This Week in SABR: March 22, 2019

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 March 22, 2019:


Early registration is now open for SABR 49 in San Diego

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a spectacular SABR 49 convention this summer in San Diego. Conference and hotel registration is now available at SABR.org/convention.

Click here for more information on the SABR 49 All-Inclusive Package, Early-Bird Registration, and optional sessions. Click here to register for SABR 49.

  • Registration: Click here for complete information on the SABR 49 All-Inclusive Package, Early-Bird Registration, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 49! We’re again offering a special All-Inclusive Package for the annual SABR convention. For the $369 all-inclusive rate, SABR members can get:
    — Full registration to SABR 49 in San Diego (early-bird: $289; regular rate: $319)
    — 1 ticket in the Upper Infield Reserved (1B) section to the Padres vs. Cardinals game on Friday, June 28 at Petco Park ($24 value)
    — 1 ticket to the Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 28 ($70 value)
    — 1 exclusive SABR 49 convention logo lapel pin
    — 2 complimentary Continental breakfasts on Thursday and Friday mornings*
    *The Continental breakfast benefit is only available when you register for the All-Inclusive Package.
    Non-members can pay $399 for the All-Inclusive Package; the deadline to register is Monday, May 6, 2019.
  • Hotel: The special SABR group rate at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego of $224/night (single rate) or $254/night (double rate) is only available to registered convention attendees. After you register for the SABR 49 convention, you will receive an e-mail confirmation with details on how to book your hotel room at the SABR group rate. If you do not receive your confirmation email after registering, please contact Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org. There are a limited number of rooms in our group block, so be sure to register for SABR 49 early!
  • Awards Luncheon: SABR will host a special Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 28 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. The Awards Luncheon, which includes a meal, will feature the announcement of SABR’s annual awards — including the Bob Davids Award, our highest honor. One ticket to the Awards Luncheon is included in the all-inclusive package or guest tickets are available for $70 when you register for SABR 49.
  • Research presentations: SABR invites all members to present their research findings to their colleagues attending SABR 49. The deadline to submit your abstract was Sunday, February 24, 2019. Click here for complete details and application form.
  • Yoseloff Scholarship: Students, click here to learn more about a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend SABR 49 in San Diego. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 29, 2019.

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


Students, one week left to apply for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend SABR 49 in San Diego

With generous funding from The Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to four scholarships to high school or college students to attend SABR 49 on June 26-30, 2019, in San Diego. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging (double occupancy) up to a total value of $1,250.

The objective of this scholarship fund is to encourage high school and college-level student engagement with baseball research and to engender an active interest in baseball and SABR.

All applications must be postmarked or e-mailed to Jeff Schatzki at jschatzki@sabr.org no later than Friday, March 29, 2019.

Click here for complete details and submission criteria.


Eight Myths Out: The Black Sox Scandal and the 1919 World Series

One hundred years after the fixing of the notorious 1919 World Series, SABR’s Black Sox Scandal Research Committee is shedding new light on baseball’s darkest hour.

SABR’s Eight Myths Out project, which launched this week at SABR.org/eight-myths-out, is intended to correct many common errors and misconceptions about the fixing of the 1919 World Series.

The Black Sox Scandal is a cold case, not a closed case; new evidence has been discovered in recent years that has enhanced our collective knowledge of the scandal. Since the publication of Eliot Asinof’s Eight Men Out in 1963 and the John Sayles film by the same name in 1988, the dramatic story of underpaid and undereducated Chicago White Sox ballplayers, disgruntled by their low pay and poor treatment by management, who fell prey to the wiles of double-crossing gamblers has been thoroughly debunked. Much of the popular narrative about the Black Sox Scandal falls apart under closer scrutiny.

The Eight Myths Out project, a collaborative work produced by members of SABR’s Black Sox Scandal Research Committee, uses groundbreaking research and resources to provide a more complete understanding of what happened a century ago. In addition, we’ve compiled an extensive list of historical inaccuracies, large and small, that appear in Eight Men Out, with links to articles, artifacts, and other resources that are now available online. This includes accurate player and team salary information from the 1919 season, legal documents and transcripts from the Black Sox grand jury proceedings and criminal trial, hundreds of interviews with players from the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, and newsreel film footage from the 1919 World Series games.

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

— Jacob Pomrenke


More highlights and photos from the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference

Couldn’t make it to Arizona for the eighth annual SABR Analytics Conference, presented by MLB and KinaTrax? Visit SABR.org/analytics for full coverage of this exciting event that brought together the top minds in the baseball analytics community in 2019. You’ll feel like you were wandering through the Hyatt Regency Phoenix with stories and multimedia clips from the great panel discussions and research presentations on our schedule, photo galleries, and much more.

Click on a link below for multimedia highlights from the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference:

Friday, March 8

Saturday, March 9

Sunday, March 10

Visit SABR.org/analytics for more coverage of the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference.


Bjarkman, Nowlin, Grow, Flagel win 2019 SABR Baseball Research Awards

The 2019 SABR Baseball Research Awards, which honor outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year that have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball, have been awarded to:

  • Peter C. Bjarkman, Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story, published by Rowman and Littlefield
  • Nathaniel Grow and Zachary Flagel, “The Faulty Law and Economics of the ‘Baseball Rule,’ ” William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 60
  • Bill Nowlin, Tom Yawkey: Patriarch of the Boston Red Sox, published by University of Nebraska Press

Bjarkman (1941-2018) was the leading authority on Cuban baseball, a recipient of SABR’s Henry Chadwick Award, and the author of many books and articles on sports history. Grow is an Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics at Indiana University. Flagel is a student at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Nowlin has served seven terms on the SABR Board of Directors, including as Vice President from 2004 to 2016, and he has authored more than 75 books and hundreds of articles about the Boston Red Sox and other areas of baseball history.

