This Week in SABR: November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020/in This Week in SABR /by sabr

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 for Thanksgiving on November 26-27. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of November 20, 2020:

SABR 50 at 50: Off-Field Figures

As part of the SABR 50 at 50 project to commemorate the organization’s fiftieth anniversary, we invite you to look at the 50 most significant Off-Field Figures in baseball for the past 50 years.

While the players take center stage in most baseball discussions, many others have made a significant impact on the game off the field. These individuals have indelibly marked the way the game is played, watched, understood, enjoyed, governed, and bankrolled. There is, of course, something a little arbitrary in choosing a list like this, filled with not just owners and commissioners but general managers, field managers, coaches, umpires, writers, announcers, doctors, mascots, and numerous others associated with baseball. Our hope is that you enjoy deliberating the impact of these newsworthy individuals.

Visit SABR.org/50at50/off-field to view the list and read the short description for each of the people included. Click on the title to read stories from the SABR BioProject or other baseball authors about these figures.

— Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt

Early registration now open for 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

Early registration is now open for the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference, which will be held over four days in online sessions from March 11-14, 2021. We’ll bring together the top minds in the baseball analytics community to discuss, debate, and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball. Register today to join us!

The Virtual Analytics Conference schedule will consist of research presentations and guest speakers from throughout the baseball analytics community, career development sessions led by experienced sports professionals, and industry networking opportunities — all available online for any aspiring front office executive or baseball fan to attend from the comfort of home. Students will have opportunities for skill acquisition and development, including sessions on how to work with baseball-related data sets as well as databasing and SQL.

Programming will run on Thursday and Friday evening from 6:30-9:00 p.m. Eastern, all day Saturday from 12:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern, and Sunday afternoon from 1:00-5:00 p.m. EDT.

Registration: Click here to register for the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. Early-bird registration is $75 for SABR members, $100 for non-members, and $50 for currently enrolled high school or college students (includes one-year SABR membership). Students should email Scott Carter with a photo of their student ID to receive the discounted registration link.
Research Presentations: Present your baseball research at the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. Deadline: November 25, 2020.
Yoseloff Scholarship: Students, apply now for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference. Deadline: December 31, 2020.
Research Awards: We’re seeking nominations for the 2021 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards. Deadline: December 31, 2020.

Stay tuned for more details on guest speakers, panelists, and presenters! Visit SABR.org/analytics to learn more.

One week left to submit presentation abstracts for 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

SABR and Baseball Info Solutions are excited to announce the call for presentations for the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference, which will be held online on March 11-14, 2021.

Abstracts of proposed research presentations should be no more than 500 words in length, and must include the abstract’s title, review of previous work on the subject, a summary of the research methodology and anticipated results, and the expected contribution to the field of baseball analytics offered by this work. Please send all abstracts to this e-mail address: analytics@baseballinfosolutions.com. Please clearly indicate whether you are submitting for the general track or for the student track of presentations.

The submission deadline for all 2021 SABR Analytics Conference presentation abstracts is 11:59 p.m. MST on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

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

Apply now to participate in the 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition

The 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition will be held online from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. EST on Friday, March 12, 2021, as part of the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference.

Register: Click here to register your team for the 2021 Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition. Registration is $995 per team, which includes admission to all SABR Virtual Analytics Conference sessions and a one-year SABR membership for each participants. Please include your school name, along with names and contact information for up to 5 participants.
Questions: Please contact Vince Gennaro with any questions about participating.

In the Diamond Dollars Virtual Case Competition, undergraduate, graduate and professional school students from colleges and universities across the country compete against each other by preparing an analysis and presentation of a baseball operations decision — the type of decision a team’s GM and his staff is faced with over the course of a season.

Visit SABR.org/analytics/case to learn more.

Students, apply now for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

With generous funding from The Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to eight scholarships to high school and college students who wish to attend the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference on March 11-14, 2021. This scholarship will pay for all registration fees and expenses associated with the conference.

Download an application form: Click here to apply for a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend the 2021 SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

The objective of this scholarship fund is to encourage student engagement with baseball analytics, and to engender an active interest in baseball research and SABR. The Yoseloff scholarship is to assist young researchers who want to attend the SABR Virtual Analytics Conference and to introduce them to fellow SABR members and professionals within the baseball community. Through this fund, SABR hopes to inspire future baseball research, expose students to high-quality research and build the research capability of interested students.

