This Week in SABR: April 24, 2020

April 24, 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 24, 2020:

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.

Vote now in the 2020 SABR Board of Directors election

SABR members, please pay attention to the e-mail address that you have on file with SABR; you should have received a message on Monday, April 20 with a link to vote online in the 2020 SABR Board of Directors election. You will receive a reminder email on Monday, April 27. 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.

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 Lansing Lugnuts broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, author Ryan Spaeder, and Driveline Baseball founder and Cincinnati Reds executive Kyle Boddy.

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

April 25: Goose Goslin Chapter meeting with Jim Michalowicz (11:00 a.m. EDT)
April 25: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Zoom chat with D.B. Firstman (3:00 p.m. CDT)
April 26: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Alex Cohen (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 27: SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer and special guest Jason Benetti (5:00 p.m. PDT)
April 29: Jack Graney Chapter: Talkin’ Baseball meeting (7:30 p.m. EDT)

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

SABR welcomes new chapter in Jacksonville, Florida

SABR’s Board of Directors has approved the formation of a new chapter in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Northeast Florida Chapter serves members in Jacksonville and surrounding areas; the chapter leaders are Charles Slavik and Glenn Guzzo.

SABR’s 79 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.

To sign up for chapter email announcements and receive instant notification of upcoming SABR events in your area, click here to select from the list of chapters, then click “Join Group” at the top of the chapter page. All SABR members are eligible to sign up for announcements from any chapter or committee.

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 Reds executive Kyle Boddy

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 #56 on Monday, April 20 featured Kyle Boddy, the Cincinnati Reds’ director of pitching initiatives and pitching coordinator. Kyle is the founder and owner of Driveline Baseball and, until joining the Reds in the fall of 2019, a consultant for major-league teams.

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

Join us: Listen to SABRcast Live on Monday, April 27 with Chicago White Sox and ESPN broadcaster Jason Benetti

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.

5 new SABR biographies published

Five new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 5,186 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

Ted Cox, by Bill Nowlin
Harry LaRoss, by Terry Bohn
Brad Radke, by Bryan Lake
Bruce Robinson, by Evan Katz
Steve Trachsel, by Steve Sisto

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.

14 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

September 7, 1914: Urban Shocker seals Ottawa Senators’ third straight Canadian League title, by Gary Belleville
August 30, 1916: Boston’s Dutch Leonard no-hits the Browns at Fenway Park, by Thomas E. Merrick
September 17, 1920: Giants’ Burns hits for the cycle as Toney pitches 10 innings to win 20th, by Mike Huber
April 23, 1954: Hank Aaron hits first career home run as Braves and Cardinals battle for 14 innings, by David Krell
May 5, 1962: Bo Belinsky blanks Baltimore, strikes out nine in no-hitter, by David Krell
July 7, 1963: Early Wynn misses 300th win again as Cleveland’s 9th-inning rally falls short, by Tim Otto
April 12, 1966: Red Sox lose season opener to Orioles in 13th inning on bases-loaded balk, by David Krell
May 7, 1970: Wes Parker hits for cycle; triple in 10th wins it for Dodgers, by David Krell
September 12, 1984: Mets’ Dwight Gooden becomes new rookie strikeout rajah, by David Krell
September 8, 1985: Reds’ Pete Rose unknowingly breaks Ty Cobb’s hit record, by Cory Ritterbusch
April 4, 1989: Wrigley Field welcomes the ‘Wild Thing’, by Jeff Allan Howard (first-time author)
May 22, 1990: Andre Dawson sets record with five intentional walks in Cubs’ 16-inning win, by John Racanelli
June 19, 2019: Blue Eye, Brown Eye, Black Eye: Scherzer pitches with a broken nose, by Laura H. Peebles
September 24, 2019: Nationals relievers make some (good!) history, by Laura H. Peebles

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.

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
Ed Almonte	Triangle, VA	Peter Lutz	Pittsford, NY
Milo Auslander	Lyons, CO	Marc McInturf	Westerville, OH
Justin Barnowski	Clawson, MI	Jacob Menashi	Brooklyn, NY
Thatcher Baughman	Columbia, SC	Anthony Montes	New York, NY
Phillip Corwin	Richmond, MO	Les Morris	Indianapolis, IN
Ivan Diaz	Charlotte, NC	Thomas O’Connell	Greenfield, WI
Edward Dones	Colorado Springs, CO	Lee Osbourne	Eastover, NC
John Fraire	Puyallup, WA	Pete Parise	Wellington, FL
Gregory Garrett	Lytle, TX	Tim Perkins	Milwaukee, WI
Jeffrey Gaughan	Plymouth, MA	Daniel Reller	Stuart, FL
Mark Gross	Falls Church, VA	Don Shimamoto	El Cerrito, CA
Kurt Gustafson	Chicago, IL	Mike Tripp	La Quinta, CA
Preston Huntington	Reston, VA	Garrett Walvoord	Flower Mound, TX
Mat Kovach	Avon Lake, OH	Ken Weber	Portage, MI
John Lagana	Avondale, PA	Kirk Weber	Troy, MI
Amanda Lane Cumming	Tacoma, WA	Alex Wilschek	Chagrin Falls, OH
Thomas Larmore	Santa Monica, CA	Andrew Wojcik	Birmingham, AL

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Deadball Era: April 2020 newsletter

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Bob Davids Chapter: The Squibber newsletter — April 2020 (Washington, DC)
Boston Chapter: Read a new “Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau,” by Joanne Hulbert (Boston, MA)
Detroit Chapter: April 18 meeting recap (Detroit, MI)
Halsey Hall Chapter: May 2020 newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)
Northeast Florida Chapter: SABR welcomes new chapter in Jacksonville, Florida
Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter: April 18 meeting recap (Lexington, KY)

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 25: Goose Goslin Chapter meeting with Jim Michalowicz (11:00 a.m. EDT)
April 25: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Zoom chat with D.B. Firstman (3:00 p.m. CDT)
April 26: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter: Facebook Live with Alex Cohen (2:00 p.m. CDT)
April 27: SABRcast Live with Rob Neyer and special guest Jason Benetti (5:00 p.m. PDT)
April 29: Jack Graney Chapter: Talkin’ Baseball meeting (7:30 p.m. EDT)

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:

Scott Pitoniak: Rochester emergency room doctor Ryan Brecker is suffering from baseball withdrawal (Rochester Business Journal)
Jay Jaffe: Red Sox got slapped on the wrist for sign-stealing (FanGraphs)
Rob Arthur: Different sign-stealing scandals demand different punishments (Baseball Prospectus)
Rachael McDaniel: Does cheating matter? (FanGraphs)
Marc Normandin: The MLBPA might be selling its future short (Baseball Prospectus)
Alden Gonzalez: Strat-O-Matic, APBA provide old-school way to scratch your baseball itch (ESPN.com)
Tom Gilbert: Epidemic disease, baseball, and hope (How Baseball Happened)
Kristie Ackert: FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus feel weight of coronavirus shutdown (New York Daily News)
Craig Goldstein: How MLB became a microcosm of capitalism’s failure (SB Nation)
Rob Mains: Baseball amid a virus with no vaccine and no cure (Baseball Prospectus)
Jayson Stark: The night the impossible happened, Bartolo edition (The Athletic)
Russell Carleton: Why is it so hard to build a winner? (Baseball Prospectus)
C. Trent Rosecrans: Baseball is back in South Korea — here’s a primer to get you up to speed (The Athletic)
Ryan Whirty: Celebrating the legacy of Negro Leaguers in Japan (Home Plate Don’t Move)
David Laurila: Taylor Trammell loves fans, and wishes more looked like him (FanGraphs)
Sarah R. Ingber/Davy Andrews/Roger Cormier: Too far from town: Florida Fire Frogs (Baseball Prospectus)
David A. Scott: Cold, wet facts with the 1920 Indians (Medium.com)
Rich Westcott: Joe Girardi and the new old school (PhillyMan magazine)
Tim Jenkins: Through a glass, darkly (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Michael Kane: 1973 – Ugliest Topps Baseball Set Ever (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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