This Week in SABR: October 2, 2020

October 2, 2020/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 2, 2020:

Volume 2 of Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts is released

A new publication produced by SABR’s Baseball and the Arts Committee vividly brings to life the art and literature of the game we all love:

Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts, Volume 2 (2020)
Edited by Joanne Hulbert and Jay Hurd
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9701-5944-8, $5.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5945-5, $9.95
6″ x 9″, 117 pages

Turnstyle is the journal of baseball arts and literature produced by SABR’s Baseball and the Arts Research Committee. Turnstyle combines poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction with baseball-themed art and illustration.

In Issue 2, we have an exploration of the art of Joaquin Newman, an Oakland-based artist who combined the Mexican tradition of calaveras (skeleton paintings for Day of the Dead) with baseball cards for a series of paintings, one of which graces the issue’s front cover. Andrea Long writes about how baseball connected her with her father, even after his passing, and George Skornickel looks back on a special Opening Day he shared with his mother when he was young.

Several writers referenced the trying circumstances of the 2020 pandemic, including Bill Nowlin’s closing essay about the unique wait for Opening Day. Anika Orrock brings us a lively, and true, story of a nun who played baseball, while three members of the Moonlight Graham Society recount how each of them made their sole appearance in a professional game, a la the society’s namesake. In “Ninth Inning,” writer Bradley Stribling gives us a fictionalized account of a real game: a 1925 match between a Negro League baseball team and a Ku Klux Klan team, while Bryan Erwin sends us deep into the gut-churning moral dilemma of a player whose split-second decision on the field may have far-reaching consequences in “The Spoiler.”

Thirty-six pieces in all fill the pages of Issue 2, including a baker’s dozen poems, a dozen articles and autobiographical essays, seven stories, and more than a dozen paintings and illustrations.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Turnstyle, Volume 2 for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Turnstyle, Volume 2 paperback edition from the SABR Store ($12.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Click here to download or purchase a copy of Turnstyle, Volume 1 (2019).

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.

Friends of SABR: September 2020

Here is a list of SABR supporters for the month of September 2020. Want to become a Friend of SABR? Click here to make a recurring monthly contribution or click here to learn more about our Giving Circles to make a one-time contribution.

NAME		NAME
D. Bruce Brown		Michael Rosenwasser
John Burbridge III		Charles Roussel
Ken Carrano		Bob Russon
Peter Coolbaugh		Robert Sawyer
Jim Cox		Douglas Schoppert
Steven Elsberry		Jeff Self
D.B. Firstman		Steve Shaiman
F. X. Flinn		Paul Soyka
Adam Foldes		Thomas Stone
Leslie Heaphy		Wesley Story
Rockwell Hoffman		Buddy Thomas
David Hughes		Joseph Thompson
Donald Jensen		John Thorn
Thomas Lee		Neal Traven
Peter Mancuso		Steve West
Geoff Mills		Frank Williams
Matthew Mullin		Phil Williams
Bill Nowlin		Jeffrey Wood
Gregg Pericich		Don Zminda

Visit SABR.org/donate to learn more.

SABR Digital Library: Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games

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

Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games
Edited by Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5943-1, $24.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5942-4, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 396 pages

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games 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.

SABR members can download all of our Digital Library e-books for free or get 50% off the paperback edition. Find all past titles at SABR.org/ebooks.

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.

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

October 3: Talkin’ Baseball: Dennis Hetrick (9:00 a.m. EDT)
October 3: Halsey Hall (Minn.) Chapter book club (9:30 a.m. CDT)
October 3: Pee Wee Reese (Ky.) Chapter meeting with Jacob Pomrenke (1:00 p.m. EDT)
October 3: Baseball Reminiscence virtual meeting (4:00 p.m. EDT)
October 4: Robinson-Kell (Ark.) Chapter meeting with Mike Dugan (7:00 p.m. CDT)
October 5: Northwest Ohio Chapter book club meeting (6:30 p.m. EDT)
October 7: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Ted Knorr (7:00 p.m. EDT)
October 8: Ken Keltner (Wis.) Chapter book club meeting with Gary Cieradkowski (7:00 p.m. CDT)
October 12: Halsey Hall (Minn.) Chapter Research Committee meeting (7:00 p.m. CDT)
October 13: 19th Century Committee Speaker Series with Jon Popovich (8:00 p.m. EDT)
October 14: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Jerry Amernic (7:30 p.m. EDT)
October 15: Boston Chapter meeting with Luis Tiant and Saul Wisnia (7:00 p.m. EDT)

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

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

Seamheads.com updates Negro Leagues Database with 1944 stats

We are pleased to announce the addition of 1944 Mexican League statistics to the SABR award-winning Seamheads Negro Leagues Database.

