This Week in SABR: May 13, 2022

May 13, 2022/in This Week in SABR /by Jacob Pomrenke

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 May 13, 2022:

Give Local: All donations MATCHED, this week only!

We are currently in the midst of our Give Local campaign, an important effort to support SABR’s mission and help fund more of our members’ amazing work on the local level by expanding our Local Grants Program.

Thanks to one generous member, you now have the opportunity to DOUBLE THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATION, this week only. SABR Director Bill Nowlin will match all donations made through Tuesday, May 17, up to a grand total of $10,000.

By joining our Give Local campaign today, you will help support SABR’s general operation and fund more of our members’ amazing work on the local level – and your contribution will go twice as far during this matching period.

Visit SABR.org/donate/give-local to learn more.

Check out photos and highlights from the 2022 SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference

The 13th annual SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference was held on April 29-30, 2022, at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

The 2022 conference was highlighted by a keynote address from author Thomas Gilbert, along with a panel discussion on owner Chris Von Der Ahe with Tom Hetrick, Dennis Thiessen, Paul Browne, and moderator Bill Ryczek; a special presentation by Jonathan Popovich on “A Game of Ball: Reconstructing The Elysian Fields, 1845-1865”; a Member Spotlight interview of Dixie Tourangeau by Bob Bailey; plus research presentations.

Visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c to view a special photo gallery of the conference, courtesy of Dixie Tourangeau, and other highlights.

Watch: Ballpark Figures with ESPN’s Mina Kimes

Join us each month for SABR’s Ballpark Figures, a new interview series hosted by award-winning writer Shakeia Taylor. The virtual Zoom event is free and open to all active SABR members.

On Thursday, May 5, we heard from Mina Kimes, an award-winning journalist, analyst, podcast host and television contributor for ESPN since 2014. She is a highly acclaimed football analyst and appears regularly on NFL Live, SportsCenter, Around the Horn, and other TV programs across the network. In addition, she hosts The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny podcast and was the original host for the ESPN Daily podcast. In 2017, her ESPN The Magazine article, “The Art of Letting Go,” on bat flips in the Korea Baseball Organization, won a SABR Analytics Conference Research Award for best historical analysis or commentary. Prior to ESPN, she worked for Bloomberg News and Fortune Magazine, where she penned pieces on topics from arms exports to tainted drugs.

Watch: Click here to watch a replay of Ballpark Figures with Shakeia Taylor and Mina Kimes

Visit SABR.org/ballpark-figures to learn more.

Coming soon: Click here to pre-register for Ballpark Figures on June 2 with guest Todd Radom

Sign up now for the SABR 50 annual convention in Baltimore

SABR’s 50th Annual Convention will take place on August 17-21, 2022, in Baltimore, and we are beyond thrilled to celebrate with you in person. Registration for SABR 50 and hotel accommodations at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor is now available at SABR.org/convention.

This is an event well worth the wait, and we already have an All-Star lineup of featured speakers and exciting events planned, including:

Keynote address by Tim Kurkjian, winner of the BBWAA’s 2022 Career Excellence Award
Opening Remarks by Sig Mejdal, Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Analytics, Baltimore Orioles
Oriole Park at Camden Yards panel with Bill Stetka (Orioles Team Historian), Greg Bader (Orioles Senior Vice President, Administration & Experience), and Joe Spear (founder of Populous)
Women in Leadership panel with Orioles executives Eve Rosenbaum (Director, Baseball Development), Nicole Sherry (Director, Field Operations), Jennifer Grondahl (Senior Vice President, Community Development & Communications), and Lisa Tolson (Senior Vice President, Human Resources)
Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox game on Friday, August 19

Of course, there is a lot more on the way — innovative panel discussions, ground-breaking research presentations, and more opportunities to make and renew cherished baseball friendships. We hope to see you this summer in Baltimore!

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

Vote now in the 2022 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, please pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you should have received a message on Monday, May 2, with a link to vote online in the 2022 SABR Board of Directors election. If you did not receive the election ballot, please email jpomrenke@sabr.org to have your ballot re-sent. The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, June 1.

You can read the candidate biographies, along with full descriptions of the positions and responses the candidates made to a series of questions, in the 2022 SABR Election Guide which is available for download below:

Download the 2022 SABR Election Guide here (PDF)

When you vote, please rank the candidates in order of preference, with 1 being your top choice. SABR elections use a simplified preferential voting system, allowing voters to rank their preferred candidates 1-2-3 and transferring preferences until a winner with more than 50 percent of votes is achieved.

