This Week in SABR: November 30, 2012

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Welcome to This Week in SABR! Here’s what we’ve been up to as of November 30, 2012:

2013 SABR Analytics Conference to be held at Sheraton Phoenix Downtown

We’re happy to announce that the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference will be held Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown — 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 — just blocks away from Chase Field.

SABR has secured a special conference rate of $149/night (plus tax) from March 6-10, 2013, at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. Please note: The group rate is available until February 13, 2013, or until our room block runs out so book your reservation today! Due to the popularity of spring training in Arizona, rooms may not be available at the Sheraton prior to March 6.

Once again, SABR is bringing together the top minds of the baseball analytic community under one roof to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball for the second annual:

SABR Analytics Conference
presented by Major League Baseball and Bloomberg Sports
March 7-9, 2013
Phoenix, Arizona

The schedule will consist of a combination of Guest Speakers, Panels and Research Presentations — plus the unique Diamond Dollars Case Competition, in which undergraduate, graduate and law school students from across the country analyze and present a real baseball operations decision.

Featured speakers expected for the 2013 Analytics Conference are: Stan Kasten, President/CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Derrick Hall, President/CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Brian Kenny, MLB Network host; and Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer for Sports on Earth. More speakers will be announced soon!

The World Baseball Classic will also be held in the Phoenix area that weekend, with first-round games scheduled at Chase Field and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. We plan to talk more about global baseball issues at the second annual SABR Analytics Conference.

Some of the other topics we are planning to cover include:

  • General Managers Panel on how analytics shapes front-office decisions
  • Measuring Player Performance
  • New innovations in baseball analytics
  • Player Agents — their view of analytics
  • Advances in medical information and its impact on decisions
  • New applications of PITCHf/x data
  • The use of analytics in scouting
  • Player panel — the impact of data and information on performance
  • The International Game — the next hot spot for talent development

SABR’s long history in this area of baseball research, coupled with our mission of advancing the understanding and knowledge of baseball, makes us the perfect choice to coordinate and host this ground-breaking event.

The inaugural SABR Analytics Conference in 2012 was an enormous success. For complete coverage of the 2012 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics/2012.

In Memoriam: Marvin Miller

It is not an overstatement to say that Marvin Miller is, along with Jackie Robinson, arguably one of the two most influential figures in baseball history.

The longtime executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, who helped usher in the era of free agency and changed baseball’s financial fortunes forever, died on Tuesday at the age of 95.

“Marvin was the most extraordinary man I ever met,” broadcaster and former MLB catcher Tim McCarver told MLB.com. “You know, the players knew nothing before Marvin took over. The minimum salary had been the same for 22 years. Riding trains was considered first-class travel, and West Coast teams were involved by then. That the standard player’s contract was unchanged for so long is mind-boggling. We knew so little that he had to teach us before we could move on anything. And he taught us and we did move on.”

After helping guide Curt Flood through his historic (and ultimately unsuccessful) lawsuit that challenged baseball’s reserve clause system — which restricted players to the team that owned them — Miller turned his attention to helping the players establish free agency. As law professor Roger Abrams wrote in an article for the Fall 2009 Baseball Research Journal, after arbitrator Peter Seitz made his historic decision in 1975 abolishing the reserve clause system, Miller helped negotiate a settlement that still reverberates today.

Miller was the keynote speaker at SABR’s 34th annual convention in 2004 in Cincinnati and was interviewed that same year by former commissioner and longtime SABR member Fay Vincent as part of SABR’s Oral History Collection. You can watch a clip of the interview here:

http://sabr.org/latest/memoriam-marvin-miller

Here are some more articles on Miller we thought you might be interested in:

New Protoball website launched, studying origins of baseball

Here’s a message from longtime SABR Origins Committee chair Larry McCray:

A new version of the Protoball website is now accessible at http://protoball.org.

A couple of personal distractions have kept me from rebuilding and updating the site in recent years, but I now plan to spend more time on it, and to try to add new features that should interest researchers and writers on early ballplaying.

As you may recall, the site was generously hosted on the Retrosheet Project website for many years. I especially want to think Retrosheet leaders Dave Smith and Tom Ruane for their help and encouragement over that period. Our basic idea for the site was a totally unproven premise in the beginning, and they have been gracious and helpful friends in getting us launched.

Our general view is that a website like ours may help the origins community by putting a range of relevant data where it can be easily found, and, more important, corrected, as fresh information from digitized sources comes to light. David Block estimates that early writers on origins had only a small fraction of the data that we now have, so we need a way to test their early iconjectures against our new stock of facts.

If you haven’t visited Protoball recently, take a look at what wiki-type software can do for a clunky old Word-oriented facility. Amazing.

What’s new: There is a much better site-search capacity and ease of navigation. That’s thanks to our developer, Dave Anderson.

What’s old:

  • An 1,150-item origins chronology at http://protoball.org/Chronologies, with about 30 “subtopic chronologies” for different locations, different games, etc.
  • The Protoball Games Tabulation (version 1.0), built by Craig Waff, with data on almost 1700 games played through 1860, at http://protoball.org/Games_Tabulation.
  • A list of active researchers, and a big old bibliography of published sources.
  • A “Glossary” of over 200 baserunning games, some of which preceded base ball (the Massachusetts game, Philadelphia town ball) and some of which were later derived from base ball (softball, stickball, kickball, Finnish baseball).

What’s coming, we think, is a comprehensive database on the spread of base ball, including club data, players and maps.

If you have comments, questions, advice, or corrections, let me know at lmccray@mit.edu.

A reminder: SABR is looking to fill the position of Chair of the SABR Origins Research Committee. If you want more details, contact Larry McCray and/or SABR Director Leslie Heaphy.

SABR member Paul Dickson to receive Chicago Baseball Museum award

We’re pleased to pass along this announcement from SABR member David Fletcher at the Chicago Baseball Museum about fellow SABR member Paul Dickson:

Paul Dickson, author of the 2012 book, “Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick,” will receive the 5th annual Jerome Holtzman Award at The Pitch & Hit Club 67th Annual Awards Banquet Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at The Carlisle in Lombard, Illinois.

Each year, the Holtzman Award is presented by the Chicago Baseball Museum to the person who reflects the values and spirit of its Hall of Fame namesake. The honoree is selected by what is deemed to be the most significant contribution to the promotion of Chicago baseball and the preservation of its history and tradition.

The Holtzman Award was established in 2008. Its recipients are recognized each year at the annual Pitch & Hit Club’s banquet, the oldest and most prestigious off-season baseball event in the Chicago area.

The last Holtzman Award winner presented in January 2012 was White Sox icon Minnie Minoso, who celebrated his 88th birthday Nov. 29.

Jerome Holtzman was SABR member No. 77, joining in December 1971 and remaining active until his death in 2008.

For more information on the Chicago Baseball Museum, contact CBM President Dr. David Fletcher at (217) 855-0979 or DFletcher@ChicagoBaseballMuseum.com.

New feature added to SABR membership profiles: Join date

Do you remember when you first joined SABR? For some of you, that’s easy — it was only a year or two ago. Others, such as founding members Tom Hufford, Dan Dischley, Ray Nemec, Bill Gustafson and Joe Simenic, can trace their SABR membership all the way back to 1971.

Now you can find out anyone’s “join date” in our membership profile system at members.sabr.org.

To view your own join date, visit members.sabr.org and click the “Profile” button at the top of the page, or just click here: http://profile.sabr.org/members.

To view other members’ join dates, search for someone in the directory at SABR.org/directory and select their profile in the search results.

Note: If you believe your join date is listed inaccurately, please contact Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org with the correct date so we can update our records.

Related link:

2013 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference to be held in Newark, NJ

Exciting news for 2013: The Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference is heading to Newark, New Jersey.

We will be honoring black baseball in New York and New Jersey with a focus on Abe and Effa Manley, the 1946 Newark Eagles championship team, the Lincoln Giants of N.Y., and the New York Black Yankees plus much, much more. We are currently working with the Newark Bears to finalize a game date, which will dictate the conference weekend dates.

The city is filled with amenities — the Bears’ Riverfront Stadium is walking distance to the Prudential Center, the Paul Robeson Theatre, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Attendees can take advantage of the area to see the Newark Historical Society, the Newark Museum (the largest in the state), Newark Public Library (where the Manley papers are housed), and of course downtown Manhattan, a 15-minute subway ride away. You must visit the awesome New York Public Library.

Some conference highlights include the authors and player panels, vintage auction items, special guests, along with some top-notch presentations. We are partnering with the Newark/East Orange School districts and the Newark Bears to promote our educational mission.

The on-site planning committee includes Dr. Robert Cvornyek (Rhode Island College), Dr. Leslie Heaphy (Kent State University), Dr. Lawrence Hogan (Union County College), Jim Overmyer (author of Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles), Audrey Vernick (author of She Loved Baseball: Effa Manley), and Dr. Brian Heaphy (principal at Edward T. Bowser Elementary School in East Orange).

Stay tuned for more information about the Call for Papers and Conference registration.

For more news about the SABR Negro Leagues Committee, download the December 2012 newsletter, just published this week.

For more information on the Malloy Conference, visit SABR.org/Malloy.

— Larry Lester

Are you going to the 2012 Baseball Winter Meetings? Let us know

SABR will have a booth at the 111th annual Baseball Winter Meetings, December 3-6, 2012, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Stop by and say hello to our interns, Josh and Tucker!

Are you a SABR member who is planning to attend the Winter Meetings? Let us know at jpomrenke@sabr.org.

For more information on the Winter Meetings, visit http://www.milb.com/milb/events/wintermeetings.jsp

***

Many SABR members are scheduled to speak at the Sports Management Worldwide Baseball Career Conference, held December 2-3 in conjunction with the Winter Meetings, at the Radisson Hotel at Opryland in Nashville. Among the list of speakers are SABR members:

  • Jerry Crasnick, ESPN and Baseball America
  • Dan Evans, President & CEO, Evans Baseball Consulting
  • Pat Gillick, baseball executive and SABR Advisory Board member
  • Rob Neyer, SB Nation National Baseball Editor
  • Tracy Ringolsby, Baseball America and FoxSports.com; 2005 Spink Award winner
  • Cory Schwartz, Vice President, Stats, MLB Advanced Media
  • Mark Smith, Minor League Video Coordinator, Oakland A’s
  • Bill Squadron, head of Bloomberg Sports
  • Jayson Stark, ESPN Senior Baseball Writer

For more information on the Baseball Career Conference, visit http://www.sportsmanagementworldwide.com/winter-baseball-meetings-career-conference .

MLB.com seeking stats stringers for 2013 season

MLB.com, the official web site of Major League Baseball, is seeking stats stringers to cover these clubs in 2013 and beyond:
 
Baltimore/DC (both clubs)
Houston
Kansas City
Oakland/SF (both clubs)
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Seattle
Texas (Arlington)
Toronto
 
Stats stringers are responsible for digitally scoring games from the MLB ballparks, which provides the data used in the live content applications on MLB.com, including Gameday and MLB.TV, real-time highlights and text alerts, and by our business partners. This is a perfect part-time job for a diligent, responsible employee who happens to be a big baseball fan.

For more details on the responsibilities required and the desired qualifications, click here.

Those interested in applying should send a resume and cover later, addressing the above-listed qualifications, to stats@website.mlb.com. ONLY those who reply to this e-mail address will be considered, and due to volume, we may be unable to respond to all applicants.

Thanks and good luck! 

Call for SABR award nominations

  • Larry Ritter Award, due 12/31/2012: Each year, SABR’s Deadball Era Committee presents the Larry Ritter Book Award to recognize the best new book primarily set in the Deadball Era that was published during the previous calendar year. The award is presented during the committee’s meeting at the annual SABR convention. If you have a book to nominate with a 2012 publication date, contact Gail Rowe at growes36@comcast.net by December 31, 2012. Deadline for receipt of nominated books by the committee is January 16, 2013. 
  • SABR Baseball Research Award, due 1/31/2013: The SABR Baseball Research Award (formerly the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award) honors those whose outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Steve Gietschier at sgietsch@gmail.com.
  • McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award, due 2/15/2013: The McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award honors the authors of the best articles on baseball history or biography completed or published during the preceding calendar year. To submit a nomination for the 2012 awards, please contact Len Levin at lenlevin5@hotmail.com.