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

Join SABR’s Golden Lineup to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary!

Members like you are helping us turn our shared vision into a reality. As 2020 draws to a close, we hope you will renew and, if your means allow, even increase your support for SABR’s mission.

You can join SABR’s Golden Lineup by making a gift of at least $100 by December 31, 2020. We will use your best gift of $100, $250, $500, or $1,000 to bring more young people into the beautiful world of baseball; to publish groundbreaking books and articles; and to promote research, preservation, and scholarship.

Click here to make a contribution and join SABR’s Golden Lineup

All donors joining the Golden Lineup with a $100 gift or more will receive a copy of From Rube to Robinson, our anthology of research celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Negro Leagues.

Donors supporting SABR with a gift of $500 or more will also receive a miniature Rawlings Gold Glove Award replica and be entered to win the SABR Golden Ticket.

The winner of the SABR Golden Ticket will receive:

Lifetime membership to SABR
All expenses paid to a SABR conference of their choice
Attend the 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Banquet in New York City

Visit SABR.org/donate/2020 to learn more.

SABR welcomes new Canadian chapter in Ottawa

SABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new chapter in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Ottawa Chapter serves members in the capital region of Canada; the chapter leader is George Rigakos.

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.

Watch highlights from SABR Century Committee panel on 1920 World Series

SABR’s Century Committee hosted a special panel discussion on the 100th anniversary of the 1920 World Series, which capped off a historic and scandalous baseball season, at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 18, 2020. All SABR members were invited to attend this free virtual event on Zoom.

Our guest speakers included Mike Sowell, author of The Pitch That Killed; Scott Longert, author of The Best They Could Be: How the Cleveland Indians became the Kings of Baseball, 1916-1920; Jeremy Feador, Cleveland Indians team historian; Jacob Pomrenke, chair of SABR’s Black Sox Scandal committee; and moderator Sharon Hamilton, co-chair of SABR’s Century Committee.

Click here to watch highlights from this panel on YouTube.

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.

This week, we heard from David Laurila of FanGraphs with Adam Darowski of Baseball-Reference.com and Josh Whetzel of the Rochester Red Wings, Minnesota Twins official scorer Stew Thornley, Leslie Heaphy on the Negro Leagues, Peter Coolbaugh on the evolution of a Super-Fan, and the SABR Century Committee’s 1920 World Series Centennial Panel.

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

November 21: Halsey Hall (Minn.) Chapter meeting (8:30 a.m. CST)
November 21: Jack Graney (Ohio) Chapter book club meeting (10:00 a.m. EST)
November 21: Rogers Hornsby (Texas) Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. CST)
November 23: Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting with Zack Rosenthal (1:00 p.m. MST)
November 24: Ken Keltner (Wis.) Chapter meeting with Tom Flanagan (7:00 p.m. CST)
November 28: Quebec Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. EST)
November 30: Elysian Fields (N.J.) Chapter meeting with Deesha Thosar, Elizabeth Muratore, and Linda Surovich (9:00 p.m. EST)
December 1: IBWAA: Now Batting with Gabrielle Starr (8:00 p.m. EST)
December 2: Negro Leagues Centennial Panel with Leslie Heaphy, Ray Doswell, and more (3:30 p.m. PST)
December 2: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Sean Gibson (7:00 p.m. EST)
December 3: Boston Chapter meeting with Bill Nowlin, Andy Sharp, and Tony Valley (8:00 p.m. EST)

Find more upcoming virtual meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Click here to view replays of any SABR virtual event in 2020.

Read SABR biographies of 2021 Hall of Fame ballot candidates

The full 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot was released this week, and you can find all published SABR biographies of 2021 HOF candidates at the SABR BioProject. Visit the link below to read bios on Hall of Fame candidates Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, Scott Rolen, Omar Vizquel, and more:

http://sabr.org/bioproj/category/demographic/2021-hall-of-fame-ballot/

As part of our BioProject Hall of Fame Ballot initiative, we are still seeking authors for all of the first-time players on this year’s ballot, including Mark Buehrle, Tim Hudson, Aramis Ramírez, Shane Victorino, and Barry Zito. Ideally, we would like to have the bios written, edited, and fact-checked by January 2021 so we can post them on the BioProject website and on social media before the election announcements. Please contact bioassign@sabr.org if you are interested in writing about one of these players.

