This Week in SABR: May 22, 2020
Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Please note: The SABR office will be closed on Monday, May 25 for the Memorial Day holiday. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of May 22, 2020:
SABR Games Project reaches milestone with 2,000 stories
The SABR Games Project has reached a milestone with the publication of its 2,000th article this week.
The newest batch of SABR Games Project stories includes notable and memorable games from all eras of baseball history. Our recent articles include stories about:
- May 1, 1883: Mickey Welch wins first game in New York Giants franchise history, by Stephen V. Rice
- July 24, 1911: ‘Galaxy of Stars’ takes the field in Cleveland in honor of Addie Joss, by Vince Guerrieri
- September 20, 1952: Stan Musial, Frank Baumholtz compete for National League batting title, by Tom Larwin
- June 26, 1956: Sal Maglie pitches, Rube Walker hits Dodgers past Cubs, by Steven C. Weiner
- September 20, 1961: Roger Maris hits 59th home run as Yankees clinch pennant, by Tim Odzer
- June 26, 1976: Pirates slip past Expos despite Bombo Rivera’s inside-the-park grand slam, by Gary Belleville
- April 18, 1987: Mike Schmidt’s 500th home run rallies Phillies over Pirates, by John Fredland
- September 5, 2019: Brother vs. brother: Marlins’ Brian Moran strikes out Pirates’ Colin in major-league debut, by Laura H. Peebles
Formed in 2014 and now headed up by Mike Huber, Steven C. Weiner, Len Levin, Bruce Slutsky, and Laura H. Peebles, the SABR Games Project is an initiative to research, write, and publish accounts of major-league regular season, postseason, and All-Star Games, along with other games of historical significance such as in the Negro Leagues, minor leagues, or international or exhibition contests. These game accounts complement Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference box scores, as well as SABR BioProject essays on the players involved.
Visit SABR.org/gamesproject to find more stories from the Games Project.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
Get a 25% discount on pre-orders of new SABR 50 at 50 book
Baseball has seen many changes in the last 50 years, and SABR’s 50th anniversary provides an opportunity to highlight the most memorable players, teams, and events from the game’s glorious past.
SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game, edited by Bill Nowlin and now available for pre-order from the University of Nebraska Press, celebrates and highlights SABR’s wide-ranging contributions to baseball history.
SABR members can get a 25% discount off the cover price by using the discount code 6SFF when ordering at nebraskapress.unl.edu or calling 800-848-6224. (To order outside of North America, please call +44 (0)1423 526350 and use the discount code CS40UNP.)
The diversity of SABR members’ interests is reflected in this fiftieth-anniversary volume — from baseball and the arts to statistical analysis to the Deadball Era to women in baseball. SABR 50 at 50 includes the most important and influential research published by members across a multitude of topics, including the sabermetric work of Dick Cramer, Pete Palmer, and Bill James, along with Jerry Malloy on the Negro Leagues, Keith Olbermann on why the shortstop position is number 6, John Thorn and Jules Tygiel on the untold story behind Jackie Robinson’s signing with the Dodgers, and Gai Berlage on the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s team in the 1990s.
Leading up to SABR’s 50th anniversary in 2021, the organization will also produce a series of online exhibits at SABR.org to highlight baseball’s most impactful players and off-field figures, ballgames, record-breaking feats, books, films, stories, milestones, and baseball cards.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events
Last month, we launched our Stay Home With SABR initiative, an eight-week effort from April 1 to May 31 to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. During this time, all new membership dues SABR receives will be split with Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit organization that distributes urgently needed equipment and medication to partners around the world during this global crisis.
SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org. This week, we heard from award-winning author Jeremy Beer, former major-league first baseman Deacon Jones, former minor-league outfielder Jeremy Barfield, ESPN analyst Doug Glanville, and Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black.
Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can “attend” online:
- May 23: Casey Stengel Chapter meeting with author Brian Wright (11:00 a.m. EDT)
- May 23: Pee Wee Reese Chapter meeting with author Brad Balukjian (12:00 p.m. EDT)
- May 23: Quebec Chapter meeting with author Christian Trudeau (2:00 p.m. EDT)
- May 23: Latino Baseball Committee meeting with author Jorge Iber (1:00 p.m. PDT)
- May 24: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter chat with Pawtucket Red Sox broadcaster Mike Antonellis (2:00 p.m. CDT)
- May 25: SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer: panel discussion on Jim Bouton’s Ball Four (5:00 p.m. PDT)
- May 27: Jack Graney (Cleveland) Chapter meeting with author Travis Sawchick (7:30 p.m. EDT)
- May 30: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter chat with baseball scientist Meredith Wills (2:00 p.m. CDT)
- May 31: Detroit Chapter open baseball forum (7:00 p.m. EDT)
Find more upcoming virtual meetings and watch replays of past events on our SABR Virtual Calendar page.
