SABR Day

SABR Day 2022SABR Day is an annual event that brings together SABR members and friends on the same day, regardless of where they live. The 13th annual SABR Day was held on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Regional SABR meetings are open to all baseball fans and are usually free to attend, so bring a friend! Guest speakers often include current and former baseball players, managers, umpires, executives, scouts, writers and authors.

SABR also launched a new virtual event, Ballpark Figures, a monthly interview series hosted by Shakeia Taylor. The first live Zoom show — free for all baseball fans to attend — kicked off SABR Day festivities on Thursday, February 3.

Visit the SABR Events Calendar for complete details on all of these SABR Day meetings.

Here are some highlights from SABR Day 2022 meetings:

Twenty-five members of the Magnolia Chapter, including 4 new members, participated in our Atlanta Baseball History caravan on SABR Day, February 5, 2022.

The caravan was a road trip through Atlanta stopping at the former sites of 19th- and 20th-century ballparks. We started at Oakland Cemetery, site of Atlanta’s first organized games in 1866, stopped at the sites of two former 19th-century parks, and ended at the magnolia tree at the former site of Ponce de Leon Park, now a shopping center. The tree once stood guard over center field at the park and remains an icon of Atlanta’s minor league baseball history in the 20th century.

Chapter member Alan Morris gave a history of each park at each site while other members read aloud contemporary newspaper reports of the key events that happened at these locations. The day was sunny but chilly. We started it all off with lunch at a local BBQ eatery.

— Craig Brown

SABR’s Ken Keltner (Milwaukee) and Emil Rothe (Chicago) Chapters held a virtual Zoom SABR Day meeting on Saturday, February 19, 2022.

Our special guests include Ila Borders, Jasmine Dunston and Sara Sanchez. Our chapters have invited these participants to join our members for a thought-provoking discussion of their baseball experiences.

Ila Borders is, per her autobiography Making My Pitch: A Woman’s Baseball Odyssey, “a Little League prodigy, MVP of her otherwise all-male middle school; and high school teams, the first woman awarded a college baseball scholarship, and the first to pitch and win a men’s collegiate game.”

Jasmine Dunston joined the Chicago White Sox in December 2021 as the team’s new Director of Minor League Operations. In her new role, Dunston will report to the Assistant General Manager of Player Development. She played softball at Tennessee State before attending Valparaiso University earning her Masters in Sports Administration and then John F. Kennedy University for her Juris Doctorate in Sports Law.

Sara Sanchez is the leading voice of Bleed Cubbie Blue (SB Nation’s Chicago Cubs community), a writer for FanGraphs, and co-host of the Cuppa Cubbie Blue podcast.

To learn more, visit SABR.org.

SABR’s Jack Graney Chapter in Cleveland held a virtual SABR Day meeting on Zoom on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Our theme will be a celebratory meeting for Jack Graney, who was selected for the 2022 Ford C. Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame. We have arranged a great lineup of speakers for the event. Please use the timestamps below to skip ahead in the video recording.

– (3:48) Curt Smith, award winning baseball author

– (33:45) Scott Crawford, Director of Operations, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

– (1:03:07) Barbara Gregorich, author of the book “Jack and Larry”

– (1:28:44) Perry Mudd Smith, Jack Graney’s granddaughter

– (1:55:10) Jeremy Feador, Cleveland Guardians team historian

The Rocky Mountain Chapter held a virtual SABR Day meeting on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

At this event, we were honored to have two very special guests:

– Jillian Geib, Major League Baseball statcaster who became the first known female official scorer in MLB history for the Colorado Rockies in 2021.
– Gar Ryness, American sports entertainer and YouTube phenomenon, better known to all on social media as “The Batting Stance Guy.”

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

SABR’s Field of Dreams Chapter in Iowa held a virtual SABR Day meeting on Sunday, February 6, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Our guest speaker is Clayton Trutor, who will be talking about his new book, “Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta–and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports.” The book is focused on Atlanta’s pursuit of pro sports in the 1960s and the response to those teams in subsequent decades, an origin story for the modern sports business.

Dubuque historian John Pregler also shared his stories and photos from last August’s MLB Field of Dreams Game.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

SABR’s South Florida Chapter held a virtual Zoom meeting on Sunday, February 6, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Author Jack Bales will be our guest speaker and discuss his newest book: “The Chicago Cub Shot For Love.”

In the summer of 1932, with the Cubs in the thick of the pennant race, Billy Jurges broke off his relationship with Violet Popovich to focus on baseball. The famously beautiful showgirl took it poorly, marching into his hotel room with a revolver in her purse. Both were wounded in the ensuing struggle, but Jurges refused to press charges. Even without their star shortstop, Chicago made it to the World Series, only to be on the wrong end of Babe Ruth’s legendary Called Shot. Using hundreds of original sources, Jack Bales profiles the lives of the ill-fated couple and traces the ripple effects of the shooting on the Cubs’ tumultuous season. Should be a great talk and Q&A.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

On Saturday, January 29, 2022, the Oscar Charleston Chapter in Indianapolis hosted its annual SABR Day meeting, which took place at the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library. We also streamed the meeting on Facebook Live, the recording of which is at this link.

Here’s a recap:

  • Dave Bohmer (Director Emeritus, Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media and Media Fellows Program, DePauw University) presented some of the initial reactions (around July 1961) to Ford Frick’s decision to treat Roger Maris’s single season home run record as separate from Babe Ruth’s mark. Dave mentioned that when MLB made this decision, most sportswriters and many top MLB players agreed on the difference in historic significance between a 154-game record and a 162-game record. Indeed, the idea of a distinct 162-game record made sense in the moment given that, with the upcoming team expansion, MLB envisioned returning to a 154-game format soon after the 1961 season; with the continuing and normalizing of the 162-game seasons came the steady-building and eventual disagreement with Frick’s decision to “asterisk” Maris’s record.
  • Howard Kellman (longtime Indianapolis Indians radio broadcaster) previewed the 2022 Indianapolis Indians’ season, indicating that several of the top prospects drafted in 2020 and 2021 aim to begin the 2022 season in Single-A or Double-A. Although the Indians played in the International League (fourteen (14) teams) since 1998, that League has disbanded, with the Indians switching to the newly-formed Triple-A East, which includes twenty (20) teams. Most important, Howard brought good news: regardless of the MLB strike, Indians baseball will start their season on April 5, 2022.
  • Dave Brayfield (independent researcher and chronicler) described the playing and administrative career of Les Mann, who helped spread baseball internationally and developed the earliest literature on baseball fundamentals, using professional players to demonstrate technique on both lantern slides and on film, in the 1920s. On the international front, Mann pushed to make baseball an Olympic sport, advancing the ball, so to speak, to the point where baseball served as the official Olympic demonstration sport for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, despite baseball having little notoriety in Germany. Dave’s presentation of the baseball fundamentals slides (several originals of which he also brought to the meeting) revealed irreplaceable perspectives on stadiums and city skylines, visible from field level, in 1921.

As always, if you’re interested in presenting or if you have questions, please let me know. We look forward to the next meeting, which I envision taking place in late April, but I’ll be in touch with details.

— Trenton Morton

SABR’s Elysian Fields Chapter in Northern New Jersey held its SABR Day meeting via Zoom on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Our program included the following guest speakers:

– 8:30–9:00 a.m.: A Random Walk Down Main Street: Baseball Research at the Hall of Fame
Cassidy Lent of the Baseball Hall of Fame, interviewed by Perry Barber

– 9:00-9:30 a.m.: Keeping Up with the Kellys: Vintage Baseball, Historical Society of Princeton, and an Annual Baseball Tradition
Panel discussion with Russ McIver, Eve Mandel, and moderator David Krell

– 9:40-10:10 a.m.: All Roads Lead to the Bronx: A Look at Yankee Stadium’s Architecture, by Rolando Llanes

– 10:20-10:50 a.m.: Eight Men Out: Fact, Fiction, and Film, by Jacob Pomrenke

– 11:00-11:45 a.m.: Author Spotlight: Dave Jordan, Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood
Interviewed by David Krell

– 11:45-11:50 a.m.: Closing Remarks

The Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter of SABR met virtually on SABR Day, Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Cindy Baker shared a number of the opportunities that SABR gives its members. Because of the pandemic, members were offered the opportunity to attend conferences virtually. This included the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and other virtual events during the “Summer of SABR” in 2021. Some members mentioned that they will be attending the upcoming SABR Analytics Conference on March 17 to March 20. There is still time to register for this conference at sabr.org/analytics. New guest speakers are still being announced!

Congratulations Bob Tannenbaum! Bob won the Baseball Trivia Game during our SABR Day meeting. Members all contributed questions for this very challenging game.

The group discussed a number of issues related to the Hall of Fame. Members shared interesting stories about their visits to the Hall. One interesting topic discussed at length was that we’re not sure what the mission of the Hall truly is. The conversation was fascinating! The Sweet Lou Johnson Lexington Chapter is so lucky to have such interesting and interested members.

Members are reminded to email Cindy at lucinda.baker@kctcs.edu if they’d like to share research, stories, or photos!

SAVE THE DATE: 1:00 p.m., Saturday, March 12. Richard (Dixie) Tourangeau will be talking to us about his Cy Young research. This meeting will be on Zoom. Email Cindy at lucinda.baker@kctcs.edu for the Zoom link.

Just a reminder — participation in our local meetings is absolutely FREE! All baseball fans are invited to attend. And bring a friend!

Batter up!

— Cindy Baker
lucinda.baker@kctcs.edu

SABR’s Allan Roth Chapter held a hybrid meeting for SABR Day on Saturday, February 5, 2022, at the Santa Catalina Branch Library in Pasadena, California. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Our lineup of speakers included (please use the timestamps to skip ahead to each speaker):

– (0:00) Dodgers broadcaster Tim Neverett will discuss his book “Covid Curveball” about the 2020 World Series.
– (1:24:45) Jack Bales will present his book “The Chicago Cub Shot for Love: A Showgirl’s Crime of Passion and the 1932 World Series.” It’s the story of Billy Jurges and Violet Popovich, the Cubs’ pennant, and a World Series that included Ruth’s “called shot.”
– (2:22:08) Dan Joseph has written a biography entitled “Baseball’s Greatest What If: the Story and Tragedy of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Pistol Pete Reiser.” The book is a comprehensive look at the life and career of Reiser, the 1941 National League batting champion, who famously piled up injuries and lost his talents by running into outfield walls.
– (3:29:08) Noel Hynd has recovered and will preview his book on the 1957 National League, “The Sputnik Season.”

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

We had a special joint SABR Day meeting with the Rice-Russell Nashville Chapter and the East Tennessee Chapter on Saturday, February 5, 2022, with around 20 on board. If you were a participant, thank you for taking part – the presentations were great and the discussion was lively! A special “Thanks!” to co-host, Mark Aubrey.

If you missed it, please join us next time as we get back on track for quarterly meetings on the last Saturday of April, July , and October.

If you would like to make a presentation, it’s not too early to let me know. Or, if there is a guest or topic you would like us to give attention to, I’d appreciate any comments.

Enjoy the Game,
Skip Nipper

SABR’s Oklahoma Chapter held a virtual Zoom meeting on Sunday, February 6, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

We will be discussing the most recent class of the Hall of Fame (congrats, Big Papi!) as well as other interesting notes from this year’s voting. We will also have presentations from chapter members Kevin Johnson and Jesse Asbury.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

Forty-four members and guests of the Bob Broeg SABR Chapter in St Louis gathered together at Favazza’s Restaurant for their annual Hot Stove Luncheon on January 29, 2022.

Favazza’s provided a great buffet of beef, chicken, vegetables, toasted ravioli, salad, and rolls, with cannolis for dessert. Everyone attending found a couple of free baseball books and a copy of the recent Cardinals Magazine in their seats.

Chapter President Rick Zucker welcomed everyone and introduced the the officers and board members for the coming year: President – Rick Zucker, Vice-President – Allison Levin, Secretary – Jim Leefers, Treasurer – Mark Stangl, Directors – Brian Flaspohler, Jeremy Gibbs, and Ed Wheatley. Zucker also thanked outgoing Vice-President Jeff Ecker for his many years in the position.

Vice President Allison Levin, who is also a director on SABR’s National Board, announced some of the upcoming events on both the national and local levels as well as opportunities for individuals to participate in various projects.

Bob Tiemann presented his research on “21st Century MLB Team Won-Loss Records, Division Standings, and Playoffs, 2000-2021”. It showed that the Cardinals have the second best won-loss record, .500+ years, and post-season wins. They are one of five teams with four World Series appearances this century. They are also third in overall attendance behind the Dodgers and the Yankees despite playing in the 25th largest market. He ended by giving credit to the current ownership group for these positive numbers, a perfect segue for the first guest speaker.

Our first guest speaker was Bill DeWitt III, President of the St. Louis Cardinals. He immediately requested that Mr. Tiemann accompany him to all future speaking engagements and introduce him with the same information. Mr. DeWitt spoke briefly of appreciating the invitation to the luncheon and the opportunity to speak to the best fans in baseball, especially SABRites who possess a deeper understanding of this great game. He moved quickly to fielding any and all questions. Topics included more recognition of the team’s early years in the American Association (1882-1891), putting some Browns stars in the team’s Hall of Fame (since the Orioles seem reluctant to do so), combining analytics with old school thought, the influx of sports gaming, passing the game on to younger fans, possible rules changes, and the safety of the fans with the increase of crime in the cities. There were a few questions that he deftly answered about the current lockout, the firing of Mike Shildt, and the shortstop situation of the Cardinals. He smartly knew what he could and could not say. As far as the late season rumor that the team was being sold, he said that was not true.

The second guest speaker was Derrick Goold, beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and former President of the BBWAA. Goold spoke of how his early love for baseball developed growing up in Colorado, and following the minor league Denver Bears (later the Zephyrs) and then the Rockies. He spoke also of becoming a Cardinals fan early on because of his grandfather and the fact that the team’s flagship radio station KMOX could be tuned-in in the area. He mentioned that there were certain areas where the signal was very strong and several cars would be parked there at night just to listen to the game. He fielded questions on HOF voting, would the National League adopt the DH (he answered with a simple Yes!), and favorite interview subjects (Tony La Russa [even though he said they would have their differences] and Adam Wainwright). He also had a question for the group on whether the scoring of sacrifice flies should be changed. Attendees truly enjoyed both of our special guests.

Derrick Goold speaks at SABR Day 2022 to the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter

The next order of business was to present SABR member Bill Marston the Jim Rygelski Research Award for his presentation back in September on unassisted triple plays.

The day ended with trivia contest presented by Bob Tiemann titled “Game 7’s – The Championship Crucible”. Winner Clem Hamilton answered 33 of 44 answers and received a Whitey Herzog autographed baseball. Second and third place winners, Jim Leefers (30 correct) and Morris Buenemann (28 correct) each received a pair of baseball books.

The chapter’s regular monthly meetings are held at The Sports Cafe, 3579 Pennridge in Bridgeton, MO starting at 6:30 pm on the following 2022 dates: March 14, April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15, October 17, November 14, and December 12.

Baseball Fellowship meetings are more informal and are held at Lester’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9906 Clayton Road in Ladue, MO starting at 5:30 on the following 2022 dates: March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1, July 6, August 3, September 7, October 5, November 2, and December 7. The 8th Annual Jim Rygelski Research Conference will be on September 24 at Webster University.

— Jim Leefers

From Randall Case at Fox West Texas on February 14, 2022:

Considering the ongoing MLB lockout debacle, the future of the 2022 season currently seems more up in the air than a high changeup swung on by Mike Trout, but West Texas fans can still get a fix by delving into baseball’s past, courtesy of the Col. Abner Doubleday/Judge Howard Green West Texas Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Members from SABR, which has chapters nationwide, met Saturday morning at Fort Concho’s Living History Stables for their Fifth Annual Baseball Heritage Symposium, to cover a variety of topics, including baseball in San Angelo from 1880-1960; a brief history of Black and Native American players in Oklahoma; analogies between baseball and the bible; the Vintage Base Ball Association’s rules and state of play; an outdoor demonstration of period baseball; trivia; and of course an abundance of anecdotes and interesting facts from San Angelo SABR aficionados Dr. Warren Simpson, Dr. John Winters, Bob Bluthardt, Dr. Ron Rainwater, Al Pickett and Cory Robinson.

Click here to read the full article at MyFoxZone.com.

