This Week in SABR: May 17, 2013
Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of May 17, 2013:
Phillies President/CEO David Montgomery to speak at SABR 43
We’re pleased to announce that David Montgomery, General Partner, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Phillies, will be a featured speaker at SABR 43 on Thursday, August 1.
SABR 43 will be held July 31-August 4, 2013, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- To register for SABR 43, click here. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.
- Click here to book your room online or call (877) 212-5752. The hotel’s website is www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phldt-philadelphia-marriott-downtown.
Montgomery has been the Phillies’ General Partner, President and CEO since 1997. He began his tenure with the organization in 1971, when he joined the sales office selling season and group tickets. He advanced to positions as marketing director and then director of sales before becoming executive vice president after the 1981 season. He was elevated to chief operating officer in 1992 and acquired an ownership interest in the team two years later. Under his leadership, the Phillies have constructed two new state-of-the-art facilities, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and their spring training home, Bright House Networks Field, in Clearwater, Florida. He serves as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for Major League Baseball Enterprises and is a member of MLB’s Executive Council. In addition, he serves on the board of MLB Network. Montgomery is also a member of MLB’s Schedule Committee and Labor Policy Committee as well as the Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters.
The moderator for this session will be Scott Palmer, Director of Public Affairs for the Philadelphia Phillies.
To register for SABR 43 or for more information on the national convention in Philadelphia, visit SABR.org/convention.
Watch a special screening of Hank Greenberg film extras at SABR 43
Attendees at SABR 43 will get a chance to watch a special screening of never-before-seen film extras from The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg with an introduction by filmmaker Aviva Kempner and SABR member John Rosengren, who has just published a new biography on the Hall of Fame slugger.
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg special edition gives a lively history of the golden age of baseball. From the early days of Hank Greenberg to his days in the front office, the special edition DVD provides viewers with a humorous and historical account of baseball in its purest days.
The film extras include more interviews with Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, Harry Eisenstat, and more. The crown jewel of the added footage is a never-before-heard interview with Ted Williams. Ted speaks fondly of Hank as a fellow slugger, friend, and gentleman. Williams also explains the key to success shared by hitters in his era. The respect between sluggers of the golden age is evident in the film. Former sports journalist Shirley Povich tells a story of the descriptive classification Walter Johnson used to describe homerun balls hit by Hank vs. Ruth vs. Williams.
For more information on the film, visit hankgreenbergfilm.org.
Rich Westcott, Perry Barber added to SABR 43 featured panels
Rich Westcott and Perry Barber have been added to the Philadelphia Baseball History panel and the Women in Baseball panel, respectively, at SABR 43.
Westcott is the author of The Phillies Encyclopedia, Philadelphia’s Top Fifty Baseball Players and many other books on baseball history. He joins a Philadelphia Baseball History panel that includes authors Norman Macht, David Jordan, Richard Hershberger and Jerry Casway. It will be moderated by John Thorn, Official Historian of Major League Baseball.
Barber has been a professional umpire for more than three decades. She is also an accomplished singer/songwriter (with a music CD featured at the National Baseball Hall of Fame) and a Jeopardy! champion. She joins a Women in Baseball panel that includes U.S. Women’s National Team pitcher Kristin Mills Caldwell, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League veteran Sarah Ferguson, Philadelphia Phillies executive Kathy Killian and National Women’s Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Wallace.
For more information on the featured speakers and panelists at SABR 43, visit SABR.org/latest/sabr-43-featured-speakers.
SABR 43: Transportation tips in Philadelphia
SABR 43 will be held July 31-August 4, 2013, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, just blocks from City Hall , Independence Hall and many other Philadelphia landmarks.
Members of the host Connie Mack Chapter have compiled a list of transportation tips to help visitors and convention attendees enjoy their stay in the City of Brotherly Love. If you have any questions during your stay, please don’t hesitate to ask a friendly SABR 43 volunteer for assistance (they’ll be in the bright red shirts throughout the convention!)
To view our SABR 43 transportation tips, visit SABR.org/convention/sabr43-transportation.
Come visit our digital SABR 43 Vendors Room
We want to offer a special thanks to all of our vendors at SABR 43 for their support. We invite you to visit our digital Vendors Room at SABR.org/convention/sabr43-vendors and check out these groups, both online and at the convention in Philadelphia this summer:
- Philadelphia Phillies
- McFarland & Co.
- University of Nebraska Press
- Baseball America
- The Topps Company (Bowman)
- Scarecrow Press
- National Museum of American Jewish History
- The National Pastime Museum
- The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (film)
SABR 43 will be held July 31-August 4, 2013, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Register today at SABR.org/convention.