You will find two items on the 2022 election ballot: the election of the SABR Vice President and two (2) Directors positions. The candidates are:

For Vice President

Leslie Heaphy
Bruce McClure

For Director (2 seats)

Allison Levin
Bill Nowlin
Bill Pearch

Click here to learn more and to download the Election Guide.

Dave Heller’s Eddie Plank biography wins 2022 SABR Larry Ritter Book Award

Gettysburg Eddie Plank: A Pitcher’s Journey to the Hall of Fame, written by Dave Heller and published by McFarland & Co., an interesting and illuminating biography of the 326-win Hall of Fame pitcher whose legend has dimmed with time, is the winner of the 2022 Larry Ritter Book Award.

The award is granted annually by SABR’s Deadball Era Committee to the author of the best book about baseball between 1901 and 1919 published during the previous calendar year. The winner’s work must demonstrate original research or analysis, a fresh perspective, compelling thesis, impressive insight, accuracy, and clear, graceful prose.

Gettysburg Eddie Plank is Heller’s fourth book on baseball. He is the digital content manager for Bally Sports Wisconsin and Bally Sports North and worked previously at JSOnline.com, Cincinnati.com and CBSSports.com. He and has written for several newspapers including the Washington Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Detroit Free Press, Philadelphia Daily News and Cincinnati Enquirer. A longtime SABR member, he lives in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

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

Related link: Read a full interview with Dave Heller in the SABR Deadball Era Committee’s newsletter

SABR Digital Library: The 1883 Philadelphia Athletics: American Association Champions

Add a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:

The 1883 Philadelphia Athletics: American Association Champions
Edited by Paul Hofmann and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors Bob LeMoine and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-970159-69-1, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-970159-70-7, $24.95
8.5″ x 11″, 206 pages

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of The 1883 Philadelphia Athletics for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on The 1883 Philadelphia Athletics paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

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.

Visit SABR.org/ebooks for more titles from the SABR Digital Library.

New scholarship opportunities open for students

Yoseloff Scholarship for SABR 50 in Baltimore: With generous funding from The Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to 10 scholarships to currently enrolled high school or college students to attend SABR 50 on August 17-21, 2022, in Baltimore. 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. Deadline to apply: June 3, 2022. Click here to learn more or download the application form.
Women in Baseball Scholarship: SABR’s Women in Baseball Committee will award one $500 scholarship to a high school senior in its annual Women in Baseball Essay Contest in 2022. Students must write an essay of 1,500 words or less addressing the following question: “Choose one person or event in women’s baseball history that you believe has made a significant impact on the game and explain the importance.” Deadline to apply: June 14, 2022. Click here to learn more or download the application form.

Still time to register for 2022 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in Birmingham

Registration is still available for SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 2-4, 2022, at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

The full schedule for the 2022 Malloy Conference has now been posted online; click here to view the daily panels, presentations, and historic site tours.

Register: Click here to register online for the 2022 Malloy Conference. Full registration is $195, students: $140. Single-day registration is also available for $75 for Friday or Saturday. Extra tickets can be purchased for the Rickwood Field bus tours, Thursday’s “meet and greet” reception, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Tour, or the awards banquet on Saturday night. All of these sessions are included in the full registration package.
Hotel: Please note: Hotel rooms at the Sheraton Birmingham are now sold out. A limited number of rooms are available at the Courtyard Birmingham Homewood, 500 Shades Creek Parkway, Homewood, AL 35209, at a special rate of $145/night (plus tax). Please call 205-879-0400 to book your room at the Courtyard hotel; you must identify yourself as a member of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference to get the special SABR rate while availability lasts. The Sheraton Birmingham, our host hotel, is located at 2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd., North Birmingham, AL 35203. Call 205-324-5000 for any questions with the Sheraton.
Schedule: Click here to view the full schedule for the 2022 Malloy Conference.
COVID-19 policy: All attendees must supply proof of a negative test. Those who can provide proof of vaccination are exempt from this requirement. Attendees will be required to follow any additional local public health declarations, including mask mandates. Click here to learn more.
Contact: For questions, email Larry Lester or Leslie Heaphy.

Visit SABR.org/malloy to learn more.

Sign up now for SABR Analytics Certification online course

It’s time to get SABR Certified! The first course in the new SABR Analytics Certification program — Conversational Analytics and Critical Thinking in Baseball — is available online now.

The SABR Analytics Certification program is an online, on-demand curriculum offering professional development and learning opportunities for those interested in elevating their skills and knowledge relating to baseball analytics. The curriculum was developed by current baseball professionals, including employees of Major League Baseball and its clubs.

