This Week in SABR: September 2, 2022

September 2, 2022/in This Week in SABR /by sabr

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Please note: The SABR office will be closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 5. Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of September 2, 2022:

SABR Defensive Index rankings released through Sunday, August 28

Los Angeles right fielder Mookie Betts and New York catcher Jose Trevino lead their respective leagues in the updated SABR Defensive Index™ rankings through Major League Baseball games of Sunday, August 28.

Click here to view full SDI rankings by position through games of Sunday, August 28

For the 10th consecutive season, the SABR Defensive Index will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR.

Betts’s SDI of 11.9 is the highest in the NL among all qualified defenders, ahead of Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes (11.6) and St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado (10.7). Arizona first baseman Christian Walker (10.4) and Colorado second baseman Brendan Rogers (8.9) round out the top five.

Trevino’s SDI of 11.1 leads all fielders in the AL, followed by a pair of Cleveland outfielders, left fielder Steven Kwan (11.0) and center fielder Myles Straw (9.3). Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña (8.2) and New York third baseman Josh Donaldson (7.8) round out the top five.

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

Announcing finalists for 2022 Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award

We are pleased to announce the finalists for the 2022 Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by SABR’s Women in Baseball Committee. Each of these finalists has made important contributions promoting the participation of women in baseball, on the field and off:

Penny Marshall, director of the 1992 film A League of Their Own
Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball For All
Janet Marie Smith, acclaimed ballpark design director
Toni Stone, women’s baseball pioneer and former Negro Leagues infielder
Suzyn Waldman, New York Yankees broadcaster for more than three decades

Other nominees included: Amanda Clement, Ila Borders, Lillian Hopkins, Connie Wisniewski, and Kuma Gupta.

The winner of the 2022 award will be announced during the SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference on September 16-18. All baseball fans are welcome to register for the three-day virtual Zoom conference.

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

SABR 50: Listen to highlights from Curt Flood panel with Judy Pace Flood, Brad Snyder, Mark Armour, and Shakeia Taylor

At SABR 50 on Saturday, August 20, a special panel discussion was held focusing on the 50th anniversary of Curt Flood’s lawsuit against Major League Baseball. On June 19, 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled against Flood in his effort to dismantle baseball’s reserve clause.

Our panelists for Flood v. Kuhn: Fifty Years Later included Judy Pace Flood, Curt Flood’s widow and a pioneering African American actress; Mark Armour, award-winning baseball historian and co-writer of the MLB Players Association’s official history; Brad Snyder, Georgetown University law professor and author of A Well-Paid Slave; and moderator Shakeia Taylor of the Chicago Tribune.

Click here to listen to highlights from the Curt Flood 50th anniversary panel at SABR 50.

SABR 50: Listen to highlights from committee meetings in Baltimore

From the Nineteenth Century to modern Statistical Analysis, SABR’s nearly three dozen research committees reflect the diverse interests of our membership, and the committees’ annual meetings at the SABR 50 convention in Baltimore also had a variety of interesting guest speakers.

The Ballparks Committee hosted a special panel discussion with Larry Lucchino, Janet Marie Smith, and Charles Steinberg, some of the key principals in the building of the Orioles’ Camden Yards in 1992, while the Media Committee invited Red Sox radio legend Joe Castiglione and Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown to talk about life behind the microphone before their ballgame on Friday night. Other guest speakers included former major-leaguer Mike Bordick (Oral History), author Melissa Ludtke (Women in Baseball), Rob Fitts and Adam Berenbak (Asian Baseball), Paul Scimonelli (Biographical Research), Vinay Kumar and Hans Van Slooten (Statistical Analysis), Herm Krabbenhoft and Thomas Thress (Baseball Records), and Donald Jensen (Deadball Era). Convention attendees never lack for fun stories and insight from our guest speakers at SABR 50!

Click here to listen to highlights from the SABR 50 committee meetings at SABR.org.

Find more clips, 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:

Listen to highlights from Sig Mejdal’s opening remarks (audio)
Listen to highlights from Tim Kurkjian’s keynote address (audio)
Listen to highlights from Boog Powell’s one-on-one interview with Dan Connolly (audio)
Listen to highlights from Mike Bordick’s Oral History interview with Mike Gibbons (audio)
Listen to highlights from SABR 50 research presentations and view PowerPoint slides (audio)
View photo galleries from each day of the SABR 50 convention
F.X. Flinn selected as 2022 Bob Davids Award winner
John Asel, Bill Marston win 2022 convention presentation awards
Founding member Tom Hufford honored before Orioles game at Camden Yards
Moses Fleetwood Walker selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend of 2022
Bill Carle wins record 5th Trivia Contest; Pennsylvanians take team title
Stay tuned for more highlights, photos, and stories from SABR 50!

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.

SABR welcomes new chapter in Central Virginia

SABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new regional chapter.

The Central Virginia Chapter serves members in Richmond, Charlottesville, and surrounding areas; the chapter leader is Tom Hardiman.

SABR’s 83 regional chapters cover 39 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.; plus international chapters in Canada (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Latin America (Venezuela, Dominican Republic), the United Kingdom, Europe (Netherlands), and Italy.

For a list of all SABR chapters, visit SABR.org/chapters. A calendar of upcoming SABR meetings can be found at SABR.org/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.

Read all stories from The National Pastime: Major Research on the Minor Leagues online

The National Pastime serves as SABR’s convention-focused publication. Published annually, this research journal provides in-depth articles focused on the respective geographic region where the national convention is taking place in a given year.

In 2020, we published a Baltimore-themed edition of The National Pastime while the convention shifted to a virtual event. Last year, the TNP theme was on the Future According to Baseball.

For the 2022 edition of The National Pastime, we decided to focus on the history and evolution of minor league baseball, with a special cover illustration by artist Andy Brown.

Read articles online: Click here to read stories from The National Pastime online at SABR.org.
Download the e-book: Click here to download a free e-book edition of The National Pastime at the SABR Store.
Purchase the print edition: Click here to pre-order the print edition of The National Pastime from Amazon.com.

Having trouble downloading our e-books? Having trouble downloading SABR e-books or transferring them to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

Early registration discounts end soon for 2022 SABR/IWBC Virtual Women in Baseball Conference

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.

Register now: Click here to register for this event at SABR.org. Early registration is $50, and includes Zoom access to all presentations and panels, awards ceremony, and virtual social hour. After September 7, regular registration is $60.
Schedule: Stay tuned 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.-12:30 p.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m., and 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 17, and 11:00 a.m.-1:30 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.

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: SABR’s Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter will hold a virtual Zoom meeting at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, September 6. All baseball fans are invited to attend. Our speaker will be Adam Korengold, an analytics lead at the National Institutes of Health who teaches data visualization — the art of creating visual displays of data and information — at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He will show how to use data visualization to see if the 2020 MLB season was comparable to other recent ones and how the level of play in the Negro Leagues compared to the White major leagues during the same time. To RSVP for this meeting, please contact Clayton Trutor.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from Dr. James Beckett, winner of the 2022 SABR Jefferson Burdick Award. 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 3: Talkin’ Baseball: Lawrence Knorr (9:00 a.m. EDT)
September 6: Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter meeting with Adam Korengold (7:00 p.m. EDT)
September 6: Jack Graney (OH) Chapter meeting with Sam McDowell (8:00 p.m. EDT)
September 7: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Kelly Park (7:00 p.m. EDT)
September 8: Baseball Think Factory meeting (8:30 p.m. EDT)
September 10: Emil Rothe Chicago (IL) Chapter meeting with Mark Armour and Jason Cannon (2:00 p.m. CDT)

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

September 1: Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter meeting (Milwaukee, WI)
September 4: Babe Ruth/Mack-Allen Chapter ballgame/meeting (Aberdeen, MD)
September 7: Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter meeting (Tallahassee, FL)
September 7: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter fellowship meeting (St. Louis, MO)
September 10: Oscar Charleston Chapter meeting (Indianapolis, IN)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

10 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

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

June 28, 1914: Honus Wagner becomes second major leaguer to join the 3,000-hit club, by Douglas Jordan
September 1, 1941: Olean’s John Moller collects pitching wins, key hits in last doubleheader before death in World War II, by Kurt Blumenau
April 18, 1950: Exit Ken Keltner, enter Al Rosen as Detroit defeats Cleveland on Opening Day, by Joseph Wancho
May 21, 1972: Phooey in Philly! Mets win 11th in a row thanks to Tom Seaver, Willie Mays, by David Krell
September 14, 1988: Mike Greenwell hits for the cycle with controversial triple, by Mike Huber
August 21, 1992: Angels prospect Tim Salmon arrives, helps California’s youth movement topple Yankees, by Andrew Harner
August 23, 1992: Memorable homers for Tim Salmon, Luis Sojo help Angels beat stumbling Yankees, by Andrew Harner
September 8, 2004: Red Sox win gets them as close to first place as they will get in the last four months of season, by Bill Nowlin
September 26, 2019: King Felix reigns for one last night with Mariners, by Larry DeFillipo
June 21, 2022: Will McEntire keeps Arkansas alive with clutch pitching at the College World Series, by Madison McEntire

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 baseball executive Bill Bavasi

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 #177 on Monday, August 29 featured Bill Bavasi, a second-generation baseball executive for more than 40 years who now serves as Director of Scouting and Player Development for the independent Pioneer Baseball League, an MLB Partner League. He also co-hosts a regular PBL podcast series on YouTube. Previously, he managed MLB’s Arizona Fall League and supervised supervised the MLB Scouting Bureau. He served as General Manager of the then-California Angels from 1994 to 1999 and the Seattle Mariners from 2003 to 2008. His father, Buzzie Bavasi, was a celebrated executive for the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels, while his brothers Peter and Bob Bavasi have also worked in the baseball industry for many years.