1947 Brooklyn Dodgers biographies now posted online
The first book published in our “Memorable Teams in Baseball History” series with University of Nebraska Press was The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America: The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, edited by Lyle Spatz.
The SABR BioProject biographies that appeared in that book — from Jackie Robinson to Walter O’Malley, from Dan Bankhead to Dick Whitman, from Al Gionfriddo to Cookie Lavagetto — can now be read online at:
http://sabr.org/category/completed-book-projects/1947-brooklyn-dodgers
The book is also available for purchase at the SABR Bookstore.
You can find other team pages from our completed book projects (18 and counting!) by going to SABR.org/BioProject and clicking the Browse button:
http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse
4 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject
Four new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,432 published biographies. Can we reach 2,500 before the SABR 43 convention in Philadelphia? Here are the new bios:
- Fred Caligiuri, by Jack Zerby
- Wally Gerber, by Joseph Wancho
- Fran Matthews, by Charlie Bevis
- Fred Whitfield, by Rory Costello
All new biographies can be found here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/recent
You can find the SABR BioProject at SABR.org/BioProject.
Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment” — write the story and we’ll publish it!
Check out the new Baseball Ballparks Project: The SABR Baseball Biography Project has been accepting/publishing “biographies” of Ballparks for a few years, and we have 39 of them on our website at http://sabr.org/bioproj/parks. However, this thing just got real. Ballparks are now its very own PROJECT — the Baseball Ballparks Project, our first official spin-off. The project leader is Scott Ferkovich, who is now in charge of recruiting ballparks articles and publicizing them. Learn more by clicking here.
Get involved! If you’d like to help contribute to the SABR BioProject, visit our BioProject Resources page or read the FAQs section to get started. We’re also looking to expand the BioProject to include all “encyclopedic” articles on baseball-related subjects from past SABR publications or committee newsletters. If you come across an article you think should be included in the SABR “baseball repository” at the BioProject, send a copy or link to markarmour04@gmail.com or jpomrenke@sabr.org.
Wanted: SABR members to critique baseball game broadcasts
The Baseball and the Media Committee is seeking to publish a review of the radio and TV game broadcasts for each of the 30 major league baseball teams during the 2013 season.
The job will entail listening to a radio game broadcast, or watching a TV game broadcast; making notes on the performance of the broadcast team based on a set list of criteria; and writing up a brief overview of that broadcast team’s performance, while using the school-based letter system to grade them.
A list of criteria and guidelines for critiquing the broadcasts will be provided to you prior to the games you want to do. You can sign up to do any many broadcast teams as you like! One reviewer per team. Signing up for the Media committee is not required — any SABR member can participate in this. You may also choose to write your review anonymously if that works better for you.
If this seems like a fun and interesting thing to do, please contact Chuck Hildebrandt at chuck.sabr@gmail.com for more details.
Tickets now available for 2013 Sabermetrics, Scouting, and the Science of Baseball seminar
We hope any SABR members who are interested will attend the Sabermetrics, Scouting, and the Science of Baseball seminar on August 17-18, 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts. The seminar, which benefits the Jimmy Fund, puts you up close with some of baseball’s top coaches, statisticians, scouts, doctors and scientists. The seminar is limited to 200 of baseball’s best fans.
Register now to join us on August 17-18, 2013, at Boston University’s Metcalf Science Center and enjoy the edge that professional scouting, science and sabermetrics will give you at your next fantasy or real-life baseball game.
Don’t miss this special opportunity to learn about the deeper game of baseball from insiders and pros, meet people who love the game, and help the Jimmy Fund.
You will enjoy presentations and panel discussions with SABR members Dave Allen, Robert Cvornyek, Vince Gennaro, Sol Gittleman, Jason Lefkowitz, Ben Lindbergh, Alan Nathan, Harry Pavlidis, Bill Petti, Tom Tippett and many more.
For more information, visit SaberSeminar.com.
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:
- Baseball Hall of Fame launches new searchable database of MLB scouting reports
- New study by Mark Armour advances our knowledge of MLB player demographics, 1947 to 2012
- 2013 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award winners announced
- Read an excerpt from our new book on the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals
- Baseball Reliquary announces 2013 Shrine of the Eternals electees
- Read the Spring 2013 Baseball Research Journal articles online
- Check out the SABR Bookshelf listings for Spring 2013
- All e-books in SABR Digital Library now available for free to members
- Get 25% discount on a new MLB.TV subscription for entire 2013 season
- Register for Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, June 13-15 in Newark, NJ
- Register for SABR 43, July 31-August 4 in Philadelphia, PA
All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://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 New Member 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.