Special thanks to Steve Peissig, who provided fielding stats for the 1944 Mexican League, which makes this the most statistically complete Mexican League season we’ve released to date. Also, this helped us to, for the first time, split out playing records for players who played for more than one team.

For the 1944 Mexican League season, the league again featured only six teams. Martín Dihigo, Willie Wells, Chet Brewer, Quincy Trouppe, Wild Bill Wright and Silvio García were some of the biggest names who went south of the border. But the biggest news may have been who Azules de Veracruz hired as their manager – Rogers Hornsby. The 48-year-old Hornsby only lasted a couple of weeks before he quit, but during that time he put himself at bat in two games, resulting in a double, a walk, and three RBIs. This is the last known professional hit for the Hall of Famer.

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

— Gary Ashwill

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 artist Bill Henderson

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 #79 on Monday, September 28 featured Bill Henderson, author of Game Worn Guide to MLB Jerseys and proprietor of the MLB Dream Shop, where he focuses on restoring and customizing MLB jerseys of all kinds since 1970. Uni Watch author Paul Lukas has called Henderson’s book “seminal” and “the most authoritative product of its type.” Henderson lives near Philadelphia, where he is an international marketing executive with a specialization in the pharmaceutical industry, focused around drug distribution and data privacy.

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.

9 new SABR biographies published

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

Russ Cowans, by Donna L. Halper
Grant “Home Run” Johnson, by Phil Williams
Frank McCue, by Andy McCue
Otis Nixon, by Zac Petrillo
Louis Pelouze, by Paul Winter
Dave Rader, by Ledra Slavik (first-time author)
Dutch Schliebner, by Daniel Shirley
Horace Wilds, by Stephen V. Rice
Larry Wolfe, by Bill Nowlin

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.

Read all SABR bios from San Diego Padres 50th anniversary book

In SABR’s San Diego Padres: The First Half Century (2019), edited by Tom Larwin and Bill Nowlin, we captured the stories some of the greatest figures in Padres history — from Tony Gwynn, Steve Garvey, and Nate Colbert to Jack McKeon, Bruce Bochy, and Jerry Coleman — and took baseball fans through some of the most memorable moments since the team’s inaugural season in 1969.

You can now read all of the biographies that appeared in our San Diego Padres 50th anniversary book at the SABR BioProject:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/category/completed-book-projects/san-diego-padres-50th-anniversary/

SABR members can download San Diego Padres: The First Half-Century as a free e-book or get 50% off their purchase of the paperback edition at SABR.org/ebooks.

21 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

Twenty-one new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. These articles are from our recent SABR Digital Library books commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals franchises. Here are the new game stories:

April 9, 1969: Second verse, same as the first; Royals remain undefeated after debut, by Ken Carrano
July 21, 1970: Padres’ Clay Kirby lifted in eighth inning during no-hit bid, by Rory Costello
July 18, 1972: One strike away, Padres’ Steve Arlin loses his no-hit bid, by Gregory Funk
August 1, 1972: Nate Colbert’s record-setting day leads Padres to sweep over Braves, by Chuck Johnson
August 2, 1973: George Brett makes his debut with Kansas City Royals, by Russell Bertold
June 10, 1974: Padres overcome 8-0 deficit in eighth inning to win, by Gregory Funk
September 29, 1976: Royals clinch tie for AL West division title, by Thomas M. Knosby
October 1, 1978: Gaylord Perry records 3,000th career strikeout and Ozzie Smith performs his first pregame backflip, by Tom Larwin
June 15, 1979: Royals stage ‘a comeback for all seasons’ in defeating Brewers, by Mike Huber
August 17, 1980: George Brett raises batting average above .400, by Jack Zerby
October 10, 1980: Royals advance to first World Series after sweeping Yankees in ALCS, by Gordon Gattie
July 19, 1982: Tony Gwynn records two hits in his major-league debut for Padres, by Fred O. Rodgers
October 6, 1984: Steve Garvey’s walk-off home run lifts Padres in Game 4 of NLCS, by Joel Rippel
October 7, 1984: Padres come from behind again to beat Cubs, secure first World Series berth, by Bob Webster
October 10, 1984: Bevacqua’s heroics lift Padres over Tigers in Game 2, by Seth Moland-Kovash
July 17, 1990: Bo Jackson clouts three home runs in Royals’ victory over Yankees, by Mike Huber
June 6, 1991: Royals outlast Rangers in 18-inning marathon, by Darin Watson (first-time author)
September 30, 1992: George Brett joins 3,000-hit club with four-hit performance, by Gordon Gattie
September 26, 1993: George Brett announces retirement, then hits walk-off home run, by Steve Kuehl
September 26, 2014: Royals clinch a postseason berth to end a 29-year drought, by Larry Pauley (first-time author)
September 30, 2014: Royals top A’s in a wild AL Wild Card Game, by Bill Carle

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 recent episodes of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Saturdays

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, is back at a new time. Listen to new episodes at 5:00-6:00 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.

SABR members: Subscribe to IBWAA newsletter for more baseball coverage and commentary

SABR is pleased to partner with the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America to connect more baseball enthusiasts together and help organize more online events throughout the year.

The IBWAA has launched a new subscription email newsletter, Here’s the Pitch, with original content written by a different IBWAA member every day, six days per week. Most of the proceeds go toward paying writers and editors, so your subscription will help support independent baseball journalism. There’s also a free subscription version.

Visit IBWAA.substack.com to learn more.

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
David Brown	Honolulu, HI	Robert Moynihan	Ottawa Hills, OH
Richard Gerkin	Phoenix, AZ	Michael Poplawski	Victoria, BC
Daniel Grillo	Lyons, IL	Stephen Roylance	Latham, NY
Ray Kuhn	Lindenhurst, NY	John Scoggins	Savannah, GA
Brent Martin	Cornelius, NC	Kyle Sharamitaro	New Orleans, LA
Hal McIntire	Grand Blanc, MI	Glenn Wolfe	Morrisville, NC
Jerry McNeil	Seattle, WA	Chanel Zapata	St. Petersburg, FL

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Official Scoring: October 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)

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:

Anthony Castrovince: SABR member Dan Joseph discovers Gehrig interview on Ruth’s called shot (MLB.com)
Rob Arthur: Sabermetrics Might Be Revolutionizing Cheating (Baseball Prospectus)
Marc Carig: A Big Day for Baseball: Takeaways from a 13-hour Fall Frenzy (The Athletic)
J.J. Cooper: The Professional Baseball Agreement Expired. So Now What? (Baseball America)
Jonathan Judge: The Problem of Opponent Quality (Baseball Prospectus)
Brad Lefton: The Best 60-Game Stretch in a Century Still Belongs to Ichiro Suzuki (New York Times)
Ben Lindbergh: The Yankees Win an Epic That Shows the Flaws in Our Obsession With Bad Managing (The Ringer)
Jay Jaffe: Fireworks from Tatis, Machado, and Myers Key Padres Comeback (FanGraphs)
Eno Sarris: Rays mix, match and coach their way to victory, move on to division series (The Athletic)
Hannah Keyser: Turn down the fake crowd noise! Let’s hear what MLB’s weird postseason actually sounds like (Yahoo! Sports)
Rachael McDaniel: Eight Pictures of Clayton Kershaw (FanGraphs)
Alex Coffey: Joe Rudi on how Mark Canha’s Game 2 catch compares to his 1972 classic (The Athletic)
Mark Simon: The most improved teams of 2020 (ACTA Sports)
Peter Dreier/Dave Zirin: Making Black Lives Matter On and Off the Diamond (The Nation)
Frank Fitzpatrick: Ben Shibe’s legacy with Phillies, Athletics, Connie Mack Stadium has faded (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Tyler Maun: San Juan Marlins burned brightly, briefly in Minors (MiLB.com)
Rob Mains: Atlanta’s Rookie: He’s Not the Kind You Have to Wind Up on Thursdays (Baseball Prospectus)
Tom Shieber: An Illustrated Guide to “Headin’ Home,” Babe Ruth’s First Feature Film (Baseball Researcher)
Craig Brown: 1898 baseball uniform database updates (Threads of Our Game)
Roger Cormier: Robert D. Manfred Jr. Loves Sports (Baseball Prospectus)
David A. Scott: Joe Sewell brings hope to 1920 Indians (Medium.com)
DJ Weller: Player Collection Spotlight – Ozzie Smith (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jeff Katz: Jumping Into the Deep End (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.

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