDI.

SABR 49: Full and single-day registration is available on-site in San Diego

Regular and single-day registration for SABR 49 can be purchased on-site during convention registration hours beginning on Wednesday, June 26. The single-day rate is:

  • Thursday, June 27: $179 for SABR members, $209 non-members
  • Friday, June 28: $179 for SABR members, $209 non-members
  • Saturday, June 29: $179 for SABR members, $209 non-members

The single-day registration includes admission to all convention panels, research presentations, and committee meetings at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. It can be purchased on-site via cash, check, or credit card (sorry, no American Express accepted.) Please note: Admission to the SABR 49 Awards Luncheon, the Friends of SABR Breakfast, and the Padres game are not included.

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more or to register for the SABR 49 convention.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to a preview of SABR 49 with CEO Scott Bush

Listen to a new episode of SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a new weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer — which is now available on your favorite podcast streaming services! 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.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to Episode #12. Our guest this week is SABR CEO Scott Bush, who joins us to talk about next week’s SABR 49 convention in San Diego. SABR 49 will be highlighted by innovative and interesting featured panels, groundbreaking research presentations, and guest speakers at our research committee meetings. Attendees also have the opportunity to catch a San Diego Padres game at Petco Park; tour the San Diego Central Library’s Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center, home of the SABR Collection; and view a film screening of the new documentary film Moe Berg: The Spy Behind Home Plate. Learn more at SABR.org/convention.

Every week, SABRcast will feature insights and analysis of what’s happening in modern baseball on and off the field, plus compelling interviews with figures from around the game — and music from The Baseball Project.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

SABR 49: Transportation Tips and Area Attractions

Members of the host Ted Williams Chapter have compiled a list of transportation tips to help visitors and convention attendees enjoy their stay in San Diego. If you have any questions during your stay, please don’t hesitate to ask a friendly SABR 49 volunteer for assistance.

Click here to view the SABR 49 Transportation Tips page

If you have any questions during your stay, please don’t hesitate to ask a friendly SABR 49 volunteer for assistance.

For more information on San Diego’s award-winning restaurants, upcoming events, and other area attractions, visit SanDiego.org.

SABR 49: Looking for on-site presentation judges

On-site judges are needed for SABR 49 research presentations. Each judge will be responsible for viewing and evaluating oral and poster presentations during SABR 49 in San Diego.

Judges need not be “experts” in particular topics. They may choose which oral presentations they wish to evaluate, but are requested to judge all oral presentations they attend.

Through on-site judging, the most highly regarded presentations will receive the Doug Pappas Award for best oral presentation and the SABR Convention Poster Presentation Award for best poster presentation. The Pappas Award winner will have the opportunity to repeat that presentation on Saturday evening.

If you’re interested, send a message to the Research Presentations email at sabr2019presentations@gmail.com and to Neal Traven at beisbol@alumni.pitt.edu.

For the complete SABR 49 presentation schedule, click here.

Register now for the SABR Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium in Chicago

Register now to join us for the SABR Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium on September 27-29, 2019, in Chicago. The SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee will host this once-in-a-century event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 World Series.

The event — which is open to all baseball fans — will be highlighted by a research symposium on Saturday, September 28 at the Chicago History Museum. The museum is home to an extensive collection of Black Sox artifacts and documents, and we’ll gather in the beautiful Morse Genius Chicago Room event space to discuss the continued relevance of the 1919 World Series and its aftermath. A book signing with SABR authors, including our own Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox, will follow. More details on panels and presentations will be announced soon.

Our special All-Inclusive Package ($45 for SABR members, $60 for non-members) includes admission to the Black Sox Scandal symposium at the Chicago History Museum; a ticket to the Chicago White Sox game on Friday, September 27; and a guided walking tour of downtown Chicago baseball history sites.

Following the symposium, from 8:00-10:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, we will also gather for a reception at the historic Nisei Lounge near Wrigley Field. The reception is included in your symposium registration.

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

SABR Black Sox, Deadball Era committees publish 100th anniversary Black Sox Scandal newsletters

SABR’s Black Sox Scandal and Deadball Era research committees each released special-edition newsletters this week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 World Series and its aftermath.

The Black Sox Scandal Research Committee’s newsletter includes articles on their new Eight Myths Out online project; the Black Sox panel at SABR 49 next week; the 2019 Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium in Chicago; the digitization of Collyer’s Eye and new evidence of the White Sox throwing games in 1920, by Bruce Allardice; a profile of White Sox counsel Alfred Austrian, by Bill Lamb; a complete 1919 Reds World Series program available for download; Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum on the move again; Swede Risberg’s journey to Jamestown, North Dakota, by Thomas E. Merrick; and an analysis of World Series betting odds, by Kevin P. Braig.

The Deadball Era Research Committee’s newsletter — our first edition dedicated to a single theme since our 100th anniversary Fred Merkle Game edition back in 2008 — includes articles on “Eliot Asinof, John Sayles, and the Fictionalization of the Black Sox Scandal,” by Bill Lamb; “The Culmination of Corruption: The Black Sox Scandal and the Deadball Era,” by Jacob Pomrenke; “The Black Sox Witnesses Who Didn’t Testify,” by Bruce Allardice; “Remembrance of Gene Carney, the Black Sox Trail Master,” by David Fletcher; “Grand Jury Prosecutor Hartley Replogle and Public Exposure of the Black Sox Scandal,” by Bill Lamb; plus a review of The Fix, a new opera based on the Black Sox, by Dan Levitt; and book reviews of Charles Fountain’s The Betrayal; Tim Hornbaker’s Turning the Black Sox White; and Bill Lamb’s Black Sox in the Courtroom.

Or you can click here to download a combined PDF file that includes both newsletters — all 75+ pages of original Black Sox news, research, and analysis published this week in one place:

http://bit.ly/sabr-2019-black-sox-deadball-newsletters (PDF)

Thanks again to all of our SABR Publications Patrons!

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all Friends of SABR — our generous donors — for becoming SABR Publications Patrons and supporting our efforts to donate SABR books to libraries, schools, and nonprofit organizations. We have officially achieved the $25,000 goal which has been matched by SABR Director Bill Nowlin!

Nearly 100 SABR members have become Publications Patrons and collectively contributed the resources to donate more than 264 SABR books and a total of $53,156 — in just six weeks!

The SABR Publications Patron campaign is ongoing, although gifts will no longer be matched. Click here to learn more or to make a contribution.

Donate today and join our growing list of Publications Patrons.

Virginia students win 2019 Lee Allen History of Baseball Award

SABR is pleased to announce the winners of the Lee Allen History of Baseball Award for 2019.

Frederic Ward and William Ward of St. Patrick Catholic School in Norfolk, Virginia, won the Lee Allen History of Baseball Award for their online project, “Jackie Robinson: ​Stealing Bases and Gaining Equality Among the Races.” Click here to access their award-winning web project.

Since 1996, SABR has honored the best baseball research project at the National History Day competition, an annual event in which students compete on a regional basis, followed by state competition, and then national finals at the University of Maryland.

To view a list of past winners, click here.

7 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles 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.

Listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Saturday night

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, will air in May at a new time. Listen in from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 15 on MLB Network Radio.

This week’s guest is Jake Mailhot of FanGraphs and Patrick Brennan of Beyond the Box Score.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App. Click here to learn more.

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.

Listen to a new episode of the SABR Media Committee’s Baseball Buffet podcast

SABR’s Baseball and the Media Committee welcomes you to The Baseball Buffet, our monthly roundtable podcast focusing on recent baseball events, the media’s coverage of the national pastime, and more.

Our buffet of baseball commentators include Andie Giafaglione, Thom Henninger, Chuck Hildebrandt, Stuart Shea, and host Jim Walker. Each podcast runs about 20-25 minutes, a length which fits quite nicely as a quick listen into your own lunch schedule.

  • Listen now to the June 2019 episode, where our intrepid fork-wielders and time travelers share the baseball reading that hooked them on the game as children. They move on to look at the strange land of MLB free agent compensation and how it might be tweaked, while sharing how one youngster beat the MLB draft machine. They then imagine players moving back and forth between the 1930s and today to review just how dramatically the game has changed. We conclude, as always, with our tasty last bites. (25:33)

You can now listen to Baseball Buffet on your favorite podcast apps! Have every episode delivered each month fresh, hot and spicy, just the way you like it, on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and TuneIn. Just open your favorite podcast app, search for “Baseball Buffet” and subscribe today! Of course, you can always enjoy the show on your computer by visiting SoundCloud.com and searching for Baseball Buffet.

2019 SABR Annual Report has been posted online

Our 2019 Annual Report was posted on the website today and can be downloaded here:

SABR.org/content/annual-reports

All previous SABR Annual Reports can be found on the Annual Reports page. If you have a copy of any Annual Report from before 2002 (the oldest currently available), please e-mail a copy of it to jpomrenke@sabr.org or mail one to the office at SABR, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

Seeking book designers for SABR Publications Program

Are you a SABR member with book design experience? As our Publications Program grows, so does our need for folks who can handle book layout and ebook creation duties. QuarkXPress or InDesign preferred.

If you’d like more information or to throw your hat into the ring, please email your resume and book design samples to Cecilia Tan at PubDir@sabr.org.

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:

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 (SABR.org/directory).

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Jason Abbott Bradford, PA     Stephan Kotin San Francisco, CA
Richard Brenner Iowa City, IA     Tom McIntyre Lombard, IL
Roger Burg Caledonia, MN     Bruce Menshy Fort Wayne, IN
Paul England Grayslake, IL     Daniel Michon Austin, TX
Tom Evans Croton on Hudson, NY     Daniel O’Neil Chesterland, OH
Michael Fenger Hayward, CA     David Olnick East Brunswick, NJ
Kirk Findlay Lake Oswego, OR     James Parker Greer, SC
Raelee Frazier Denver, CO     Sam Petker Sacramento, CA
Jefferson Gerwig Golden, CO     Nick Pomazak Gilberts, IL
Mark Hansbrough New York, NY     Michael Shea Dublin, IRL
Daniel Joseph Olney, MD     Dennis Sweet Denver, CO
Peter Knapp St. Paul, MN     Duane Takahashi Palo Alto, CA
Lubomir Kochansky Laramie, WY     Doug Weaver Grand Rapids, MI

 

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming events on the SABR calendar:

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.

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.

Have trouble reading this e-mail? Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web.

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Originally published: June 21, 2019. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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