This Week in SABR: May 21, 2021

May 21, 2021/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 21, 2021:

Registration now open for Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series

As part of SABR’s 50th anniversary in 2021, all baseball fans are invited to join us online for the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series, presented by Major League Baseball and Baseball-Reference.com. The opening session begins on June 25-27, 2021.

Join us for a series of presentations, chats, and panel discussions featuring authors, scholars, and figures from around the game, including: Katie Krall, Cincinnati Reds; Bianca Smith, Boston Red Sox; Janet Marie Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers; J.J. Cooper, Baseball America; Rick White, Atlantic League; Sean Forman, Sports Reference; Gary Ashwill, Seamheads.com; Larry Lester, SABR Negro Leagues Committee; Peter Kurz, Team Israel; Kundy Gutierrez, Team Mexico; Leonte Landino, ESPN Deportes; and more.

Registration: Click here to register for the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series. Registration is $35 for SABR members and $50 for non-members. The single registration fee will provide access to the entirety of the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series, including every session in June, July and August. That’s NINE incredible virtual sessions, including the full Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, for just one registration price. Note: Donors who contribute $100 or more during the Future 50 Campaign receive a complimentary registration to this event. For questions relating to donor registrations for this event, please email Scott Carter.
Contact: Please e-mail Chanel Zapata with any other questions about your registration.
Schedule: The Summer of SABR online sessions will be held on the weekends of June 25-27, July 23-25, and August 10, 13-14. Click here for a closer look at each date and the broad range of topics to be explored.

Visit SABR.org/summer to register today or for more information.

Donate to the Future 50 Campaign and receive complimentary registration for Summer of SABR

Donors who contribute $100 or more during the Future 50 Campaign will receive a complimentary registration to our Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series virtual event beginning on June 25.

As SABR celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2021, we are excited to both commemorate our history and look forward to our shared vision of the organization’s future. We hope you are able to join us as we continue to come together in thoughtful baseball fellowship, since SABR could not have reached this golden milestone without members like you.

By joining our Future 50 Campaign, you will help ensure SABR’s next 50 years are even brighter than the first 50. You can support SABR’s Future 50 Campaign by making a gift of at least $100 by June 4, 2021.

All donors joining the Future 50 Campaign with a gift of $500 or more will receive:

Customized SABR Dugout Mug featuring 50th Anniversary logo
Paperback edition of The National Pastime: The Future According to Baseball journal
SABR 50th Anniversary lapel pin
Complimentary registration to the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series
Recognition in This Week in SABR and on SABR.org
Recognition during an upcoming Summer of SABR virtual event

Ten randomly selected donors will also win an autographed copy of Eric Nusbaum’s 2021 Seymour Medal-winning book Stealing Home.

Thank you so much for your consideration in joining the Future 50 Campaign. With your support, SABR will continue to be the world’s essential baseball community for the next 50 years and beyond!

SABR welcomes new Williamsport chapter in Pennsylvania

SABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new regional chapter.

The Jimmy Sebring/Williamsport Chapter serves members in north-central Pennsylvania; the chapter leader is Jack Houston.

The chapter is named after the popular Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder who hit the first home run in modern World Series play in 1903 and tragically died young at the age of 27. Williamsport is also the home of the Little League World Series at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

SABR’s 81 regional chapters cover 39 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.

Last call: Vote now for the 2021 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

Each year, SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee selects its Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

All SABR members are eligible to cast a vote for the winner. The winner will be announced this summer during a Nineteenth Century Committee virtual meeting.

2021 finalists: Earlier this year, project leaders selected the 15 finalists for the 2021 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. Click here to download a PDF with the finalists’ bios, compiled by project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams. Voting in the final election will run until May 24, and will be open to all SABR members.
Vote now! Click here to access the 2021 ballot. All SABR members are eligible to vote in the election for this year’s Overlooked 19th Century Legend. You *MUST* select five candidates — ranking them from first choice to fifth choice — from among the candidates presented. You are only allowed to vote once. ALL BALLOTS MUST BE CAST PRIOR TO 11:59 p.m. PDT on Monday, May 24, 2021.

This December, the Hall of Fame’s Early Baseball Committee will meet and vote on eligible candidates for induction whose greatest contributions to the game were realized prior to 1950. This committee is not scheduled to vote again for nine more years, until 2030.

Click here for a list of past winners or to learn more about the Overlooked Legend project.

SABR Digital Library: Jackie: Perspectives on 42

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

Jackie: Perspectives on 42
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5950-9, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5951-6, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 324 pages

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Jackie: Perspectives on 42 for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Jackie: Perspectives on 42 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.

SABR members can download all Digital Library e-book editions for free and save 50% on purchase of the paperback editions. Visit SABR.org/ebooks to view all past titles.

