This Week in SABR: October 30, 2020

October 30, 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.

Please note: We apologize for any disruption in service you have experienced this week with SABR’s membership directory, renewing your membership, trying to make an online donation, or phone calls to the national office. We are working with our vendors to restore full service at profile.sabr.org as quickly as possible. Click here to contact a member of the SABR staff if you have any questions.

Here’s what we’ve been up to as of October 30, 2020:

Save the date: Celebrate SABR Day on January 30, 2021!

As SABR prepares for its Golden Anniversary in 2021, please mark your calendars for Saturday, January 30, 2021, when we will hold our annual SABR Day celebration! SABR Day is a way for all baseball fans to come together, regardless of where they live, and talk about the game we all love.

We are planning an exciting 2-hour block of virtual, national SABR programming on Zoom from 2:00-4:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 30. Guest speakers and more details will be announced soon.

Regional chapters are also encouraged to plan their own SABR Day events (virtually or in person, where it’s safe to do so) throughout the months of January or February to help us celebrate our 50th anniversary and the start of a new baseball season.

Chapter leaders, please email Chanel Zapata as you finalize your SABR Day plans so we can update our comprehensive schedule of events, which will be posted online at SABR.org/sabrday.

Rawlings creates new Gold Glove Team Award using SABR Defensive Index

Rawlings Sporting Goods has expanded the Gold Glove platform to award the best team defense over the course of the regular season. Two teams will receive the newly created award — one in both the American and National Leagues — for the 2020 season.

The Rawlings Gold Glove Team Awards will utilize a sabermetric model formulated by the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) known as the SABR Defensive Index™ (SDI). The SDI draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts. SDI utilizes MLBAM’s Statcast, Sports Information Solutions data, and STATS, LLC data as well as traditional statistics with advanced analysis.

The inaugural Rawlings Gold Glove Team Award winners will be unveiled alongside the Rawlings Platinum Award™ recipients exclusively on MLB Network’s Emmy Award-winning MLB Tonight at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 6.

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

Watch: 2020 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners to be announced Tuesday

The 2020 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners will be unveiled during a live, one-hour airing of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 3.

Following the show, voting will begin online for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, presented by SABR. A combination of the SABR Defensive Index and the national fan vote will determine who takes home the honor in each League. The final SABR Defensive Index rankings will be released at SABR.org/SDI on November 3, immediately following the ESPN broadcast.

Due to the compressed 2020 MLB season, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award qualifications have been amended to rely solely on the SABR Defensive Index this year. The SDI draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts, including data from MLBAM’s Statcast, Sports Information Solutions, and STATS, LLC.

Click here to view the Gold Glove Award finalists 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.

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 Bill Nowlin and Bill Pearch on the new SABR Digital Library book, Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games.

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

October 31: Pee Wee Reese Chapter meeting with Kelly Park (11:00 a.m. EDT)
October 31: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with Sharon Hamilton and Bill Nowlin (1:00 p.m. CDT)
November 4: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Maxwell Kates (7:00 p.m. EST)
November 7: Talkin’ Baseball: Thomas Stone (9:00 a.m. EST)
November 7: Halsey Hall (Minn.) Chapter meeting with Stew Thornley, Corky Gaskell, and Dirk Lammers (10:00 a.m. CST)
November 7: Hanlan’s Point (Toronto) Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. EST)
November 7: Pacific Northwest Chapter meeting (12:00 p.m. PST)
November 7: Baseball Reminiscence meeting (3:00 p.m. EST)
November 10: 19th Century Speaker Series with Joanne Hulbert (8:00 p.m. EST)
November 10: IBWAA: Up Next with Benjamin Chase (9:00 p.m. EST)
November 11: Boston Chapter meeting with David Laurila (8:00 p.m. EST)
November 12: Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter meeting with Stew Thornley (7:00 p.m. CST)

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

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

Download your free copy of Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts, Volume 2

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

Click here for the full description of this journal at SABR.org.

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).

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.

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 ESPN announcer Jon Sciambi

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 #83 on Monday, October 26 featured Jon “Boog” Sciambi, who joined ESPN full time in 2010 as play-by-play voice for MLB “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN Radio, while continuing the same role for college basketball, which he has done since 2005. He has also been the regular play-by-play voice for ESPN’s “Wednesday Night Baseball” telecasts since 2014. Jon encourages baseball fans to support Project Main St., which is helping those experiencing financial challenges as a direct result of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Jon was also the guest for SABRcast #54 in April 2020.

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.

11 new SABR biographies published

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

King Brockett, by Bill Lamb
John Burke, by Malcolm Allen
John Connor, by Bill Lamb
Howie Fox, by Malcolm Allen
Chris Haughey, by Bill Nowlin
Charlie Hollocher, by Steve Dunn
Blondie Purcell, by Tim Hagerty
Frank Saucier, by Jim Ball (first-time author)
Ralph Savidge, by Darren Gibson
Nate Snell, by Malcolm Allen
Frank Verdi, by Eric Vickrey

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 our 1946 Newark Eagles book

In SABR’s The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions (2019), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin, we captured the stories of a Negro Leagues team for the ages, the 1946 squad that ran away with the Negro National League and then triumphed over the Kansas City Monarchs in a thrilling seven-game World Series.

Four of the Eagles’ stars — Leon Day, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, and player/manager Raleigh “Biz” Mackey, as well as co-owner Effa Manley — have been enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the veterans on that team composed a veritable “Who’s Who in the Negro Leagues.”

You can now read all of the biographies that appeared in our 1946 Newark Eagles book at the SABR BioProject:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/category/completed-book-projects/1946-newark-eagles

SABR members can download The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions as a free e-book or get 50% off their purchase of the paperback edition at SABR.org/ebooks.

29 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

Twenty-nine new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project — including many from articles our SABR Digital Library book, The Base Ball Palace of the World: Comiskey Park, edited by Gregory H. Wolf. Here are the new game stories:

September 28, 1894: Reds pitcher Tom Parrott plays second base and hits for the cycle, by Mike Huber
July 29, 1903: New York, Boston combine for 29 runs as Patsy Dougherty hits for the cycle, by Mike Huber
May 21, 1913: Gavvy Cravath and Tom Seaton star as Phillies crush Cincinnati 12-0, by Thomas E. Merrick
September 5, 1918: Babe Ruth tosses shutout in Game 1 as patriotism prevails in World Series opener, by Mike Huber
September 6, 1918: Lefty Tyler’s pitching, batting tie World Series at 1-1, by Bill Pearch
September 7, 1918: Boston’s Carl Mays outduels Cubs’ Hippo Vaughn in Game 3, by Brian Frank
June 9, 1939: Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams homer for Red Sox in 18-7 win over Browns, by Tim Hagerty
July 3, 1952: Eddie Robinson knocks in seven for White Sox, by Stephen D. Boren
July 4, 1955: Clem Labine’s pitching and home run seal Dodgers’ sweep of Phillies, by Steven C. Weiner
October 8, 1959: Dodgers win their first World Series after moving west to Los Angeles, by Alan Cohen
April 18, 1972: Wilbur Wood tosses 3-hit shutout in White Sox’s first night opener, by Bob Wood
May 26, 1973: Wilbur Wood, White Sox beat Cleveland in a two-day marathon, by Joseph Wancho
September 4, 1973: Jim Kaat mows down Rangers with 5-hit shutout, by Joe Schuster
June 14, 1975: Umpire’s flub overturns a Richmond Braves win, by Kurt Blumenau
September 10, 1976: Angels’ Nolan Ryan strikes out 18 and walks 9 in 185-pitch effort, by Gregory H. Wolf
May 14, 1977: Jim Spencer drives in eight runs in White Sox rout, by Don Zminda
July 2, 1977: Chicago’s Jim Spencer drives in eight runs for second time, by Michael Marsh
June 27, 1979: Cardinals’ Silvio Martinez twirls his third one-hit gem, by Tom Schott
July 12, 1979: Chicago’s Disco Demolition Night results in White Sox loss and forfeit, by Mike Huber
July 14, 1979: Irish Night in Chicago brings luck to Claudell Washington with three-homer game, by Mark Mullane
October 4, 1981: White Sox overcome 7-run deficit to win season finale, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
October 12, 1982: Paul Molitor records World Series record 5 hits as Brewers cruise in opener, by Gregory H. Wolf
July 6, 1983: In golden All-Star anniversary, Fred Lynn hits a grand slam and AL ends decade of NL dominance, by Brian Wright
September 17, 1983: White Sox clinch AL West with Harold Baines walk-off sacrifice fly, by Mike Huber
May 8-9, 1984: White Sox, Brewers play for 25 innings, longest game in major-league history, by Ken Carrano
May 8, 1986: Seattle skipper Marty Martinez loses only game as Mariners manager, by Kurt Blumenau
April 20, 1987: Brewers beat White Sox to run winning streak to record-tying 13 games, by Steven C. Weiner
July 22, 1987: Harold Baines sets White Sox franchise home run record, by Brandon Lee (first-time author)
April 9, 1990: White Sox eke out a win in final Opening Day at Comiskey Park, by Nathan Bierma

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.

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
Shannon Benfield	Windermere, FL	David Matson	Portland, OR
Dan Clark	Los Osos, CA	Thomas Meade	Manorville, NY
Al DiMicco	Hoover, AL	Andres Must	Tallinn, EST
Nikolas Donadic	Bronx, NY	Byron Petraroja	Syracuse, NY
Brian Edwards	Santa Fe, NM	Connie Phillips	Orange, CA
Robert Krzys	New Hartford, CT	Jeff Sahadeo	Ottawa, ON
Jerry Lema	Bristol, RI

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Minor Leagues: Fall 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:

Rachael McDaniel: The Dodgers Are World Series Champions (FanGraphs)
Jay Jaffe: Making the Case for the 2020 Dodgers’ Place in History (FanGraphs)
Alden Gonzalez: Inside the night Clayton Kershaw finally became a world champion — in his hometown (ESPN.com)
William C. Rhoden: Dave Roberts won the World Series, but will he finally get credit for his success? (The Undefeated)
Eno Sarris: The real mistake the Rays made in Game 6 (The Athletic)
Rob Arthur: Kevin Cash Made the Right Call (Baseball Prospectus)
Emma Baccellieri: How to Write the Perfect Ending to a Baseball Game in Seven Steps (Sports Illustrated)
Hannah Keyser: The pandemic didn’t end with the World Series. Neither did Justin Turner’s responsibility to others (Yahoo! Sports)
Jayson Stark: How should MLB have handled the Justin Turner ‘fiasco’? An epidemiologist weighs in (The Athletic)
Jen Mac Ramos: Justin Turner and the Dodgers Remind You of Their Priorities (Baseball Prospectus)
Marc Carig: ‘Break a window, don’t burn down the house’: The Rays’ culture of innovation (The Athletic)
Roger Cormier: And They Lived Happily Ever After (Baseball Prospectus)
Mark Simon: 2020 Fielding Bible Award winners announced (ACTA Sports)
Evan Drellich: MLB owners lay off hundreds as revenues plummet, drastically changing the sport (The Athletic)
Ben Strauss: Astroball author reconsiders the Astros and the dark side of ruthless efficiency (Washington Post)
Rob Mains: The 2020 Season in Inequality (Baseball Prospectus)
Do-Hyoung Park: Ji-Man Choi of South Korea is World Series star (MLB.com)
Nick Groke: How did Charlie Blackmon end up a Gold Glove finalist? It’s all in the data (The Athletic)
Craig Muder: La Russa’s new job with White Sox will make history (BaseballHall.org)
Jim Margalus: Jerry Reinsdorf gets his man with Tony La Russa; the White Sox are an afterthought (Sox Machine)
Ryan Whirty: The San Jacinto Club in New Orleans (Home Plate Don’t Move)
Jason Schwartz: Overanalyzing 1933 Goudey, part one (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Tim Jenkins: Sweet Lou’s cardboard (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: