This Week in SABR: October 1, 2021

October 1, 2021/in This Week in SABR /by Jacob Pomrenke

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of October 1, 2021:

Bring It Home in 2021 and support the future of SABR and baseball research

SABR’s 50th year has been a historic one. We have commemorated our history and looked forward to our shared vision of the organization’s future. As 2021 comes to a close, we need your support to BRING IT HOME and ensure that vision turns into a reality.

Gifts from members like you are integral to SABR’s existence and we are hopeful you will consider a donation to sustain and grow our wonderful baseball community.

You can support SABR’s Bring it Home Campaign by making a gift of at least $100 by December 31, 2021. We will use your best gift of $100, $300, $500, or $1,000 to boost initiatives in several key areas of SABR’s mission:

Research: continued support for groundbreaking baseball-related research, books, articles, and new member resources
Scholarship: furthering the reach and impact of SABR’s world-class committees, chapters, and conferences
Preservation: committing to preserve, honor, and commemorate baseball history
Future of the Game: improving SABR’s ability to engage with a younger and more diverse constituency, including high school and college students, through baseball research

Visit SABR.org/donate/2021 to learn more.

11 new interviews posted online in expanded SABR Oral History Collection

Last week, we launched the newly expanded SABR Oral History Collection online at sabr.org/oralhistory, where you can find audio interviews with some of the most interesting figures in baseball history.

Here are the new oral history interviews added to our collection this week:

Morris Eckhouse and John Zajc (2021), by Joseph Wancho
Elroy Face (2019), by Steve Jeremko
Dick Groat (2019), by Steve Jeremko
John Holway (2020), by Bill Nowlin
Edith Houghton (2004), by Holly Sinco (transcript only)
Jim Kaat (2019), by Steve Jeremko
Fred Lasher (2000), by Gene DeLisio
Vern Law (2019), by Steve Jeremko
Peter Mancuso (2021), by John McMurray
Lennie Merullo (2000), by Paul Motyka
David Vincent (2016), by John McMurray

The SABR Oral History Collection now includes more than 650 audio files of interviews conducted with ballplayers (Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, Negro Leagues, AAGPBL), executives, scouts, authors, writers, broadcasters, and other figures of historical baseball significance. These interviews, some of which date back nearly 60 years, were conducted by members of SABR’s Oral History Research Committee; many of these recordings were digitized through a collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

You can now find links to most SABR Oral History interviews on each player’s page at the SABR BioProject and also by searching the Research Collection.

If you are interested in contributing to SABR’s Oral History Collection, the committee offers guidelines for conducting effective oral history interviews or contact Jacob Pomrenke to learn more about donating your own audio recordings. Many SABR members use Oral History interviews as a launching point to write that person’s biography for the SABR BioProject.

Register now for SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

The virtual SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium will take place on November 13-14, 2021.

The two-day online symposium, hosted by the SABR Nineteenth Century Committee, will be devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Brooklyn.

Register: Click here to register online for the symposium.
Cost: $15 per person.
Schedule: Click here to download the full schedule (PDF). Online Zoom sessions will be held from 12:00-5:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, November 13, and 12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, November 14.

Guest speakers are expected to include keynote speaker Dr. Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and City Planning at Cornell University and Historian-in-Residence of the New York City Parks Department; John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; a Panel Discussion on “Was Brooklyn the Actual Birthplace of Baseball?” featuring David Dyte, Tom Gilbert and Bill Ryczek; Research Presentations by Ralph Carhart, Brian Sheehy, Tom Gilbert, and Justin Mckinney; and a video tour of Brooklyn’s historic baseball places with Tom Gilbert.

The 2021 Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium will be the fifth in our city-specific series. It should be a day of learning and fun, and an opportunity to exchange questions and comments among both presenters and symposium attendees. Previous symposiums were held in New York City (2014), Philadelphia (2016), Cleveland (2018), and Minneapolis (2019).

For more information, contact Peter Mancuso.

Call for papers: 2022 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

In 2022, SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will host the SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 2-4, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees will also enjoy special presentations about local black baseball and a baseball game with the Birmingham Barons.

This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Presentations may focus on any topic related to the Negro League centennial, black baseball in Birmingham, or other related topics, especially the Negro Southern League. Some possibilities include: Rube Foster; the 1920 season; the formation of the NSL, the formation of the NNL, the original eight teams, and so much more.

Please email your proposal as a Word attachment to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu before March 1, 2022.

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

SABR Digital Library: When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions

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

When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions
Edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5952-3, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5953-0, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 268 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 When the Monarchs Reigned for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the When the Monarchs Reigned paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Having trouble downloading our e-books? To view PDF files on your computer, click here to download the free Adobe Reader software. Having trouble downloading e-books to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org, as part of our Stay Home With SABR initiative to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Can’t-Miss Event: SABR’s Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter will hold a virtual Zoom meeting from 2:00-4:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday, October 2. All baseball fans are invited to attend. Jack Bales will discuss his recent publication, The Chicago Cub Shot For Love: A Showgirl’s Crime of Passion and the 1932 World Series, and Dan Taylor will discuss his new book, Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball. Click here to register in advance for this Zoom meeting.
Video Replays: Click here to view more video replays of virtual SABR events.