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: On Saturday, May 22, at 2:00 p.m. CDT, SABR’s Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter will host a virtual Zoom meeting with Dr. Gregory Wolf, SABR BioProject Co-Director who will discuss the recent publication: The Base Ball Palace of the World: Comiskey Park; and Don Zminda, author of Double Plays and Double Crosses: The Black Sox and Baseball in 1920. Visit SABRChicago.com or contact Jason Schwartz to RSVP for this Zoom meeting.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from former Houston Astros manager Bill Virdon and co-author David Jerome; Aberdeen Ironbirds GM Jack Graham; SABR CEO Scott Bush on Minor League Baseball’s reorganization and changes; Michael Gonring on the 1980s Milwaukee Brewers; Dave Thomas (“MLB’s large free agent contracts and contract extensions”); Keith Robbins (“Lackawanna League”); and the Hank Gowdy (OH) Chapter book club. 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 22: Rice-Russell Nashville (TN) Chapter meeting with Skip Nipper, Mark Aubrey, Brian Purvis, and Clarence Watkins (9:00 a.m. CDT)
May 22: Rogers Hornsby (TX) Chapter meeting with Tim Jackson (1:00 p.m. CDT)
May 22: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with Gregory Wolf and Don Zminda (2:00 p.m. CDT)
May 22: Baseball Reminiscence meeting (1:00 p.m. PDT)
May 24: Halsey Hall (MN) Chapter meeting with Paul Hensler (7:00 p.m. CDT)
May 25: IBWAA: Up Next with Ben Chase (9:00 p.m. EDT)
May 26: Rocky Mountain (CO) Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. MDT)
May 27: Ken Keltner (WI) Chapter meeting with Dan Wallach (7:00 p.m. CDT)
May 30: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)

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

May 29: Mountain Athletic Club Grounds Historic Site dedication ceremony (Fleischmanns, NY)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

SABR 50 at 50: Baseball Trivia

SABR has featured a trivia contest as part of its annual convention since at least 1982. Further considering the hundreds of contests that have taken place at our local chapter events, it is fair to say that SABR and trivia have gone hand in hand throughout our history. We steadfastly maintain that there is nothing trivial about baseball trivia.

As part of the SABR 50 at 50 project to help celebrate our Golden Anniversary, it is appropriate that we present our 50 greatest baseball trivia questions. We asked many of SABR’s best trivia stalwarts to offer questions, and then asked them all to vote on the nominees to narrow it down to 50. Like all great trivia tests, the questions range in difficulty from easy to very hard.

We invite you to test your own mastery of these questions. Once you are finished, you can click the link below and read the answers. We are interested in hearing how you did, but we also would love to hear your own suggestions for great trivia questions we might have missed. Put on your thinking caps and good luck!

Visit SABR.org/50at50/trivia to find the questions and answer key.

— Compiled by D. Bruce Brown

Read articles from the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal online

Good news! The Spring 2021 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next few weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition — with a special illustrated cover design of Babe Ruth by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski — was delivered on April 13.

All articles from the new Baseball Research Journal are now available to be read online at SABR.org.

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here. We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal!

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Tom Shieber of the Baseball Hall of Fame

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 #111 on Monday, May 17 featured Tom Shieber, Senior Curator at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which recently released a new book, Picturing America’s Pastime: Historic Photography from the Baseball Hall of Fame Archives. Tom is also the founder of SABR’s Pictorial History Committee and a 2018 Henry Chadwick Award honoree. An expert in 19th-century baseball, among many other areas, he is responsible for locating and correctly identifying the oldest team photograph: that of the New York Gotham club of 1855. His Baseball Researcher blog is a delight for anyone interested in the microscopic details of baseball. Tom is a native of Missouri and a one-time solar physicist at Mt. Wilson, California.

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

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

9 new SABR biographies published

Nine new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project. Here are the new bios published this week:

Rudy Baerwald, by Jack Bell
Angelo Dagres, by Malcolm Allen
Oscar Gamble, by Eric Vickrey
Charlie Gilbert, by Richard Cuicchi
Rolla Mapel, by Darren Gibson
Al Michaels, by Eric Golanty
Monty Pfyl, by Darren Gibson
Jim Wright, by Bill Nowlin
Zack Wheat: Native American?, by Rory Costello

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.

10 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

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

October 8, 1927: New York Yankees win World Series on a wild pitch, by Tim Odzer
May 8, 1930: Freddie Lindstrom hits for the cycle, powering Giants past Pirates, by Mike Huber
August 22, 1943: Pitching pharmacist Sam Hyman helps Hartford Senators out of jam, by Kurt Blumenau
September 7, 1959: Johnny Podres masters the mound, strikes out 14 Cubs, by David Krell
July 12, 1975: Cardinals fans celebrate eccentric pitcher with ‘We Hlove Hrabosky Hbanner Hday’, by Anthony Escobedo (first-time author)
April 27, 1984: Rick Honeycutt’s near-perfect outing cut short by rain, by Andrew Harner
September 8, 1991: Monty Fariss delivers three-run, pinch-hit double for first major-league hit to rally Rangers past White Sox, by Madison McEntire
May 28, 2004: A special day for Pirates’ Rob Mackowiak: a new son and a walk-off grand slam, by Michael Vranesevic (first-time author)
August 16, 2018: Rare triple play helps Rangers win a wild one in Texas, by Laura H. Peebles
August 25, 2020: Red Sox play their first game in Buffalo after a 103-year absence, by Bill Nowlin

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.