SABR members get a significant discount on this Analytics Certification course registration, saving $55 off the regular price.

Visit SABR.org/analytics/certification to sign up today or learn more.

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org, as part of our Stay Home With SABR initiative to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Can’t-Miss Event: SABR’s Rice-Russell Nashville Chapter will hold a virtual Zoom meeting on Saturday, May 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. CDT. Our guest speakers include authors Andrew Maraniss (Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke), Tom Lee (“Cold Warrior: The Jackie Robinson Story”), and Jeff McLaughlin (“Jackie Robinson and the Montreal Royals”). All SABR members are welcome to attend. To request the Zoom link, please contact Skip Nipper.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from Eric Frost (“Arthur Irwin: The Crazy Life and Crazier Death of a Forty-Year Baseball Man”), Geri Strecker (“Indianapolis and the Negro National League”), and the Boston Chapter meeting. Click here to view more video replays of virtual SABR events.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can attend online; check the Events Calendar for complete details:

May 14: Rice-Russell Nashville (TN) Chapter meeting with Andrew Maraniss, Tom Lee, and Jeff McLaughlin (10:00 a.m. CDT)
May 16: Bob Broeg St. Louis (MO) Chapter meeting (6:30 p.m. CDT)
May 16: Larry Dierker (TX) Chapter meeting with Ted Meyer (7:00 p.m. CDT)
May 17: Pacific Northwest Chapter meeting with Melissa Booker (6:30 p.m. PDT)
May 18: New SABR Member Experience Meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
May 19: Larry Doby (SC) Chapter meeting (7:30 p.m. EDT)
May 21: SABR Baseball Memories meeting (4:00 p.m. EDT)
May 22: South Florida Chapter meeting with John Herson (7:00 p.m. EDT)

In addition, the following events will be held in person:

May 14: Forbes Field Chapter meeting (Pittsburgh, PA)
May 14: Halsey Hall Chapter Hot Stove Saturday Morning (Minneapolis, MN)
May 14: Rogers Hornsby Chapter ballgame/meeting (Round Rock, TX)
May 17: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
May 21: Babe ‘n’ Bob Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
May 21: Hank Gowdy Columbus Chapter book club meeting (Hilliard, OH)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

3 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Three new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project:

Butch Henline, by Russ Walsh
Fred Koster, by Chris Betsch
Montgomery Field (Carlsbad, NM), by Kurt Blumenau

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

Find any SABR biography: You can visit sabr.org/bioproject to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Games, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires, Writers, people who were Famous Outside Baseball, and a lot more.

11 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

Eleven new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project:

May 7, 1903: Pirates’ Fred Clarke hits for second career cycle in game full of ejections and errors, by Mike Huber
May 30, 1924: Ike Boone hits first Red Sox grand slam at Fenway Park – 12 years after ballpark opens, by Bill Nowlin
April 30, 1952: Before leaving for the Marine Corps, Ted Williams homers to win a game for Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin
April 26, 1959: Jim Bouton’s pro career gets off to a losing start with Auburn Yankees, by Kurt Blumenau
July 19, 1962: Kaat shutout, Allison home runs lead Twins to sweep of Cleveland, by Stew Thornley
April 25, 1967: Robin Roberts launches bid to return to majors with Reading Phillies, by Kurt Blumenau
June 29, 1974: Mets’ Jon Matlack throws second career one-hitter to shut out Cardinals, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
May 8, 1979: Reassurance, 4-for-4 performance propel Cardinals’ Keith Hernandez to NL batting crown and MVP season, by Tom Schott
September 19, 1986: Joe Cowley tosses a ‘not impressive’ no-hitter for White Sox, by Jake Bell (first-time author)
May 12, 1991: Steve Avery, Braves foreshadow postseason in win over Pirates, by John Fredland
June 19, 2015: Alex Rodríguez homers for his 3,000th hit, by Douglas Jordan

New Games Project stories can be found 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.
Social media: Follow the SABR Games Project on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with new stories and updates.
Read all stories from Griffith Stadium greatest games book: All of the game recaps from A Palace in the Nation’s Capital: Griffith Stadium, Home of the Washington Senators can now be found online at the SABR Games Project. SABR members can download a free e-book edition of A Palace in the Nation’s Capital or save 50% off the purchase of the paperback edition at SABR.org/ebooks.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with broadcaster Rich Waltz

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

Episode #161 on Monday, May 9 featured Rich Waltz, a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball teams since 2005. A three-time Emmy Award winner, he also calls games for CBS Sports Network, Turner Sports, MLB Network, and FS1. He was the television voice of the Miami Marlins from 2005 to 2017. He has also served as a play-by-play announcer for Tennis Channel, Raycom Sports, Pac-12 Networks, and Fox Sports 1. He is a graduate of the University of California at Davis, where he played college baseball.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.

