This Week in SABR: October 5, 2018

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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 5, 2018:

One week left to register early for 2018 SABR Arizona Fall League Experience

We hope you’ll join us for the 10th annual SABR Arizona Fall League Experience, which will be held Thursday, November 1 to Saturday, November 3, 2018. Early registration is only open for one more week, so sign up today!

The event will feature four AFL games showcasing baseball’s top prospects. On Friday night, we’ll come together for a special poolside taco bar dinner at our host hotel, The Saguaro, just steps away from Scottsdale Stadium and many Old Town Scottsdale attractions. On Saturday morning after our conference breakfast, attendees will join members of SABR’s Hemond-Delhi Arizona Chapter for their regional fall meeting with research presentations and guest speakers. We’ll conclude the conference with the nationally televised Fall Stars Game on Saturday evening at Surprise Stadium. All of this is included in one low registration price.

  • Register now by clicking here! Registration is $199 for all SABR members and guests before October 12, 2018; $239 afterward.
  • Host hotel: SABR’s recommended hotel is The Saguaro (4000 North Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251) in Old Town Scottsdale. Click here to book your room online or call the hotel at (480) 470-8247 and mention “SABR” to book your room at our special group rate of $129/night (plus tax).
  • Schedule: Visit SABR.org/AFL for the detailed schedule

Your registration fee includes four game tickets; an AFL Media Guide; the poolside taco bar dinner on Friday; and the conference breakfast on Saturday.

Note: Local or visiting SABR members can purchase extra or optional tickets to the Friday evening poolside taco bar dinner ($45) at The Saguaro, the Saturday morning breakfast at The Saguaro ($25), or any of the ballgames, including the Fall Stars Game at Surprise Stadium ($7 apiece). Extra AFL Media Guides ($12) are also available for purchase while supplies last. Please contact Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org for details.

The 2018 team rosters were released recently and MLB’s No. 1 prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, leads a star-studded cast this season in the AFL.

The annual conference, hosted by SABR’s Arizona Hemond-Delhi Chapter, is held in conjunction with the Arizona Fall League (mlbfallball.com), baseball’s premier player development league. In the first nine years of the conference, attendees have been treated to sneak peeks at MLB stars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Nolan Arenado, Gerrit Cole, Gary Sanchez, and Ronald Acuña Jr. before they hit the big leagues.

All baseball fans are welcome to attend the SABR Arizona Fall League Experience. Visit SABR.org/AFL for photos and highlights from past conferences.

Get the Fall 2018 Baseball Research Journal delivered straight to your inbox

Once again, SABR is offering members the opportunity to opt in to receiving the e-book version of the Fall 2018 Baseball Research Journal. We’ll deliver the e-book version of the Fall 2018 BRJ in the format of your choice (EPUB, MOBI/Kindle or PDF) straight to your inbox in early November. Click here to learn more about receiving the e-book edition of the BRJ.

Opt in to receiving the e-book edition by 11:59 p.m. tonight, Friday, October 5, in order to get early access to all the great content in the BRJ in e-book format and online at SABR.org.

  • To opt in to receiving the e-book version of the Baseball Research Journal: Click here to edit your membership profile. Scroll to the bottom and select “Receive publications electronically.” Then save your changes.

Please note: If you do nothing, you will continue to receive two print editions of the Baseball Research Journal every year by mail.

If you’ve never read a Baseball Research Journal in e-book form, click here to try it out with the Spring 2018 edition. The Baseball Research Journal, and all SABR e-books, are available in EPUB, MOBI/Kindle or PDF formats.

To read articles from the BRJ archives, click here.

SABR 19th Century Grave Marker Project dedicates new headstone for Bob Caruthers in Chicago

On an overcast autumn day, five dedicated researchers and a curious coyote dropped by Section N of Chicago’s historic Graceland Cemetery to dedicate the grave marker of 19th-century baseball legend Bob Caruthers on Sunday, September 30 in the latest installation of SABR’s 19th Century Baseball Grave Marker Project.

Caruthers was among the greatest all-around players of his day, starring for the St. Louis Browns and Brooklyn Bridgegrooms of the American Association. He was an outstanding pitcher with a deceptive right-handed delivery and a hard-hitting outfielder who had a solid reputation as a defensive player and a baserunner.

