This Week in SABR: July 20, 2018

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 July 20, 2018:


SABR Games Project reaches milestone with 1,000th published story

One of SABR’s newest research initiatives, the SABR Games Project, has reached a milestone with the publication of its 1,000th article this week.

The newest batch of SABR Games Project stories includes notable and memorable games from all eras of baseball history. Our recent articles include stories about:

Formed in 2014 and now headed up by Mike Huber, Steven C. Weiner, Len Levin, and Bruce Slutsky, the SABR Games Project is an initiative to research, write, and publish accounts of major-league regular season, postseason, and All-Star Games, along with other games of historical significance such as in the Negro Leagues, minor leagues, or international or exhibition contests. These game accounts complement Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference box scores, as well as SABR BioProject essays on the players involved.

These accounts often draw on quotes from participants, newspaper articles, or other sources to “put the reader in the game.” Accounts cover the range of significance, such as Jackie Robinson’s MLB debut, the Cincinnati Red Stockings’ first defeat in 1870, Al Capone’s visit to Comiskey Park, or Tippy Martinez picking off three baserunners in one inning. We also have stories on significant achievements such as four home run games, no-hitters, pennant clinchers, and 3,000th hits.

Members of the SABR Games Project have produced several themed books with collections of articles on greatest games, including Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century, edited by Bill Felber; Au jeu/Play Ball: The 50 Greatest Games in the History of the Montreal Expos, edited by Norm King; and our latest publication, Cincinnati’s Crosley Field: A Gem in the Queen City, edited by Gregory H. Wolf. SABR members can download the e-book editions for free at SABR.org/ebooks or buy paperback editions at a 50% discount from the SABR Store. You can also read many of these articles online by browsing through the Books Project menu at SABR.org/gamesproject.

It’s easy to get involved. Any SABR member is eliglble to write for the Games Project. If you’d like to help contribute, find out how by reading the Games Project FAQs or checking out the Authors’ Guidelines.


Listen to highlights and view slides from SABR 48 research presentations

From Curt Smith on the Pirates’ illustrious broadcasting history to Callie Batts Maddox’s Doug Pappas Award-winning talk on the overwhelming popularity of women’s collegiate baseball in Ohio, we had an all-star lineup of research presentations at SABR 48 in Pittsburgh.

We learned about the “humidor effect” in baseball from Alan Nathan, Pirates pioneer Carlos Bernier from Thomas E. Van Hyning, the major leagues’ westward expansion from Andy McCue and Rob Garratt, Rawlings Gold Glove Awards in the sabermetric age from Chris Dial, and Pittsburgh-born artist Andy Warhol’s baseball art from Paul Ember.

You can listen to audio highlights from these SABR 48 research presentations and view PowerPoint slides (where available) by clicking on the link below:

https://sabr.org/convention/sabr48-presentations

For complete coverage of SABR 48, click here.


SABR 48: Listen to more highlights from committee meeting speakers

From the Nineteenth Century to modern Statistical Analysis, SABR’s nearly three dozen research committees reflect the diverse interests of our membership, and the committees’ annual meetings at this summer’s SABR 48 convention in Pittsburgh also had a variety of interesting guest speakers.

Click here to listen to highlights of our guest speakers at SABR 48 committee meetings at SABR.org

Our committee meeting speakers at SABR 48 included physics professor and expert Alan Nathan at the Science and Baseball Committee meeting, where he spoke about the recent MLB report on the surge in home runs around the game. At the Statistical Analysis Committee meeting, Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference.com explained how their site calculates Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

Other committee speakers included: former major-league pitcher and author Dick Bosman (Business of Baseball); Pittsburgh Pirates official scorers Bob Webb and Evan Pattak (Official Scoring); National Baseball Hall of Fame Library senior curator Tom Shieber (Baseball Cards); screenwriter Mary Darling (Black Sox Scandal); authors Anne Keene (Oral History), Dennis and Jeanne Burke DeValeria (Deadball Era), and Herm Krabbenhoft (Baseball Records); Cuban tour operator Clem Axel Paredes (Negro Leagues); and SABR founding member Tom Hufford (Oral History).


SABR 48: Check out complete coverage from our 2018 convention in Pittsburgh

Couldn’t make it to Pittsburgh for SABR 48? Check out more stories, photos, and multimedia clips from the SABR 48 convention, held June 20-24, 2018, at the Wyndham Grand Downtown Pittsburgh, at SABR.org/convention.

You can find stories, photos, and multimedia clips from SABR 48 in Pittsburgh, including our panels on the lives and legacies of Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente, pioneering sports writer Wendell Smith, and Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey; the 1979 Pirates Player Panel with John Candelaria and Grant Jackson, the Media Panel with Pirates broadcasters Steve Blass, Lanny Frattare, Greg Brown, and Joe Block; the SABR 48 Ballpark Session at PNC Park, and much more.


Download your free e-book copy of The National Pastime: Steel City Stories

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.

Click a link below to download the e-book edition of the 2018 convention journal, The National Pastime: Steel City Stories.

Please note: All articles from The National Pastime: Steel City Stories will be available to read online at SABR.org soon.

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.

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!


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!

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.


New SABR book on the World Series in the Deadball Era brings baseball history to life

A special new publication produced by SABR’s Deadball Era Research Committee vividly brings back the exploits of Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Home Run Baker, and Babe Ruth to life with more than 250 rare photos: 

The World Series in the Deadball Era: A History in the Words and Pictures of the Writers and Photographers
Edited by Steve Steinberg
Foreword by Dr. Charles Alexander
Published by St. Johann Press
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-9379-4345-5, $45.00
306 pages, 8.5″ x 11″

Click here for a complete description of this book at SABR.org.

This book is available for purchase from Amazon.com, your local bookstore, or directly from the publisher at St. Johann Press.

Buy the book:


Students, apply now for the 2018 SABR Women in Baseball Scholarship

SABR’s Women in Baseball Committee will award one $500 scholarship to a high school senior in its inaugural Women in Baseball Essay Contest in 2018.

Students must write an essay of 1,500 words or less addressing the following question: “Choose one person or event in women’s baseball history that you believe has made a significant impact on the game and explain the importance.”

Click here to download the 2018 SABR Women in Baseball Scholarship application and style guidelines (PDF)

All applications must be e-mailed or postmarked by August 13, 2018, and sent to Dr. Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.

Click here for complete details and submission criteria.


Seven new SABR biographies published

Seven new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which brings us to a total of 4,592 published biographies. Here are the new bios published this week:

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. Naturally, we couldn’t present biographies of everyone who ever threw a no-hitter nor could we present Games Project accounts of all of them. From around 300 no-hitters thrown in the majors (out of over 213,000 games), we have selected 59 no-hitters to include, along with the biographies of the men who threw them. 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.

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:

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.

This week’s guests are Dan Syzmborski of FanGraphs and Jason Hanselman of the Process Report.

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.


Cubaball Tours announces 2018 dates

SABR member Kit Krieger of Cubaball Tours is pleased to announce that the 19th annual baseball tour of Cuba will be conducted from September 23-30, 2018.

Highlights of the tour include five games of the 58th National Series in five different ballparks; meetings with current and veteran players, including Luis Zayas, the last surviving member of the fabled Havana Sugar Kings living in Cuba, and Sigfredo Barros, the baseball beat writer for Granma, the national newspaper of Cuba; a visit to the monuments erected in Colon Cemetery, including the gravesites of Adolfo Luque and Hall of Famer Jose Mendez Caridad; seminars on contemporary Cuba, including US-Cuban relations, and more.

The tour, which is limited to 25 people, is licensed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control and complies with US requirements for travel to Cuba. Click here for complete details.

Contact Kit Krieger (ejkrieger@shaw.ca) to register.


SABR 48 Board minutes posted

Minutes from the Board of Directors meetings from the SABR 48 convention in Pittsburgh have now been posted on the SABR website.

You can view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings by going to the page below:

http://sabr.org/content/sabr-board-minutes

Or you can go to the Members’ Info page and click on “Org. files”, then “Board Minutes” to view the minutes.


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
Phil Bohne Alexandria, VA     Michael Franklin St. Petersburg, FL
Robert Carey Chesapeake, VA     Michael Goldstein Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Geoffrey Cochran Bloomington, IN     Tyler Grosse Bayport, NY
Peter Cosovich Newark, CA     Scott Jarrett Austin, TX
Tristan DeCoster Seattle, WA     Giuseppe Mottillo Blewitt Springs, AUS
Richard Duncan Dayton, OH     Lou Spirito Signal Hill, CA
Rick Emerson Eden Prairie, MN     Doug Wedge Edmond, OK
Jerry Fortuna Evington, VA     Fred Wendler Plymouth Mtg, PA

 


Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

  • 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:

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:

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:

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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Originally published: July 20, 2018. Last Updated: April 3, 2020.