This Week in SABR: May 23, 2014

May 23, 2014/in This Week in SABR /by jpomrenke

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of May 23, 2014:

SABR 44: Deadline for discounted all-inclusive rate is next Friday

Just a reminder: There’s only one week left to sign up for SABR 44 at the discounted all-inclusive rate!

Register today for the SABR 44 all-inclusive package which includes full registration to SABR 44, 1 ticket to the Astros vs. Blue Jays game (including access to our exclusive SABR 44 ballpark session at Minute Maid Park), and 1 ticket to the SABR 44 Awards Luncheon.

The SABR 44 all-inclusive rate expires on Friday, May 30, so sign up today! Click here for more information on SABR 44 registration rates, all-inclusive packages and optional sessions.

For the all-inclusive rate of $214 (with Mezzanine ticket) or $234 (with Field Box ticket), you will receive:

Full registration to SABR 44 in Houston (regular rate: $169 for SABR members or $219 for nonmembers)
1 ticket to the Awards Banquet ($50)
Choose: 1 Field Box ticket to the Astros vs. Blue Jays game on Saturday, August 2 ($45)
OR
1 Mezzanine Level ticket ($25)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR SABR 44!

Our block of Astros game tickets will also be unavailable after Friday, May 30; please keep in mind that you must register for the convention AND purchase a ticket to the Astros game (through our ticket block or on your own) in order to attend the exclusive ballpark session at Minute Maid Park on Saturday, August 2.

Hotel room block going fast: Our SABR 44 hotel room block at the Royal Sonesta is going fast, so book your room today. Click here to book your room at the Royal Sonesta online. The deadline to book your room at the special SABR group rate of $129/night (plus tax) is Monday, July 14, 2014, or until our block is full. The Royal Sonesta is at 2222 W Loop S Fwy., Houston, TX 77027, in the heart of the Galleria, just minutes from downtown and Minute Maid Park. If you have any questions about your reservation, please call the hotel at (713) 627-7600.

Visit SABR.org/convention for more information on all the great panels, presentations and speakers we have in store for SABR 44 in Houston.

Nowlin, Flinn, Hawks elected to SABR Board of Directors

Members of the Society for American Baseball Research have elected three incumbents to the organization’s Board of Directors and approved two revisions to the By-Laws.

Bill Nowlin was re-elected as SABR’s Vice President in an unopposed race, receiving 751 of 763 first-preference votes.

This will be Nowlin’s sixth term as Vice President; he has served on the Board since 2004. In 2011, Nowlin was named as recipient of the Bob Davids Award, SABR’s highest honor. He has specialized in Red Sox research since he turned to writing and research in the late 1990s and has published about 30 books and several hundred articles, almost all of which are Red Sox-related. He is one of three founders of Rounder Records, one of America’s most successful independent record labels. He has traveled widely, visiting more than 125 countries to date, and has recently returned to academia (he taught college for 12 years), offering an online course on “Baseball and Politics” at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

F.X. Flinn was re-elected as SABR’s Treasurer in an unopposed race, receiving 738 of 748 first-preference votes.

Flinn is the senior member of the SABR Board, first elected as Treasurer in 2001. In 1990, he started Expert Systems Development Corp, an IT consulting firm specializing in data warehousing, knowledge management and process development. After graduating from Cornell University in 1975, he worked in the trade book publishing industry for Doubleday and Bantam. In 1981 he became involved with the Rotisserie League founders and in 1984 published the first book on fantasy sports, Rotisserie League Baseball. Flinn comes from a large extended family, and while he and his wife have no children, they enjoy doting on more than a score of nieces and nephews. They live in Quechee, Vermont.

Emily Hawks was elected as a SABR Director, receiving 413 of 761 first-preference votes. Mike Dugan was the runner-up, receiving 105 first-preference votes, while Chris Dial finished third with 103 votes. George Skornickel (74 votes) and Bryan Soderholm-Difatte (58 votes) were also candidates for the position.

Hawks was appointed to the SABR Board in October 2013 after the resignation of Paul Hirsch. A SABR member since 2008, she is an Assistant Vice President in the Analytics unit of Guy Carpenter and Co., LLC. In her role, she utilizes statistical models to quantify levels of risk for her clients, usually insurance companies, and consults with them on their business growth strategies. Hawks is also pursuing a Master’s in Computational Finance and Risk Management in the Applied Math department at the University of Washington. As an active member of the SABR Northwest Chapter, Hawks has been a regular attendee at SABR’s National Conventions, Analytics Conference and Arizona Fall League Conference. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

In addition, two By-Laws revisions were approved by SABR members. A proposed revision to Sections 2.1/2.2, regarding membership affiliations and the privileges of membership, was passed with 717 of 796 votes (90.1%). A proposed revision to Section 4.2, regarding Board of Directors compensation, was passed with 748 of 799 votes (93.6%).

Special thanks go out to Tellers Committee members Mort Bloomberg, Michael Craig, and Chuck Mackey for certifying the results on May 22 at the SABR office.

The 2014 SABR elections featured online voting for the fifth consecutive year as well as traditional paper ballots. A total of 823 votes were received, constituting about 13.97 percent of the membership.

SABR members can find complete 2014 election results, including write-in candidates and voting totals, posted here.

A historical list of SABR’s Board of Directors can be found by clicking here. Past voting totals can be found here.

SABR 44: Research presentations

We’ve got an exciting lineup of research presentations for SABR 44 in Houston this summer. We hope you’ll join us July 30-August 3, 2014, at the Royal Sonesta Houston for a full week of baseball fun.

Here is the schedule of research presentations for the Houston convention. Presenter bios and abstracts will be announced soon, along with poster presentations.

Thursday, July 31

RP01: The Minions of Mikado: The Quest to Form the First Professional Japanese-American Baseball Team, by Rob Fitts
RP02: Framing of Experimental Medical Procedures in Baseball, by Coral Marshall
RP03: Evaluating the Impact of Baseball at Japanese-American WWII Internment Camps: An assessment of the game and its portrayal in popular culture, by Emily Hawks and Anthony Salazar
RP04: Just a Little Bit Outside …, by Nicholas Miceli and Tom Bertoncino
RP05: Too Much, Too Fast, Too Young: Major League Baseball’s Struggle to Control Its Menacing Drug Problem, by Joe Thompson
RP06: A Tall Tale Comes to Texas: Hank Greenberg and the 1932 Beaumont Explorers, by Steve Krevisky
RP07: Let Them Play! The Houston Astrodome, the 1970s, and America’s Golden Age of Popular Culture, by David Krell
RP08: Levittown Defeats Forth Worth to Win the 1960 Little League World Series, by Mark Kanter
RP09: A History of the Houston Colt .45s/Astros in The Rule Five Draft, by Steven Glassman
RP10: “The Bikers Beat the Boy Scouts”: Facial Hair and the 1972 World Series, by Maxwell Kates

Friday, August 1

RP11: Leo the Lip and the New York Giants, by John Burbridge
RP12: The Retroactive All-Star Game Project, by Chuck Hildebrandt and Mike Lynch
RP13: Revenge of the Parrott, by Andy McCue
RP14: Lead Me Out to the Ballgame: A Study Investigating the Leadership of MLB Managers, by Howard Fero and Rebecca Herman
RP15: The Case for Al Campanis, by Mark Armour
RP16: The Ballpark Sportscape: Outfield Advertising and the Branding Issue, by Ed Mayo, Dobb Mayo and John Weitzel
RP17: The Cuban Baseball “Defectors” – An Insider’s Full Revelations on the True “Inside” Story, by Peter C. Bjarkman
RP18: The Daniel Boone of Major League Baseball in Houston: George Kirksey, by George Skornickel
RP19: The Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy, by Daniel R. Levitt
RP20: William Hulbert and the Birth of the Business of Professional Baseball, by Michael Haupert