Attendees reviewed highlights of his career, discussed his acquisition of the “Parisian Bob” nickname, his links to the neighborhood around Graceland via his association with an amateur baseball team in Lake View, and how he came to be buried in Graceland.

Click here to read the full announcement and view more photos at SABR.org.

Mark Liptak’s White Sox interviews added to SABR Oral History Collection

Nearly 50 interview transcripts of Chicago White Sox players, executives, and broadcasters conducted by SABR member Mark Liptak have been added to the SABR Oral History Collection website this week.

Liptak, a sports broadcaster at Idaho State University and a Chicago native, graciously donated his collection of interviews that cover more than a half-century of history from a wide range of figures in the White Sox organization. His interview subjects include Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, broadcasters Jason Benetti, Milo Hamilton, Tom Paciorek, and Jimmy Piersall, executives Roland Hemond and Mike Veeck, and star players Ken Berry, Jim Kaat, Ron Kittle, and Jack McDowell.

Other highlights include his conversation with Joe Horlen about his memories of the 1967 All-Star Game, with Jim Landis about which “sun fields” were the toughest to play, and with Gary Peters about his bid for perfection.

Click here to read Mark Liptak’s interview transcripts at the SABR Oral History Collection.

To listen to more interviews from the SABR Oral History Collection, visit oralhistory.sabr.org.

New team ownership history: Philadelphia Phillies

The new SABR Team Ownership Histories Project, which launched last year at SABR.org, is a joint effort of SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee and the BioProject. The intention is to provide as much detail as possible about the organization and composition of ownership groups, franchise sales, relocations, stadiums, and other issues that provide the financial context for team success on the field. One new article was published this week:

Click on a link below to read other Team Ownership History articles published recently:

This project is a continuing effort. Some team articles have been assigned, but anyone who wishes to contribute is encouraged to contact Andy McCue at amccue@sabr.org. Thanks to Len Levin for his work in copy editing all of these essays.

To find out which essays still need authors, or to read author guidelines, click here.

Save the date! SABR 49 will be in San Diego in 2019

Save the date! SABR will be returning to San Diego for our 49th national convention on June 26-30, 2019, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego, California. Registration information and our special hotel room block will be available at SABR.org/convention in early 2019. The Padres are scheduled to play at home against the St. Louis Cardinals that weekend.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt is conveniently located within walking distance from Petco Park; our host hotel, a frequent host of baseball’s Winter Meetings, features a spectacular waterfront resort-like setting with shopping, dining, and entertainment venues in abundance at the nearby Gaslamp Quarter. The San Diego Central Library’s Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center, just a few blocks away, is home to the spectacular SABR Collection curated by our host chapter, the San Diego Ted Williams Chapter.

SABR 49 will be our second convention held in San Diego and first since 1993. Our 23rd annual convention that year featured a keynote address from former Padres manager Dick Williams and a panel celebrating the 1984 National League champions. Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

SABR’s 2019 national convention will be our 49th annual gathering; the organization’s founding in Cooperstown in 1971 is counted as the first.

For more information on the SABR convention, visit SABR.org/convention.

Check out early photos from the 2018 Southern Negro League Baseball Conference in Birmingham

SABR’s Rickwood Field Chapter is joining with the Center for Negro Baseball Research, the Southern Negro League Baseball Museum, and Friends of Rickwood to host the inaugural Southern Negro League Baseball Conference this weekend at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

The conference, which opened Thursday, is dedicated to the preservation of the history of Southern Negro League Baseball, and the history of Negro Leagues players from the South.

This year’s conference’s theme is the final Negro League World Series in 1948, including a visit with Rev. Bill Greason, who played for the Birmingham Black Barons in that series 70 years ago. Please consider attending and sharing your commitment to keeping alive the rich history of Southern Negro League Baseball.

Click here to view more photos of the conference at SABR.org.

2019 SABR Black Sox Scandal symposium to be held in Chicago

The SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee is pleased to announce a special symposium to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 World Series on September 27-29, 2019, in Chicago.

