June 21, 2024 – Society for American Baseball Research (2024)

Welcome to “This Week in SABR” on Friday, June 21, 2024.
Click here to view this newsletter on the web.

SABR 52: Deadlines approaching for hotel, convention merch
More highlights from Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
Call for papers: Women in Baseball Conference
In Memoriam: Willie Mays
New SABR biography: Joe Mauer

SABR 52: Deadlines approaching for hotel, convention merch

Join us in Minneapolis for SABR’s 52nd annual convention! SABR 52 will be held on August 7-11, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

The special SABR group rate at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis of $219/night plus tax (single/double occupancy) is only available to registered convention attendees. Please note: The cut-off date to book your room at the SABR group rate is July 5, 2024.

Avoid the rush at registration, and pre-order your SABR 52 convention logo polo shirt, T-shirt, baseball cap, or lapel pin online! Deadline to pre-order is also July 5, 2024.

• Register now: Click here for complete details on SABR 52 registration and optional sessions, including a Minnesota Twins game, St. Paul Saints game, and Target Field ballpark tour.
• Featured Speakers: Click here to learn more about our Featured Speakers.
• Research Presentations: Click here to view the full list of Research Presentations.
• Poster Presentations: Click here to view the full list of Poster Presentations.

Visit SABR.org/convention to learn more.

More photos and highlights from the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held June 6-9 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Panels and presentations were also livestreamed from the Grandstand Theater for virtual attendees.

The conference was highlighted by a panel discussion on SABR’s Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee with James Brunson III, Phil S. Dixon, Kevin Johnson, Philip Lee, Adam Darowski, and Gary Gillette; and a panel on the Hall of Fame’s new Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball exhibit featuring Tom Shieber, Mary Quinn, and Cassidy Lent.

Visit SABR.org/malloy to view photos and highlights.

Call for papers: 2024 SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference

SABR and the International Women’s Baseball Center have announced a call for papers for the sixth annual SABR/IWBC Women in Baseball Conference, scheduled as a virtual event for September 20-22, 2024.

Please submit abstracts of approximately 200 words, along with contact information and a short biography, by July 1, 2024, to Leslie Heaphy.

Registration information will be available soon at SABR.org/women-in-baseball-conference.

In Memoriam: Willie Mays

The actress and noted Giants baseball fan Tallulah Bankhead once said, “There have only been two geniuses in the world – Willie Mays and Will Shakespeare.”

In baseball’s never-ending attempts to somehow order its gods, Willie Mays is the only contender whose proponents rarely use statistics to make their case. It is as if Mays’ 660 home runs and 3,293 hits somehow sell the man short, that his wonderful playing record is almost beside the point, as John Saccoman writes in his SABR biography of the “Say Hey Kid.”

With Mays it is not merely what he did – but how he did it. He scored more than 2,000 runs, nearly all of them, it would seem, after losing his cap flying around third base. He is credited with more than 7,000 outfield putouts, many exciting, some spectacular, a few breathtaking. How do you measure that? An artist and a genius, for most of his quarter-century in the major leagues, you simply could not keep your eyes off Willie Mays.

Mays died at the age of 93 on Tuesday, June 18, just two days before his San Francisco Giants were scheduled to play a major-league game at Rickwood Field in Mays’ home state of Alabama. The game was designed to be a tribute to the Negro Leagues, where Mays got his start as a teenager with the Birmingham Black Barons.

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

Member Benefit Spotlight: Getting Started at SABR.org

As a SABR member, you have vast resources and benefits at your disposal. With so much information at your fingertips, we realize it can be overwhelming to absorb it all! To highlight key benefits, read on for a SABR Member Benefit Spotlight, an email series that identifies and explains some of the most valuable features of your membership. We hope this allows you to take full advantage of all SABR has to offer.

Our website at SABR.org is a wealth of information, whether you’re doing baseball research, looking for ways to get involved with the organization, or studying up on your analytics skills with our certification courses. Here’s a short video to help you navigate SABR.org.

April 6-7 Board minutes posted

Minutes from the Board of Directors meeting on April 6-7, 2024, in Minneapolis have now been posted on the SABR website.

Click here to view all past minutes of SABR Board meetings.

Find new updates to the SABR Research Collection below, including the Baseball Biography Project, Games Project, and Oral History Collection.

2 new stories published at SABR Biography Project

• Joe Mauer, by Joseph Wancho
• Nyls Nyman, by Michael Trzinski

Visit SABR.org/bioproject to learn more about the SABR BioProject or to get involved.

7 new stories published at SABR Games Project

• May 6, 1925: Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann both reach 100 career homers as Tigers dominate Browns, by Alan Stowell
• June 28, 1955: Cardinals coach Lou Kahn earns ‘permanent record’ with ejection, by Kurt Blumenau
• July 2, 1961: Yankee bats pummel Senators on way to home run records, by John P. Tierney (first-time author)
• June 2, 1989: Cincinnati’s Eric Davis knocks in 6 runs as he hits for the cycle, by Mike Huber
• September 20, 1991: David Cone pitches his second 1-hitter against the Cardinals in a week, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.
• June 23, 2009: Red Sox beat Nationals in first DC appearance in 38 years, by Christopher D. Chavis
• July 2, 2018: Rare RBIs from Rick Porcello help Red Sox take over first place for good, by Bill Nowlin

Visit SABR.org/gamesproject to learn more about the SABR Games Project or to get involved.

The 1939 Baltimore Elite Giants
Edited by Frederick C. Bush, Thomas Kern, and Bill Nowlin

Visit SABR.org/ebooks to download the free e-book edition or save 50% off the paperback edition of all Digital Library books.

Here are some SABR headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

• SABR special committee: 1949-50 Negro American League, independent Black teams are major-league caliber
• SABR Defensive Index rankings released through June 9
• Read articles online from Spring 2024 Baseball Research Journal
• Check out highlights, photos, and stories from the 2024 SABR Analytics Conference
• 2024 Henry Chadwick Award recipients announced
• SABR Digital Library: 1939 Baltimore Elite Giants
• Learn more about recipients of SABR Local Grants in 2024
• SABR announces partnership with Alzheimer’s Association
• Find complete collection of SABR-Rucker Archive baseball images online
• Historical Black Newspapers Collection added to SABR Research Resources
• Get a gift for baseball fan in your life with the SABR Store @ CafePress

Please give a warm welcome to all new SABR members who joined this week! View more Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org or click here to download the Membership Handbook. Find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.

• Events Calendar: Find details of all upcoming SABR events.
• Video Replays: This week, we heard from the Bay Area/Sacramento Chapters on “Remembering Cuno Barragan.” Click here to view video replays of virtual SABR events.

Upcoming Virtual Meetings

• June 23: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Committee meeting (12:00 p.m. EDT)
• June 24: Clyde Sukeforth (ME/NH) Chapter meeting with Bob Fitzpatrick (7:00 p.m. EDT)
• June 25: Games and Simulations meeting with Larry Schechter (8:00 p.m. EDT)
• June 26: Quarterly Chapter Leaders Meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
• June 27: 19th Century Baseball Book Club (8:00 p.m. EDT)
• June 29: Jack Graney (OH) Chapter meeting with Stephanie Liscio, Brian Powers, Ken Krsolovic, and Brian Fritz (10:00 a.m. EDT)
• June 30: Baltimore Babe Ruth (MD) Chapter meeting with Steve Dittmore (7:00 p.m. EDT)

Upcoming In-Person Meetings

• June 22: Lajoie-Start (RI) Chapter spring meeting (N. Attleborough, MA)
• June 24: Seymour-Mills SW Florida Chapter meeting (Fort Myers, FL)
• June 29: Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter breakfast (Middletown, CT)
• June 29: Kekionga Chapter of Fort Wayne meeting (Fort Wayne, IN)
• June 29: Ted Williams Chapter meeting (San Diego, CA)
• June 29: Allan Roth Chapter meeting (Placentia, CA)
• June 29: Bay Area/Sacramento Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Oakland, CA)
• June 30: Bethesda Big Train ballgame/meet-up (Rockville, MD)
• June 30: Philadelphia/Baltimore Chapter ballgame/meet-up (Reading, PA)

To add your SABR event to our calendar listings, please contact Jacob Pomrenke.

• Baseball and the Arts: June 2024 newsletter

Sign up for SABR research committee announcements at SABR.org/research/committees.

• Mathewson-Plank Chapter: June 13 meeting recap (Harrisburg, PA)

Sign up for SABR chapter announcements at SABR.org/chapters.

Click here to learn more about SABR chartered communities.

Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:

• Adam Darowski: Negro Leagues Data: Frequently Asked Questions (Baseball-Reference.com)
• Jay Jaffe: Saying Goodbye to the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays (1931–2024) (FanGraphs)
• Tyler Kepner: ‘He was Willie Mays’: Remembering the best player of the generation that electrified baseball (The Athletic)
• Mark Simon: The Legacy of Willie Mays (Sports Info Solutions)
• William C. Rhoden: Willie Mays and the birth of cool in sports (Andscape)
• John McMurray: Why Baseball Legend Willie Mays, Dead at 93, Will Never Be Forgotten (Smithsonian Magazine)
• Duke Goldman: Celebrating the Greatness of Willie Mays (Seamheads.com)
• Grant Brisbee: When Willie Mays became a superstar and an American icon (The Athletic)
• Charles P. Pierce: There Will Never Be Another Willie Mays (Esquire)
• Brian Gross: The legacy of Willie Mays through his iconic baseball cards and career numbers (Washington Post)
• Dave Overlund: Willie Mays’ Play In Minneapolis Was A Major Step To His Eventual MLB Greatness (KRFO Radio)
• Clinton Yates: Reggie Jackson reminds us that MLB’s Rickwood Field game isn’t a kumbaya moment (Andscape)
• Bob Kendrick: Negro Leagues baseball was even greater than the record books can say (Washington Post)
• Deesha Thosar: How MLB’s Rickwood Field game will make huge statement in community — and baseball (Fox Sports)
• Creg Stephenson: Birmingham’s 99-year-old Bill Greason one of last living links to Rickwood Field’s glory days (AL.com)
• Dayn Perry: Rickwood Field’s legendary history: How Willie Mays and the Negro Leagues made the iconic stadium home (CBS Sports)
• Dan Cichalski: 6 Negro Leagues (and Major League) ballparks you can still visit (MLB.com)
• Anthony Castrovince: Rickwood Field’s renewal tied to Hollywood (MLB.com)
• Derrick Goold: Cardinals to run basepaths blazed by Negro League pioneers at Rickwood Field (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Louis Moore: Juneteenth Celebrates Freedom And The Power Of Black Baseball (First And Pen)
• John Sharp: Masyn Winn, Cardinals rookie and its lone Black player, on Rickwood game: ‘Pretty special to me’ (AL.com)
• William Weinbaum: On Father’s Day, David Robinson remembers Jackie Robinson’s commitment to family (Andscape)
• Jayson Stark/Eno Sarris: MLB offense is nearing all-time lows — and hitters have theories (The Athletic)
• Daniel R. Epstein: Corbin Burnes is Leaning Into the Curve—and the Slider (Baseball Prospectus)
• Lindsey Adler/Andrew Beaton: He’s Baseball’s Hottest Pitcher—Because He Prepares Like a Quarterback (Wall Street Journal)
• Stephanie Apstein: The Baltimore Orioles Have a ‘Type’ (Sports Illustrated)
• Davy Andrews: Bat Tracking Shows That Hitting Is Reacting (FanGraphs)
• Meghan Montemurro: Cody and Clay Bellinger in rare MLB father-son company (Chicago Tribune)
• Craig Brown: Removing Ads From Uniforms: It Happened in 1895 (Threads of Our Game)
• Howard Megdal: The Heroes Behind The Grimace Mets (Forbes.com)
• Jim Albert/Alan Nathan: Balls are Traveling Further in 2024 in Progressive Field (Baseball Prospectus)
• Ryan fa*gan: Will Charlotte Ever Land an MLB Team? (Charlotte Magazine)
• David Laurila: Matt Blake and Nestor Cortes Detail a Starting Pitcher’s Pregame Routine (FanGraphs)
• Andrew Lawrence: MLB has integrated Negro Leagues stats. Is it too little, too late? (The Guardian)
• John Thorn: Baseball Pioneers: John B. Holway (Our Game)
• Frank V. Phelps: Macmillan: A researcher’s fond, tough look at The Baseball Encyclopedia (Our Game)
• Michael Clair: Ah-Seop Son breaks KBO all-time hits record (MLB.com)
• Gary Cieradkowski: Julio Bonetti: Four balls and you’re out! (Infinite Baseball Card Set)
• Roy Carlson: Funny Business: Second Chance 1966 Topps Baseball Cartoons (Sports Collectors Daily)
• Harry Deitz: The Tragic Career of Jake Daubert (Sports’ Forgotten Heroes)
• Juan Pereira: The Back of a Baseball Card (SABR Baseball Cards)
• Joe Costa: 1919 American League Replay (SABR Games and Simulations)

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

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. To find past editions of TWIS, click here.

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Originally published: June 21, 2024. Last Updated: June 21, 2024.