This Week in SABR: March 27, 2015

March 27, 2015/in This Week in SABR /by jpomrenke

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Here’s what we’ve been up to as of March 27, 2015:

SABR 45: Hotel room block at Palmer House Hilton going fast

Are you planning to come to SABR 45 this summer in Chicago? Our hotel room block at the Palmer House Hilton is going fast, so book your room today.

Join us June 24-28, 2015, at the Palmer House Hilton for a full week of baseball fun at SABR 45. Click here to book your room at the Palmer House Hilton online. The deadline to book your room at the SABR group rate of $189/night (plus tax) is 11:59 p.m. MST Friday, May 15, 2015, or until our room block is full.

The Palmer House Hilton is at 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603, in the heart of the downtown Loop, near two CTA stops — from O’Hare Airport, take the Blue Line to Monroe/Dearborn stop and then walk two blocks east on Monroe; from Midway Airport, take the Orange Line to the Adams/Wabash stop. If you have any questions about your reservation, please call the hotel at (312) 726-7500.

For more information on SABR 45, visit SABR.org/convention.

Note: If you have already reserved your hotel room but have NOT registered to attend SABR 45, please go ahead and do that soon so we can get a more accurate count of our room block capacity. Early registration is available until May 15. Click here to register for SABR 45.

SABR 45: Early registration, all-inclusive discounts close on May 15

Early registration for the SABR 45 convention, June 24-28, 2015, in Chicago, is now available at SABR.org/convention. Just a reminder that our ticket block for the Cubs-Dodgers game on Thursday, June 25 at Wrigley Field is limited and the game is expected to sell out. Game tickets in the SABR block will not be available after early registration ends on May 15 and will not be sold on-site during the convention.

Click here for complete information on SABR 45 registration rates, all-inclusive packages, and optional sessions. Or click here to register for SABR 45. More details on guest speakers, panelists, and presenters will be announced soon.

Conference registration: Click here for complete information on SABR 45 registration rates. Once again, we’re offering a discounted all-inclusive package for the annual SABR convention. For a savings of $44 off the regular rate, SABR members can get:
     — 1 full conference registration (regular rate: $199)
     — Choose: 1 Upper Deck Box ticket to the Cubs game on Thursday, June 25 (regular: $48) OR 1 Terrace Reserved ticket (regular: $38)
     — 1 round-trip ticket on the CTA Red Line train to and from Wrigley Field (regular: $6)
     — 1 ticket to the Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 26 (regular: $50)

The all-inclusive package is available to SABR members for $259 with an Upper Deck Box ticket or $249 with a Terrace Reserved ticket to the Cubs game instead, plus all of the above amenities. Please note: The all-inclusive packages are only available until May 15, 2015. Click here to register for SABR 45.
Cubs ballgame: At SABR 45, we’ll be attending the Cubs-Dodgers game on Thursday afternoon, June 25, at Wrigley Field. The SABR block of tickets is available in two sections when you register: Upper Deck Box-Outfield ($48) or Terrace Reserved-Outfield ($38). This game is expected to sell out and our ticket block is only available on a first-come, first-serve basis through Friday, May 15, 2015. Game tickets in the SABR block will NOT be available for purchase on-site at the convention. Please note: Your purchase of a SABR 45 all-inclusive package includes round-trip transportation to and from Wrigley Field on the CTA Red Line train. (Purchasing a game ticket as part of regular/a la carte registration does NOT include transportation.) Click here for more details on SABR 45 registration.
The Baseball Project concert: On Thursday evening, June 25, SABR 45 attendees will have a special opportunity to see The Baseball Project in concert in the Grand Ballroom at the Palmer House Hilton. Advance presale tickets are available for $25 members/$40 non-members when you register for SABR 45 before May 15, 2015. Tickets will be $40 online after May 15 or until the concert venue reaches capacity. Click here for more details.