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.

Friends of SABR: August 2022

Here is a list of SABR supporters for the month of August 2022:

NAME		NAME
Jake Bell		Peter Mancuso
Harvey Berger		Bill Nowlin
D. Bruce Brown		Gregg Pericich
Ken Carrano		Eric Peters
Karl Cicitto		Justin Priddy
Vincent Comparato		Jim Pryles
Helen Edwards		John Rall
Steven Elsberry		Dennis Riswold
Jonathan Epstein		Michael Rosenwasser
Daniel Evans		Charles Roussel
Joseph Favano Estate		Bob Russon
David Firstman		Jason Scheller
Robert Fleishman		Douglas Schoppert
Adam Foldes		Jeff Self
Vince Gennaro		Rob Sheinkopf
Steve Greanias		Mike Sparks
Robert Hagerman		Thomas Stone
John Hatch		Wesley Story
Leslie Heaphy		Joseph Thompson
Tim Herlich		Neal Traven
Rockwell Hoffman		Marlene Vogelsang
David Hughes		Steve West
Donald Jensen		Beach Wires
Dave Jerome		Jeffrey Wood
Eric Kittelberger		Don Zminda
Henry Levy

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.

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
Ben Altieri	Franklin, MA	William Kabaker	Los Angeles, CA
Andrew Armstrong	Lambertville, NJ	Gabriel Kinstlinger	Reisterstown, MD
Orion Bell	Omaha, NE	Margie Lawrence	Chicago, IL
Robert Bochar	Odenton, MD	David Marti	Norfolk, VA
Kevin Byrne	Albany, NY	Todd Mason	Las Vegas, NV
Kenneth Castro	Bristol, RI	Joseph McCaffrey	Brockport, NY
Larry D’Ambrosa	Lincroft, NJ	Patrick Montgomery	Lexington, SC
Ben Ernst	Aberdeen, SD	Denis Nielson	Ottawa, ON
Francis Harte	Cooperstown, NY	Wes Peirce	The Woodlands, TX
Don Jacobs	Searcy, AR	Dave Ritchey	Georgetown, TX
Rich Johnson	Glen Carbon, IL	Mike Sortino	Nottingham, MD

Research Committee news

There are no new research committee updates this week.

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:

Central Virginia Chapter: Learn more about SABR’s newest regional chapter

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:

Alex Koller: Baseball history buff hopes people can soon run some bases — of long-gone Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Jason Mackey: Pirates will sign 4 Negro Leagues stars to ‘contracts’ for Hall of Fame induction (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Sam Draut/John Lewis: ‘Enduring champion’: Monument unveiled for Louisville Negro League baseball player (WDRB.com)
Shakeia Taylor: Minor-leaguers and their advocates hope Congress will revoke MLB’s antitrust exemption. Here’s how they are pushing for change. (Chicago Tribune)
Emma Baccellieri: The MLBPA’s Efforts to Unionize the Minors Didn’t Happen Overnight (Sports Illustrated)
Derrick Goold: Tommy Edman, Tyler O’Neill can defend Gold Gloves, but there’s a catch (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Aaron Wright: The Baltimore Black Sox thrilled fans for two decades in the early 20th century. Now a parks partnership wants to make sure they aren’t forgotten (Baltimore Banner)
Jayson Stark: Albert Pujols’ magical, MLB-topping month at 42 is the stuff of legend (The Athletic)
Jay Jaffe: The Dodgers Are Once Again Chasing History, as a Marathon and a Sprint (FanGraphs)
Rob Arthur: Spin Is Back–And Cheating Probably is Too (Baseball Prospectus)
Grant Brisbee: There’s been good news for the San Francisco Giants this season, promise (The Athletic)
Rob Mains: If We Treated the Crosstown Classic Like the Postseason (Baseball Prospectus)
Russell A. Carleton: Were the Leagues Ever Really That Separate? (Baseball Prospectus)
David Laurila: Padres Triple-A Pitching Coach Mike McCarthy Is Well Educated in Analytics (FanGraphs)
Christopher Kamrani/Stephen J. Nesbitt: How a team of MLB rejects achieved baseball immortality — as Bill Murray served the beers (The Athletic)
Nellie Gilles: It was the longest game in baseball history. And it made a hero of one man for a day (NPR.org)
Chris Lamb: An all-Black Little League team made history without playing a game (Washington Post)
Kelsey McKinney: ‘A League Of Their Own’ Is A Reminder Of How Little Women’s Baseball Still Has (Defector.com)
Michael Clair: Erika Piancastelli is the breakout star of Home Run Derby X (MLB.com)

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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