This Week in SABR: April 17, 2020

April 17, 2020/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 17, 2020:

SABR Board of Directors election begins on Monday, April 20

SABR members, please pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you will receive a message on Monday, April 20 with a link to vote online in the 2020 SABR Board of Directors election. The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Monday, May 4.

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 2020 SABR Election Guide which is available for download below:

Download the 2020 SABR Election Guide here (PDF)

When you vote, please rank the candidates in order of preference, with 1 being your top choice. SABR elections use a simplified preferential voting system, allowing voters to rank their preferred candidates 1-2-3 and transferring preferences until a winner with more than 50 percent of votes is achieved.

You will find three items on the 2020 election ballot: the election of the SABR Vice President, Treasurer, and one (1) Director’s position. The candidates are:

For Vice President

Leslie Heaphy

For Treasurer

F.X. Flinn

For Director

Karl Cicitto
Tara Krieger
Daniel Levitt
John McMurray
Gregory H. Wolf

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 additional voting email between April 20 and May 4 with active voting links.

Members who did not have an e-mail address on file with SABR as of April 10, 2020, 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.

Donate today to the SABR Sustainability Campaign fund

SABR is an organization focused on baseball history, research, and benchmarks, and this is unquestionably a first. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is changing around us daily. We are all searching for silver linings, distractions, and ways to minimize the distance we are all feeling and the challenges we are facing.

One constant you can rely on — now more than ever — is that SABR will continue to uphold our mission to foster the study, discussion, and understanding of all aspects of baseball. But we need your help!

Click here to donate to the SABR Sustainability Campaign fund

We’re facing major challenges in the coming year. The postponement of the SABR 50 convention to July 14-18, 2021, will cause SABR to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. These resources are essential in pursuing our mission and delivering the membership experience our community has come to expect.

Please contribute to the SABR Sustainability Campaign fund. The SABR Board of Directors is leading the way, as all Directors are donating their SABR 50 registration fee to this fund. The Board is joined by hundreds of members who are doing the same.

We are asking all members to make a donation above and beyond their normal giving, equivalent to SABR 50 registration. This is an extraordinary request made due to extraordinary circumstances. We thank all of our members who have donated their registration fees and thank all members in advance for their charitable contributions to the fund.

If you donate $330 (the cost of annual convention registration), you will receive:

$50 off your 2021 Annual Convention registration
Hard copy of the 2020 edition of The National Pastime delivered to your door
Exclusive VIP online streaming video content with baseball personalities

If you donate $500, you will receive:

All the benefits listed above
Hard copy of the SABR 50 @ 50 anthology book, featuring the 50 most influential articles SABR has published

All gifts are tax deductible except for the value of the benefits received. Visit SABR.org/donate/sustain to learn more.

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

This month, we launched our Stay Home With SABR initiative, an eight-week effort from April 1 to May 31 to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. During this time, all new membership dues SABR receives will be split with Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit organization that distributes urgently needed equipment and medication to partners around the world during this global crisis.

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org. This week, we heard from Negro League Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick, Chicago Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper, Matt Haynes with the T206 Photo Project, National Baseball Hall of Fame president Tim Mead and Mark Anderson of MLB Cathedrals, and Jacob Pomrenke of SABR.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can “attend” online:

April 18: Talkin’ Baseball: Paul Scimonelli (9:00 a.m. EDT)
April 18: Vintage Base Ball Association virtual conference (11:30 a.m. EDT)
April 18: Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Educational Resources Committee meeting (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Detroit Chapter open baseball forum (8:00 p.m. EDT)
April 19: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Ryan Spaeder (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 19: Latino Baseball Committee: César Brioso (1:00 p.m. PDT)
April 20: SABRcast Live: Kyle Boddy (5:00 p.m. PDT)
April 22: Bud Metheny Chapter book club (7:00 p.m. EDT)
April 23: Larry Doby Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
April 23: Ken Keltner Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. CDT)

Find more upcoming virtual meetings and watch replays of past events on our SABR Virtual Calendar page.

Brioso, Newman, Phillips win 2020 SABR Baseball Research Awards

The 2020 SABR Baseball Research Awards, which honor outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year that have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball, have been awarded to:

César Brioso, Last Seasons in Havana: The Castro Revolution and the End of Professional Baseball in Cuba (University of Nebraska Press)
Roberta J. Newman, Here’s the Pitch: The Amazing, True, New, and Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising (University of Nebraska Press)
Christopher Phillips, Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know about Baseball (Princeton University Press)

Brioso is a digital producer and former baseball editor for USA Today Sports. He has also written for the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and he is the author of Havana Hardball: Spring Training, Jackie Robinson, and the Cuban League.

Newman is a clinical professor in the Liberal Studies Program at New York University. She is the coauthor of Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar.

Phillips is an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of The New Math: A Political History. His work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Science, and Nature.

To see a complete list of SABR Baseball Research Award winners, click here.

SABR 50 convention in Baltimore rescheduled for 2021

Due to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the SABR 50 convention has been rescheduled for July 14-18, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. Click here to learn more.

The postponement of SABR 50 will create significant financial challenges for the organization in the coming year, including the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. These resources are essential in pursuing our mission and delivering the membership experience our community has come to expect. Visit SABR.org/donate/sustain to learn more about our Sustainability Campaign, which will help guide SABR through this challenging time.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

SABR Digital Library: Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15

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

Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15
Edited by Steve West and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (e-book) 978-1-9701-5920-2, $9.95
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5921-9, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 472 pages

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 Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.99 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.

SABR members can download all SABR Digital Library e-books for free or get 50% off the paperback editions. To find all titles, visit SABR.org/ebooks.

SABR office continuing to work remotely

The SABR office, housed at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona, has been closed indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Staff members will work remotely until it is advisable to resume normal operations on-site.

On Monday, March 16, ASU announced that all in-person classes would transition to online instruction for the rest of the spring semester through the end of April. A reassessment of the situation will take place at that time. Please contact a member of the SABR staff by email or phone with any questions.

Deadline extended! Students, apply now for a SABR Negro Leagues Committee scholarship in 2020

SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee will award $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors in its 12th annual Thomas R. Garrett Scholarship essay contest in 2020. Students must write a 1,200-word essay answering a question related to one of the Negro League figures who are the namesakes of the scholarships.

Visit SABR.org/malloy to learn more about each scholarship or to download an application. All applications must be sent or postmarked no later than May 4, 2020, and emailed to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.

Eligible applicants must be 1) a current high school senior, 2) anticipating completion of high school diploma at the time of application, 3) planning to pursue a degree at an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution, and 4) carrying a minimum 2.5 GPA at the end of their junior year of high school.

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

SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper

As part of our Stay Home With SABR intiative, SABRcast with Rob Neyer will be recorded via online livestream each Monday night at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Each episode will feature nationally known guests plus an interactive Q&A in which all baseball fans can participate.

Episode #55 on Monday, April 13 featured Chicago Cubs announcer Len Kasper, who has been the Cubs’ TV play-by-play voice since 2005. Prior to joining the Cubs, he worked with the Florida Marlins for three years at Fox Sports Net and called play-by-play for select Milwaukee Brewers games from 1999-2001.

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.

Join us: Listen to SABRcast Live on Monday, April 20 with Cincinnati Reds executive and Driveline Baseball founder Kyle Boddy

Subscribe to SABRcast on your favorite podcast networks, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play, and listen to each episode as soon as it’s released on Mondays. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

MLB Team Employee Database project update

The SABR Business of Baseball Committee’s new project, a database of historical Major League Baseball team employees, has been making nice progress since last summer. Sean Lahman is in the process of constructing the physical database from our data entry. To date, we have completed more than 600 team-seasons and have 200 more assigned. But there are still many team-seasons to go.

If you would like to help, we still need volunteers to enter data from information sources, principally team media guides, into a spreadsheet. Most of the team-seasons for which we have electronic sources have already been entered or are in process. To get involved, contact Daniel Levitt at dan@daniel-levitt.com.

8 new SABR biographies published

Eight new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which — after the publication of our new SABR Digital Library book on the Federal League — brings us to a total of 5,181 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

Ival Goodman, by C. Paul Rogers III
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, by Dan Busby (first-time author)
Jocko Maxwell, by Donna L. Halper
Ray Morgan, by Andrew Sharp
Joe Mulvey, by Stephen V. Rice
Toad Ramsey, by Chris Rainey
Cornelius Van Cott, by Bill Lamb
Frank Viola, by Bryan Lake

All new biographies can be found here: SABR.org/bioproj/recent

Search for any SABR biography: You can now visit sabr.org/bioproj_search to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. You can also browse all of these BioProject categories and a lot more, including 300-game winners, Hall of Famers, 1960s All-Stars, or Negro Leaguers, at our Browse page: sabr.org/bioproj/browse.

6 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

June 18, 1916: The death of Johnny Dodge, by Chris Betsch
July 16, 1921: Cristóbal Torriente, Chicago American Giants knock the starch out of ‘Iron Man’ McGinnity, by Stephen V. Rice
September 20, 1968: Mickey Mantle’s 536th and final home run marks end of an era, by David Krell
April 24, 1970: Dodgers beat Mets 1-0 in 15 innings, by David Krell
July 6, 1970: Tommie Agee hits for the cycle; Mets pound Cardinals for 10 runs, 17 hits, by David Krell
September 1, 1972: Expos’ Bill Stoneman loses shutout, game in 12th inning, by Gary Belleville

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.

**Listen to recent episodes 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. Listen to new episodes at 4:00-5:00 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. 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.

Baseball Digest archives now available for free online

As fans await the return of baseball on the field, Baseball Digest will unlock its archive and make its complete inventory of more than 800 issues from 1942 through 2019 available for free online.

Unlimited access to the archive site at no cost will continue until at least July 15 and fans can take advantage of the free offer by visiting baseballdigest.com/free.

Current paid subscribers to the Baseball Digest Archive will receive three free months added to their subscription as compensation. Click here to learn more about SABR member discounts for Baseball Digest Archive subscriptions.

SABR members, get a $300 discount on Sports Management Worldwide online courses

Brush up on your baseball knowledge with Sports Management Worldwide, the leaders in online sports education. SABR members can receive a $300 discount for any eight-week online courses, which include:

Questions: Just fill out this form or register today at SMWW.com and use the code SABR at checkout.

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
Matt Ault	Marriottsville, MD	David Matthews	Nashville, TN
Billy Broadbent	Dedham, MA	David Metcalfe	Brighton, MI
Ryan Buehler	Warrensburg, MO	Billy Moore	Spring, TX
Manning Cohen	Girard, OH	Doug Morris	Herndon, VA
Bruce Cuthbertson	Dublin, OH	Roger Munter	Washington, DC
Tom Delise	Baltimore, MD	Thomas O’Malley	Atlanta, GA
Robert Edwards	West Melbourne, FL	Ryan Olstad	Valencia, CA
Chiel Faber	Franeker, NED	Brian Paige	Glen Mills, PA
Blake Hendrickson	Franklin, TN	Gary Parks	Buffalo, NY
Joe Howley	Lansing, MI	Scott Roberts	Hartselle, AL
Gary Irving	Ranson, WV	Rob Schoene	Plymouth, MN
David Jacobsen	Minneapolis, MN	Joe Seliga	Chicago, IL
Jamie Jeffreys	Hamilton, AL	Al Smitley	Hartland, MI
Mathias Klein	Rostock, GER	Diane Summers	Denver, CO
Gabriel Klemick	Pittsburgh, PA	Jack Takes	Eden Prairie, MN
Eric Knapp	Clinton, NJ	Michael Thornburg	Chattanooga, TN
Jeff Kramer	Livonia, MI	Preston Toothman	Orlando, FL
Eric Lallier	Ottawa, ON	Eric Vickrey	Seattle, WA
Nick Maier	Bloomington, IN	Anthony Warner	Yellow Springs, OH
Sean Martin	Jacksonville, FL	Brennan Weiss	Blue Bell, PA

Research Committee news

There are no new research committee updates this week.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Boston Chapter: Read a new “Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau,” by Joanne Hulbert (Boston, MA)
Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter: April 8 meeting recap (Tallahassee, FL)

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

SABR Virtual Events Calendar

Here are the upcoming virtual events on the SABR calendar:

April 18: Talkin’ Baseball: Paul Scimonelli (9:00 a.m. EDT)
April 18: Vintage Base Ball Association virtual conference (11:30 a.m. EDT)
April 18: Rogers Hornsby Chapter meeting (1:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Educational Resources Committee meeting (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 18: Detroit Chapter open baseball forum (8:00 p.m. EDT)
April 19: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Ryan Spaeder (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 19: Latino Baseball Committee: César Brioso (1:00 p.m. PDT)
April 20: SABRcast Live: Kyle Boddy (5:00 p.m. PDT)
April 22: Bud Metheny Chapter book club (7:00 p.m. EDT)
April 23: Larry Doby Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. EDT)
April 23: Ken Keltner Chapter meeting (7:00 p.m. CDT)

Find more virtual meetings on our SABR Virtual Events Calendar page.

Around the Web

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

Jayson Stark: The home run that broke Baseball-Reference (The Athletic)
Alex Coffey: Clyde Sukeforth: The man who scouted Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente (The Athletic)
Andrew Distler: After Jackie: Players who followed Robinson to MLB also faced ongoing racism (The Undefeated)
Alexandre Pratt: Before Jackie Robinson, Montreal welcomed Charlie Culver (La Presse)
Jay Jaffe: In downtown Brooklyn, a curveball on Jackie Robinson Day (FanGraphs)
Claire Smith: What happened to the African American catcher? (The Undefeated)
Russell Carleton: A season to mourn (Baseball Prospectus)
Sam Miller: Why runs, hits, errors should no longer define baseball … but still does (ESPN.com)
Jon Meoli: Omar comin’: Orioles’ uniquely named analytics database is a rare beneficiary of baseball’s shutdown (Baltimore Sun)
Jonathan Judge/Sean O’Rourke: Measuring defensive accuracy in baseball (Baseball Prospectus)
David Laurila: Orioles prospect Zac Lowther is adding polish to his vexing funk (FanGraphs)
Rob Fitts: The first Japanese professional baseball game took place in … Kansas? (Our Game)
Anne Rogers: Negro Leagues’ memory lives on at Stars Park in St. Louis (MLB.com)
Bijan C. Bayne: The ‘Immortal’ Martin Dihigo may have been the best baseball player ever (The Undefeated)
Brian Brehm: Roadside marker honoring Spottswood Poles installed in Virginia (Winchester Star)
Andrew Battifarano: For nearly 80 years, Buzz Arlett’s power stood unmatched in minors (MiLB.com)
Hannah Keyser: Robot umps? These aspiring MLB umpires are learning the craft (Yahoo! Sports)
Mark Simon: The best defensive team of the 21st century (ACTA Sports)
Phil Birnbaum: Regressing park factors in baseball (Sabermetric Research)
Rob Mains: The open-source hit-by-pitch database (Baseball Prospectus)
Sarah R. Ingber/Davy AndrewsRoger Cormier: Too far from town: Beloit Snappers (Baseball Prospectus)
Gary Cieradkowski: Hi Bithorn: The life and odd death of Hurricane Hi (Studio Gary C)
Andrew Stoeten: What if Toronto’s Maple Leaf Stadium had been made into a viable big-league ballpark? (The Athletic)
David A. Scott: Retelling the 1920 Indians story (Medium.com)
Warren Rogan: Sports’ Forgotten Heroes: Skip Lockwood (Sports’ Forgotten Heroes)
Jason Schwartz: Gabby Gabby – Hey! (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jason Schwartz: The T206 photo project (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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