This once-in-a-century event will be highlighted by a SABR research symposium with panels and presentations from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 28, 2019, at the Chicago History Museum. The museum is home to an extensive collection of Black Sox artifacts and documents, and we’ll gather in the beautiful Morse Genius Chicago Room event space to discuss the continued relevance of the 1919 World Series and its aftermath.

The weekend will also include a visit to see a Chicago White Sox game, a Prohibition era-themed dinner/pub crawl, a walking tour of downtown Chicago baseball history sites, and book signings with SABR authors, including our own Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox.

Pre-registration for this event will be available at SABR.org beginning in early 2019. Sign up now to receive email announcements from the Black Sox Scandal committee for updates on this 100th anniversary symposium.

SABR Digital Library: Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History

New York Mets fans can soak in some Amazin’ memories with the newest book from the SABR Digital Library:

Met-rospectives: A Collection of the Greatest Games in New York Mets History
Edited by Brian Wright and Bill Nowlin
Associate Editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-87-3, $14.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-943816-86-6, $9.99
139 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including many for free. Find all past titles in our collection at SABR.org/ebooks.

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.

Last call: Submit nominations for the 2019 Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award

Nominations are still open for the 2019 Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award — “The Dorothy” — named in honor of Dorothy Seymour Mills and her lifetime of contributions to promoting women’s baseball.

To submit a nomination for The Dorothy in 2019, please submit a letter of nomination (self or external); supporting letters; list of accomplishments with supporting documentation (including articles written by/about the candidate; book reviews for books written; links to organizations/tournaments/others that the candidate participated in or helped organize); awards received; or other achievements by October 8, 2018, to Dr. Leslie Heaphy by e-mail at lheaphy@kent.edu or by mail at Dr. Leslie Heaphy, KSU at Stark, 6000 Frank Ave., North Canton, OH 44720.

Eligible candidates include any person with a sustained involvement in women’s baseball or any woman with a longtime involvement in baseball in any fashion — player, umpire, writer, executive, team owner, scout, etc.

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

Deadline approaching for 2019 SABR Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference abstracts

All SABR members are invited and encouraged to submit a Research Presentation Proposal Abstract on any topic of 19th-century baseball for the 2019 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The 11th annual Ivor-Campbell Conference is scheduled for April 26-27, 2019.

The deadline for proposal Abstracts is October 31, 2018. Your abstract must be between 200-400 words for a 20- to 25-minute presentation. Please include name, title, and contact information and send your proposal as a Microsoft Word or PDF attachment to Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

Click here for complete details and submission criteria at SABR.org.

To learn more about the Ivor-Campbell Conference, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c.

Join us for the 2018 SABR Cleveland 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

Join us for the SABR Cleveland 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium, which will take place on Saturday, November 10, 2018, from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at the majestic Main Branch of the Cleveland Public Library in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

The day-long Saturday symposium will be devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Cleveland and its greater region of northeastern Ohio. A keynote luncheon address of interdisciplinary history by David Goldberg, Professor of History at Cleveland State University, will provide a look at late 19th-century Cleveland with a particular understanding of one of that city’s most important and powerful forces, its transportation system. In addition to the on-site luncheon, there will be both an early morning and mid-afternoon coffee and refreshments service.

Other speakers are expected to include John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; John Skrtic, Director of Public Services, CPL; Jeremy Feador, Cleveland Indians, Historian & Curator; and four SABR researchers and authors with specific focus on elements of 19th-century Cleveland area baseball: David Fleitz, Joseph Wancho, Ken Krsolovic, and Bryan Fritz. Click here to download a complete schedule (PDF).

We hope to see you there!

The Baseball Index adds 800 new entries to baseball catalog

SABR’s The Baseball Index (TBI) has added more than 800 new entries to aid baseball researchers in its end-of-season update in October 2018.

TBI is an ongoing project to catalog the entirety of baseball literature, from the earliest references to the present day. The index — which now totals more than 254,000 entries of baseball articles, books, essays, and other materials — is designed to help baseball researchers find materials that advance their work.

The most recent update adds all Sports Illustrated articles through 2004 to the TBI catalog. Bruce Slutsky has begun the process of adding all the work of the SABR Games Project to the database, with more than 600 entries added so far. Bets Brown finished all the 1978 entries from Baseball Digest, giving the index more than 5,500 entries from that publication. Bill Lamb kept up with new research-oriented articles from the newsletters of the Deadball, Black Sox Scandal, and Biographical Research Committees. We’re up to date on articles from the Baseball Research Journal, The National Pastime, and SABR books as well as Base Ball, Black Ball, Memories and Dreams, NINE, and other publications. Most of the 2018 books from commercial publishers have also been added.   

More volunteers are always needed. We’d like to add more years of Sports Illustrated, Baseball Digest, and many books. We’d love someone to help us begin to catalog material from the SABR BioProject, as well. Contact Andy McCue at amccue@sabr.org to volunteer.

10 new SABR biographies published

Ten new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,638 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week: 

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

8 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles at SABR.org/GamesProject.

If you have any questions about the Games Project, please contact Mike Huber. To request an assignment, please contact Steven C. Weiner. After the article has been completed in accordance with our Authors’ Guidelines, please submit it to Len Levin, who will initiate the editing process and get your story started toward publication.

  • 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.

Read all stories from Dome Sweet Dome online at the SABR Games Project

In Dome Sweet Dome: History and Highlights from 35 Years of the Houston Astrodome (SABR, 2017), edited by Gregory H. Wolf, we focused on memorable moments that took place at the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Now, 70 outstanding and historic game stories from this book can be found online at the SABR Games Project.

Here are the new stories posted online this week: 

Click here to read more stories from Dome Sweet Dome at the SABR Games Project.

All SABR members can download this e-book for free or get 50% off the paperback edition at SABR.org/ebooks.

In Memoriam: Peter C. Bjarkman

Peter C. Bjarkman, 77, of Lafayette, Indiana, the leading authority on Cuban baseball history and a Henry Chadwick Award recipient for his contributions to baseball research, died of a heart attack on October 1, 2018, at the airport in Havana, Cuba. His death was confirmed by his wife, Ronnie B. Wilbur.

A SABR member since 1983, Bjarkman was the author of more than 40 books on sports history, including academic histories, coffee-table pictorials, and biographies for young adults. He helped to shape our understanding of the long, often difficult interaction between baseball in Latin America and Major League Baseball. His 2007 book, A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864-2006, was considered the definitive work on the subject. His most recent work was Cuba’s Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story. 

“His unique ability to tell the story of Cuban baseball without fear or favor has been the hallmark of his career,” John Thorn wrote in a 2017 Chadwick Award profile of Bjarkman for the SABR Baseball Research Journal.  

Nowhere was that trait more evident than in Bjarkman’s comprehensive debunking of myths related to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s baseball prowess for the SABR BioProject. Bjarkman also wrote detailed discourses on the post-revolutionary Cuban League and prominent Cuban players from Cristóbal Torriente to Livan and Orlando Hernandez, and edited bilingual editions of SABR’s Cuban Baseball Legends: Baseball’s Alternative Universe.

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

Listen to archives of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, will be on hiatus during the MLB postseason. After the World Series ends, the show will air again at its regular time, 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on Sundays, on MLB Network Radio.

You can still listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App. Click here to learn more.

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

We’ve heard your feedback: Some of you have said you look forward to “This Week in SABR” every Friday, but sometimes there are just too many compelling articles and announcements to read every week. We’re not complaining — hey, keep up the great work! — but we know the feeling. So in an effort to make the length of this newsletter more manageable to read, we’ll summarize some of the repeating/recurring announcements in a special “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)” section of “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 (SABR.org/directory).

Name Hometown     Name Hometown
James Barr League City, TX     Markus Jürgens Dublin, IRL
Blaze Beecher Edina, MN     Tanuja Jagernauth Chicago, IL
Dylan Blundell Clinton, OK     Brandon Rose Fort Myers, FL
Roger Brosnahan Winona, MN     Caroline Schaefer Houston, TX
Kristopher Craig Anaheim, CA     Willie Steele Smyrna, TN
Bernard Enright Lansdale, PA     John Stout St. Elmo, IL
Corky Gaskell Rochester, MN     Seth Williams San Jose, CA
Paul Haemig Jönköping, SWE     Mike Zanone Louisville, KY

 

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming events on the SABR calendar:

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.

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.

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Originally published: October 5, 2018. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.

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