This Week in SABR: April 12, 2019

April 12, 2019/in This Week in SABR /by Jason Best

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 April 12, 2019:

One month left to register early for SABR 49 in San Diego!

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a spectacular SABR 49 convention this summer in San Diego. Conference and hotel registration is now available at SABR.org/convention.

Click here for more information on the SABR 49 All-Inclusive Package, Early-Bird Registration, and optional sessions. Click here to register for SABR 49.

Registration: Click here for complete information on the SABR 49 All-Inclusive Package, Early-Bird Registration, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 49! We’re again offering a special All-Inclusive Package for the annual SABR convention. For the $369 all-inclusive rate, SABR members can get:
— Full registration to SABR 49 in San Diego (early-bird: $289; regular rate: $319)
— 1 ticket in the Upper Infield Reserved (1B) section to the Padres vs. Cardinals game on Friday, June 28 at Petco Park ($24 value)
— 1 ticket to the Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 28 ($70 value)
— 1 exclusive SABR 49 convention logo lapel pin
— 2 complimentary Continental breakfasts on Thursday and Friday mornings*
*The Continental breakfast benefit is only available when you register for the All-Inclusive Package.
Non-members can pay $399 for the All-Inclusive Package; the deadline to register is Monday, May 6, 2019.
Hotel: The special SABR group rate at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego of $224/night (single rate) or $254/night (double rate) is only available to registered convention attendees. After you register for the SABR 49 convention, you will receive an e-mail confirmation with details on how to book your hotel room at the SABR group rate. If you do not receive your confirmation email after registering, please contact Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org. There are a limited number of rooms in our group block, so be sure to register for SABR 49 early!
Awards Luncheon: SABR will host a special Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 28 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. The Awards Luncheon, which includes a meal, will feature the announcement of SABR’s annual awards — including the Bob Davids Award, our highest honor. One ticket to the Awards Luncheon is included in the all-inclusive package or guest tickets are available for $70 when you register for SABR 49.
Research presentations: SABR invites all members to present their research findings to their colleagues attending SABR 49. The deadline to submit your abstract was Sunday, February 24, 2019. Click here for complete details and application form.
Yoseloff Scholarship: Students, click here to learn more about a Yoseloff Scholarship to attend SABR 49 in San Diego. The deadline to apply was Friday, April 5, 2019.

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more or to register for the SABR 49 convention.

Listen to Episode #2 of SABRcast with Rob Neyer

Listen to a new episode of SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a new weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to Episode #2, which features an exclusive interview with SABR member Tyler Kepner, New York Times national baseball writer and author of K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.

Every week, SABRcast will feature insights and analysis of what’s happening in modern baseball on and off the field, plus compelling interviews with figures from around the game — and music from The Baseball Project.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

**Spring 2019 Baseball Research Journal is on its way**

Good news! The Spring 2019 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next two to four weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition was delivered on Wednesday. Articles will be available to read online at SABR.org/research beginning next week.

To read more articles from the BRJ archives, click here.

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here.

We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2019 Baseball Research Journal!

Vote now in the 2019 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you should have received a message on Tuesday, April 9 with a link to vote online in the 2019 SABR Board of Directors election. The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, April 23.

You can read the candidate biographies, along with full descriptions of the positions and responses the candidates made to a series of questions, in the 2019 SABR Election Guide which is available for download below:

Download the 2019 SABR Election Guide here (PDF)

When you vote, you will find two items on the 2019 Board of Directors ballot: the election of the SABR President and two (2) Director’s positions — please rank the Director candidates in order of preference. The candidates are:

For President

Mark Armour

For Director (2)

Chris Dial
Allison Levin
Bill Nowlin

The only way to vote online is through the link you will receive by e-mail. All e-mails will come from the address tellers@sabr.org; if you wish to add it to a whitelist in your e-mail client, that may help ensure that you will receive the e-mails. You will receive at least one more voting email between now and April 23 with active voting links.

Members who did not have an e-mail address on file with SABR as of April 1, 2019, will receive a paper ballot in the mail. Please do not vote online and send in the paper ballot; if you do, the paper ballot will be discarded, and only the online vote will count.

If you would like to register your e-mail address on file with SABR so you can vote online (and also receive our “This Week in SABR” newsletter on Fridays), please contact Membership Director Deb Jayne at djayne@sabr.org.

**Skip Desjardin’s September 1918 wins 2019 Larry Ritter Book Award**

Skip Desjardin has earned the 2019 Larry Ritter Book Award for his gripping historical account of an epic month of triumph and tragedy, September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series, published by Regnery History.