2013 “The National Pastime”: Call for Papers

The 2013 issue of The National Pastime, our annual convention journal, will be published at SABR 43 in Philadelphia next summer.

Our theme will be baseball in the Philadelphia area (the Tri-State area of Southeast Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware.) We are looking for submissions dealing with various levels of baseball from Little League and sandlot ball to all levels of professional leagues. Philly has a rich tradition of baseball from its early beginnings in the 1830s, to the National League and American Association Athletics, to Connie Mack’s A’s, the Hilldale Daisies, the Philadelphia Bobbies, the Philadelphia Stars and, of course, the Phillies. We are looking to provide a broad perspective of Philadelphia baseball from its early years to the present day.

If you are interested in submitting an article, please send an abstract to Morris Levin. Please include not only your topic, but why it interests you, and how you are qualified to research it. What sources do you plan to use? A typical article in The National Pastime runs 2,000 to 5,000 words. Upon receipt of your abstract, we will forward a copy of the SABR guidelines for submission of papers.

All interested authors should make sure their SABR membership is up to date. It is longstanding SABR policy that only the work of SABR members is published in our journals. You can renew your membership online at members.sabr.org before you submit your paper.

To read articles from this year’s The National Pastime, focusing on baseball in Minnesota, click here. The TNP archives can be found here.

You can also follow the SABR Connie Mack Chapter on its new Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/SabrConnieMackChapter

Chicago, New York City event details added to SABR Day 2013 page

The fourth annual SABR Day is coming up sooner than you think: January 26, 2013. We’re starting to compile details now on 2013 SABR Day chapter meetings around the country. We’ll post them as soon as we get them at SABR.org/sabrday. Chapter leaders, please send your SABR Day plans to Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Regional SABR meetings are open to all baseball fans and are usually free to attend, so bring a friend! Guest speakers often include current and former baseball players, managers, umpires, executives, scouts, writers and authors.

Check back soon at SABR.org/sabrday for more information on a SABR Day meeting close to you.

9 new biographies published by the SABR BioProject

Nine new biographies were posted as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 2,131 published biographies.

Here are the new bios:

All new biographies can be found here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/recent

You can find the SABR BioProject at SABR.org/BioProject.

1960 Pirates biographer needed: SABR is working on a BioProject book about  the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, and we need a biographer for Bennie Daniels. The SABR member who was working on Daniels had to undergo surgery and is unable to work on Daniels during his recovery. He has asked that someone else take over the work, but would be glad to supply some materials. If you want to be part of this book, and think you could complete this bio by the end of the year, please contact Bill Nowlin at bnowlin@rounder.com.

Bios on more than just ballplayers: The ambitious goal of the SABR Baseball Biography Project is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. But SABR members write about a lot more than just ballplayers. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires and a lot more on the BioProject website. You can browse all of these categories at http://sabr.org/bioproj/browse. So if you’ve ever thought, “Hey, that person (or ballpark) should get the full BioProject treatment” — write the story and we’ll publish it!

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.

It’s time to renew your SABR membership

As you probably know by now, we switched to the “rolling calendar” membership system last year. Anyone who joined SABR before then — which is most of you — should renew your SABR membership before December 31 as you’ve done in the past. Thanks again for all your support.

You can renew your membership for 1 year or 3 years online at the SABR Store; by phone at (602) 343-6450; or by mailing this downloadable PDF form and your payment to the SABR office at 4455 E. Camelback Road, Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.

Dues are the same as they have been in recent years: for this, you get three high-quality research publications (two issues of the Baseball Research Journal and one issue of The National Pastime); deep discounts to all publications in the SABR Digital Library; access to research resources such as Paper of Record (with complete archives of The Sporting News); discounts to SABR conferences such as the national convention (Philadelphia 2013), the SABR Analytics Conference, the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, and the Arizona Fall League Conference; access to a growing network of SABR baseball community, including our 27 research committees and 60+ regional chapters.

We believe SABR has something for everyone, from the active researcher to someone passionate about baseball. We hope you’ll invite your friends, colleagues and family members to join at http://store.sabr.org.