Find more SABR biographies at SABR.org/BioProject.

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.

Please contact a member of the SABR staff by email or phone with any questions.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Negro Leagues historian Scott Simkus

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 #86 on Monday, November 16 featured Scott Simkus, author of Outsider Baseball: The Weird World of Hardball on the Fringe, 1876–1950. He is one of the co-creators of the award-winning Negro Leagues Database at Seamheads.com and he recently detailed the process behind its creation on Twitter. He has also been a consultant to Strat-O-Matic, helping to create the first full set of cards for Negro Leagues players. He lives outside of Chicago, Illinois.

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

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.

8 new SABR biographies published

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

Rich Gale, by Malcolm Allen
Walt Hammond, by Chris Rainey
Bob Harmon, by Chris Rainey
Jack Haskell, by Bill Lamb
Jesse Jefferson, by Malcolm Allen
Charley Pride, by Bob LeMoine
Brian Sabean, by John Burbridge
John Wockenfuss, by Malcolm Allen

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.
Sign up to view Trello submission pipeline: Chief Editor Rory Costello has made the BioProject submission pipeline visible to project contributors using the signboard app Trello. If you would like to see the pipeline — to know where your story stands in the review process or how many articles we have in the system — e-mail Rory for an invitation to become an observer.

6 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

August 15, 1905: Rube Waddell tosses rain-shortened no-hitter – or does he?, by Gregory H. Wolf
May 5, 1974: Zut, alors! Bad ballpark, worse weather lead to crowd of 69 in Quebec City, by Kurt Blumenau
May 9, 1976: Line drive breaks Wilbur Wood’s kneecap, by Chad Moody
September 4, 1976: Williamsport’s Double-A one-year wonders go out with a bang, by Kurt Blumenau
July 25, 1983: New York-Penn pitchers flirt with double no-hitter, by Kurt Blumenau
September 10, 1983: Lynn Pirates depart, Roger Clemens arrives in Eastern League championship, by Kurt Blumenau

In addition, the following stories from our SABR Digital Library book, The Base Ball Palace of the World: Comiskey Park, edited by Gregory H. Wolf, have also been posted online:

October 6, 1917: White Sox win World Series opener at Comiskey Park, by John Bauer
October 7, 1917: Red Faber’s pitching, not baserunning, lead to White Sox victory in Game 2, by Jacob Pomrenke
September 17, 1938: Merv Connors becomes first White Sox player to hit 3 homers in game at Comiskey Park, by Gregory H. Wolf
August 14, 1939: Chicago native Johnny Rigney pitches White Sox to historic win in first night game at Comiskey Park, Mike Huber
September 25, 1946: Hilton Smith goes the distance as Monarchs roll in Game 5, Richard Cuicchi
June 26, 1960: Early Wynn wins 275th career game as White Sox erupt for 21 runs, by Mike Huber
August 1, 1962: Boston’s Bill Monbouquette throws no-hitter at Comiskey Park, by Gregory H. Wolf
September 21, 1962: White Sox score 6 runs in electrifying game-ending rally, by Richard Riis
July 15, 1963: Patient Gary Peters registers near-perfect game for White Sox, by Richard Cuicchi
September 6, 1964: Pitching propels White Sox into first place, by Richard Riis
August 28, 1966: White Sox sweep doubleheader with two extra-inning, walk-off home runs, Alan Cohen
September 6, 1967: White Sox walk-off creates four-way tie for first place, by Russ Lake
May 17, 1968: Joe Horlen tosses extra-inning shutout, by John Gabcik
August 28, 1968: During Chicago convention turmoil, Jerry Nyman shuts out Yankees in first career start, by Doug Feldmann
September 30, 1971: Bill Melton becomes first White Sox player to lead AL in home runs, by Joe Schuster

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. 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.

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.

Call for SABR award nominations

Seymour Medal (history/biography books; deadline: 12/31/2020)
SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards (baseball analytics research; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Larry Ritter Book Award (Deadball Era books; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Ron Gabriel Award (Brooklyn Dodgers research; deadline: 12/31/2020)
Russell Gabay Award (New Jersey baseball; deadline: 12/31/2020)
SABR Baseball Research Award (outstanding research articles/projects: deadline: 1/31/2021)
McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award (best history/biography articles; deadline: 2/15/2021)

Please note: Only ONE entry per nomination will be considered (do not submit multiple nominations for the same award). For more information on SABR Awards, click here.