Please note: The SABR 45 all-inclusive package includes 1 full conference registration; 1 ticket to the Cubs game on Thursday, June 25; 1 round-trip ticket on the CTA Red Line train; and 1 ticket to the Awards Luncheon on Friday, June 26. It does NOT include any other optional events such as the Downtown Baseball Walking Tour on Wednesday, June 24, The Baseball Project concert on Thursday, June 25, or the Historical Ballpark Sites Bus Tour on Sunday, June 28. Those tickets must be purchased separately.

All SABR 45 attendees will also receive a souvenir print edition of The National Pastime, our annual convention journal, focusing on baseball teams, players and events in the Chicago area. All SABR members, whether you attend the convention or not, will receive the expanded e-book edition of The National Pastime in their inboxes later this summer. Click here to register for SABR 45.

For more information on SABR 45, visit SABR.org/convention.

SABR 45: Join us for a special concert with The Baseball Project

Attendees at the SABR 45 convention this summer in Chicago will have a special opportunity to see The Baseball Project in concert on Thursday, June 25, 2015, in the Grand Ballroom at the Palmer House Hilton.

Advance presale tickets for The Baseball Project at SABR 45 are available for an early-bird price of $25 members/$40 non-members when you register for the SABR convention online at SABR.org/convention before May 15, 2015. Tickets will be $40 online after May 15 or until the concert venue reaches capacity.

Formed in 2007 by Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5, R.E.M.) and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate, Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3, Gutterball), The Baseball Project began as a way for a couple of fans to pay musical tribute to our national pastime. But The Baseball Project has since blossomed into a full-fledged, much-loved band in its own right, one which includes drummer Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3, Zuzu’s Petals), and Peter Buck and Mike Mills, founding members of R.E.M., one of the best-selling alternative rock bands of all time.

Their mutual love of baseball inspired them to record their first album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, in 2008. It includes baseball-themed songs such as “Gratitude (For Curt Flood),” “The Yankee Flipper,” and “The Death of Big Ed Delahanty.” They followed up with Volume 2: High and Inside in 2011, which features the San Francisco Giants World Series-themed hit “Panda and the Freak” along with “Tony (Boston’s Chosen Son)” and “The Straw that Stirs the Drink.” Their third album, 3rd, was released in 2014.

To learn more about The Baseball Project, visit their website at thebaseballproject.net or their YouTube channel at youtube.com/thebaseballproject.

(Note: For those interested, The Baseball Project concert will not conflict with the SABR 45 Trivia Contest preliminaries on the schedule.)

Registration for SABR 45 is now available at SABR.org/convention.

SABR 45: Historical Ballpark Sites Bus Tour now sold out

The SABR 45 Chicago Historical Ballpark Sites Bus Tour on Sunday, June 28 is now sold out.

If you wish to be placed on a waiting list, please e-mail djayne@sabr.org. Requests will be handled on a first-come, first-serve basis if a spot opens up.

The bus tour will include drive-bys and stops at sites that hosted professional and semi-professional baseball in Chicago from 1868 through 1990. Sites may include, but are not limited to, White Stocking Park, West Side Grounds, Twenty-third Street Grounds, Excelsior Park, South Side Park, Brotherhood Park, and old Comiskey Park.

For more information on SABR 45, visit SABR.org/convention.

Get a 20% discount off MLB.TV Premium Monthly subscriptions in 2015

You now have the opportunity to take advantage of a special offer from MLB Advanced Media for the 2015 season.

All SABR members can get a 20% discount off a MLB.TV Premium Monthly subscription. This discount is valid for each month of the 2015 season, so you can use it all year long:

Visit SABR.org/offers/MLBTV-2015 to access the discount link for the 2015 MLB.TV subscription package

With MLB.TV, you can watch every 2015 Regular Season out-of-market game LIVE or on-demand in HD Quality. Choose home or away broadcasts. MLB.TV is on your favorite devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation and more. Watch up to four games at once with Mosaic. DVR functionality lets you pause or rewind live games. PLUS, watch select 2015 Spring Training games LIVE online.

For any questions about your subscription, please contact MLB.TV Customer Service.