The Luis Castro Latin American Chapter held a SABR Day event on Saturday, February 5, 2022, in the Dominican Republic. Over 150 people gathered to talk baseball and debate among media and expert fans about the MLB lockout, the Caribbean Series, and the best of Baseball in 2021-22.

Our panelists included:

  • Enrique Rojas
  • Dionisio Soldevila
  • Carlos José Lugo
  • Kevin Cabral
  • Natacha Peña
  • Leonte Landino

SABR’s Pacific Northwest Chapter held a virtual Zoom meeting on February 1, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Barry Hyman will speak on the “Overall Offensive Performance” system of measurement, as detailed in the latest issue of the Baseball Research Journal.

Rob Bauer will give a presentation on “The Demise of the American Association.” In the course of investigating the causes of the Players League of 1890, Rob realized that most of what he’d previously read connecting the demise of the Players League with the demise of the American Association a year later was either misleading or incomplete. In his presentation, he’ll make the case that the downfall of the American Association was the result of poor management decisions, personal rivalries among Association owners, greed, and morality laws. The breakup of the American Association was, therefore, primarily the culmination of a series of self-inflicted wounds. Rob will use primary sources and humor to explain how this happened.

To learn more, visit SABR.org.

SABR’s Cool Papa Bell Chapter in Mississippi hosted a virtual Zoom meeting for SABR Day on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Our guest speaker is SABR Director Dan Evans, former Los Angeles Dodgers GM and current Chief Operating Officer for The Field of Dreams Movie Site.

To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrday.

SABR Day 2022 in Tallahassee, Florida

Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter members and guests gathered on Saturday, February 5, 2022, in the private room at the Glory Days Grill in Tallahassee, Florida, to celebrate SABR Day.  In attendance were:

  • Matt Keelean, Chapter President
  • Glenn Robertson
  • Jim Wolf
  • Kent Putnam
  • Ben Gaddis
  • Brent Kallestad
  • Diana Kampert
  • Jim Wolf
  • Clint Chafin
  • Daniel Chafin
  • Jamie Quinn
  • Jim Turner
  • Fred Dunphy
  • Nick Gandy
  • Frank Alarcon
  • Rob Magee

President Keelean called the meeting to order at or about 2 PM Eastern Standard Time.  A general discussion ensued; topics included Baseball Hall of Fame inductions and the upcoming ceremonies, the status of the CBA negotiations, minor league baseball in 2022, and college baseball (including the upcoming FSU baseball Fan Day and a possible group outing to a regular season Seminole game later in the spring).

We then turned our attention to SABR events for the coming calendar year including, but not limited to, the SABR 50 convention in Baltimore in August. As for our own chapter, it was agreed that in-person meetings are preferred and planned programs for the next few meetings were given thumbs up.

Our guest speaker was Josh Weaver of Crystal River, a baseball memorabilia collector and historian with a special interest in the life and times of Buck O’Neil.  His talk about Buck was well received; much of Josh’s Buck-related collection can be seen at the museum in nearby Carrabelle, and attendees showed interest in visiting that venue in the no-so-distant future.

Next up was the chapter’s annual trivia contest, with questions drafted by Rick Swaine, hosted by Matt Keelean, and officiated by Kent Putnam.  The championship went to Brent Kallestad, Frank Alarcon was runner up, and Nick Gandy and Rob Magee tied for third.

After further discussion and a few brief remarks by President Keelean, the meeting adjourned at 5 PM.

— Kent Putnam, Chapter Secretary

SABR Day 2022 in Tallahassee, Florida

SABR’s Bob Davids Chapter hosted its annual SABR Day meeting online via Zoom on Saturday, January 29, 2022. Click here to watch a recording of this meeting on YouTube.

Please use the timestamps below to listen to our all-star lineup of guest speakers:

(9:15) Sydney Bergman and Jarrett Seidler, Baseball Prospectus – “2021 Nationals Analytics”
(47:04) Official Major League Historian John Thorn and presidential historian Craig Fehrman – “U.S. Presidents and Baseball”
(1:29:21) Washington Nationals All-Star reliever Chad Cordero
(2:10:10) Washington Senators great Frank Howard
(3:00:05) David W. Smith, President of Retrosheet – “Ejections Through the Years and the Impact of Expanded Replay”

To learn more, visit SABR.org.

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