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

October 2: Talkin’ Baseball: Luke Epplin (9:00 a.m. EDT)
October 2: Emil Rothe Chicago (IL) Chapter meeting with Jack Bales and Dan Taylor (2:00 p.m. CDT)
October 3: Connie Mack-Dick Allen (PA) Chapter meeting with Rich Westcott (2:00 p.m. EDT)
October 4: Northwest Ohio Chapter book club meeting (6:00 p.m. EDT)
October 5: Baseball Think Factory meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
October 6: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Ted Knorr (7:00 p.m. EDT)

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

October 2: Halsey Hall Chapter book club meeting (Roseville, MN)
October 2: Dusty Baker-Sacramento Chapter meeting (Sacramento, CA)
October 2: Hank Gowdy Chapter meeting (Columbus, OH)
October 3: Field of Dreams Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Des Moines, IA)
October 6: North Florida/Buck O’Neil Chapter meeting (Tallahassee, FL)
October 9: Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter meeting (Middletown, CT)
October 9: Forbes Field Chapter meeting (Pittsburgh, PA)
October 10: Paul Semendinger book launch (Little Falls, NJ)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with author Joe Posnanski

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 #130 on Monday, September 27 featured Joe Posnanski, author of The Baseball 100, on the greatest baseball players in history, a series originally published at The Athletic. He is also the host of The Poscast podcast with TV writer Michael Schur. He has been named national sportswriter of the year by five different organizations and has won two Emmys as part of NBC’s digital Olympics coverage. He is the author of six books, including The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America and The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. He was a guest for SABRcast Episode #42 in January 2020.

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

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

3 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

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

Eddie Higgins, by Bill Pearch
Lou Kretlow, by Malcolm Allen
Elmer Singleton, 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.

SABR Century: 1921 pennant races come down to the wire

The American League and National League pennant races took shape early in 1921: parallel two-team chases between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians in the AL and New York Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL, with the top spots changing hands several times between May and September.

On September 26, 1921, the final Monday of the regular season, both races reached flashpoints. At the Polo Grounds, the Yankees outlasted the Indians 8-7 in a thriller so resonant that the legendary Fred Lieb, writing for Baseball Research Journal more than a half-century later, identified it as one of baseball’s greatest games.

In St. Louis, the Giants’ Art Nehf earned his 20th win in a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals. The Yankees’ win gave them a two-game lead over the defending champion Indians and set them up to clinch their first-ever pennant days later. The Giants’ triumph reduced their magic number to one. The stage was set for the all-New York World Series that capped baseball’s historic 1921 campaign.

The SABR Baseball Games Project, in support of SABR’s Century Committee’s celebration of the centennial of the 1921 baseball season, commemorates the 100th anniversary of these pivotal games with new articles by SABR members John Fredland on the Yankees’ win over the Indians and Bob Whelan on the Giants’ win over the Cardinals.

Follow the Games Project and Century Committee throughout 2021 for coverage of the 1921 season. The Games Project has recently published 21 new articles on historically significant games from September 1921.

Highlights of September 1921 include Babe Ruth breaking his own single-season home-run record; Phil Cockrell of Hilldale no-hitting a Negro National League club; Walter Johnson foreshadowing his mid-1920s resurgence; Yankee stretch-drive stumbles involving a blown lead and a gem by a once-and-future teammate; pitching endurance by Eppa Rixey and Dixie Davis; an extra-base-hitting spree by Elmer Smith; minor-league action from South Dakota; and a postgame fight between two future Hall of Famers.

— John Fredland

13 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

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

October 1, 1903: Deacon Phillippe, Pirates beat Boston’s Cy Young in first ‘World’s Series’ game, by Bill Nowlin
September 26, 1921: Yankees hold off Indians in Polo Grounds thriller, seize 2-game lead in AL pennant race, by John Fredland
October 2, 1921: Austin McHenry ascends, Rogers Hornsby misses milestone as Cardinals finish in third place, by Kyle Sharamitaro
May 26, 1930: Goose Goslin, Joe Judge first in 20th century to hit back-to-back homers twice in a game, by Andrew Sharp
April 20, 1937: Bobby Doerr records 3 hits in his Red Sox debut, by David Krell
May 16, 1947: ‘Nearly as high as it was long’: Ted Williams grand slam proves a game winner, by Bill Nowlin
August 18, 1949: 30-year-old Pirates rookie Junior Walsh spins three-hit shutout, by Jack Zerby
October 3, 1962: The Giants Win the Pennant, Part Two!, by Tim Otto
May 29, 1963: Braves, Dodgers get fog-tied in Milwaukee, by Kurt Blumenau
May 15, 1970: Tom Seaver pitches his second career one-hitter for Mets, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
June 23, 1971: Have a day, Rick Wise: two home runs and a no-hitter!, by Laura H. Peebles
June 10, 1986: Tim Teufel’s pinch-hit grand slam gives Mets the win over Phillies, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
May 18, 1996: John Mabry hits for the natural cycle, but ‘Rockies’ Horror Show’ snatches victory from Cardinals, by Mike Huber