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: 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
Peter Barbella	Athens, WI	Jack Perun	Woodbury, CT
Eli Caren	Suffern, NY	Justin Peterson	Durham, NC
Brian Carrod	London, ON	Joseph Rizza	Islip, NY
Robert Fitzpatrick	Wellesley, MA	Cesar Saldivia	Katy, TX
Richard Gerson	Elmira, ON	Mark Shepard	Lancaster, NY
Benjamin Goodman Jr.	Hickory, NC	Tim Stephens	Lakeland, TN
Jori Grossman	New York, NY	John Streeter	Lancaster, PA
Philip Hoelzel	Austin, TX	Alexis Voulgaris	Old Greenwich, CT
Margot Morrell	The Plains, VA	Luke Whitecotton	Joliet, IL
Scott Pawlikowski	Loveland, OH

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Negro Leagues: December 2020 newsletter

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

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: November 16 meeting recap (Houston, TX)
Ted Williams Chapter: Read our 2020 Padres season recap (San Diego, CA)

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

SABR Events Calendar

Scroll up to the top of this newsletter to learn more about the upcoming virtual events on the SABR calendar.

We strongly recommend that all SABR chapters follow CDC public health guidelines and your local/state government regulations when scheduling any in-person meetings and events.

Find details on all upcoming meetings on our SABR Events Calendar page.

Around the Web

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

Michael Clair: Negro Leagues stats no longer stuff of legend (MLB.com)
Gregg Doyel: Negro League great Oscar Charleston’s Indianapolis grave has new stone (Indianapolis Star)
Andrea Williams: Sacrifice Play: How the Negro Leagues were killed (Mother Jones)
Sarah Langs: Everything to know about Marlins GM Kim Ng (MLB.com)
Hannah Keyser: A celebration of Kim Ng’s exceptionalism (Yahoo! Sports)
Sarah Spain: Kim Ng finally — finally! — lands general manager job in Major League Baseball (ESPN.com)
Emma Baccellieri: ‘Glorious Day’: One Trailblazer for Women in Baseball Celebrates Kim Ng’s Hiring (Sports Illustrated)
Rachael McDaniel: What Is Now Left to Be Imagined (FanGraphs)
Nasvi Careem: Kim Ng: Asian-American women ‘whitewashed’ by US sports despite a long history of excellence, anthropologist says (South China Morning Post)
Jayson Stark: The three-batter rule revisited — ‘I hate it more now!’ (The Athletic)
Jon Tayler: As Theo Epstein Departs, What Will Become of the Cubs? (FanGraphs)
Tom Verducci: Why Theo Epstein left Cubs, setting sights on “third chapter” (Sports Illustrated)
Marc Carig/Tim Britton: ‘There’s unfinished business’: Why Sandy Alderson came back to the Mets (The Athletic)
Jim Margalus: Mark Buehrle faces long haul to Hall of Fame (Sox Machine)
Bill Deane: 2021 Hall of Fame election forecast (WordPress)
Michael Waters: Why Would Anyone Bother Collecting Digital Baseball Cards? (Slate.com)
Derrick Goold: After four decades, a Cardinals scout returns his radar gun amid changing landscape (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Jay Jaffe: Canó’s PED Suspension Has a Silver Lining for Mets (FanGraphs)
Rob Mains: The State of the Quality Start in 2020 (Baseball Prospectus)
David Laurila: A Conversation With Arizona Diamondbacks Prospect Drey Jameson (FanGraphs)
Matt Monagan: Jon Dowd, the video game creator who became Barry Bonds (MLB.com)
Chris Thompson: An Astrophysicist Explains The Challenges Of De-Juicing The Baseball (Baseball Prospectus)
Roger Cormier: When the National League Had Nothing Left to Say (Baseball Prospectus)
Gary Cieradkowski: Eddie Sabrie: Baseball Wanderer (Studio Gary C)
Max Lang: Mountain Athletic Club at Fleischmanns Park gains historic designation (Oneonta Daily Star)
Mark Armour: Strike a Pose, There’s Nothing to It (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Mark Armour: Let Us Now Praise Famous Sets (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.

Have trouble reading this e-mail? Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web.

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.)

Follow us: