This Week in SABR: September 24, 2021

September 24, 2021/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. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of September 24, 2021:

Expanded Oral History Collection relaunches at SABR.org

Interviews with some of the most interesting figures in baseball history — from Hall of Famers Monte Irvin and Carl Hubbell to Negro Leagues pioneers Buck O’Neil and Sam Lacy to broadcasters Tim McCarver and Jerry Coleman — can be found in the newly expanded SABR Oral History Collection at sabr.org/oralhistory.

The SABR Oral History Collection now includes more than 600 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.

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

The SABR Bookshelf: Summer 2021

Periodically throughout the year, SABR.org publishes The SABR Bookshelf, a listing of new books that are received at the SABR office.

Click here to view The SABR Bookshelf listings for Summer 2021

Click on the link above for more detailed information on each of these books:

Jackie: Perspectives on 42, edited by Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks
When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions , edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin
Baseball in Occupied Japan: US Postwar Cultural Policy, by Takeshi Tanikawa
COVID Curveball: An Inside View of the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers World Championship Season, by Tim Neverett
The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
Beyond Baseball’s Color Barrier: The Story of African Americans in Major League Baseball, Past, Present, and Future, by Rocco Constantino
Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball, by Dan Taylor
The Best Little Baseball Town in the World: The Crowley Millers and Minor League Baseball in the 1950s, by Gaylon White
Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency, by Paul Hensler
The Reshaping of America’s Game: Major League Baseball After the Players’ Strike, by Bryan Soderholm-Difatte
America’s Game in the Wild Card Era: From Strike to Pandemic, by Bryan Soderholm-Difatte
The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the Chicago Cubs, by Carrie Muskat
If These Walls Could Talk: New York Mets, by Mike Puma
Hank Aaron: A Tribute to the Hammer, 1934-2021, by Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11 in ’11: A Hometown Hero, La Russa’s Last Ride in Red, and a Miracle World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, by Benjamin Hochman
The Best Team Over There: The Untold Story of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Great War, by Jim Leeke
Clubbie: A Minor League Baseball Memoir, by Greg Larson
Forty Years a Giant: The Life of Horace Stoneham, by Steven Treder
Baseball Under the Lights: The Rise of the Night Game, by Charlie Bevis
Baseball in Hawaii During World War II, by Gary Bedingfield
#NeverGiveUp: A Memoir of Baseball and Traumatic Brain Injury, by Ruppert Jones with Ryan Dempsey
Redleg Memories: The Reds of the Fifties and Sixties, by Greg Rhodes
The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow, by William S. Bike
The Case for Barry Bonds in the Hall of Fame: The Untold and Forgotten Stories of Baseball’s Home Run King, by K.P. Wee
Base Ball: Simple Stats for a Simple Game, by Bob Morris
Wahoo Sam Crawford: The King of Sluggers, by Kent Krause

Bolded names indicates that the author(s) is a SABR member. Click here for a list of publishers found in the SABR Bookshelf, along with their contact information.

To view previous listings in The SABR Bookshelf, click here.

Register now for SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

The virtual SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium will take place on November 13-14, 2021.

The two-day online symposium, hosted by the SABR Nineteenth Century Committee, will be devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Brooklyn.

Register: Click here to register online for the symposium.
Cost: $15 per person.
Schedule: Click here to download the full schedule (PDF). Online Zoom sessions will be held from 12:00-5:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, November 13, and 12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, November 14.

Guest speakers are expected to include keynote speaker Dr. Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and City Planning at Cornell University and Historian-in-Residence of the New York City Parks Department; John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; a Panel Discussion on “Was Brooklyn the Actual Birthplace of Baseball?” featuring David Dyte, Tom Gilbert and Bill Ryczek; Research Presentations by Ralph Carhart, Brian Sheehy, Tom Gilbert, and Justin Mckinney; and a video tour of Brooklyn’s historic baseball places with Tom Gilbert.

The 2021 Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium will be the fifth in our city-specific series. It should be a day of learning and fun, and an opportunity to exchange questions and comments among both presenters and symposium attendees. Previous symposiums were held in New York City (2014), Philadelphia (2016), Cleveland (2018), and Minneapolis (2019).

For more information, contact Peter Mancuso.

Watch highlights from the 2021 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

The third annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, hosted by SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center, took place virtually on September 10-12, 2021.

Watch: Visit SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference to watch video replays from each day’s panels and presentations.