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. Listen to new episodes at 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays on MLB Network Radio.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio app.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It airs weekly throughout the year on MLB Network Radio, available to subscribers nationwide on XM channel 89, Sirius channel 209, and on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

In Memoriam: David Paulson

David D. Paulson, 89, of Columbia, Maryland, a SABR member since 1983, died on September 23, 2021. He was the longtime chair of SABR’s Oral History Committee and treasurer of the Bob Davids Chapter in Washington, DC, for many years. He conducted more than 75 interviews for the Oral History Committee — of baseball figures from Tommy Henrich to Roland Hemond to Elden Auker to Sam Lacy — and was a regular attendee of SABR’s Annual Convention for the past quarter-century. Since the early 2000s, he organized and hosted a monthly Talkin’ Baseball event with baseball authors. And after waiting for more than eight decades, he finally saw his beloved Washington Nationals win a World Series in 2019. A graveside funeral was held on September 26 at George Washington/Mt. Lebanon Cemeteries in Adelphi, Maryland, followed by Shiva services with family and friends.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s This Week in SABR

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: SABR.org/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

Welcome, new members!

We’d like to welcome all of our new SABR members who have joined this week. You can find all Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org and the Membership Handbook can be downloaded here.

Please give these new members a warm welcome and help them make the most of their membership by giving them the opportunity to get involved in their local chapter or a research committee.

You can find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.

Name	Hometown	Name	Hometown
James Burbridge	Reading, MA	Ronald Shively	Hercules, CA
Bernie Casey	Narragansett, RI	Paul Soltysiak	Grand Rapids, MI
Kenneth Riddle	Portland, OR	Randy Wooden	Winston Salem, NC
Al Riess	Buffalo, NY	Christopher Zahay	Bloomsburg, PA
Robert Sandewicz	Monroe Twp., NJ

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Nineteenth Century: Fall 2021 newsletter
Oral History: Check out the newly expanded Oral History Collection at SABR.org

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter and chartered community updates this week:

Boston Chapter: August 28 meeting recap (Boston, MA)
Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: September 2021 newsletter (Chicago, IL)
Halsey Hall Chapter: October 2021 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)
Oklahoma Chapter: September 19 meeting recap (Oklahoma City, OK)
Rogers Hornsby Chapter: September 25 meeting recap (Austin, TX)
Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter: September 25 meeting recap (Lexington, KY)

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

Around the Web

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

Anthony Castrovince: Remembering Luis Castro, the first Latino player in MLB (MLB.com)
Marc Carig: Think no-hitters have lost their luster? Consider the all-hitter (The Athletic)
Ben Lindbergh: Can Baseball Crack the Code of the Deceptive Delivery? (The Ringer)
Jay Jaffe: The Fascinating and Still Unsettled NL MVP Race (FanGraphs)
Emma Baccellieri: Ready for Chaos? Your Guide to the Regular Season’s Final Weekend (Sports Illustrated)
Hannah Keyser: No load management here: Meet the 2 MLB stars committed to playing all 162 games (Yahoo! Sports)
Manny Randhawa: Dodgers-Giants goes down to wire again (MLB.com)
Bill Shaikin: One-game playoff for Dodgers in 2021? Blame one game in 1996 (Los Angeles Times)
Jake Mailhot: The Unsung Heroes of the Mariners’ September Surge (FanGraphs)
Sarah Langs/Matt Kelly: Stats and facts behind Cards’ 16-game streak (MLB.com)
Stephanie Apstein: Joey Votto Is Finding Satisfaction in Abandoning Perfection (Sports Illustrated)
Frederic J. Frommer: Fifty years ago, baseball left Washington in a chaotic stampede (Washington Post)
Anthony Castrovince: 1980s White Sox moved home plate … to hit homers and win more games (MLB.com)
Rob Mains: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Baseball Prospectus)
Ben Zimmer: ‘Magic Number’: Baseball’s Mystical End-of-Season Calculus (Wall Street Journal)
Russell A. Carleton: The Blake Snell Maneuver Will Happen Again (Baseball Prospectus)
Mark Simon: Biggest MLB Surprises in 2021 (ACTA Sports)
Rob Arthur: The Three-Batter-Minimum Rule Hasn’t Changed Much (Baseball Prospectus)
Michael Clair: Leo Ullman has largest Nolan Ryan collection in the world (MLB.com)
Howard Megdal: Ohtani’s Ultimatum Has Huge Fantasy Implications (Baseball Prospectus)
Joon Lee: Can a union fix this? Minor leaguers say poverty-level pay, poor housing are driving a ‘mental health crisis’ (ESPN.com)
Jason Turbow: Carlos Gomez, We Hardly Knew Thee (The Baseball Codes)
David Jablonski: Baseball lifer Mark Miller overcomes stroke to work as official scorer for Dragons (Springfield News-Sun)
David Laurila: Kansas City’s Kris Bubic on the Art of the Changeup (FanGraphs)
Tom Ruane: A Retro-review of the 1921 season (Retrosheet)

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

This Week in SABR is compiled by Jacob Pomrenke. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR,” e-mail jpomrenke@sabr.org.

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