The award is granted annually by SABR’s Deadball Era Committee to the author of the best book about baseball between 1901 and 1919 published during the previous calendar year. The winner’s work must demonstrate original research or analysis, a fresh perspective, compelling thesis, impressive insight, accuracy, and clear, graceful prose.

Desjardin’s September 1918 earned selection over three other finalists:

Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Chicago Cubs and the Dawn of Modern America, by David Rapp (University of Chicago Press)
The Days of Rube, Matty, Honus and Ty: Scenes from the Early Deadball Era: 1904-1907, by Chuck Kimberly (McFarland)
Game Faces: Early Baseball Cards from the Library of Congress, by Peter Devereaux (Smithsonian Books)

Conferred annually since 2002, this year’s Ritter Award will be formally presented to the winner at the DEC meeting at SABR 49 in San Diego. Desjardin is unable to attend the ceremony because he will be in London for the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees series, but does plan to address the gathering by means of a video recording.

Read the full article at SABR.org.

Old Hoss Radbourn’s 60th win added back to record books

You may have noticed a recent update at Baseball-Reference.com for Hall of Fame pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn‘s statistics. For many years, Radbourn had been credited with a single-season record 59 wins during his magnificent 1884 season with the Providence Grays of the National League. Now, Radbourn has been bumped (back) up to 60 wins.

As Alex Bonilla of Baseball-Reference.com explains:

“Earlier record books had retroactively applied the 1950 rule on pitching wins to Radbourn’s era and given him 60 as a result. However, it was discovered by Frederick Ivor-Campbell that this was done in error and that one of his 1884 wins (on July 28) should have actually been credited to his teammate Cyclone Miller. Miller was indeed the correct winner if you applied the 1950 rule, since he pitched 5 innings and left with a lead. However, Radbourn pitched 4 shutout innings and was more effective. Practice in the 1880s allowed for the more effective pitcher to be deemed the winning pitcher, per Pete Palmer. In Frank Williams’ groundbreaking 1982 SABR article, “All the Record Books Are Wrong,” he originally found that Miller was the winner of this game (giving him 59 wins on the season). But he has recently gone back and concluded that using practices of the time Radbourn is the correct winner, and therefore has 60 wins in 1884.”

Click here to read the full article at Baseball-Reference.com.

SABR Rogers Hornsby Chapter celebrates 100th session of BasebALZ reminiscence program in Austin

The SABR Roger Hornsby Chapter’s “Talking Baseball” reminiscence program celebrated its 100th session on Monday, April 8 at Westminster Senior Living in Austin, Texas. Our chapter’s program, offered in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Texas, has been running for four years. This session concluded our 11th “season” in Austin. The monthly program in Kerrville, in cooperation with the Veteran’s Administration there, has been in operation for three years.

We had “standing room only” with 26 participants, caregivers, family, guests and volunteers in attendance. This also set a record for attendance at a single session.

Two special guests joined us for our Centennial program. Former Texas Longhorn and professional baseball pitcher Jim Gideon entertained the group with stories of his years at U.T. and in the Texas Rangers organization. Jim also fielded questions and autographed baseball cards and baseballs for the attendees. Local radio personality and Alzheimer’s Texas board member Ed Clements added to the fun.

Click here to read the full article at SABRhornsby.org.

SABR 49: Special film screening of Moe Berg documentary

We are pleased to host a special screening of the new documentary film, Moe Berg: The Spy Behind Home Plate, at SABR 49 in San Diego with filmmaker Aviva Kempner.

The film will be screened on the evening of Thursday, June 27 during SABR 49 in San Diego. The event will be open to all SABR convention attendees.

In this first ever feature-length documentary about the enigmatic Berg, Kempner focuses her camera on a little-known Jewish hero. From the streets of Newark to five major-league teams during baseball’s Golden Age to his secret life spying for the OSS during World War II, Berg’s improbable story is told with rare historical footage and revealing interviews with family and an All-Star roster from the worlds of history, sports and spy craft. To learn more about the film, visit spybehindhomeplate.org.

For more information on SABR 49, or to register, visit SABR.org/convention.

Give back to SABR through AmazonSmile

AmazonSmile is an easy way to give back to SABR through online purchases made on Amazon.com. AmazonSmile will donate a portion of the purchase price of your eligible Amazon purchases to SABR.

Click here to learn more about supporting SABR through AmazonSmile.

Millions of Amazon products are eligible for donations and are marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile” on their product detail page. Remember, you must visit the AmazonSmile site (smile.amazon.com) first in order for your purchases to be eligible for donations.

