This Week in SABR: October 7, 2011
Editor’s note: SABR.org experienced a server outage on Tuesday and Wednesday that prevented many of you from being able to view the website. Those problems should be cleared up by now, but if you are still having trouble accessing SABR.org, please let us know. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Here’s what we’ve been up to as of October 7, 2011:
Amateur film shows New York Giants’ final game at Polo Grounds
SABR member Moe Resner still has to pinch himself when he realizes the treasure he brought home from the New York Giants’ final game at the Polo Grounds on September 29, 1957.
No, not the Eddie Grant memorial plaque.
Resner, a member of the Casey Stengel Chapter and Elysian Fields Chapter, captured amateur home video of the Giants’ season-ending 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates with his 16-millimeter camera. A crowd of just 11,606 witnessed the game, which included an emotional pregame ceremony with such Giants greats as Willie Mays and Bobby Thomson, Hall of Fame pitchers Carl Hubbell and Rube Marquard, manager Bill Rigney, broadcaster Russ Hodges and Mrs. John McGraw. But Resner got it all on film — and in color.
We’ve posted a video excerpt from his film here: http://sabr.org/latest/amateur-film-shows-giants-final-game-polo-grounds
Resner, a former coach in the Giants and Montreal Expos organizations who has spent 25 years as chief statistician for the semipro Pelham Mets club in New York, is selling his movie as a DVD for $20 (plus $5.75 shipping) at http://endofaneradvd.com. He has also donated a copy to the San Francisco Giants and to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York.
The edited footage, narrated by Resner, includes an introduction by sports radio host Ed Randall, music composed and performed by Perry Lee Barber (one of the few professional female umpires in baseball history) and an interview with retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Logan, who was the Giants’ batboy in 1957
SABR office seeking journalism intern for spring 2012
Pass the word around: We’re seeking an intern with journalism and multimedia skills for the spring of 2012. The ideal candidate will produce and edit content to be displayed on our website at SABR.org, working with our Web Content Editor/Producer and other staff members. This internship will include responsibilities across a variety of disciplines.
Interested candidates should be able to demonstrate basic office-related computer skills. Proficiency with image-editing software and basic HTML knowledge is a plus.
A working knowledge of baseball — and an awareness of the game’s general history and basic statistics — is required.
The internship is an unpaid educational opportunity, covering 15-20 hours per week (flexible schedule), at the SABR office in Phoenix, Arizona. The internship will be for a fixed period of time and is designed to provide the intern with skills and training that may be applicable to working in a nonprofit research environment or in other research-based organizations. No housing assistance will be provided. Internships may count toward college credit.
Please send a resume, cover letter and 4-6 samples of published articles in PDF form by 12 p.m. MST November 15 to jpomrenke@sabr.org.
Have you registered for the SABR Arizona Fall League Conference yet?
The 20th season of the Arizona Fall League, matching up the top prospects from major league organizations at all levels, opened Tuesday with games at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Peoria Sports Complex and Scottsdale Stadium. The six-team league plays six days a week until mid-November, with more than two dozen first-round draft picks on the rosters, including 2008 No. 1 pick Tim Beckham (Surprise Saguaros/Rays) and 2010 No. 1 pick Bryce Harper (Scottsdale Scorpions/Nationals).
Registration is still ongoing for the third annual SABR Arizona Fall League Conference on November 3-5, 2011, at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa. NOTE: Please book your room by October 18 to guarantee a spot.
The schedule is expected to include:
- Four AFL games, including the premier Rising Stars Game on November 5 in Surprise and games at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick and Hohokam Park in Mesa.
- Major League Alumni Awards Dinner: Roland Hemond will receive the AZMLA Legacy Award
- A tour of the “Play Ball: The Cactus League Experience” museum exhibit at the Arizona Historical Society in Tempe
- A tour of Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks
- Research presentations and guest speakers
Registration for the conference is available now at the SABR Store: $125 for SABR members and guests, or $159 for nonmembers. The conference is open to all baseball fans.
The Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa is at 1011 West Holmes Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85210. SABR has reserved a block of rooms for $99/night (plus tax) for the nights of November 3-5. Click here to book your room online or call (800) 544-5866 and tell them you’re registering for the SABR Arizona Fall League Conference. Conference attendees will receive complimentary parking, complimentary breakfast buffet (for up to two people per room) and complimentary wireless high-speed Internet in guest rooms.
Save the date: SABR Day 2012 will be January 28
Mark your calendars: The third annual SABR Day will be held January 28, 2012!
For the past two years, SABR members across the country have gathered in regional chapter meetings the week before the Super Bowl. The idea was conceived in 2010 as a way to have members come together on the same day regardless of where they live. More than 600 members and guests participated in the first SABR Day, and that total doubled to more than 1,200 as more than 40 meetings were held on SABR Day in 2011. (Check out our photo gallery from SABR Day 2011 here: http://sabr.org/image/tid/22)
Regional chapter leaders will be sending out notification e-mails in the next two months with details on where a SABR Day meeting will be held in your area. We’ll also be compiling a list of meetings and will post all the details in “This Week in SABR” throughout the winter.
When World Series champion managers depart
SABR member Chris Jaffe writes at The Hardball Times:
It was a rough week for managers who won a World Series title in the 21st century. Three skippers—Jack McKeon, Ozzie Guillen, and Terry Francona—who between them have won four of the last eight world titles, all left the teams with which they won it all.
Granted, none of them was fired exactly. McKeon stepped down voluntarily. Guillen initiated his departure from the White Sox. With Francona, it sounds like his parting from the Red Sox was a mutual decision between the front office and him.
Still, it’s rather unusual to see so many leave at once.
This week was the ninth time in history multiple title-winning managerial tenures ended in the same offseason. Twice, three such mangers lost their jobs in the same offseason, though both instances occurred long time ago.
Find out who they were by reading the rest of Jaffe’s article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/when-champion-managers-depart
Related link: Most baseball fans can tell you something about departed Red Sox manager Terry Francona, but how many know about the career of his father, Tito Francona? Former Seymour Medal winner Bruce Markusen looks back at a pretty fair ballplayer from the 1960s at The Hardball Times: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/the-other-tito-francona
Seven new biographies posted at SABR BioProject
Seven new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, bringing us to a total of 1,682 published biographies. As project director Mark Armour notes: The Wil Culmer biography was the 100th written and published by Rory Costello, who is the second BioProject writer to reach that milestone.
- Raymond Brown, by Chris Rainey
- Lou Bruce, by Rory Costello
- Wil Culmer, by Rory Costello
- Al Kellett, by Bill Nowlin
- Red Kellett, by Bill Nowlin
- John McCloskey, by Jack Smiles
- Rolando Roomes, by Rory Costello
All new biographies can be found here: http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=n&m=61
Writing a biography for the BioProject is an easy way to get involved as a SABR member. Find out how by visiting our BioProject Resources page or reading the FAQs section.
1960 Pirates biographers needed: We have biographers working on every member of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, except for these two: Don Gross and R.C. Stevens. If you might like to take up writing about Mr. Gross or Mr. Stevens, please get in touch with Bill Nowlin at bnowlin@rounder.com.
September 15 Board minutes posted
Minutes from the September 15 Board of Directors conference call have now been posted on the SABR website.
You can view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings by going to the page below:
http://sabr.org/content/sabr-board-minutes
Or you can go to the Members’ Info page and click on “Organizational Files”, then “Board Minutes” to view the minutes.
New Member Handbook now available online
If you’ve been a member for a while, you may only vaguely recall the New Member Handbook we sent to you when you first joined SABR.
Our office staff has updated the handbook for 2011-12 and it’s now available as a downloadable PDF for all members to access on the Members’ Info page:
http://sabr.org/about/members-info
The handbook contains handy information on the benefits of membership, including how to find and access various features on SABR.org, our annual convention and other events, regional chapters, research committees and more. All of that information can already be found on the Members’ Info page or in other areas of the website, but we hope you’ll find the new handbook informative and useful — no matter how long you’ve been in SABR.
Thank you for being a member; we appreciate your support.
Chapter meeting recaps
- Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting recap (September 24)
- Rio Grande Chapter meeting recap (October 1)
- Allan Roth Chapter meeting recap (October 1)
If you would like to include your chapter meeting recap in “This Week in SABR”, please e-mail a notice to Jacob Pomrenke.
Upcoming SABR events:
- October 8: Talkin’ Baseball: Fran Zimniuch (Columbia, MD)
- October 8: Jack Graney Chapter meeting (Cleveland, OH)
- October 11: Larry Dierker Chapter meeting (Houston, TX)
- October 13: Kostya Kennedy book signing (New York, NY)
- October 15: Halsey Hall Chapter meeting (Minneapolis, MN)
- October 15: Chicago Ideas Week talk: “Baseball & Tradition” (Chicago, IL)
- October 16: Hanlan’s Point Chapter meeting (Toronto, ON)
- October 18: Marty Dobrow book signing (New York, NY)
- October 19: All-American Girls Professional Baseball League reunion (San Diego, CA)
- October 19: Bob Luke book signing (Washington, D.C.)
In other recent SABR news:
- The Baltimore Sun wrote a feature on our monthly Talkin’ Baseball meetings (Baltimore Sun)
- Larry Granillo looks back at the use of replacement umpires in the 1970 postseason (Baseball Prospectus)
- Brian McKenna highlights the early 20th-century contributions of the Buckner brothers, Harry (a longtime black baseball superstar) and William (a medical trainer for the Chicago White Sox) (Glimpses Into Baseball History)
- Larry McCray has a story on the long history of the one-bounce fielding rule (MLB.com)
- John Thorn rediscovers the best pitcher of the 1850s, Frank Pidgeon, in his own backyard (MLB.com)
- Nick Diunte reports that former Yankee and longtime scout Eddie Bockman has died at 91 (Examiner.com)
- An interview with Tout Wars NL fantasy champ Steve Gardner (Baseball Prospectus)
- Seamheads.com, part of our Baseball Bloggers Alliance Chartered Community, celebrates its fourth birthday (Examiner.com)
- Rob Neyer explains those mound-to-plate dirt strips that you’ve been watching all week in the playoffs (Baseball Nation)
- Andy Strasberg’s relationship with Roger Maris was detailed in this Bill Plaschke column (Los Angeles Times)
- Clem Comly has figured out which players spent time on a 100-win and 100-loss team in the same season (Philadelphia Daily News)
- Rob Edelman is quoted in this story on how Hollywood played ball with “Moneyball” (Boston Globe)
- Jeff Polman writes about the Great Red Sox Collapse, in 140 characters or less (Huffington Post)
All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: http://sabr.org/content/this-week-in-sabr-archives.
Find more information about SABR and SABR.org at the Members’ Info page here: http://sabr.org/about/members-info.
If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR”, please send an e-mail to Jacob Pomrenke.
Originally published: October 7, 2011. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.