This Week in SABR: August 17, 2018

August 17, 2018/in This Week in SABR /by admin

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 August 17, 2018:

Los Angeles SABR chapter launches BasebALZ program to bring baseball therapy to Alzheimer’s patients

Baseball, stories, and memories go together like a ball in a glove.

Inspired by SABR members in Austin, St. Louis, and Connecticut who have established the popular BasebALZ program, the Los Angeles-based Allan Roth Chapter has now partnered with Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles to bring reminiscence therapy to patients and caregivers.

The group’s first meeting kicked off on Friday, August 10 and, according to the patients, caregivers, and AGLA, was a grand slam.

SABR members Jon Leonoudakis, Jeff Hubbard, and Michael Huston shared presentations about the 1965 MLB regular season, the ’65 World Series, and the 1965 Minnesota Twins. Michael dazzled the group by bringing along his mint condition 1965 Topps baseball card collection.

Stories are at the core of these gatherings, and everyone shared stories of their favorite teams and players. The national anthem kicked off the meeting and everyone was handed a baseball to hold throughout the meeting (there’s something about holding a baseball that relaxes the heart, soul, and mind).

Our next meeting is scheduled for September 28 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at AGLA. Contact Jon Leonoudakis at jbgreek@earthlink.net for more information. Many thanks to everyone at BasebALZ Austin for their help and support. This is such a wonderful way to give back to our community and spread the joy of baseball!

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

— Jon Leonoudakis

SABR Overlooked Legends project creates new initiative to honor 19th-century baseball pioneers

The SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legends Project, which was established to bring long overdue recognition to those 19th-century players and other baseball figures who have yet to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, has a few changes to announce as it begins its second decade.

Adam Darowski and Joe Wiliams are now co-chairs of the project, so they can share the workload and expand the activities of the project. Ralph Peluso, Sam Reich, and Tom Zocco make up the rest of the team that helps determine the preliminary candidates and oversees the annual election of the Overlooked Legend.

A second group has been created under the project to bring attention to 19th-century pioneers of the game. Matt Albertson, Eric Miklich, and Gary Passamonte are joining Adam and Joe to participate in education and promotion of overlooked pioneers. Pioneers will be considered for their contributions to the game, not just statistical metrics. Our plan is to research and write a quarterly Pioneer Profile for Nineteenth Century Notes, which will also be published online at SABR.org. More information about the Pioneer initiative will be addressed in the October issue of Nineteenth Century Notes.

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

Save the date! Join us for 2018 SABR Arizona Fall League Experience

Save the date! Join us for the 10th annual SABR Arizona Fall League Experience on Thursday, November 1 to Saturday, November 3, 2018, in Phoenix, Arizona. Registration information will be available at SABR.org/AFL soon. The AFL schedule was released last week and we’re busy finalizing the conference schedule now.

The annual conference, hosted by SABR’s Arizona Hemond-Delhi Chapter, is held in conjunction with the Arizona Fall League (mlbfallball.com), baseball’s premier player development league. In the first nine years of the conference, attendees have been treated to sneak peeks at MLB stars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Nolan Arenado, Gerrit Cole, Gary Sanchez, and Ronald Acuña Jr. before they hit the big leagues.

All baseball fans are welcome to attend the SABR Arizona Fall League Experience. Visit SABR.org/AFL for photos and highlights from past conferences.

Call for papers: 2019 SABR Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference

All SABR members are invited and encouraged to submit a Research Presentation Proposal Abstract on any topic of 19th-century baseball for the 2019 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The 11th annual Ivor-Campbell Conference is scheduled for April 26-27, 2019.

The deadline for proposal Abstracts is October 31, 2018. Your abstract must be between 200-400 words for a 20- to 25-minute presentation. Please include name, title, and contact information and send your proposal as a Microsoft Word or PDF attachment to Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

Click here for complete details and submission criteria at SABR.org.