Saturday, August 2

RP21: An Expanded Game-Theoretic Model of a Batter-Pitcher Confrontation in Baseball, by Anton Dahbura
RP22: Texas Black Spiders: Texas’ Black Barnstorming Champions, by Paul Spyhalski
RP23: An In-Depth Study of Team Chemistry in Baseball, by Vince Gennaro
RP24: The Houston Eagles and Professional Negro League Baseball in Texas: Not Every Bird Soars when it Migrates South, by Eric Robinson
RP25: Why Does the Home Team Score So Much in the First Inning?, by David W. Smith
RP26: Jackie Robinson Wasn’t the Dodgers’ First Choice, by Jim Kreuz
RP27: The Strike-Zone Squeeze, by Richard Thurston
RP28: What Options Did the Managers Have?: Charlie Dressen’s Bad Day at the Office and the Brooks Lawrence Affair, by Bryan Soderholm-Difatte
RP29: The 1931 Dixie Series: Houston vs. Birmingham: The Brash Youngster Faces the Wily Veteran in a Series for the Ages, by Steve Steinberg
RP30: The Definitive Resolution Of the 1912 NL Triple Crown Discrepancy, by Herm Krabbenhoft
RP31: The Houston Cardinals: How Close did the Bayou City Come to Having Major League Baseball Ten Years Sooner?, by Mike Vance
RP32: Was Mantle’s Peak Value Really Greater than Mays’s? No., by David Kaiser

For more information on SABR 44, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 44: Committee meetings

Here is the early schedule for research committee meetings at SABR 44 on July 30-August 3, 2014, at the Royal Sonesta Houston:

BALLPARKS
Stan Meradith, co-chair (smeradith@dlrgroup.com)
Gary Gillette, co-chair (ggillette@247baseball.com)
Jim Gordon, co-chair (JimBruin@roadrunner.com)
Thursday, July 31, 6:15 p.m., Champions VI/VIII

BASEBALL AND THE ARTS
Jeff Campbell, co-chair (hungryformusic@worldnet.att.net)
Joanne Hulbert, co-chair (jhulbert@earthlink.net)
Wednesday, July 30, 6:30 p.m., Champions VI/VII

BASEBALL AND THE MEDIA
Chuck Hildebrandt, chair (chuck.sabr@gmail.com)
John McMurray, vice-chair (Mcmurrayj@aol.com)
Saturday, August 2, 8:00 a.m., Champions I/II

BASEBALL RECORDS
Lyle Spatz, chair (lspatz@comcast.net)
Trent McCotter, vice-chair (treant985@gmail.com)
Saturday, August 2, 7:00 a.m., Champions I/II

BIBLIOGRAPHY/BASEBALL INDEX PROJECT
Andy McCue, chair (agmccue44@earthlink.net)
Robert McAfee, vice-chair (xerxes7@earthlink.net)
Thursday, July 31, 4:15 p.m., Champions VI/VII

BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
Bill Carle, chair (bbxpert@aol.com)
David Vincent, vice-chair (grandslams@aol.com)
Saturday, August 2, 7:00 a.m., Champions VI/VII

BIOPROJECT
Mark Armour, director (markarmour04@gmail.com)
Thursday, July 31, 7:30 a.m., Champions I/II

BLACK SOX SCANDAL
Jacob Pomrenke, chair (buckweaver@gmail.com)
Friday, August 1, 5:30 p.m., Champions I/II

BUSINESS OF BASEBALL
Michael Haupert, co-chair (mhaupert@uwlax.edu)
Steven Weingarden, co-chair (steveweingarden@gmail.com)
Wednesday, July 30, 6:30 p.m., Champions I/II

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL
Karl Green, chair (greenk@mindspring.com)
Thursday, July 31, 5:15 p.m., Champions VI/VII

DEADBALL ERA (1901-19)
John McMurray, chair (deadball@sabr.org)
Trey Strecker, vice-chair (tstrecker@bsu.edu)
Friday, August 1, 7:00 a.m., Champions I/II

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Andy Andres, chair (Andy.Andres@Post.Harvard.edu)
Bill Nowlin, vice-chair (bnowlin@rounder.com)
Friday, August 1, 6:30 p.m., Champions V

GAMES AND SIMULATIONS
Steve Krevisky, chair (sakrevisky@sbcglobal.net)
Thursday, July 31, 4:00 p.m., Champions V

LATINO BASEBALL
Anthony Salazar, chair (salazar8017@yahoo.com)
Thursday, July 31, 5:15 p.m., Champions I/II

MINOR LEAGUES
Joe Werner, co-chair (J_Werner92@ymail.com)
Joe Wancho, co-chair (jw2462@sbcglobal.net)
Thursday, July 31, 7:30 a.m., Champions VI/VII

NEGRO LEAGUES
Dick Clark, co-chair (tstearnes@comcast.net)
Larry Lester, co-chair (NTResearch@comcast.net)
Friday, August 1, 6:30 p.m., Champions VI/VII

NINETEENTH CENTURY
Peter Mancuso, chair (peterplus4@earthlink.net)
Bob Bailey, vice-chair (bobbailey@cox.net)
Saturday, August 2, 8:00 a.m., Champions VI/VII

ORAL HISTORY
Paul Ringel, co-chair (pbringel@gmail.com)
Justin Murphy, co-chair (jdmurphy315@yahoo.com)
Thursday, July 31, 7:30 a.m., Champions V

ORIGINS
Lawrence McCray, chair emeritus (lmccray@mit.edu)
Friday, August 1, 6:30 p.m., Champions I/II

PICTORIAL HISTORY
T. Scott Brandon, co-chair (t_scott_brandon@msn.com)
Mark Fimoff, co-chair (bmarlowe@comcast.net)
Cary Smith, co-chair (zinnbeck@aol.com)
Friday, August 1, 5:30 p.m., Champions VI/VII

RETROSHEET
David W. Smith, president (dwsmith@retrosheet.org)
Thursday, July 31, 6:15 p.m., Champions I/II

SCIENCE AND BASEBALL
Eric Van, chair (emvan@post.harvard.edu)
Thursday, July 31, 4:15 p.m., Champions I/II

SCOUTS
Rod Nelson, chair (rodericnelson@gmail.com)
Friday, August 1, 7:00 a.m., Champions V

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Phil Birnbaum, chair (birnbaum@sympatico.ca)
Friday, August 1, 7:00 a.m., Champions VI/VIII

WOMEN IN BASEBALL
Leslie Heaphy, co-chair (lheaphy@kent.edu)
Justine Siegal, co-chair (justinebaseball@gmail.com)
Friday, August 1, 5:30 p.m., Legends IV/VII (immediately following panel discussion)

Some committees have not scheduled meetings yet. Please check back at SABR.org/convention for updates.

SABR 44: Transportation tips

SABR 44 will be held July 30-August 3, 2014, at the Royal Sonesta Houston, in the heart of the Galleria, just minutes from downtown and Minute Maid Park.

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a spectacular SABR 44 convention in the summer of 2014.

Members of the host Larry Dierker Chapter have compiled a list of transportation tips to help visitors and convention attendees enjoy their stay in the Bayou City, including directions to the hotel from both of Houston’s major airports (IAH and Hobby), along with a special SABR 44 SuperShuttle discount.

If you have any questions during your stay, please don’t hesitate to ask a friendly SABR 44 volunteer for assistance.

To view the SABR 44 Transportation Tips page, click here.

SABR 44: Convention schedule coming soon

We’ve got a lot of exciting events in store for SABR 44 that you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for “This Week in SABR” next week as we announce more details about the full convention schedule in Houston.

Here’s some of what we’ve got planned for SABR 44, July 30-August 3 at the Royal Sonesta in Houston:

All-Star lineup of guest speakers: Guest speakers at SABR 44 are expected to include: Reid Ryan, the Astros’ President of Business Operations; Jeff Luhnow, General Manager for the Houston Astros; Tal Smith, former Astros President and former SABR Director; Jimmy Wynn, original Colt .45 and Astros legend; Larry Dierker, longtime Astros player, broadcaster and manager; Bill Brown, Astros TV broadcaster; Pam Gardner, former Astros President of Business Operations; Dr. Bobby Brown, former American League President; Buck Martinez, former player and current Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster; Bob Watson, former player and general manager for the Astros; Bill Virdon, former player and manager for the Astros; Eddie Robinson, longtime player, general manager and baseball executive; Bob Aspromonte, original Colt .45 and former Brooklyn Dodger; Mickey Herskowitz, noted baseball author and sportswriter; Marie “Red” Mahoney, alumnus of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League; Jim Gilligan, Lamar University baseball coach with more than 1,000 career wins; and many more!
Exclusive ballpark session at Minute Maid Park: A special treat is in store for SABR 44 attendees this summer. On Saturday, August 2, SABR convention attendees will have the opportunity to visit Minute Maid Park for an exclusive ballpark session with Houston Astros executives and players. That’s also the night of Before the Astros’ 6:05 p.m. game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two SABR 44 panel discussions will take place inside the ballpark’s Champions Pavilion, just above center field on the Mezzanine Level at Minute Maid Park. Guest speakers and more details will be announced soon. Please note: You must be registered for the convention AND purchase an Astros game ticket in order to attend the ballpark session at Minute Maid Park.
Complimentary Houston baseball book: All SABR 44 convention attendees will also receive complimentary copies of Houston Baseball: The Early Years 1861-1961, edited by Mike Vance and produced by SABR’s Larry Dierker Chapter; and The National Pastime, our annual convention journal focusing on baseball in the Houston area.
Sugar Land Skeeters game: We’ll visit brand-new Constellation Park, home of the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters, about 20 miles southwest of downtown Houston for a game between the Skeeters and the Bridgeport Bluefish. Before the game, former Houston Astros president and SABR member Tal Smith will welcome SABR 44 attendees before the game, and an optional all-you-can-eat buffet will be served. And hey, you might even get to see former NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady pitch for the Skeeters, too.
Historical Ballparks Site Tour: Our tour will include stops at the sites of the three minor league and two former major league ballparks that hosted professional baseball in Houston from the 1870s until 1999. There will also be drive-bys of a few semi-pro baseball locations where former major leaguers stayed in the game after their days in the majors had ended. The tour culminates with a visit to the Astrodome, the most architecturally significant stadium in America.
Houston City History Walking Tour: Get a taste of Bayou City history. Tour guide Mike Vance, a SABR member and Executive Director of Houston Arts and Media, is one of the top historians and storytellers in Houston. He will have dozens of stories to share along the walk. Participants will see the site of an early capitol of the Republic of Texas, now a historic hotel where JFK stayed the day before he was assassinated. There will be stops to see stellar art deco architecture and gleaming modern skyscrapers mixed in with tales of dueling, Civil War murder and oil barons. Please note: The tour, limited to 56 people, is now sold out. To be placed on a waiting list in case a spot opens up, please e-mail djayne@sabr.org.
Research presentations, committee meetings, and the SABR Trivia Contest: No SABR Convention is complete without a full slate of groundbreaking baseball research and a chance to talk baseball all week with the most passionate international community of fans around.

Sign up for SABR 44 today! You can register online for SABR 44 at SABR.org/convention or by phone at (602) 343-6450. Contact Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org if you have any questions.

And don’t forget to donate! Did you know that anyone who donates $100 or more to SABR gets admitted to a special Donors Breakfast at the annual convention? Membership dues allow SABR to survive; it is donations from people like you that help us thrive. (A donation of $200 or more entitles the donor to one additional ticket.)

We look forward to seeing you in Houston this summer!

SABR 44: Houston City History Tour now sold out

We’ve had a fantastic response for the SABR 44 Houston City History Tour, a combined bus/walking tour scheduled for 1-4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30.

The tour, limited to 56 people, is now sold out. To be placed on a waiting list in case a spot opens up, please e-mail djayne@sabr.org.

This tour will leave from the Royal Sonesta and head to Minute Maid Park, where we’ll walk around Downtown Houston and give tour-goers a taste of Bayou City history. Tour guide Mike Vance, a SABR member and Executive Director of Houston Arts and Media, is one of the top historians and storytellers in Houston. He will have dozens of stories to share along the walk.

Participants will see the site of an early capitol of the Republic of Texas, now a historic hotel where JFK stayed the day before he was assassinated. There will be stops to see stellar art deco architecture and gleaming modern skyscrapers mixed in with tales of dueling, Civil War murder and oil barons.

For more information on SABR 44, visit SABR.org/convention.

Students: Deadline to apply for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend SABR 44 in Houston is June 6

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 44 on July 30-August 3, 2014, in Houston, Texas. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging 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. The Yoseloff scholarship is to assist young researchers who want to attend SABR’s annual convention and to introduce them to fellow SABR members. Through this fund, SABR hopes to inspire future baseball research, expose students to high-quality research and build the research capability of interested students.

Download an application form: Click here to download a Yoseloff Scholarship form to attend SABR 44 in Houston

Students must be currently enrolled in a high school, college undergraduate or graduate program, and be between 18 and 29 years of age at the time of the conference. All applications must be postmarked or e-mailed to Jeff Schatzki at jschatzki@sabr.org no later than June 6, 2014.