The authors will receive their awards at the SABR 49 national convention, June 26-30, 2019, in San Diego.

To see a complete list of SABR Baseball Research Award winners, click here.


SABR welcomes new chapter in Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Bud MethenySABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new chapter.

The Bud Metheny/Virginia Eastern Shore Chapter serves members in the Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and Chesapeake region; the chapter leader is Andrew Noe. The chapter is named after Arthur “Bud” Metheny, the former Yankees outfielder — and last player to wear the uniform number 3 until it was retired for Babe Ruth — and longtime baseball coach at Old Dominion University.

SABR’s 75 regional chapters cover 38 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.; plus international chapters in Canada (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Latin America (Venezuela, Dominican Republic), the United Kingdom, Europe (Netherlands), and Italy. For a list of all SABR chapters, visit SABR.org/chapters. A calendar of upcoming SABR meetings can be found at SABR.org/events.

To sign up for chapter email announcements and receive instant notification of upcoming SABR events in your area, click here to select from the list of chapters, then click “Join Group” at the top of the chapter page. All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any chapter or committee.


Save the date! 2019 SABR Minneapolis 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

Save the date! The SABR Minneapolis 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium will take place on Saturday, November 16, 2019, at the Minneapolis Public Library, 300 Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The day-long Saturday symposium will be devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Minnesota and the greater Midwest region. The event is a joint project of the SABR Nineteenth Century Committee, SABR’s Halsey Hall Chapter, and the Hennepin County Library.

More details on registration and the event schedule will be available at SABR.org this summer.

Guest speakers are expected to include John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; Larry Millett, longtime St. Paul Pioneer Press architecture critic and author of more than 10 books, including The Curve of the Arch and Lost Twin Cities; Stew Thornley, author of Baseball in Minnesota: A Definitive History and other books; Dan Levitt, author of Paths to Glory: How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way and other books; Mike Haupert, Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; Kristin Anderson, art and architecture professor and author of an upcoming book on the history of sports facilities in the Twin Cities; and more.

Click here for more information at SABR.org.


SABR Digital Library: The Team that Couldn’t Hit: The 1972 Texas Rangers

Add a brand-new baseball book from the SABR Digital Library to your collection this season:

The Team that Couldn’t Hit: The 1972 Texas Rangers
Edited by Steve West and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9438-1693-4
, $29.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9438-1692-7,
$9.99
414 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

Click here to read the full description of this book at SABR.org.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

Having trouble downloading our e-books? To view PDF files on your computer, click here to download the free Adobe Reader software. Having trouble downloading e-books to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.


SABR to launch new baseball podcast in 2019: SABRcast with Rob Neyer

Baseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a new weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer.

SABRcast, which will launch around Opening Day in the spring of 2019, 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.

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


5 new SABR biographies published

Pete HillTwo new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,845 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

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


New workflow process for SABR BioProject submissions

Effective this month, the BioProject Committee has changed how SABR’s biography submissions are handled. As part of the ongoing effort to maintain the high standard of quality, there will be an initial vetting of each draft immediately after it is submitted by the author. Accepted submissions proceed to the fact-checking stage, which will be moved ahead of the copy-editing stage from now on. The process overall follows that of SABR’s books that collect biographies on notable teams or themes. After fact-checking, a different reviewer will do the copy editing, per the existing process. 

For details, please see “What happens next?” in the updated BioProject FAQs at SABR.org/content/bioproject-FAQs

Please continue to send initial submissions to Rory Costello, Chief Editor, at roryscostello@gmail.com. Rory can also field any questions about this process.


9 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

Nine 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.


Listen to a new episode of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, is back for the Hot Stove League offseason at a new time, 4:00-5:00 p.m. ET on Sundays, on MLB Network Radio.

This week’s guests are Jonah Keri of The Athletic and Craig Edwards of FanGraphs.

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.


In Memoriam: Bill Griggs

  • SABR member William L. “Bill” Griggs, 72, died on March 19, 2019, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He joined SABR in 2013 and was instrumental in founding the Kekionga Chapter of Fort Wayne and erecting a historical marker in Fort Wayne to mark the spot of the first professional baseball game played in the National Association in 1871. A native of Paulding, Ohio, he graduated from Ball State University and worked for Dreibelbiss Title Company and Three Rivers Title Company until his retirement in 2012. He and his wife, Estelle Haring, were married for 48 years and had three children. In addition to Estelle, he is survived by his children Gloria (Mike) Squire, Ron Griggs, and Crystel (Jeff) Miller; five grandchildren; three siblings; and several nieces and nephews. A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 at D.O. McComb and Sons Funeral Home Lakeside Park with an hour of calling prior to the service. Memorial contributions may be made to American Diabetes Association.

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
Mark Borowsky Dublin, CA     David Kuhn Littleton, CO
Dani Clifford Westtown, NY     Robert Laidlaw Evanston Gardens, AUS
Joe Desmond Bel Air, MD     Peter Lutz Pittsford, NY
David Ermer Santa Rosa Beach, FL     Jim Pond Holliston, MA
David Fox Richmond, VA     John Sanabria Buffalo, NY
William Fragaszy Yarmouth Port, MA     Kenneth Sandlin Sugar Land, TX
Mike Gauntt Alton, IL     John Sebold Bay Village, OH
Jean Geyer Welland, ON     Tom Stocker Hayward, WI
Campbell Gibson Alexandria, VA     Marcus Wiens Saskatoon, SK
Daniel Helpingstine Highland, IN     Brandon Woosley Santa Cruz, CA

 


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.

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Originally published: March 22, 2019. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.