Baseball historian John Thorn calls the members of the Society for American Baseball Research “nerds,” but in a loving way.
But let's be honest: Where would baseball lovers be without SABR?
SABR was founded Aug. 10, 1971, in Cooperstown, New York, by sportswriter Bob Davids. That summer, I was on a family vacation trip from Boynton Beach, Florida, to the Fontana Village Resort in western North Carolina. There were no phones, videos, and the radio in my parents’ red 1969 Volkswagen beetle was lousy at tuning in stations as we rumbled through the hills of northeastern Georgia.
I read during the trip, choosing The Baseball Encyclopedia put out in 1969 by the Macmillan Company.
So, call me a nerd, too. I loved it. And I still have that book. I feel like a kindred spirit.
That is why reading SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game (University of Nebraska Press; hardback; $49.95; 608 pages) is such a pleasure.
There are 50 articles selected by a committee of four volunteers: Mark Armour, Leslie Heaphy, Bill Nowlin and Thorn (who wrote the foreword). Nowlin handled the editing chores, with assists from associate editors Armour, Heaphy, Thorn, Scott Bush, Jacob Pomrenke and Cecilia Tan.
This book is more than just statistics and formulas. It is a living, breathing history of baseball, with writers passionate about not only preserving the history of the game, but also getting it right.
The breadth of coverage is remarkable. There is Herm Krabbenhoft’s chapter about Lou Gehrig’s career and season RBI totals. The Iron Horse was originally credited with 1,990 RBI, but Krabbenhoft’s research boosted the total to 1,995. In a postscript, two more RBI were discovered, giving Gehrig an unofficial total of 1,997 RBI.
That ties in nicely with Clifford S. Kachline’s article about Hack Wilson’s 191st RBI. “Like Ivory soap, today’s major-league averages are 99.44 percent pure, that is virtually 100 percent accurate,” writes Kachline, a founding member of SABR. “By contrast early statistics of both the American and National Leagues, especially for the pre-1950 period, are fraught with mistakes.”
Davids weighs in with the thought-provoking — as in, “Gee, I never thought of that” — chapter about the best games pitched in relief. In addition to Ernie Shore’s perfect appearance in 1917 when he set down all 26 batters he faced when he relieved Babe Ruth, there was Walter Johnson’s 15 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings in a 1913 game, Bob Osborn’s 14 shutout innings of relief in 1927, and George Washington “Zip” Zabel’s ironman effort of 18 1/3 innings in 1915. Exhausting.
Lawrence Ritter provides a gem of an interview with Marty McHale. Ritter, who wrote The Glory of Their Times, interviewed McHale during his cross-country travel to speak with players of the early 20th century. Ritter’s interview with McHale, however, was not transcribed in time to be included in the book.
The contributors to this book will be familiar to many baseball lovers — Thorn, Frederick Lieb, Pete Palmer, Jules Tygiel, Bill James, Peter Bjarkman and Steve Steinberg — but there are also some fresh and relevant writers like Rob Fitts and D.B. Firstman.
If Fitts is not the top expert in Japanese baseball and baseball cards, then he is awfully close to the summit. His chapter, “Babe Ruth, Eiji Sawamura, and War,” is a fascinating look at Sawamura, a Japanese pitcher who faced an American barnstorming team as a 17-year-old and held his own against Ruth and the all-star squad that came to the Far East in 1934. Sawamura fought for the Japanese against the Allies during World War II and died when his transport boat heading for the Philippines was sunk by an American submarine. Sawamura was more revered in death than he had been as a baseball player and “personified the trials of his country.”
“Many viewed his performance as an analogy of Japan’s struggles against the west,” Fitts writes.
Firstman writes about the growth of “Three True Outcomes,” which evolved from a gag during the early days of the internet into an explanation of how baseball has changed over time.
Other chapters I enjoyed — and there was not a bad one in the bunch — included Warren Corbett’s piece on Bill McKechnie, Bill Kirwan’s chapter on the versatility of Cy Seymour, Peter Morris’ quest to nail down information about 1860s baseball star Dick McBride and Gene Carney’s blow-by-blow account of the 1919 Black Sox fixing scandal.
One does not have to read SABR 50 at 50 in any order. It is a delectable smorgasbord of baseball history, statistics and research that is essential for baseball libraries. It goes without saying that each chapter is meticulously researched, and the editors provide updates where necessary.
The price tag may seem steep, but it really is not. To enjoy the kind of rich detail, analysis and excellent research is worth the $49.95.
As Thorn notes — and practices — baseball history is “getting things right simply because with effort one could, and because ‘cleaning up’ seemed morally superior to ‘going along,’ accepting what was wrong.”