Donate to SABR and support the future of baseball research

This has probably been SABR’s most active year since our founding in 1971. We held our first Analytics Conference in March and are busily planning for the next one in March of 2013. Our deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media provides a far-reaching outlet for our research. SABR 42 in Minneapolis was a tremendous success, and we are looking forward to SABR 43 in Philadelphia. On top of that we published three research journals, the Emerald Guide, and several e-books, continued to build our digital content, and held conferences covering the Negro Leagues, the Arizona Fall League, and 19th Century Baseball.

In the coming year we plan to do all of the above, plus publish a major book on the history of baseball broadcasting, continue to expand the BioProject, and create more team biography books. All of this is made possible by our strong professional staff in Phoenix and our all-star team of volunteer members around the world.

Of course, accomplishing all of this requires funding beyond the annual dues we all pay. The dues allow SABR to survive; it is donations from people like you that help us thrive. Since 2004 we have asked for, and have been fortunate to receive, additional funding from members who believe in what SABR does and can afford to give something extra. Also since 2004, we continue to say thank you to our donors by offering them small gifts to show the appreciation felt by all of our members who care about what we do in support of the greatest game on earth.

SABR is a 501(c)3 organization, which means your donation is tax deductible in the U.S. to the fullest extent of the law.

THE DONOR PROGRAM*

  • $25-$99: receive a “Donor” convention badge ribbon entitling early entry into the SABR Convention Awards Banquet
  • $100-$249: receive the above benefit plus a ticket to the SABR Convention Donor Breakfast that features a “State of SABR” presentation by our executive leadership
  • $250-$499: receive all of the above benefits plus the new SABR Lapel Pin
  • $500-$1,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a SABR MVP Polo Shirt
  • $1,500-$2,499: receive all of the above benefits plus a junior suite upgrade at the SABR Convention hotel
  • $2,500 and up: receive all of the above plus an executive level room upgrade at the SABR Convention hotel.

*convention-related premiums assume payment of registration fees and attendance

Please join me in supporting SABR and send your donation to the address above, or by visiting SABR.org and pressing the convenient DONATE button. By doing so you help SABR fulfill its mission and increase the impact of our baseball analysis and historical study.

— Paul Hirsch

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.

Here is a list of new members:

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
Matt Arvin Evansville, IN     Richard Kaufman Mohnton, PA
John Banas Scottsdale, AZ     Kenneth Matinale White Plains, NY
Jarret Boon Ottawa, ON     Billy Olson Briarcliff Manor, NY
Carter Brantley Tampa, FL     David Pankenier Maricopa, AZ
Ming-Chu Chen Scottsdale, AZ     Patrick Rotton Clermont, FL
Ryan Clark Delaware, OH     Michael Round Overland Park, KS
Philip Cola Middleburg Hts., OH     Patrick Russell Lubbock, TX
William Colby Boston, MA     John Savko Chicago, IL
Carl Eason Suffolk, VA     Sahadev Sharma Chicago, IL
Eric Ely Beaver Dam, WI     Bob Simmons Ashburn, VA
Dan Fox Mars, PA     Jim Twetten Scottsdale, AZ
Cary Gielniak Chandler, AZ     David Wilk Weston, CT
Ernie Gomez La Jolla, CA     Alexander Wright Southfield, MI
Scott Johnson Denver, CO     Rob Young Bellevue, WA
Aaron Kaswell Brooklyn, NY        

 

Research committee newsletters

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

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

Chapter meeting recaps

Here are the chapter meeting recaps published this week:

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

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:

Read these articles and more at SABR.org/latest.

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR”, e-mail Jacob Pomrenke at jpomrenke@sabr.org.

Find exclusive Members’ Only resources and information here: http://members.sabr.org

Did you know you can renew your membership at any time? 1- and 3-year SABR memberships are available by clicking “Renew” at http://members.sabr.org. Please also consider a donation to SABR to support baseball research at SABR.org/donate.

Are you following us on Twitter or Facebook? Get SABR updates every day at @SABR or by searching “SABR” on Facebook.

Replying to this e-mail goes to an undeliverable address. If you would like to contact the SABR office, please visit: http://sabr.org/about/contact-sabr


Originally published: November 30, 2012. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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