Donate today to the SABR Sustainability Campaign fund
A big thank you to all SABR members who have donated to our Sustainability Campaign! These resources are being used to deliver rich baseball content, valuable research resources, and ensure that we are able to deliver a top-notch membership experience — just to name a few. Help us reach our goal of $100,000 today:
Click here to donate to the SABR Sustainability Campaign fund
So many members have stepped up and made contributions during these challenging times. To date, SABR members have donated about $83,000 to the Sustainability Campaign and we truly cannot thank you enough. To view a list of donors, Friends of SABR, through the end of April, click here.
We understand these are tough times for many of us and not everyone is in a position to donate at this time. SABR is a community and everyone can pitch in to support our organization in their own way, and when they are comfortable doing so. For those who have donated, we appreciate your support, and for those who will donate at some point, we thank you in advance.
Visit SABR.org/donate/sustain to learn more.
SABR Digital Library: Braves Win! The 1995 World Champion Atlanta Braves
Add a championship baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:
Braves Win! Braves Win! Braves Win! The 1995 World Champion Atlanta Braves
Edited by Tom Hufford and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
Foreword by John Schuerholz
ISBN (e-book) 978-1-9701-5922-6, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5923-3, $34.95
8.5″ x 11″, 484 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 Braves Win! for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
- Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Braves Win! paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)
SABR members can download all Digital Library e-books for free or get 50% off the paperback edition. Find more titles at SABR.org/ebooks.
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.
Call for papers: 2020 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference
SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center have announced a call for papers for the second annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, scheduled for September 11-13, 2020, at Rockford University in Rockford, Illinois.
This year’s conference theme is celebrating African American women in baseball. All topics related to women’s baseball and the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues are welcome for individual oral and poster presentations.
Please submit abstracts of approximately 200 words, along with contact information and a short biography, by July 15, 2020, to Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.
Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.
SABR office continuing to work remotely
The SABR office, housed at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona, has been closed indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Staff members will work remotely until it is advisable to resume normal operations on-site.
On Monday, March 16, ASU announced that all in-person classes would transition to online instruction for the rest of the spring semester. Please contact a member of the SABR staff by email or phone with any questions.
SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference rescheduled for 2021
Due to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, SABR’s Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference has been rescheduled for June 10-13, 2021, at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama.
Anyone who has already registered for the Malloy Conference is encouraged to contact Deb Jayne at the SABR office to discuss options regarding their conference registration fees, including converting it into a donation toward SABR’s Sustainability Campaign fund.
The Negro Leagues Committee is one of SABR’s original committees, formed in 1971. It has continued to preserve and highlight the contributions of African-American players in baseball history. Visit SABR.org/malloy to learn more.
SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with ESPN analyst Doug Glanville
As part of our Stay Home With SABR intiative, SABRcast with Rob Neyer will be recorded via online livestream each Monday night at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Each episode will feature nationally known guests plus an interactive Q&A in which all baseball fans can participate.
Episode #60 on Monday, May 18 featured Doug Glanville, ESPN baseball analyst and former MLB outfielder. He spent nine seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Texas Rangers from 1996 to 2004. He first joined ESPN in 2010 and contributes to Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter, and other programs. He co-hosts the Starkville podcast with Jayson Stark at The Athletic. He is also the author of The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View and he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.
- Join us: Listen to SABRcast Live on Monday, May 25 with a panel discussion on Jim Bouton’s Ball Four
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. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.
4 new SABR biographies published
Four new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 5,204 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:
- Willie Gisentaner, by Stephen V. Rice
- George Scales, by Stephen V. Rice
- Ted Sullivan, by Frank Vaccaro
- Edward Bennett Williams, by Vince Guerrieri
All new biographies can be found here: SABR.org/bioproj/recent
- Search for any SABR biography: You can now visit sabr.org/bioproj_search to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. You can also browse all of these BioProject categories and a lot more, including 300-game winners, Hall of Famers, 1960s All-Stars, or Negro Leaguers, at our Browse page: sabr.org/bioproj/browse.
