This Week in SABR: September 16, 2022

September 16, 2022/in This Week in SABR /by sabr

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 September 16, 2022:

2022 SABR/IWBC Virtual Women in Baseball Conference begins tonight!

Registration is still open for the fourth annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, which will be held virtually on September 16-18, 2022. All baseball fans are welcome to attend!

This year’s conference — co-sponsored by SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center, and hosted by Rockford University — will be a virtual event centered around the theme “Title IX and Women’s Baseball: Where We’ve Been and Where We are Headed.” Presentations and panels will take place on Zoom.

The conference will be highlighted by a keynote panel discussion with Justine Siegal, Maybelle Blair and Sarah Domin; Baseball Journalism panel with Claire Smith, Shakeia Taylor, Jen McCaffrey, and Melissa Isaacson; an Umpires Panel with Perry Barber, Alessia Cicconi, and Sophiyah Liu; a book club discussion on Hall of Famer Effa Manley with author Andrea Williams; research presentations; pylon unveiling; and the announcement of the Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award.

Register now: Click here to register for this event at SABR.org. Registration is $60, and includes Zoom access to all presentations and panels, awards ceremony, and virtual social hour.
Schedule: Click here for the full schedule of panels and presentations. Zoom sessions will be held from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 16; 10:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m., and 6:30-8:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 17, and 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 18. (All times listed are in the Eastern Time Zone.)

If you have any questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy at lheaphy@kent.edu.

Visit SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference to learn more.

Rawlings Gold Glove Award platform expands to include Super Utility players

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., has added utility players to the list of annual Rawlings Gold Glove Award recipients for the first time since the Award’s inception in 1957. One super utility player will be recognized in both the American and National Leagues, joining the 18 position players receiving Awards (nine from each League).

The 2022 class of Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, including those at the utility position, will be unveiled during a one-hour, special-edition ESPN2 broadcast airing Tuesday, November 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET hosted by Karl Ravech, the voice of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and the primary host of the Emmy-Award winning Baseball Tonight television show.

“We’re thrilled to add a Rawlings Gold Glove Award that recognizes players with the superior defensive ability to play multiple positions,” said Mike Thompson, chief marketing officer for Rawlings. “Utility players are some of the most versatile athletes you’ll see on the field, and it’s time for them to be rewarded for their tremendous defense, alongside position players.”

To determine the utility Award winners, Rawlings collaborated with SABR to create a specialized defensive formula separate from the traditional selection process for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award position winners. Utilizing the SABR formula and additional defensive statistics, Rawlings will select one utility winner from each League.

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

SABR’s The Baseball Index introduces faster, more flexible searches

SABR’s The Baseball Index now enables faster and more flexible searching to start your baseball research.

TBI, which can be accessed at BaseballIndex.org, is an ongoing SABR project to catalog the entirety of baseball literature, from the earliest references to the present day. The index is designed to help baseball researchers find materials that advance their work.

The new search features allow simultaneous searches of multiple fields, including names, topics, publishing dates, and authors for nearly 270,000 total sources in the TBI database — including books, articles, and many other research materials. The number of entries with URLs has also increased substantially.

For example, if you’re searching for any articles in Baseball Digest about Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in the 1932 World Series, a quick search will give you 11 results ranging from a 1970 profile of former Yankees teammate Frank Crosetti (“yes, he did”) to a 1992 interview with Chicago Cubs infielder Woody English (“no, he didn’t”). It will also give you the issue date and page number of each article to make the original source easier to find.

If you have questions or would like to help with this project, contact tbi@sabr.org.

Sign up now for SABR Analytics Certification online course

It’s time to get SABR Certified! The first course in the new SABR Analytics Certification program — Conversational Analytics and Critical Thinking in Baseball — is available online now.

The SABR Analytics Certification program is an online, on-demand curriculum offering professional development and learning opportunities for those interested in elevating their skills and knowledge relating to baseball analytics. The curriculum was developed by current baseball professionals, including employees of Major League Baseball and its clubs.

SABR members get a significant discount on this Analytics Certification course registration, saving $55 off the regular price.

Visit SABR.org/analytics/certification to sign up today or learn more.

More highlights, stories, and photos from SABR 50

Couldn’t make it to Baltimore for SABR 50? Check out more coverage of our 2022 convention from the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor online:

For more coverage of SABR 50, visit SABR.org/convention.

Save the date! SABR 51 will be in Chicago in 2023

Save the date! SABR will be returning to Chicago for our 51st annual convention on July 5-9, 2023, at the Palmer House Hilton hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Registration information for SABR 51 and our special hotel room block will be available at SABR.org/convention in early 2023.

This will be SABR’s fifth convention held in the Windy City, and the first since SABR 45 in 2015.

Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

New SABR Oral History interview: Fred Lynn

One new interview was posted this week at the SABR Oral History Collection website. Here is the new interview:

Fred Lynn, former American League MVP and Rookie of the Year who spent 17 years in the major leagues
Recorded September 8, 2022, by John McMurray

The SABR Oral History Collection now includes more than 700 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.

Sign up now for SABR’s Ballpark Figures on October 6 with umpire and author Perry Barber

Join us each month for SABR’s Ballpark Figures, a new interview series hosted by Shakeia Taylor. The virtual Zoom event is free and open to all active SABR members.

On Thursday, October 6, our guest will be Perry Barber, a longtime professional umpire, author, and promoter of women in baseball.

Click here to pre-register for Ballpark Figures on October 6 with Perry Barber

Barber was the inaugural winner of the SABR Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was recently inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. She has umpired at all levels of the game, including Major League Baseball’s spring training and around the world to places such as Japan, Guam, Hong Kong, and the Caribbean. She is also a Jeopardy! champion, accomplished musician, and author. She also conducts umpire clinics, speaks about umpiring and women’s baseball, and serves as a board member for the International Women’s Baseball Center and an advisor for Baseball for All.

Visit SABR.org/ballpark-figures to learn more or watch replays from previous events.

SABR Digital Library: We Are, We Can, We Will: The 1992 World Champion Toronto Blue Jays

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

We Are, We Can, We Will: The 1992 World Champion Toronto Blue Jays
Edited by Adrian Fung and Bill Nowlin
Associate Editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
Forewords by Buck Martinez and Dave Winfield
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-970159-83-7, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-970159-84-4, $34.95 US / $41.95 CDN
8.5″ x 11″, 394 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 We Are, We Can, We Will for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, EPUB/Kindle formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the We Are, We Can, We Will 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.

Note for Kindle users: Beginning in August 2022, Amazon will no longer allow Kindle users to send new MOBI files to their Kindle library. EPUB files are now a compatible format for your Kindle library. Click here 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.

Can’t-Miss Event: The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America invites all SABR members to participate in our Trivia for Charity event beginning at 8:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 19. Any baseball fan can participate! You can participate live against other contestants on September 19 or take a timed quiz on your own. Click here to register online. All proceeds will go to charities: 50% goes to The Miracle League, an organization that builds and staffs baseball fields for kids and adults with disabilities. The other 50% goes to charities picked by the trivia contest winners. Visit IBWAA.com to learn more.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from authors Lawrence Knorr (Gettysburg Eddie); Mark Armour and Dan Levitt (Intentional Balk); Jason Cannon (Charlie Murphy); and Justin Mckinney (“The Union Association’s 10 Biggest Mistakes”). Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.

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

September 16-18: 2022 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference
September 17: Josh Gibson Foundation presents: Bill Staples Jr., “Gentle Black Giants” (12:00 p.m. EDT)
September 17: Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington (KY) Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. EDT)
September 18: SABR Baseball Memories meeting (4:00 p.m. EDT)
September 19: Halsey Hall (MN) Chapter research committee meeting (7:00 p.m. CDT)
September 19: Larry Dierker (TX) Chapter meeting with Chris Rawls (7:00 p.m. CDT)
September 19: IBWAA Trivia for Charity event (8:30 p.m. EDT)
September 20: Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter meeting with Rob Neyer (7:00 p.m. EDT)
September 21: New SABR Member Experience meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
September 21: Ken Keltner (WI) Chapter meeting with Andy McCue (7:00 p.m. CDT)
September 22: Games and Simulations Committee meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
September 25: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)

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

September 17: Babe ‘n’ Bob Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
September 17: Halsey Hall Chapter Hot Stove Saturday Morning (St. Louis Park, MN)
September 17: Sebring-Stovey Williamsport Chapter meeting (Williamsport, PA)
September 21: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (Baltimore, MD)
September 21: Rocky Mountain Chapter monthly luncheon (Denver, CO)
September 24: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter Research Conference (Webster Groves, MO)
September 24: Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting (Round Rock, TX)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

3 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

Three new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project:

Frank Crespi, by Eric Vickrey
Ernie Hickman, by Bill Lamb
Charlie Krehmeyer, by Paul Winter

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.

6 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

Six new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project:

September 10, 1963: Trio of Alou brothers make trail-blazing appearance with Giants, by Richard Cuicchi
September 16, 1965: Boston’s Dave Morehead no-hits Cleveland, by Bill Nowlin
September 19, 1972: Scrappy Caribbean All-Stars score dramatic win in only Kodak World Baseball Classic, by Kurt Blumenau
April 6, 1973: Cleon Jones belts 2 homers; Mets blank Phillies 3-0 on Opening Day, by David Krell
September 12, 1982: Bobby Ramos homer highlights Yankees comeback against Brewers, by Clifford Blau
May 14, 1998: Mike Piazza plays his last game as a Dodger before trade, by Dan Cichalski

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject.