SABR Digital Library: Who’s on First: Replacement Players in World War II

Add a book about baseball’s true “replacement players” to your collection with the newest title from the SABR Digital Library:

Who’s on First: Replacement Players in World War II
Edited by Marc Z. Aaron and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: James Forr and Len Levin
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933599-91-5
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-933599-90-8
418 pages

During the four seasons the U.S. was at war in World War II (1942-1945), 533 players made their major-league debuts. There were 67 first-time major leaguers under the age of 21 (Joe Nuxhall the youngest at 15 in 1944). More than 60 percent of the players in the 1941 Opening Day lineups departed for the service. The 1944 Dodgers had only Dixie Walker and Mickey Owen as the two regulars from their 1941 pennant-winning team.

The owners brought in not only first-timers but also many oldsters. Hod Lisenbee pitched 80 innings for the Reds in 1945 at the age of 46. He had last pitched in the major leagues in 1936. War veteran and former POW Bert Shepard, with an artificial leg, pitched in one game for the 1945 Senators, and one-armed outfielder Pete Gray played for the St. Louis Browns.

The war years featured firsts and lasts. The St. Louis Browns won their first (and last) pennant in 1944 — a feat made more amazing by the fact that they had not finished in the first division since 1929. The 1944 team featured 13 players classified as 4-F. The Chicago Cubs appeared in the 1945 World Series but have not made it back since.

More than 50 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) have contributed to this volume. We invite you to sit back and relax as you learn Who’s on First.

This book includes contributions from: Marc Z. Aaron, Thomas Ayers, Peter C. Bjarkman, Rich Bogovich, Bob Brady, Ashlie Christian, Alan Cohen, Rory Costello, Richard Cuicchi, Sidney Davis, Greg Erion, Charles Faber, Merrie A. Fidler, David Finoli, Duke Goldman, Rex Hamann, Rachel Hamelers, Tom Hawthorn, Leslie Heaphy, Lou Hernández, Michael Huber, Joanne Hulbert, Jay Hurd, David M. Jordan, Seamus Kearney, Marc Lancaster, Walter LeConte, Bob LeMoine, Barb Mantegani, Jeff Marlett, Mel Marmer, Bob Mayer, Mike McClary, Richard Moraski, Bill Nowlin, Jeff Obermeyer, Gregg Omoth, Armand Peterson, J.G. Preston, David W. Pugh, David Raglin, Chris Rainey, John Shannahan, James D. Smith III, Steve Smith, Lyle Spatz, Mark S. Sternman, Jim Sweetman, Cort Vitty, Charlie Weatherby, Bob Webster, Gregory H. Wolf, and Don Zminda.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Who’s on First: Replacement Players in World War II for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on Who’s on First: Replacement Players in World War II paperback edition for $9.95 (plus shipping) from CreateSpace.

Registration now open for 2015 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

The 18th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held August 6-8, 2015, at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages.

Register today! Click here to register online at the SABR Store. Or click here to download a registration form (PDF); please mail your check or money order before July 31 to SABR Malloy Conference, 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018. Early registration is available until May 18, 2015.
Early-bird registration is $155 for an adult rate (includes all activities) or $110 for a student rate. Single-day registration for Friday or Saturday is $90. The rate for the Thursday education forum only is $15. Optional sessions are also available.

The 2015 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will celebrate the rich history of black baseball in Pittsburgh. We welcome proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Presentations may focus on any topic related to the theme, “Baseball’s Best: the Grays and the Crawfords,” or other Negro Leagues issues. Some possibilities include: Josh Gibson, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Gus Greenlee, Cum Posey, Vic Harris, Cool Papa Bell, the Crawford Grill, and many others.

Visit SABR.org/malloy for information on the 2015 Call for Papers, Essay Contest, Art Contest, and Library Grant Program.

2015 SABR Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference is now sold out

Registration is now closed for the seventh annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference, which will be held April 17-18, 2015, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Anyone wishing to be placed on a waiting list in the event of cancellations should contact Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net. The conference is open to all SABR members and up to two non-SABR family members or friends (ages 18 or over.)

Program and schedule: Click here to download the 2015 conference program and schedule

The 2015 conference will be highlighted by a keynote address from baseball historian Jerrold Casway, along with a panel discussion, “Sporting News: Baseball in the 19th Century Press” with Jim Overmyer, Bob Tholkes, George Thompson, and John Thorn; a special presentation by James Brunson III (“Black Baseball: 1858-1900”); a Member Spotlight interview of Bob Bailey by Tom Simon; plus book signings, more research presentations, a welcome dinner, and more.

For more information, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c or contact Peter Mancuso at peterplus4@earthlink.net.

Related link: Click here to download the Nineteenth Century Committee’s Spring 2015 newsletter (PDF)

Meet the man who has discovered 500 minor-league no-hitters

We think you’ll enjoy SABR member Tim Hagerty’s story at The Sporting News this week on fellow member Chuck McGill, and his quest for no-hit needles in the minor-league haystack:

Some Vermonters hunt moose. Chuck McGill hunts no-hitters.

McGill has personally discovered more than 500 minor league no-hitters that were previously absent from record books.

“I love finding a new one that’s not documented before. It’s something that has been kind of lost. Lost to history,” McGill said.

A National Weather Service employee in Burlington, Vt. by day, McGill spends his time off mining newspaper archives. His exploration started in 2010 and focuses on games before 1930. He’s already uncovered and tweeted four no-hitters this month.

“I come across a lot of one-hitters and that really bothers me, I hate one-hitters. So close,” McGill said with a laugh. “What could have been.”

McGill combs online box scores for hours at a time, from Class A to Class D, from Aberdeen to Zanesville. The Houston Post recently added annals to a website and in the process added an assignment to McGill’s to do list.

The results of his quest brighten the baseball history of cities and towns across the country. Great grandchildren of professional pitchers could read about their ancestor’s finest hour because of McGill. His comprehensive spreadsheet is a resource for writers and historians. But McGill is modest and deflects praise.

Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2015-03-22/discovered-500-no-hitters-sabr-chuck-mcgill-minor-league-baseball-history

Related link: Find more research resources and tools at SABR.org/research/resources

2 new stories published by the SABR Games Project

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

July 24, 1914: Brooklyn Tip-Tops win on carom off pitcher’s leg, by Stephen V. Rice
July 26, 1928: Hornsby’s Braves edge Cubs in 14 innings, by Stephen V. Rice

The articles are not intended to be mere play-by-play summaries, nor should they be first-person narratives. Rather the goal is to put each game in historical context — whether that history is of a particular player, team, season, or something even broader.

Visit the new Games Project website at SABR.org/gamesproject.

Get involved: 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.
Questions: Contact Greg Erion for more information about the Games Project, James Forr to request an assignment, or Chip Greene to submit your draft article.

Call for SABR award nominations

Jack Kavanagh Memorial Youth Baseball Research Award, due 6/1/2015: Students have until June 1, 2015, to submit entries for this year’s Jack Kavanagh Memorial Youth Baseball Research Award, which offers a prize of up to $200 and a one-year SABR membership for researcher in grades 6-8 (middle school category), grades 9-12 (high school category), or undergraduates 22 and under (college category). All entries must have to do with baseball history and cannot be fictional pieces. Submission and formatting guidelines are available by clicking here. For more information, contact Leslie Heaphy at Lheaphy@kent.edu.

Please note: Only ONE entry per nomination will be considered (do not submit multiple nominations for the same award). For more information on SABR Awards, click here.