For more information on the SABR 44 Yoseloff Scholarships, along with eligibility requirements, click here.

Register now for 2014 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

The 2014 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held August 14-16, 2014, at the Marriott Courtyard Downtown (333 E. Jefferson Avenue) in Detroit, Michigan. The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages.

Registration is now available at the SABR Store. Click here to register for the 2014 Malloy Conference online. Or click here to download the complete registration packet and mail-in form (PDF).

Regular registration is $175 for an adult rate (includes all activities) or $120 for a student rate. Single-day registration for Friday or Saturday is $100. The rate for the Thursday education forum only is $20. Optional sessions are also available.

The conference theme is “Turkey Stearnes and Black Baseball in Michigan.” Black baseball has a long history in Michigan, especially centered in the Motor City. Among the original entrants to the Negro National League in 1920 was Tenny Blount’s Detroit Stars, managed by Pete Hill and anchored by Big Bill Gatewood on the mound. The Detroit Wolves and Motor City Giants also played in Mack Park and Hamtramck stadium. In addition to the well-known Turkey Stearnes other star players included catcher Bruce Petway, the speedy Jimmie Lyons and the powerful Edgar Wesley.

The 17th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will celebrate this rich baseball history. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees will also enjoy special presentations about local parks as well as a Tigers game against the Seattle Mariners.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/malloy.

More than 40 SABR members to speak at 2014 Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture

The 26th annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, co-sponsored by the State University of New York College at Oneonta and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, will be held May 28-30 at the Baseball Hall of Fame. The conference examines the impact of baseball on American culture from interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives.

Registration Fees: $180 General Fee, $160 Friends of the Hall of Fame Members, $120 Undergraduate/Graduate Students (with student ID)

Registration fee includes light refreshments each day, a catered dinner in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery on Thursday, and a three-day pass to the Hall of Fame. Per diem rates are available for those unable to attend the entire symposium ($50 for Wednesday or Friday, and $100 for Thursday which includes dinner.)

Keynote address: Janet Marie Smith, Senior Vice-President for Planning and Development, Los Angeles Dodgers

Speakers include SABR members Jon Arakaki, Jean Hastings Ardell, Adam Berenbak, William Blake, Thomas Brady, Denis Brennan, Ron Briley, Brian Carroll, John Carvalho, Ira Cooperman, Charles DeMotte, Iva Deutchman, Rob Edelman, Ed Edmonds, Jim Gates, Vince Gennaro, Leslie Heaphy, Tom Heitz, Paul Hensler, Jay Hurd, David Krell, Lee Lowenfish, Bruce Markusen, Ed Mayo, Dobb Mayo, Wayne McDonnell Jr., Todd McDorman, David Moriah, Bill Nowlin, Dave Ogden, Wayne Patterson, Richard Puerzer, Jennifer Ring, Keith Robbins, Matt Rothenberg, Alex Sanders, Curt Smith, Trey Strecker, Bob Tufts, Kevin Warneke, Howard M. Wasserman, and Thomas Wolf.

For more information, and a complete schedule, visit http://baseballhall.org/symposium.

Hessman becomes eighth minor leaguer to hit 400 career home runs

On Tuesday, May 20, Mike Hessman of the Toledo Mud Hens became the eighth professional minor leaguer to hit 400 career home runs when he hit a two-run blast to left field off Rochester’s Scott Diamond in the first inning of a game at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York.

According to MiLB.com’s Sam Dykstra, Hessman’s homer was his 255th in International League play, three shy of Ollie Carnegie for the all-time league record. He has hit 151 of his homers with the Mud Hens, a club record.

The 36-year-old Hessman joined this list of players in the 400 club, according to Going for the Fences: The Minor League Home Run Book, by the late Bob McConnell, one of SABR’s 16 founding members:

Espino (453 of 484), Barrera (455 of 479), Mora (419 of 444), and Ortiz (434) hit most of their home runs in the Mexican League, while the others played in U.S.-based professional leagues. The Mexican League joined Organized Baseball in 1955.

Espino became the career minor league home run leader during the 1977 season, surpassing Arlett, a Pacific Coast League legend who held the title for 44 years.