SABR Digital Library: Jeff Bagwell in Connecticut

The Nutmeg State celebrates a Hall of Fame hometown hero in our newest book from the SABR Digital Library:

Jeff Bagwell in Connecticut:
A Consistent Lad in the Land of Steady Habits
Edited by Karl Cicitto, Bill Nowlin, and Len Levin
ISBN (paperback: 978-1-9438-1697-2, $19.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9438-1696-5, $6.99
250 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

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

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Jeff Bagwell in Connecticut for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Jeff Bagwell in Connecticut paperback edition from the SABR Store ($15.99 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

To see all titles in the SABR Digital Library, visit 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.

New team ownership history: Providence Grays

The SABR Team Ownership Histories Project is a joint effort of SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee and the BioProject. The intention is to keep its essays up-to-date and 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:

Providence Grays team ownership history (1878-85), by Charlie Bevis

Click here to read all published team ownership histories at SABR.org.

Some team articles have been assigned, but anyone who wishes to contribute is encouraged to contact Andy McCue at amccue@sabr.org. To learn more or to read the author guidelines, click here.

Read all bios from our new Colorado Rockies book at the SABR BioProject

In Major League Baseball A Mile High: The First Quarter Century of the Colorado Rockies, published by SABR in 2018 and edited by Bill Nowlin and Paul T. Parker, we told the story of the first 25 years of the major-league baseball team in Denver.

Included are essays on the birth of the Rockies and biographies of 24 of the most important players, managers, and club executives as selected by SABR’s Rocky Mountain Chapter — including Dante Bichette, Andrés Galarraga, Larry Walker, Don Baylor, Todd Helton, and Keli McGregor — plus bios of the two fields the Rockies have called home: Mile High Stadium and Coors Field.

All of the biographies in Major League Baseball A Mile High are now available to be read online at the SABR BioProject.

Click here to download a free e-book edition or get 50% off the paperback edition of Major League Baseball A Mile High.

To view more books at the SABR Digital Library, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

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:

April 4, 2005: Rockies’ resilient rookies lead comeback on Opening Day, by Paul Hofmann
July 4, 2008: Rockies out-blast Marlins 18-17 in Fireworks Night game in Denver, by Mike Huber
August 24, 2009: Ryan Spilborghs’ walk-off grand slam boosts Rockies’ playoffs chances, by Jack Zerby
April 17, 2010: Ubaldo Jimenez becomes first Rockies pitcher to throw a no-hitter, by Michael T. Roberts
April 4, 2014: A record, the rooftop, and a Rockies rout on Opening Day at Coors Field, by John Bauer
September 15, 2015: Rockies, Dodgers combine for record 24 pitchers, 58 players, in 16-inning game, by Mike Huber
August 14, 2017: Chad Bettis comes home to Colorado, by Bill Nowlin
June 18, 2017: Rockies’ Nolan Arenado completes ‘cycle for the ages’ with walk-off homer, by Mike Huber

These stories originally appeared in “Major League Baseball A Mile High: The First Quarter Century of the Colorado Rockies” (SABR, 2018), edited by Bill Nowlin and Paul T. Parker. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles 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.
Read all stories from the Pittsburgh Pirates greatest games book at the SABR Games Project: In Moments of Joy and Heartbreak: 66 Significant Episodes in the History of the Pittsburgh Pirates, published by SABR in 2018 and edited by Jorge Iber and Bill Nowlin, we explored some of the most memorable games in Bucs history. All of the stories from Moments of Joy and Heartbreak can now be found online at the SABR Games Project. Click here to read all of the game stories from this book. To download your free e-book copy or order the paperback edition with a 50% discount, click here.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM moves to Saturdays this month

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, will air in April at a new time. Listen in from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on SATURDAY, April 13 on MLB Network Radio.

This week’s show will include highlights and insight from The State of Analytics panel at the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference with Baseball Info Solutions owner John Dewan, ESPN analyst and former MLB player Eduardo Perez, and award-winning author and SABRcast host Rob Neyer.

You can also 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
Chris Donnelly	Ewing, NJ	Sairam Rajagopal	New York, NY
William Grmek	Wickliffe, OH	Brent Roberts	Farmville, VA
Karen Harriman	Evergreen, CO	Chris Ropes	Brigantine, NJ
David Heflin	Amelia, OH	Daniel Rousseau	Churchville, PA
Anthony Leopold	Scottsdale, AZ	Aaron Sarson	Chatham, ON
Christopher McClancy	Darien, CT	Dustin White	Beckley, WV
Anthony Nicolasora	Phoenix, AZ	Paul Winter	St. Louis, MO
John Pabian	Bedford, MA	Eric Ziegel	Lakewood Ranch, FL
Brian Palus	Charleston, SC

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Black Sox Scandal: View the new Eight Myths Out project on common misconceptions about the 1919 World Series
Deadball Era: April 2019 newsletter (click here for Herm Krabbenhoft appendix)

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Halsey Hall Chapter: April 2019 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)

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:

April 13: Dayton Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Dayton, OH)
April 13: Pee Wee Reese Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Bowling Green, KY)
April 14: Rogers Hornsby Chapter monthly lunch (Austin, TX)
April 15: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter monthly meeting (St. Louis, MO)
April 15: Larry Dierker Chapter monthly meeting (Houston, TX)
April 16: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
April 17: Rocky Mountain Chapter monthly luncheon (Denver, CO)
April 17: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter “Called Shot” monthly luncheon (Baltimore, MD)
April 18: Magnolia Chapter “Third Thursday” meeting (Sandy Springs, GA)
April 20: Babe ‘n Bob SABR chapter breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
April 20: Rocky Mountain Chapter: “State of the Rockies” luncheon (Denver, CO)
April 22: Halsey Hall Chapter research committee meeting (Brooklyn Center, MN)
April 22: Rabbit Maranville Chapter spring meeting (Springfield, MA)
April 24: Magnolia Chapter “Fourth Wednesday” meeting (Tucker, GA)
April 25: Lincoln Mitchell: “Baseball Goes West” (San Francisco, CA)
April 26-27: 2019 SABR Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference (Cooperstown, NY)
April 27: Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter meeting (Lexington, KY)
April 27: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting (Chicago, IL)
April 27: Rice-Russell Nashville Chapter meeting (Nashville, TN)
April 27: Oscar Charleston Chapter meeting (Indianapolis, IN)
April 27: Northwest Chapter spring meeting (Seattle, WA)

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:

Scott Allen: Volunteers transcribed nearly 2,000 Branch Rickey scouting reports at the Library of Congress (Washington Post)
Jayson Stark: Are MLB managers becoming obsolete? (The Athletic)
Rob Arthur: Exit velocity is higher than ever (Baseball Prospectus)
Sheryl Ring: MLB’s Cuba deal just got scuttled (FanGraphs)
Stephanie Springer: The strange realities of inadvertent doping (The Hardball Times)
Anthony Castrovince: MLB’s ultimate one-hit wonders (MLB.com)
Cliff Corcoran: What this season can tell us about the effect of the 3-batter minimum rule (The Athletic)
Mark T. Williams: MLB umpires missed 34,294 ball-strike calls in 2018 (Boston University)
Rob Mains: April is the least predictive month for hitters (Baseball Prospectus)
Erica Hunzinger: MLB is trying to bring more women into front office and fields (NPR)
Lindsey Adler: Yankees exec Jean Afterman wants to see an MLB team hire a female GM, just not her (The Athletic)
Sung Min Kim: The new and exciting Rays slugger, Yandy Diaz (FanGraphs)
Jay Jaffe: Mariners’ hot-hitting start defies rebuild (FanGraphs)
Aaron Gleeman: Willians Astudillo is proving it (Baseball Prospectus)
Rachael McDaniel: A surgical probe into the state of Chris Sale, Red Sox (FanGraphs)
Ginny Searle: Extensions have WARPed future free agent markets (Baseball Prospectus)
Britt Ghiroli: Retired MLB players on hard choices and life after baseball (The Athletic)
David Laurila: Pirates’ Trevor Williams is executing plan-A with aplomb (FanGraphs)
Canadian Press: For diehards, traces of Montreal’s baseball history are there for the finding (Montreal Gazette)
Craig Brown: 19th-century uniform database updates (Threads of Our Game)
Steven Goldman: Chasing Ken Phelps (The Hardball Times)
Esteban Bustillos: Why is it so hard for teams to repeat as World Series champions? (WGBH)
Bill Deane: Baseball briefs on the 2018 season (WordPress)
Taylor McCloud: Syracuse analytics student takes baseball passion to the major leagues (The Daily Orange)
Michelle Bruton: How Fernando Valenzuela helped Angelenos and the Dodgers bridge their divide (Ozy)
Darin Watson: Remembering Bret Saberhagen’s 1989 season (U.L.’s Toothpick)
Get a 40% discount on select baseball books from University of Nebraska Press with the discount code 6BAB9
Anthony Salazar: Augmented Reality and the Baseball Card (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Paul Ember: Of Myths and Men: Eight Men Out trading cards (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)

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.

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