Name | Hometown | Name | Hometown | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joseph Daly | Marlton, NJ | Jeffrey LaPrise | Windsor, CT | ||
Mark Drucker | Reading, PA | Kelly Park | Benton, KY | ||
Albert Flannery | Wu Zhong, Inner Mongolia |
Noel Purcell | East Northport, NY | ||
Alan Greenbaum | Phoenix, AZ | John Richardson | San Antonio, TX | ||
Patrick Hanagan | Buffalo, NY | Mark Shufro | Caldwell, NJ | ||
Alex Holmden | Greenville, MI | Andrew Taylor | Newark, NJ | ||
Taylor Hood | Albuquerque, NM | Tony Weaver | Elon, NC | ||
Steven Kirby | Elmhurst, IL |
Research committee newsletters
Here are the new SABR research committee newsletters published this week:
- Business of Baseball Committee: Spring 2013
Find all SABR research committee newsletters at SABR.org/research.
Chapter meeting news
Here are the new chapter meeting recaps published this week:
- Lajoie-Start Southern New England Chapter newsletter (Providence, RI)
- Dayton Chapter meeting recap (May 11; Dayton, OH)
Visit SABR.org/chapters for more information on SABR regional chapters.
SABR Events Calendar
Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:
- May 18: South Florida Chapter meeting (Tamarac, FL)
- May 18: Covington Blue Sox/Federal League celebration (Covington, KY)
- May 18: Houston Babies vintage base ball game (Galveston, TX)
- May 18: Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting (Denver, CO)
- May 19: Field of Dreams Chapter meeting (Davenport, IA)
- May 21: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
- May 21: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting (St. Louis, MO)
- May 25: Northwest Chapter meeting (Seattle, WA)
- May 25: Baseball Prospectus Ballpark Tour (Seattle, WA)
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:
- Erik Malinowski: The short, amazing flight of El Pajaro, Alfredo Cabrera, the Cuban legend who played one game in 1913 (Buzzfeed)
- Max Marchi: Using Retrosheet to analyze catchers’ framing abilities (Baseball Prospectus)
- Ben Lindbergh: More on the art of pitch framing by catchers (Baseball Prospectus)
- David Laurila: Q&A with Dennis Martinez, El Presidente (FanGraphs)
- Ross Carey: Diamond Mining the 2014 Hall of Fame class (Replacement Level Podcast)
- Rob Neyer: Eight scouting reports that really nailed it (Baseball Nation)
- Team location maps added to Baseball-Reference.com
- Wendy Thurm: Preparing for the end of the Tim Lincecum era in San Francisco (Sports on Earth)
- New exhibit shines spotlight on African-American baseball experience (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
- Jason Wojciechowski: Bartolo Colon, the most extreme control pitcher in baseball (Baseball Prospectus)
- Bill Petti: Yu Darvish, defining “change of pace” (FanGraphs)
- Pro baseball returns to Montreal for one night (Montreal Gazette)
- Cee Angi: Ever wondered how players do on their bobblehead nights? (Baseball Nation)
- Dave Cameron: The myth of the passive hitter (FanGraphs)
- John Holway: A journey through the Negro Leagues, interviewing Cool Papa Bell (The National Pastime Museum)
- Jeff Sullivan: A moment of not taking Clayton Kershaw for granted (FanGraphs)
- Louisville Slugger founder Bud Hillerich stepped up to the plate in business (Investor’s Business Daily)
- Mark Armour’s recent study shows interesting changes in MLB roster demographics (YES Network)
- Jayson Stark: Eight ways to improve umpiring in MLB (ESPN.com)
- Elmer Flick goes from Youngstown to Cooperstown (Youngstown News)
- Alex Speier: On the origin of the switch-hitting species (Baseball Prospectus)
- John Dewan’s Stat of the Week: Who are the best and worst defensive teams in 2013? (ACTA Sports)
- Diane Firstman: How many times has a pitcher been intentionally walked? (Value Over Replacement Grit)
- David Kronheim’s 2012 Major League Baseball attendance analysis is now available for download (NumberTamer.com)
Read these articles and more at SABR.org/latest.
All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR”, e-mail Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org.
Find exclusive Members’ Only resources and information here: http://members.sabr.org
Did you know you can renew your membership at any time? 1- and 3-year SABR memberships are available by clicking “Renew” at http://members.sabr.org. Please also consider a donation to SABR to support baseball research at SABR.org/donate.
Are you following us on Twitter or Facebook? Get SABR updates every day at @SABR or by searching “SABR” on Facebook.
Replying to this e-mail goes to an undeliverable address. If you would like to contact the SABR office, please visit: http://sabr.org/about/contact-sabr
Originally published: May 17, 2013. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.