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: http://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 New Member 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
Charles Bedard	Central Islip, NY	Tim Vara	Deer Park, IL
Marty Resnick	Woodstock, GA	Curtis Harvel	Folsom, CA
Kim Agan	Bountiful, UT	Adam Anderson	Portland, OR
Steven Hernandez	Columbus, OH	Robert Crestohl	Champlain, NY
John Harnois	N. Syracuse, NY	Patrick Kane	Feeding Hills, MA
John Charette	Oshawa, ON	Michelle Freeman	Laurel, MD
Twyman Jones	Normal, IL	Don Hawkins	Thornton, CO
Richard Stover	Plympton, MA	Christopher Mellon	Greenfield Twp, PA

Research Committee news

Here are the new SABR research committee newsletters published this week:

Nineteenth Century: Spring 2015

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

Regional Chapter news

Here are the new regional chapter updates published this week:

Rogers Hornsby Chapter 100th consecutive monthly meeting recap (March 21; Austin, TX)
Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting recap (March 24; St. Louis, MO)

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

SABR Events Calendar

Here is a list of upcoming SABR events:

March 27: Ed Mayo and John Weitzel: “Branding and the baseball fan experience” (Kalamazoo, MI)
March 28: Baseball Reliquary: “Meal Tickets & Miracle Workers: Icons of Los Angeles Baseball” (Arcadia, CA)
March 28: Lou Criger Chapter meeting (South Bend, IN)
April 1: Stew Thornley: “St. Paul Saints: Baseball in the Capital City” (St. Paul, MN)
April 4: Halsey Hall Chapter book club (Roseville, MN)
April 4: Hank Gowdy Chapter spring meeting (Columbus, OH)
April 4: Talkin’ Baseball: Wayne Patterson (Columbia, MD)
April 5: George Shively grave marker dedication (Bloomington, IN)
April 7: Hank Gowdy Chapter Opening Day meetup (Columbus, OH)
April 8: Bob Davids Chapter Monthly Hot Stove Dinner (Arlington, VA)
April 8: Bergino: “100 Years of Who’s Who in Baseball” with Marty Appel and Doug Lyons (New York, NY)
April 8: Connecticut Baseball History Symposium (Naugatuck, CT)
April 10-11: “Rare Baseball Films” with Dave Filipi (Columbus, OH)
April 11-12: Copper City Classic vintage baseball tourament (Bisbee, AZ)

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:

Cody Callahan: Examining a Cole Hamels trade in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition (Beyond the Box Score)
Rian Bosse: ASU students prove baseball means business (BusinessJournalism.org)
Morris Greenberg: Stats in 2015 from a sabermetrician’s view (Tufts Daily)
Rob Neyer: Here’s what I learned about pitch-framing at SABR Analytics (FoxSports.com)
Rob Arthur: At least all these Tommy John surgeries aren’t rotator cuff surgeries (FiveThirtyEight)
Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez: Proximity a perk for Cactus League fans (KJZZ)
Howard Megdal: How the Astros do spring training (Baseball Prospectus)
Ryan Whirty: Spring training was different for Negro League teams (Philly.com)
Michael J. Baumann: The fleeting allure of the spring training prospect breakout (Grantland)
Diane Firstman: Yankees-Mets faceoff caps a long, weird history (Village Voice)
Ben Lindbergh: The in-game edge of mixing pitches (Grantland)
Rob Neyer: Catchers have been stealing strikes for a long time (FoxSports.com)
Tim Kurkjian: Revisting the penultimate play from the 2014 World Series (ESPN.com)
Hans Van Slooten: MLB games are lower scoring and longer than ever (Baseball-Reference.com)
Frank Jackson: Indian summer at Braves Field (The Hardball Times)
Adrian Burgos Jr.: A senator, a reformed numbers king, and family reunions (The Sporting News)
Bob McGee: Bevens, Lavagetto, and the almost World Series no-hitter (The National Pastime Museum)
John Thorn: Baseball reporting before the Internet age, by Jack Lang (Our Game)
Tyler Kepner: Pete Rose: 4,256 hits and one big error (New York Times)
Miles Wray: The new all-time triples list (The Hardball Times)
Larry Canale: Legends of the camera: Charles Conlon (The National Pastime Museum)
Craig Calcaterra: My favorite player, Al Kaline (The National Pastime Museum)
Joe Posnanski: Remembering Roberto Clemente (Joe Blogs)

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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