The conference was highlighted by keynote speaker Dana Bookman, founder and CEO of Canadian Girls Baseball and the founding Vice President of American Girls Baseball; and a presentation about an upcoming documentary film, Her Game is Hardball, with director/producer Mark Durand and writer/producer Selena Roberts. Pioneering baseball writer Claire Smith was honored with the 2021 Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award. We also heard panel discussions on international umpires, with Lisa Turbitt, Sophiyah Liu, Eva Moo, and Perry Barber; researching women’s baseball with Cecilia Tan and Kate Haines; and personal stories with Laura Hirai and Suzie Hunter; and more insightful research presentations.

This year’s conference theme was “Breaking Barriers: Women in Baseball Around the World.”

Call for papers: 2022 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

In 2022, SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will host the SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 2-4, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees will also enjoy special presentations about local black baseball and a baseball game with the Birmingham Barons.

This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Presentations may focus on any topic related to the Negro League centennial, black baseball in Birmingham, or other related topics, especially the Negro Southern League. Some possibilities include: Rube Foster; the 1920 season; the formation of the NSL, the formation of the NNL, the original eight teams, and so much more.

Please email your proposal as a Word attachment to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu before March 1, 2022.

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

SABR Digital Library: When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions

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

When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions
Edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5952-3, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5953-0, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 268 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 When the Monarchs Reigned for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the When the Monarchs Reigned 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.

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 Pee Wee Reese Chapter in Louisville, Kentucky, will hold a virtual Zoom meeting at 10:30 a.m. EDT Saturday, September 25. All SABR members are invited to attend. Our guest speaker is Perry Barber, professional umpire, author, singer, Jeopardy! champion, and recipient of SABR’s Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award. To RSVP, please contact Tad Myre at tmyre@wyattfirm.com.
Video Replays: Click here to view more 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 25: Pee Wee Reese (KY) Chapter meeting with Perry Barber (10:30 a.m. EDT)
September 25: Sweet Lou Johnson (KY) Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. EDT)
September 25: Rogers Hornsby (TX) Chapter meeting with Monte Cely and Ira Siegel (1:00 p.m. CDT)
September 26: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
October 2: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting (2:00 p.m. CDT)

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

September 25: Rocky Mountain Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Denver, CO)
October 2: Halsey Hall Chapter book club meeting (Roseville, MN)
October 2: Dusty Baker-Sacramento Chapter meeting (Sacramento, CA)
October 3: Field of Dreams (IA) Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Des Moines, IA)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with actors Ellen Adair and Eric Gilde

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 #129 on Monday, September 20 featured Ellen Adair and Eric Gilde, co-hosts of the Take Me In to the Ballgame podcast. Ellen is an accomplished actress, author, diehard baseball fan, and she has appeared on hit TV shows like The Sinner, Homeland, and Billions, and in numerous off-Broadway and regional theater productions. Eric is a New York-based actor and playwright who has appeared in numerous regional theater productions. He is also a member of three fantasy baseball leagues. We’re also joined this week by Amanda Smith, author and co-host of the Disaster Girls podcast.

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.

3 new biographies posted at SABR BioProject

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

Steve Boros, by Jim Leeke
Hunter Lane, by Darren Gibson
Len Yochim, by Richard Cuicchi

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.

19 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

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

June 18, 1874: Mutuals’ 38-1 win over Chicago White Stockings is the biggest blowout ever, by Bob Tiemann
October 6, 1903: Deacon Phillippe wins third World Series game for Pirates … and it’s only Game 4, by Bill Nowlin
October 7, 1903: Boston breaks open Game 5 with back-to-back big innings, by Bill Nowlin
September 26, 1912: Reds rally for 10 runs in 9th, but Cubs pull out a late victory, by Ken Liss
October 8, 1912: Red Sox finally get a measure of revenge against John McGraw in Game 1, by Bill Nowlin
October 11, 1912: Smoky Joe Wood holds Giants to one run and wins his second game of World Series, by Bill Nowlin
October 12, 1912: Boston rookie Hugh Bedient outpitches Christy Mathewson in Game 5, by Bill Nowlin
September 24, 1921: Pitching both games of a doubleheader, Browns’ Dixie Davis deals Red Sox a lopsided loss, by Bill Nowlin
July 5, 1930: Black baseball comes to Yankee Stadium on behalf of the Pullman Porters, by James Overmyer
August 7, 1942: First Negro League baseball game is broadcast on radio, by Donna L. Halper
September 6, 1948: Tallahassee stays alive in Game 3 of Georgia-Florida playoff series, by Jack Zerby
September 8, 1957: The Last Game: Brooklyn Dodgers versus New York Giants, by Steven C. Weiner
August 27, 1977: Rangers hit inside-the-park homers on consecutive pitches at Yankee Stadium, by David Firstman
June 27, 1980: Dodgers’ Jerry Reuss throws no-hitter to beat rival Giants, by Laura H. Peebles
April 21, 1986: Mets preview October magic by rallying in 8th and 9th for win over Pirates, by John Fredland
May 22, 1986: Mike Krukow and Chili Davis lead Giants over Dwight Gooden, Mets, by Tom Schott
October 5, 1986: Mets cap 108-win regular season as Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez combine for shutout, by Kurt Blumenau
September 19, 1996: Vladimir Guerrero debuts, Pedro Martinez strikes out 9 in Atlanta, by Rob Watts (first-time author)
September 3, 2002: Tigers’ Andy Van Hekken shuts out Cleveland in major-league debut for only career victory, by Andrew Harner