To learn more about the Ivor-Campbell Conference, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c.

**Read articles from The National Pastime: Steel City Stories online**

Since 2009, The National Pastime has served 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. All SABR members receive a free e-book copy of The National Pastime as part of their membership benefits, while attendees of the national convention also receive a souvenir print edition in their goody bags.

All articles from the 2018 convention journal, The National Pastime: Steel City Stories, can now be read online at SABR.org:

https://sabr.org/research/2018-national-pastime

Click a link below to download the e-book edition of the 2018 The National Pastime:

Kindle/MOBI: To download the MOBI/Kindle version of The National Pastime: Steel City Stories, click here (6.6 MB)
EPUB: To download the EPUB file — for use on iBooks, iPads, Nook or Sony Reader — of The National Pastime: Steel City Stories, click here (3.1 MB)
PDF: To download a PDF version of The National Pastime: Steel City Stories, click here (2.2 MB)
Paperback: To purchase a copy of The National Pastime print edition from Amazon.com, click here.

If you weren’t able to attend the convention in Pittsburgh, please enjoy this issue of The National Pastime as your virtual trip to the Steel City. Happy reading!

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

— Cecilia M. Tan, Publications Director

Registration now open for 2018 SABR Cleveland 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

Join us for the SABR Cleveland 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium, which will take place on Saturday, November 10, 2018, from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at the majestic Main Branch of the Cleveland Public Library in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

Register now: Click here to download a registration form and detailed schedule (PDF)
Cost: $50 per person. Open to all SABR members and up to three guests are welcome.
Payment: Please make check or M.O. (U.S. dollars) payable to: “SABR.” On memo line of check, please, print: “Cleve. 19cBB Symposium.” Send check and completed registration form before November 1, 2018 to Peter Mancuso, 6970 Ely Road, New Hope, PA 18938.
Questions: E-mail Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net for more information.

The day-long Saturday symposium will be devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Cleveland and its greater region of northeastern Ohio. A keynote luncheon address of interdisciplinary history by David Goldberg, Professor of History at Cleveland State University, will provide a look at late 19th-century Cleveland with a particular understanding of one of that city’s most important and powerful forces, its transportation system. In addition to the on-site luncheon, there will be both an early morning and mid-afternoon coffee and refreshments service.

Other speakers are expected to include John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; John Skrtic, Director of Public Services, CPL; Jeremy Feador, Cleveland Indians, Historian & Curator; and four SABR researchers and authors with specific focus on elements of 19th-century Cleveland area baseball: David Fleitz, Joseph Wancho, Ken Krsolovic, and Bryan Fritz. Click here to download a complete schedule (PDF).

We hope to see you there!

Educators, sign up your students for SABR’s Student Group Affiliate Membership

As everyone gets ready for the start of the new school year, we hope all of our teachers and professors will consider signing up their classes or a group of students for a SABR Student Group Affiliate Membership, which will provide students with access to many of the electronic benefits that SABR members enjoy, including “This Week in SABR,” e-book editions of the Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime, free SABR e-books, and access to the members-only section of SABR.org. This membership will not include any printed publications or voting rights.

In order to make the Student Group Affiliate Membership affordable for groups to join, here are the options we offer:

College/University groups/classes: For an annual fee of $250, a group of up to 25 students can receive a one-year electronic SABR affiliate membership.
High School/Middle School groups/classes: For an annual fee of $100, a group of up to 20 students can receive a one-year electronic SABR affiliate membership.

Any educational class or student group at the middle school, high school or college/university level is eligible for a SABR affiliate membership, as long as a faculty member, teacher, or adviser is an active SABR member (or registers to join.) The teacher/adviser will be listed as the group contact on the SABR website. Click here to learn more at SABR.org.

If you have any questions about how a Student Group Affiliate Membership might work for your group or class, please contact SABR Vice President Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.

SABR Digital Library: Cincinnati’s Crosley Field: A Gem in the Queen City

Add this new book from the SABR Digital Library to your collection, on one of baseball’s classic crown jewels:

Cincinnati’s Crosley Field: A Gem in the Queen City
Edited by Gregory H. Wolf
Associate Editors: Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-75-0, $19.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-943816-74-3, $9.99
311 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

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 Cincinnati’s Crosley Field for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Cincinnati’s Crosley Field paperback edition from the SABR Store ($15.99 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Createspace can take up to 4-6 weeks. For quicker delivery, please order at Amazon.com.)

SABR members will get discounted rates for all Digital Library publications, including e-book editions for free. Visit SABR.org/ebooks for a list of all titles.

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.

3 new SABR biographies published

Three new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,616 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

Vince Lloyd, by Brian Wood
Danny Moeller, by Don Doxsie
Bill Swift, by Bob LeMoine

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.
Read bios from SABR’s No-Hitters book: In SABR’s No-Hitters, edited by Bill Nowlin and published in 2017, we focused on pitchers who threw no-hitters and the no-hitters they threw. All of the biographies — from Hall of Famers such as Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson to more obscure pitchers such as Larry Corcoran, Charlie Robertson, and Dallas Braden — that appeared in No-Hitters can now be read online at the SABR BioProject. More game summaries from the No-Hitters book will be posted at the SABR Games Project soon. You can also download the No-Hitters e-book for free or purchase the paperback edition at 50% off by clicking here.

Check out new BioProject page on famous figures outside of baseball

The SABR Baseball Biography Project includes thousands of biographies on major-league players, managers, scouts, and umpires. But we also like to tell stories of people who had a notable impact on the world outside of the game we love, too — including politicians, business owners, lawyers, activists, actors, writers, and star athletes in other sports.

Now we have a page dedicated to these biographies at SABR.org:

https://sabr.org/category/demographic/famous-outside-baseball

Click the link above to find SABR biographies on such figures as U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe, World War II codebreaker and LPGA co-founder Helen Dettweiler, College Football Hall of Famer Charlie Berry, the “Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry, comedian Lou Costello, University of Kentucky basketball legend Cotton Nash, Negro Leaguer and Hollywood actor Edgar “Blue” Washington … and, of course, catcher-turned-spy Moe Berg.

4 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

May 16, 1932: Reds’ Lucas and rainstorm soak McGraw’s Giants, by Chad Osborne
August 13, 1963: Dave DeBusschere pitches shutout in next-to-last major-league start, by Bill Pruden
September 5, 1990: Bo knows ‘sombreros’, by Ken Carrano
October 6, 1991: Mets’ David Cone strikes out 19 in season finale, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject/recent. Find all published Games Project articles at SABR.org/GamesProject.

If you have any questions about the Games Project, please contact Mike Huber. To request an assignment, please contact Steven C. Weiner. After the article has been completed in accordance with our Authors’ Guidelines, please submit it to Len Levin, who will initiate the editing process and get your story started toward publication.

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 articles from SABR book on greatest games at Milwaukee’s County Stadium: In SABR’s From the Braves to the Brewers: Great Games and Exciting History at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, edited by Gregory H. Wolf and published in 2016, we told the stories of memorable moments from the heart of the Badger State. All of the stories that appeared in this book are now available to be read online at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

**Listen to Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Sunday nights**

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by SABR President Vince Gennaro, is back for the 2018 season at its regular time: 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on Sundays, on MLB Network Radio.

Our guests this week are Craig Edwards of FanGraphs and Matt Trueblood of Baseball Prospectus.

You can 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 membership tips: Research Resources

Periodically, we like to offer some helpful hints on how to get the most out of the SABR.org website. Today, we’re highlighting our Research Resources page, which includes many online resources that can help you do better baseball research.

The Research Resources page at SABR.org includes a variety of tools and information sources from around the Internet. Some of these sources, including the resources page itself, are only available with a SABR membership — such as our partnership with Paper of Record which gives you complete access to The Sporting News archives dating back to 1886 — while many others are available online to the general public — such as the Baseball Magazine and Sporting Life archives that we collaborated on with LA84 Foundation and the Baseball Hall of Fame. This follows SABR’s longstanding mission to facilitate the dissemination of baseball research information.

Our most popular tools for research can be found on the resources page, starting with How to Do Baseball Research, an ongoing project with tips on research techniques, interviewing, geneaology, finding images, and using libraries. You can also find links on the resources pages to other SABR tools such as The Baseball Index, a catalog of 250,000 citations on baseball literature; four decades of articles from the SABR Baseball Research Journal; more than 500 audio interviews in the SABR Oral History Collection; Protoball, on the evolution of early baseball games; our Guide to Sabermetric Research; Bob McConnell’s Going for the Fences: The Minor League Home Run Record Book; the SABR Triple Plays Database; and the SABR Spring Training Database; and the SABR/Baseball-Reference Encyclopedia.

Some members have made their specialized research available on the resources page, as well. This includes Bill James’ Baseball Analyst archives from 1982-89; the Business of Baseball Committee’s 1915 Federal League case files; Chuck McGill’s comprehensive list of Minor League No-Hitters; Bill Hickman’s research on Near Major Leaguers; Ken Mars’s guide to the 1887 National Colored League, a precursor to the Negro Leagues; Gene Carney’s Black Sox “Notes” columns; and Chuck Hildebrandt’s Little League Home Runs Database.

The resources page also includes links to non-SABR tools and websites that serve as invaluable sources for every baseball researcher, including the popular statistical websites Baseball Prospectus, Baseball-Reference.com, BrooksBaseball.net, FanGraphs, The Hardball Times, Retrosheet, and more. You can also find subscription newspaper archive sites such as Newspapers.com, Chronicling America, Ancestry.com, Fulton History, and Genealogy Bank; as well as tools such as the Lahman Baseball Database, the Index of Online Baseball Guides (1860-2014), the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, and the Dressed to the Nines MLB uniform database.

Whatever baseball-related subject you have an interest in, we have a helpful resource for you on the Research Resources page. We hope you’ll check it out! If there’s a tool not listed there that you like to use in your own research, e-mail jpomrenke@sabr.org to let us know so we can add it to the page.

Related link: Click here to find more tips on SABR membership and the website

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
Loren Batchelder	Mansfield, MA	Jason Dailey	Sugar Land, TX
Daniel Best	Norwood, AUS	John Mayeron	Dallas, TX
Bryan Bollman	Waukon, IA	Daniel McIntyre	Eden Prairie, MN
Jason Bristol	Cypress, TX	Richard Ottone Jr.	Sykesville, MD
Charles Byler	Nellysford, VA	Taylor Ozarow	Dallas, TX
Walt Cooper	Falls Church, VA	Gary Schubel	Cary, NC
Gene Crowley	Hoover, AL	Maggie Tarbox	Lebanon, CT

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Statistical Analysis: Check out the new Statistical Analysis Committee website at sabrstatanalysis.blog or follow us on Twitter at @SabrStat for timely updates and discussion.
Games Project: For more updates from the SABR Games Project, check out the committee’s revived page on Facebook. “Like” our page and contribute to the discussion at Facebook.com/SABRGames.

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates this week:

Allan Roth Chapter: Chapter launches BasebALZ program to bring baseball therapy to Alzheimer’s patients (Los Angeles, CA)
Larry Dierker Chapter: August 11 meeting recap (Houston, TX)

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:

August 18: 2018 Pacific Coast League player and family reunion (San Leandro, CA)
August 18: Hank Gowdy Chapter book club meeting (Columbus, OH)
August 18: Field of Dreams Chapter ballgame/meeting (Davenport, IA)
August 18: Orlando Cepeda Chapter: A Celebration of Roberto Clemente’s 100th Birthday (Guaynabo, PRI)
August 19: Oklahoma Chapter meeting (Tulsa, OK)
August 20: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting (St. Louis, MO)
August 21: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)
August 22: Magnolia Chapter “Fourth Wednesday” meeting (Tucker, GA)
August 25: Paul Parker: “25 Years of Colorado Rockies Baseball” (Denver, CO)
August 25: Allan Roth Chapter summer meeting (La Habra, CA)
August 25: Rogers Hornsby Chapter monthly luncheon (Austin, TX)
August 25: Robinson-Kell Chapter meeting (Little Rock, AR)
August 25: Jack Graney Chapter meeting (Youngstown, OH)
August 25: Hemond-Delhi Arizona Chapter monthly luncheon (Phoenix, AZ)
August 25: Ted Williams Chapter: Tour of Ted Williams’ Childhood Neighborhood (San Diego, CA)
August 26: Oscar Charleston Chapter meeting (Indianapolis, IN)
August 30: Magnolia Chapter ballgame/meeting (Lawrenceville, GA)
August 30: Ted Williams Chapter meeting (San Diego, CA)
September 1: Bob Davids Chapter minor-league ballgame/meeting (Waldorf, MD)
September 5: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter “First Wednesday” meeting (St. Louis, MO)

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:

Levi Weaver: An oral history of the Rangers’ triple play, one of the strangest you’ll ever see (The Athletic)
Danny Gallagher: Remembering Norm King (Canadian Baseball Network)
Charlie Vascellaro: Renowned executive Roland Hemond honored in whirlwind Northeast tour (Arizona Republic)
Charlie Pavitt: Statistical Baseball Research Bibliography (SABR Stat Analysis)
Jim Allen: Astrophysicist baseball aficionado Meredith Wills expounds on MLB blisters (Kyodo News)
John McMurray: HOF president Idelson talks character clause, PED users, and ballot changes (The Sporting News)
Russell Carleton: The ‘Tell him, Wash’ theory of WAR (Baseball Prospectus)
Mark Simon: A’s Chapman ‘a bit of a perfectionist,’ always seems to be in right position (The Athletic)
Patrick Dubuque: The free will of free agents (Baseball Prospectus)
Rob Mains: Rays have set a pitching trend; will any other teams follow? (Baseball Prospectus)
Jared Diamond: The A’s are the most 2018 team in baseball (Wall Street Journal)
Sam Miller: Are position players actually good pitchers? Yes … and no (ESPN.com)
Jay Jaffe: 1998 Yankees were a juggernaut and an inspiration (FanGraphs)
M.G. Moscato: Historic images of béisbol in Mexico (The Hardball Times)
Sherrel Stewart: A profile of Negro Leaguer James ‘Jake’ Sanders (WBHM)
Gary Cieradkowski: Leon Day and the 1945 GI World Series (Studio Gary C)
Phil Hecken: Ten for the museum: Graig Kreindler’s Negro Leagues artwork (Uni-Watch)
Frank Jackson: Dem Bums, from World War II to outer space (The Hardball Times)
Grant Brisbee: The dropped-third strike rule is still the worst in sports (SB Nation)
Zack Meisel: The making of the Indians’ rotation of domination (The Athletic)
Eno Sarris: Is Max Scherzer adding a fourth breaking pitch? (The Athletic)
Nate Freiman: The minor-league strike zone is objectively different (FanGraphs)
Jeff Sullivan: Juan Soto looks like the best teenage hitter in history (FanGraphs)
Steven Goldman: The 2018 Boston Red Sox in history: an ill-advised, premature comparison (The Hardball Times)
Joseph Swide: The steep decline of Cuba’s Serie Nacional (Victory Journal)
Warren Rogan: Sports’ Forgotten Heroes: Lefty O’Doul (Sports’ Forgotten Heroes)
Jeff Katz: The Making (Actually, Building) of a Complete Set (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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