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.

Seeking volunteers for SABR’s Publications Marketing Committee

SABR’s new Publications Marketing Committee is growing. Do you have experience in marketing or communications? Want to help share the tremendous work that SABR members are producing? The committee is tasked with promoting SABR’s latest publications by building relationships with different chapters and local, regional, and national media connections.

If you are interested in joining, please contact Marketing Committee Chair Bill Pearch at wcpearch@comcast.net.

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
Jen Bates	Erie, CO	Kevin Godchaux	Antioch, CA
Richard Cangelosi	Spokane, WA	Maria Pinkhasov	Oakland, CA
Pat Caputo	Lake Orion, MI	Craig Russell	Binghamton, NY
Tony Eveland	St. Petersburg, FL	Randall Sutton	Porterville, CA

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Nineteenth Century: Vote now for the 2021 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

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:

Cliff Kachline Chapter: Please give a warm welcome to Mike Hauser, who is taking over the reins from Jeff Katz as head of the Cliff Kachline Chapter in Cooperstown, New York. Click here to learn more or to sign up for chapter announcements.
Larry Dierker Chapter: May 17 meeting recap (Houston, TX)
Quebec Chapter: May 8 meeting recap (Montreal, QC)
Jimmy Sebring/Williamsport Chapter: Learn more about our newest regional chapter in north-central Pennsylvania

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

Around the Web

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

Ben Lindbergh: The Historic No-hitter Pace Is Bad for Fans. But It May Be Just What MLB Needs. (The Ringer)
Ben Clemens: Another Unique and Wondrous No-Hitter, Just Like Yesterday (FanGraphs)
Emma Baccellieri: MLB’s Rise in No-Hitters Mirrors ‘Sunless Spring’ of 1917 (Sports Illustrated)
Bill Shea: Spencer Turnbull and the rising tide of no-hitters are a big boon for baseball card giant Topps (The Athletic)
Janey Murray: Topps entered baseball card market with first set 70 years ago (BaseballHall.org)
Jonathan Chang/Meghna Chakrabarti: Baseball’s Big Swing At Sports Betting: How It’s Shaping The Future Of The MLB (NPR’s On Point)
Jay Jaffe: The Latest Mike Trout Bummer Could Produce His Longest Absence (FanGraphs)
Stephanie Apstein: Tony La Russa ‘Gracefully’ Teaches Yermín Mercedes Baseball’s Unwritten Rules (Sports Illustrated)
Rob Mains: Still Fit To Be Tied (Baseball Prospectus)
Eno Sarris: ‘No two trees are alike’: Major leaguers find that their bats may have been holding them back (The Athletic)
Tim Kurkjian: How the ‘K’ became the most destructive letter in Major League Baseball (ESPN.com)
Patrick Dubuque: The Design of Everyday Stats (Baseball Prospectus)
Rob Arthur: Young Hitters Are Driving The HBP Epidemic (Baseball Prospectus)
Steven Goldman: Who Gets To Decide When A Contract Is Bad? (Defector.com)
Jayson Stark: How much base stealing is too much? With experimental rules, Class A games are ‘like watching a track meet’ (The Athletic)
Mark Simon: Shohei Ohtani Crushing Balls, Missing Bats (ACTA Sports)
Sarah Langs: How 2 pitches explain this ace’s resurgence (MLB.com)
J.J. Cooper: Fredericksburg Nationals Nearing An Ominous Historical Mark In First Season (Baseball America)
Ryan McGee: Ron Darling, Frank Viola and NCAA baseball’s greatest game ever, 40 years on (ESPN.com)
Kaitlyn McGrath: How impressive are Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s splits at first base? We asked a former NHL goalie, a ballet dancer and a gymnast (The Athletic)
Russell A. Carleton: How Many Runs is an Apartment Worth? (Baseball Prospectus)
Ken Rosenthal: How an independent league club rebranded itself the Kansas City Monarchs, the revered Negro Leagues team (The Athletic)
Michael Clair: He was the unluckiest, brashest baseball man known as the ‘Ty Cobb of the Federal League’ (MLB.com)
David Laurila: A Conversation With Cleveland Pitching Prospect Tanner Burns (FanGraphs)
Sam Gazdziak: Richie Scheinblum survives Nicaragua — barely (RIP Baseball)
Jeff Cohen: Baseball and BBQ interview with Jerry Reuss (Baseball and BBQ)
Jason Schwartz: Albert Pujols, next man up! (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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