It’s rare that a player stays in the minor leagues long enough to hit 400 career home runs. Hessman began his professional career in 1996, when he was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 15th round of the amateur draft. He reached the major leagues in 2003, and hit .188 with 14 home runs in 109 games over parts of five seasons with the Braves, Tigers and Mets. You can view his career statistics in the SABR Minor League Database, which has been licensed to Baseball-Reference.com.

For more information on SABR’s Minor League Statistics Project or to get involved, contact Frank Hamilton.

Related link: On Wednesday, May 21, Jon Griffin of the Mobile Bay Bears hit four home runs in a Southern League game against the Tennessee Smokies. Click here to view SABR’s comprehensive list of all players to hit four homers in one game.

7 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Seven new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,824 published biographies. Here are the new bios:

Bob Bowman, by Greg Erion
Rex Cecil, by Bill Nowlin
Frank Corridon, by Bill Lamb
Boyd Cypert, by Chris Rainey
Ken Hunt, by Terry Bohn
Bob Shawkey, by Stephen V. Rice
Roe Skidmore, 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.

1964 St. Louis Cardinals bios now online: By 1964, the storied St. Louis Cardinals had gone 17 years without so much as a pennant. Things began to turn around in 1953, when August A. Busch Jr. bought the team and famously asked where all the black players were. Under the leadership of men like Bing Devine and Johnny Keane, the Cardinals began signing talented players regardless of color, and slowly their star started to rise again. Drama and Pride in the Gateway City: The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals, edited by John Harry Stahl and Bill Nowlin and published as part of SABR’s “Memorable Teams” series with the University of Nebraska Press, commemorates the team that Devine built, the 1964 team that prevailed in one of the tightest three-way pennant races of all time and then went on to win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in the full seven games. All the players, executives, coaches, and broadcasters from that special Redbirds team come alive in these pages — from Bob Gibson to Curt Flood, from Lou Brock to Ernie Broglio, from Harry Caray to Bob Uecker — along with the dramatic events that made the 1964 Cardinals such a memorable club in a memorable year. The SABR BioProject biographies that appeared in that book can now be read online at: http://sabr.org/category/completed-book-projects/1964-st-louis-cardinals.

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, Games, 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!

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.

Call for papers: Jack Kavanagh Memorial Youth Baseball Research Award

Students, the deadline to submit research papers for the Jack Kavanagh Memorial Youth Baseball Research Award is June 1, 2014.

The Kavanagh Award may be presented each year for either a research presentation given at the SABR National Convention (papers must accompany any oral presentation), or for a research paper that is submitted to the awards committee no later than June 1 by a researcher in grades 6-8 (middle school category), grades 9-12 (high school category), or undergraduates 22 and under (college category.)

The winner will receive a plaque honoring their achievement and the following:

College ($200 prize and one-year membership)
High School ($200 prize and one-year membership)
Middle School ($100 prize and two-year membership)

Additionally, the winning entry shall be published on the SABR website and may be published in either The National Pastime or the Baseball Research Journal. All finalists (3) shall receive one-year SABR memberships.

The Jack Kavanagh Memorial Youth Baseball Research Award was established in 1999 in recognition of Kavanagh’s writing and research achievements and his contributions to SABR. The Award was presented for the first time at the 2000 SABR National Convention in West Palm Beach, Florida.

For details on submission guidelines and eligibility requirements, click here. For questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.

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: 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
Sean Briody	Commack, NY	Michael Moran	Scottsdale, AZ
Jeremy Burbick	Lakewood, CO	Michael Nealer	Williamsburg, VA
Bob Byrne	Reynoldsburg, OH	Vic Olson	Van Meter, IA
Michael Ego	Stamford, CT	Ryan Parker	Maryland Hts, MO
Matthew Feist	Vancouver, WA	John Reimer	Wauwatosa, WI
John Kellenbenz	Honolulu, HI	Randall Shelden	Henderson, NV
Kirk Kovacs	Curtice, OH	Zack Tsahalis	Middletown, CT
Chris Krebs	Bowling Green, KY	Don Williams	Corinth, TX
Dirk Lammers	Sioux Falls, SD	Stephen Wright	Littleton, MA
Joey Lovell	Camp Hill, PA	Steve York	Wayland, MA
Jim McNearney	Shakopee, MN