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 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
Michael Bresciani	Uxbridge, MA	Kevin Miller	Holbrook, NY
Amy Do	Palatine, IL	Lauren Netzel	Reno, NV
Jared Frank	Philadelphia, PA	Anthony Renna	Albuquerque, NM
Fred Frommer	Washington, DC	Ben Robinson	Guelph, ON
Emerson Hotson	Dartmouth, NS	Frank Thomason	Alexandria, VA
Lewis Insler	Asheville, NC	Dave Vandewater	Dodgeville, WI
Mark McGrath	Columbus, OH

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Oral History: Check out the newly expanded Oral History Collection at SABR.org

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:

Larry Dierker Chapter: September 20 meeting recap (Houston, TX)

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

Around the Web

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

Stephen J. Nesbitt: ‘His name is Sang. He is a pitcher.’ A family’s American dream, their unbearable loss (The Athletic)
Jason Turbow: Taking Notes: Jays Upset By Rays’ Card Theft (The Baseball Codes)
Emma Baccellieri: Don’t Blame the Rays for Taking the Blue Jays’ Note Card (Sports Illustrated)
Evan Drellich: How we got here: The decisions and changes of the last decade that brought players and owners to a looming labor fight (The Athletic)
Tyler Kepner: In a Wild Lefty With Huge Potential, a Hall of Famer Saw Himself (New York Times)
Alex Speier: ‘It’s almost like these uniforms give these guys superpowers.’ How the Red Sox turned yellow (Boston Globe)
Rob Arthur: Another Way Shohei Ohtani Has Been Awesome (Baseball Prospectus)
Jay Jaffe: Jon Lester’s Well-Timed Hot Streak (FanGraphs)
Hannah Keyser: No days off: Freddie Freeman pushes Braves teammates to play every game (Yahoo! Sports)
Chelsea Janes: How the San Francisco Giants delivered a dominant MLB season (Washington Post)
Grant Brisbee: LaMonte Wade Jr.’s late-inning heroics for the Giants are among some of the greatest in baseball history (The Athletic)
Sarah Langs: These players could be Rookie of the Year vote-getters — again (MLB.com)
Jayson Stark: The 2021 MLB season’s Weirdest and Wildest classics (The Athletic)
Eno Sarris: Is this the golden age of the old(er) starting pitcher? (The Athletic)
Ryan Hockensmith: Is Los Angeles Dodgers righty Max Scherzer the best MLB trade deadline pitching pickup ever? (ESPN.com)
Manny Randhawa: Austin Adams, in relief, sets season HBP mark (MLB.com)
Rob Mains: The Impact of Modern Pitching Staffs on Payrolls (Baseball Prospectus)
Roger Cormier: I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today (Baseball Prospectus)
Bill Pearch: Dismantling The 2016 Chicago Cubs (Here’s the Pitch)
Chad Dotson: The Latest Crisis in Reds Leadership (Cincinnati Magazine)
Danny Torres: Fifty years ago, the Big Apple honored the Great One (Baseball Hall of Fame)
Kevin Blackistone: What Major League Baseball owes Haiti (Washington Post)
Steven Goldman: Who Should Win MVP? The 1987 Race Holds the Answer (Baseball Prospectus)
Mark Simon: 2021 Minor League Standouts (ACTA Sports)
Dan Cichalski: Visit Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s PNC Field (MLB.com)
David Laurila: Twins Prospect Louie Varland is a St. Paul Sibling on the Rise (FanGraphs)
David Vantress: John Graf edits SABR book on baseball’s Negro Leagues (Janesville Gazette)
Joe Genovese: “9th Inning” (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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