Read game stories from Baltimore Baseball: In 2021, Baltimore Baseball, edited by Bill Nowlin, was published at the SABR Digital Library. The book focused on the rich history of baseball in the Baltimore area, through recounts of 84 games from the major-league Orioles to the minor-league Orioles to the Negro Leagues. Click here to read all game stories from Baltimore Baseball online at the SABR Games Project.
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.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with author Steven Goldman

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 #179 on Monday, September 12 featured Steven Goldman, a consulting editor and writer for Baseball Prospectus, where he has contributed since 2003. He also hosts The Infinite Inning podcast with a rotating carousel of interesting guests from around the baseball world. His newest book is Baseball’s Brief Lives: Player Stories Inspired by the Infinite Inning. He is also the author of Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel, and previously served as an MLB editor at Vox Media and a columnist and editor at the YES Network. He was a guest on SABRcast #137 in November 2021.

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.

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 at a new time for the regular season. 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.

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
Raymond Avila	Union City, NJ	Alex Newton	Savannah, GA
Cara Banks	Los Angeles, CA	William Otani	Champaign, IL
Jordan Boitnott	Sharpsville, PA	Mark Parisi	Malden, MA
Daulton Capps	Wesley Chapel, FL	Wayne Sheehan	Spokane, WA
John Cerilli	Dover, NJ	Brett Spangler	St. Louis, MO
Casey Deter	Lakeview, OR	Richard Steele	Studio City, CA
Nick Fogt	Columbus, OH	Quincy Stewart	Tempe, AZ
Greg Hahs	Milford, PA	Drew Sullins	Woodstock, MD
Alan Heaton	Ambler, PA	Michelle Taylor	Tampa, FL
Alee Marschke	Manchester, MD

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Baseball Landmarks: Check out the new Landmarks Committee website and articles at sabrlandmarks.com
Biographical Research: August 2022 newsletter
Women in Baseball: Check out the full schedule for the 2022 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

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:

Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter: September 7 meeting recap (Tallahassee, FL)
Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter: September 2022 newsletter (Milwaukee, WI)
Rickwood Field Chapter: September 2022 newsletter (Birmingham, AL)

Click here for more information on SABR regional chapters. Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.

Around the Web

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

Ben Lindbergh: Baseball’s Best Young Hitter and Pitcher Play in Japan (The Ringer)
Jon Paul Morosi: It’s not just Judge: Slugger chasing HR record an ocean away (MLB.com)
Mike Petriello: Is WAR really capturing Ohtani’s full value? (MLB.com)
Derrick Goold: To track history, MLB will use marked baseballs for Pujols’ 700th homer (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Dan Cichalski: Historic Hinchliffe Stadium gets new tenant in NJ Jackals (MLB.com)
Emma Baccellieri: The Longest Lasting Battery in Baseball (Sports Illustrated)
Michael Baumann: The 2023 Rule Changes Are Here, and They’re All Good (FanGraphs)
Eno Sarris: Across MLB, spin rates are back up near their peak. Is the sticky stuff here to stay? (The Athletic)
Stephanie Apstein: How MLB’s Most Confounding Team Is (Mostly) Overcoming Decades of Dysfunction (Sports Illustrated)
Jay Jaffe: Adley Rutschman’s Rookie Season Has Been a Smashing Success (FanGraphs)
Russell A. Carleton: The Running Game Has Been Fundamentally Changed (Baseball Prospectus)
Jayson Stark: The inside dirt on infield dirt: MLB addressing its ‘dirty little secret’ in wake of new shift rule (The Athletic)
Mark Simon: Which Teams Have Shifted The Most? (ACTA Sports)
Rob Mains: The 2022 Team Record Chase (Baseball Prospectus)
David Laurila: Padres Pitching Prospect Jackson Wolf Has Unique Characteristics (FanGraphs)
Charlie Vascellaro: Jackie Robinson’s Enduring Legacy Gets a New Home (Village Voice)
Rick Kogan: Buried deep in a Tribune Tower time capsule for a century, a 1919 ‘Black Sox’ World Series baseball sees the light (Chicago Tribune)
Gary Cieradkowski: Roy “Tex” Sanner: The Houma Houdini (Studio Gary C)
Sam Gazdziak: Obituary: Mark Littell (1953-2022) (RIP Baseball)
Bill Staples Jr: Osami Nagano: The Japanese Admiral Who Celebrated Babe Ruth & Lead the Attack on Pearl Harbor (International Pastime)
Michelle Frost: The Dragon Up the Freeway (The Kept Faith)
Evan Katz: No Earbuds in the Outfield (Baseball By the Sea Media)
Jason Schwartz: Team collecting foibles and follies (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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