15 new stories published by the SABR Games Project
Fifteen new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project — bringing us to a total of 2,000 published stories since the project was launched back in 2014! Here are the new game stories:
- May 1, 1883: Mickey Welch wins first game in New York Giants franchise history, by Stephen V. Rice
- July 24, 1911: ‘Galaxy of Stars’ takes the field in Cleveland in honor of Addie Joss, by Vince Guerrieri
- September 20, 1952: Stan Musial, Frank Baumholtz compete for National League batting title, by Tom Larwin
- August 31, 1953: Senators nip Browns as Gil Coan homers off Satchel Paige, by Jack Zerby
- April 23, 1955: Giants, Al Dark confront Jackie Robinson at Ebbets Field, by John Burbridge
- June 26, 1956: Sal Maglie pitches, Rube Walker hits Dodgers past Cubs, by Steven C. Weiner
- September 20, 1961: Roger Maris hits 59th home run as Yankees clinch pennant, by Tim Odzer
- June 26, 1976: Pirates slip past Expos despite Bombo Rivera’s inside-the-park grand slam, by Gary Belleville
- July 6, 1986: Bob Horner’s four home runs for Braves not enough to beat Expos, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
- April 18, 1987: Mike Schmidt’s 500th home run rallies Phillies over Pirates, by John Fredland
- June 12, 1988: Robin Yount hits for the cycle as Brewers blast White Sox, by Mike Huber
- September 6, 1992: Kamieniecki fires eight shutout innings as Yankees rally late, by Gordon Gattie
- September 7, 2005: Dontrelle Willis becomes first Marlins pitcher to win 20 games, by Andrew Sharp
- une 1, 2019: Tanner Roark wins, hits his first home run for Nationals, by Laura H. Peebles
- September 5, 2019: Brother vs. brother: Marlins’ Brian Moran strikes out Pirates’ Colin in major-league debut, by Laura H. Peebles
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 recent episodes 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. Listen to new episodes at 4:00-5:00 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. 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.
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:
- SABR 50 convention in Baltimore rescheduled for 2021
- Leslie Heaphy, F.X. Flinn re-elected; Daniel Levitt elected as SABR Director
- Check out highlights and clips from the 2020 SABR Analytics Conference
- The SABR Bookshelf: Spring 2020
- Baccellieri, Staples, VanDeMortel win 2020 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards
- Charles DeMotte, Jeremy Beer win 2020 SABR Larry Ritter Book Award
- SABR Digital Library: Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15
- Brioso, Newman, Phillips win 2020 SABR Baseball Research Awards
- SABR Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference rescheduled for 2021
- Submit your creative writing for SABR’s Turnstyle baseball arts journal
- Get a gift for baseball fan in your life with the new SABR Store @ CafePress
- All e-books in SABR Digital Library available for free to members
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.
Name | Hometown | Name | Hometown | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Agnello | Brooklyn, NY | Richard McNair | Middleboro, MA | ||
Joe Boesch | Woodbury, NY | E.L. Moore | Yoakum, TX | ||
Alexander Brychta | Buford, GA | Joey Nicoletti | Grand Island, NY | ||
Josh Colafemina | Schenectady, NY | Mike Onigman | Acton, MA | ||
Kevin Cummiskey | Cornwall, NY | Stuart Sackett | Seven Fields, PA | ||
Matthew Galligan | Milford, CT | John Salvador | Middletown, DE | ||
Zoe Genzler | Oakland, CA | Arthur Schmidt | Macon, GA | ||
Alison Grillo | Jackson Heights, NY | Terry Teresi | San Leandro, CA | ||
Ira Hurvitz | Be’er Sheva, ISR | Lawrence Walsh | Claremont, NH | ||
John Jakicic | Buffalo Grove, IL | Howard Wasserman | Miami, FL | ||
Garry Lauter | Parma Heights, OH | John Wells | Aurora, OH | ||
Kevin Loxley | Newmarket, ON | Zachary Wyman | Seattle, WA |
Research Committee news
Here are the new research committee updates this week:
- Negro Leagues: June 2020 newsletter
Find all SABR research committee newsletters at SABR.org/research.
Regional Chapter news
Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:
- Boston Chapter: Read a new “Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau,” by Joanne Hulbert (Boston, MA)
- Larry Dierker Chapter: May 18 meeting recap (Houston, TX)
- Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter: May 9 meeting recap (Lexington, KY)
- Ted Williams Chapter: May 2020 newsletter (San Diego, CA)
Visit SABR.org/chapters for more information on SABR regional chapters.