Subscribe to SABRcast on your favorite podcast networks, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or Stitcher, and listen to each episode as soon as it’s released on Mondays. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

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

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, is back at a new time for the regular season. Listen to new episodes at 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays on MLB Network Radio.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio app.

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.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s 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: SABR.org/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.

Name	Hometown	Name	Hometown
Kyle Bremer	Snohomish, WA	Anthony Mastandrea	Ramsey, NJ
Felisa Cárdenas	Temple, TX	Emmanuel Mehr	Calgary, AB
Gregory Davis	Alexandria, VA	Adam Molsee	Shelley, ID
Jeff DeSimone	Colleyville, TX	Phil Puzzanchera	Sarasota, FL
Daishi Hirose	Suginamiku, JPN	David Stow	Atlanta, GA
Jeremy Kirkpatrick	Prospect, TN	Joshua Tolbert	Vevay, IN
Brian Larson	Eden Prairie, MN	Aaron Wiens	Fresno, CA
Mike Ludin	Orange, CA

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Biographical Research: April 2022 newsletter
Deadball Era: May 2022 newsletter

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter and chartered community updates this week:

Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter: Spring 2022 newsletter (Baltimore, MD)
Bob Davids Chapter: May 2022 newsletter (Washington, DC)
Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter: May 4 meeting recap (Tallahassee, FL)
Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: May 2022 newsletter (Chicago, IL)
Lajoie-Start Southern New England Chapter: June 2022 newsletter (Providence, RI)

Click here for more information on SABR regional chapters. Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.

Around the Web

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

Colton Krolak: SABR Baseball Memories program using baseball as therapy for cognitive impairments, physical disabilities (KTAR.com)
David Laurila: What Is an Analytics Coordinator? The White Sox Shelley Duncan Tells Us. (FanGraphs)
Jason Turbow: Tom House Is (Still) Reinventing Pitching With Mustard App (New York Times)
Stephen J. Nesbitt: Jim, Pam and … Jeff Ballard? Meet the TikTok sleuth who IDs the game in the background (The Athletic)
Tyler Kepner: Byron Buxton: ‘He’s the Best Player in the World’ (New York Times)
Jay Jaffe: Even With Home Run Rates Falling, the Bronx Bombers Are Soaring Past the Competition (FanGraphs)
Alex Speier: Does the departure of the Red Sox’ hitting coach have anything to do with their offensive malaise? (Boston Globe)
Stephanie Apstein: Angels Star Shohei Ohtani Is a Legendary Hitter, Pitcher and Prankster (Sports Illustrated)
Derrick Goold: Two strikes? Runners in scoring position? Cardinals rookie Yepez has a stance for that (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Grant Brisbee: The 2022 Giants and their hidden offensive dominance (The Athletic)
Russell A. Carleton: Remember When Pitchers Used To Bat? (Baseball Prospectus)
Jayson Stark: Mets and Guardians Are Mission ‘Impossible’ (The Athletic)
Hannah Keyser: Fans of Reds, Pirates, Orioles and A’s sound off about their teams’ losing ways (Yahoo! Sports)
J.J. Cooper: Inside the new minor league facilities standards (Baseball America)
Emma Baccellieri: MLB Hitters Are Not Living Up to Their Expected Offensive Production (Sports Illustrated)
Mark Simon: Astros Defense Has Been Very Good (ACTA Sports)
Ryan Fagan: How your favorite MLB player’s signature wound up in your childhood baseball glove: A century-old origin story (Sporting News)
Steven Goldman: We Have a Reverse Cobb Situation (Baseball Prospectus)
Alec Lewis: March of the Monarchs: Kansas City celebrates 80th anniversary of 1942 Negro Leagues World Series (The Athletic)
Vince Guerrieri: The Ohio Town that Baseball Legend Cy Young Called Home (Ohio Magazine)
Curt Brown: Black baseball pioneer who once played in Stillwater will get Cooperstown honors (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Eno Sarris: Seven starting pitchers boasting intriguing stuff in the Pacific Coast League (The Athletic)
Joe Benedict: Iowa has long baseball history (Keokuk Daily Gate City)
Al Yellon: The Cubs vs. Cardinals typhoon game (Bleed Cubbie Blue)
F. Scott Wilkinson: Topps in 1972, Part 10 (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)

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.

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