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee newsletters published this week:

Origins: The Board of Directors has approved the selection of Bill Humber, Deb Shattuck, Mark Brunke, and Marty Payne to the Origins Committee’s steering committee. They will work closely with chair emeritus Larry McCray to help guide the committee’s activities in the future. To learn more about the Origins Committee, click here.
Women in Baseball: Spring 2014

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new chapter meeting recaps published this week:

Oklahoma Chapter meeting recap (Chandler, OK; May 17)
Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap (St. Louis, MO; May 19)
Bob Davids Chapter May 2014 newsletter (Washington, DC)

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

May 24: East Tennessee Chapter meeting (Knoxville, TN)
May 24: Baseball Prospectus: Pizza and Prospects (Chicago, IL)
May 28: Magnolia Chapter “Fourth Wednesday” meeting (Tucker, GA)
May 28: Bergino: “The Fight of Their Lives” with John Rosengren (New York, NY)
May 28-30: 26th annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture (Cooperstown, NY)
May 31: Connecticut Smoky Joe Chapter meeting/ballgame (New Britain, CT)
June 7: Auker-Seminick Chapter meeting (St. Petersburg, FL)
June 7: Bob Davids Chapter major league meeting (Baltimore, MD)
June 11: Bob Davids Chapter monthly Hot Stove dinner (Arlington, VA)
June 14: Smoky Joe Wood Chapter breakfast (Hamden, CT)
June 14: Halsey Hall Chapter book club (Roseville, MN)
June 14: Baseball Prospectus Ballpark Tour (Seattle, WA)
June 14: Rochester Base Ball Pioneers cemetery tour (Rochester, NY)

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:

SABR’s Negro Leagues Grave Markers Project: Pioneers are gone but not forgotten (Sports on Earth)
Save 30% on select new baseball books from the University of Nebraska Press; use discount code 6MBC when ordering (UNP)
SABR member Andy Andres answered questions about sabermetrics and working in baseball in a Reddit AMA on Thursday (“Ask Me Anything”) (Reddit.com)
Paul Swydan: The origin of Andy Andres’s Sabermetrics 101 course (FanGraphs)
President Obama becomes first sitting president to tour Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (BaseballHall.org)
David Laurila: Pedro Martinez on the art and science of pitching (FanGraphs)
Ben Lindbergh: Explaining the position-player pitching parade (Baseball Prospectus)
Chris Teeter: The pluses and minuses of all those strikeouts (Beyond the Box Score)
Jeff Sullivan: The pitchers who benefit most from good catchers (FanGraphs)
Eno Sarris: Could a six-man pitching rotation fix baseball’s injury problem? (Sports on Earth)
Gabriel Schechter: A not-so-instant replay of Lombardi’s Snooze (The National Pastime Museum)
Dorothy Seymour Mills: MLB searches for talent, but not in the right places (Seamheads)
Chris Anderson: Who was ‘The Rookie’ in Rockwell’s famous Red Sox painting? (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
Rany Jazayerli: Brad Ziegler and an appreciation of submarine pitchers (Grantland)
Ben Strauss: Talking with Cubs’ last link to World Series, Lennie Merullo (New York Times)
Matthew Leach: Track to the future with baseball’s new metrics (MLB.com)
Alyson Footer: Negro Leagues’ legacy begins with Rube Foster in Houston (MLB.com)
Mike Dyer: Sandy Koufax’s uniform number at University of Cincinnati remains a mystery (Cincinnati.com)
Scott Ferkovich: When the St. Louis Cardinals considered moving to Detroit (Detroit Athletic Co.)
Daniel Wyatt: The one and only Rocky Nelson (The National Pastime Museum)
David Waldstein: Who’s on third? In baseball’s shifting defenses, maybe nobody (New York Times)
Floyd Sullivan: Wrigley Field centennial mural depicts Comiskey Park (ChicagoNow)
Milwaukee Brewers seeking candidates for Baseball Systems department

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.

Are you receiving our e-mails? “This Week in SABR” goes out by e-mail to all members on Friday afternoons. If they’re not showing up, try adding “sabr.notes@sabr.org” to your contact list to ensure they show up in your inbox (and not the spam folder.)

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