SABR Virtual Events Calendar
Here are the upcoming virtual events on the SABR calendar:
- May 23: Casey Stengel Chapter meeting with author Brian Wright (11:00 a.m. EDT)
- May 23: Pee Wee Reese Chapter meeting with author Brad Balukjian (12:00 p.m. EDT)
- May 23: Quebec Chapter meeting with author Christian Trudeau (2:00 p.m. EDT)
- May 23: Latino Baseball Committee meeting with author Jorge Iber (1:00 p.m. PDT)
- May 25: SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer: panel discussion on Jim Bouton’s Ball Four (5:00 p.m. PDT)
- May 27: Jack Graney (Cleveland) Chapter meeting with author Travis Sawchick (7:30 p.m. EDT)
- May 30: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with baseball scientist Meredith Wills (2:00 p.m. CDT)
- May 31: Detroit Chapter open baseball forum (7:00 p.m. EDT)
Find more virtual meetings on our SABR Virtual Events Calendar page.
Around the Web
Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:
- Jayson Stark: What an 82-game season will (and won’t) mean (The Athletic)
- How MLB is navigating the coronavirus pandemic to play ball (ESPN.com)
- Rob Arthur: What a Taiwanese juiced-baseball scandal can tell us (Baseball Prospectus)
- Mitch Lutzke: Tigers finished 1918 season in shadow of pandemic, war (Tigers History)
- Anna Katherine Clemmons: Stranded MLB prospects find a backyard of dreams in Arizona (New York Times)
- Katie Strang: How a scandal unfolded and shaped the battle for card collecting’s soul (The Athletic)
- Cody Stavenhagen: For baseball legends and families, memorabilia can be a blessing and a burden (The Athletic)
- Craig Custance: The 25 most iconic sports cards of all time (The Athletic)
- Sam Miller: Hunches, home runs and humiliation: nine tales of unsung World Series heroes (ESPN.com)
- Amanda Lane: Baseball versus the Volcano: Mount St. Helens, the Spokane Indians, and the dogged Gonzaga Bulldogs (Lookout Landing)
- Jay Jaffe: A quick comparison of historical KBO and MLB trends (FanGraphs)
- Dan Szymborski: Which players lose out in 2020 service-time agreement? (FanGraphs)
- Mike Petriello: The L.A. Browns? How one day in 1941 changed MLB (MLB.com)
- Michael Clair: How far back in HR history can we go in 6 steps? (MLB.com)
- Alex Vigderman: What could MLB look like with 82 games and 14 playoff teams? (ACTA Sports)
- Rob Mains: MLB’s presentation to MLBPA impugns trust (Baseball Prospectus)
- Kumu Gupta: The legendary Mary Pratt, an irreplaceable void in history (Quincy Patriot-Ledger)
- David Laurila: A conversation with 1990s slugger Reggie Jefferson (FanGraphs)
- Phil Thompson: Despite World War I and the Spanish flu, George Halas thrived — and the Chicago Cubs may have dodged a fate worse than losing the World Series (Chicago Tribune)
- John Thorn: Notes from the old baseball guides (Our Game)
- Ryan Whirty: Revised book reveals more about life, legacy of Effa Manley (Home Plate Don’t Move)
- Ryan Fagan: Minnie Lee’s scorebooks: A two-decade love letter to Reds baseball (The Sporting News)
- Gary Cieradkowski: Lefty Grove(s) and the 1921 Baltimore Orioles (Studio Gary C)
- Brian Morrison: The mysterious case of Delos Brown (Diamonds in the Dusk)
- Jim Yeager: SABR Arkansas chapter enjoys a baseball season that never ends (Only in Arkansas)
- Richard Cuicchi: New Orleanian Mel Parnell capped Red Sox Hall of Fame career with no-hitter (Crescent City Sports)
- Al Yellon: Cubs’ 1968 expansion draft could have cost them the pennant in 1969 (Bleed Cubbie Blue)
- David A. Scott: 1920 Indians: All hail mighty Quinn (Medium.com)
- Sarah R. Ingber/Davy Andrews/Roger Cormier: Too far from town: Danville Bloopers (Baseball Prospectus)
- Jeff Cohen: Baseball and BBQ interview with Brett Topel (Baseball and BBQ podcast)
- Tim Jenkins: Ladies and Gentlemen! Your PCL Champion…Yankees? (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
- Jim Osborne: Set Building 101 (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
- John Racanelli: 1997 Denny’s: The Most Ambitious Set Ever? (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
- Dan Marowski: A Time of Innocence: Gary Bell, Howie Reed, and 1965 Topps Baseball (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
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: May 22, 2020. Last Updated: June 29, 2020.