This volume highlights the morality and high standards set a half century ago by SABR.
But let's be honest: Where would baseball lovers be without SABR?
SABR was founded Aug. 10, 1971, in Cooperstown, New York, by sportswriter Bob Davids. That summer, I was on a family vacation trip from Boynton Beach, Florida, to the Fontana Village Resort in western North Carolina. There were no phones, videos, and the radio in my parents’ red 1969 Volkswagen beetle was lousy at tuning in stations as we rumbled through the hills of northeastern Georgia.
I read during the trip, choosing The Baseball Encyclopedia put out in 1969 by the Macmillan Company.
So, call me a nerd, too. I loved it. And I still have that book. I feel like a kindred spirit.
That is why reading SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game (University of Nebraska Press; hardback; $49.95; 608 pages) is such a pleasure.
There are 50 articles selected by a committee of four volunteers: Mark Armour, Leslie Heaphy, Bill Nowlin and Thorn (who wrote the foreword). Nowlin handled the editing chores, with assists from associate editors Armour, Heaphy, Thorn, Scott Bush, Jacob Pomrenke and Cecilia Tan.
This book is more than just statistics and formulas. It is a living, breathing history of baseball, with writers passionate about not only preserving the history of the game, but also getting it right.
The breadth of coverage is remarkable. There is Herm Krabbenhoft’s chapter about Lou Gehrig’s career and season RBI totals. The Iron Horse was originally credited with 1,990 RBI, but Krabbenhoft’s research boosted the total to 1,995. In a postscript, two more RBI were discovered, giving Gehrig an unofficial total of 1,997 RBI.
That ties in nicely with Clifford S. Kachline’s article about Hack Wilson’s 191st RBI. “Like Ivory soap, today’s major-league averages are 99.44 percent pure, that is virtually 100 percent accurate,” writes Kachline, a founding member of SABR. “By contrast early statistics of both the American and National Leagues, especially for the pre-1950 period, are fraught with mistakes.”
Davids weighs in with the thought-provoking — as in, “Gee, I never thought of that” — chapter about the best games pitched in relief. In addition to Ernie Shore’s perfect appearance in 1917 when he set down all 26 batters he faced when he relieved Babe Ruth, there was Walter Johnson’s 15 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings in a 1913 game, Bob Osborn’s 14 shutout innings of relief in 1927, and George Washington “Zip” Zabel’s ironman effort of 18 1/3 innings in 1915. Exhausting.
Lawrence Ritter provides a gem of an interview with Marty McHale. Ritter, who wrote The Glory of Their Times, interviewed McHale during his cross-country travel to speak with players of the early 20th century. Ritter’s interview with McHale, however, was not transcribed in time to be included in the book.
The contributors to this book will be familiar to many baseball lovers — Thorn, Frederick Lieb, Pete Palmer, Jules Tygiel, Bill James, Peter Bjarkman and Steve Steinberg — but there are also some fresh and relevant writers like Rob Fitts and D.B. Firstman.
If Fitts is not the top expert in Japanese baseball and baseball cards, then he is awfully close to the summit. His chapter, “Babe Ruth, Eiji Sawamura, and War,” is a fascinating look at Sawamura, a Japanese pitcher who faced an American barnstorming team as a 17-year-old and held his own against Ruth and the all-star squad that came to the Far East in 1934. Sawamura fought for the Japanese against the Allies during World War II and died when his transport boat heading for the Philippines was sunk by an American submarine. Sawamura was more revered in death than he had been as a baseball player and “personified the trials of his country.”
“Many viewed his performance as an analogy of Japan’s struggles against the west,” Fitts writes.
Firstman writes about the growth of “Three True Outcomes,” which evolved from a gag during the early days of the internet into an explanation of how baseball has changed over time.
Other chapters I enjoyed — and there was not a bad one in the bunch — included Warren Corbett’s piece on Bill McKechnie, Bill Kirwan’s chapter on the versatility of Cy Seymour, Peter Morris’ quest to nail down information about 1860s baseball star Dick McBride and Gene Carney’s blow-by-blow account of the 1919 Black Sox fixing scandal.
One does not have to read SABR 50 at 50 in any order. It is a delectable smorgasbord of baseball history, statistics and research that is essential for baseball libraries. It goes without saying that each chapter is meticulously researched, and the editors provide updates where necessary.
The price tag may seem steep, but it really is not. To enjoy the kind of rich detail, analysis and excellent research is worth the $49.95.
As Thorn notes — and practices — baseball history is “getting things right simply because with effort one could, and because ‘cleaning up’ seemed morally superior to ‘going along,’ accepting what was wrong.”
This volume highlights the morality and high standards set a half century ago by SABR.
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