October 15, 2024
Dear Peter:
Rod Carew and Tony Oliva had been on the stage at SABR 52 this summer in Minneapolis for about half an hour when our next guests started to arrive. We were gathered in a small green room and I was trying to get the group ready for the next panel. But Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, and former Minnesota Twins stars LaTroy Hawkins and Glen Perkins were too busy talking about last night’s game to listen. Suddenly Blyleven looked at me as if he’d just remembered something, asking “Are Rod and Tony here?” He didn’t wait for me to respond before saying, “Take me to ’em, I gotta heckle ’em!” Moments later we were in the ballroom and Blyleven strode confidently to the dais, waiting for his friends to see him. The murmurs of the crowd got the attention of Carew and Oliva, who stopped speaking. Blyleven wryly broke the silence, “What the hell do these guys know about hitting anyway?” The ensuing belly laughs made the room feel more like a comedy club than a baseball conference.
Order was eventually restored in the ballroom, at least until Messrs. Blyleven, Hawkins, Kaat, and Perkins sat down to share their twelve decades of pitching experience with everyone. It is a testament to SABR that four Hall of Famers – along with other top former players and execs – were willing to share the stories of their time on the field and the friendships they forged in the game with a room full of strangers. How and why did this happen? Simply put, the SABR community has earned its sterling reputation, derived from members who are knowledgeable, curious, inclusive, and passionate.
SABR continues to pursue its vision to become the essential community for the world of baseball and our current focus in that effort is how we can best fulfill the needs of our members. Because of the dedication and generosity of members like you, we get closer to achieving that vision every day, and I’ll be sharing a bit more about how we plan to better fulfill member needs at the end of this note. First, I am excited to share highlights from the past year with you.
Then, I will invite you to join SABR’s Bring It Home Campaign, a collective initiative to support SABR’s efforts to add to our research resources, expand programming, and strengthen the connection of our baseball community. I hope you will consider making a donation to SABR this year.
Now, here are some highlights from an exciting, successful year:
- SABR now has more members than at any other time in our history, as we boast more than 7,500 members. Our continued growth is thanks to the tireless efforts of our membership ambassadors, chapter leaders, and other volunteers. Volunteers are at the heart of SABR’s success and an estimated 1,000 members volunteer annually.
- SABR’s Research Resources continued to expand in 2024 as we acquired the Lahman Baseball Database thanks to the generosity of longtime member Sean Lahman. Before the end of the year, SABR will also add the images and database of the Bill Weiss Player Questionnaires to SABR.org. These resources are part of our continued commitment to our mission of baseball research.
- SABR Events continue to provide great connections between members and the broader baseball community. Event highlights from this year include:
- More than 500 people attended the 2024 SABR Analytics Conference and 15 student teams participated in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition in Phoenix, Arizona. Among those in attendance were more than 100 members of the MLB Diversity Pipeline program.
- The Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, a first for the event and a testament to the importance of Negro League research.
- SABR 52 in Minneapolis included talks from four Hall of Famers – the most of any SABR convention – and was our most attended annual convention since 2018.
Your support ensures the growth and future of these events and several others – including the Women in Baseball Conference and 19th Century Conference – which showcase the breadth and depth of both our members interests and their expertise.
- The SABR Local Grants program funded six new projects in 2024. This program provides an opportunity for chapters, research committees, and chartered communities to apply for funding for their projects under SABR’s Four Pillars: Research, Scholarship, Preservation, and Future of the Game. The 2024 projects are:
- Aberdeen Municipal Ballpark Commemorative Marker/Plaque (Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter, Baltimore, MD)
- Dubuque Baseball Classic symposium (Field of Dreams Chapter, Dubuque, IA)
- Dave Bancroft Cemetery Acknowledgement (Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter, Milwaukee, WI)
- Texas Historical Marker for Colt Stadium (Larry Dierker Chapter, Houston, TX)
- George Washington University Capstone Research Analytics Project (Schott-Pelican Chapter, New Orleans, LA)
- Weiss Questionnaire Machine Learning (Scouts Research Committee)
- Through our SABR Digital Library program, we published our 100th title in early 2024. We have also continued to publish our flagship Baseball Research Journal, The National Pastime convention journal, and hundreds of new articles on the SABR website through the BioProject and Games Project. SABR publications are an amazing example of member research, collaboration and participation.
None of these accomplishments would have been possible without donor generosity — which is why I hope you will offer your support today.
I mentioned earlier that we are working on initiatives that will help us better fulfill member needs. I’m excited to share with you a few new initiatives and projects in 2024 and beyond:
- Improved SABR Community Connections
- We will expand our SABR Scholars program – a virtual career development and networking series – and add bi-annual member socials and research committee events.
- Expanded Institutional Relationships
- SABR will identify and develop strategic partnerships with library systems, colleges and universities, and professional organizations that can increase membership value and support mission-focused programming.
- Increased Research Resources and Research Opportunities
- SABR’s Research Preservation Committee will continue the evergreen process of identifying research resources and assets, and creating pathways for members to access them.
- SABR will improve the navigation of its research resources while also making them truly for “members only” and continuing to build connections between databases.
As you can see, we have been plenty busy in the last year at SABR HQ and will continue to pour our energy into exciting projects in 2025.
You can support SABR’s Bring It Home campaign by making an online gift of $150 or more. We will use your best gift of $150, $300, $500, $1,000, or whatever your means allow to support core programming like the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference; to support new initiatives the Local Grants program; and to to build on our ability to fulfill member needs.
All donors supporting the Bring It Home campaign with a $150 gift or more will receive a paperback copy of the new SABR book Sandy Koufax or the forthcoming Dazzling Debuts: First At-Bat Home Runs.
Donors providing a gift of $300 or more will receive one of the books above as well as an invite to “An Evening with John Thorn,” an exclusive virtual event for SABR donors, featuring a Q&A session with MLB’s Official Historian.
Donors supporting SABR with a gift of $500 or more will receive all of the above along with a SABR windbreaker jacket. Pretty cool, right?
Baseball makes the world better! Thank you so much for believing that, and for joining us in this endeavor.
Yours in baseball,
Scott Bush
CEO, SABR
P.S. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have questions or would like to contribute an idea. We love to hear from our members. Thank you again for all your support this year!
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Mailing address: SABR, PO Box 1715, Milwaukee, WI 53201. Physical address: Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #406-C, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Website: SABR.org. Phone: 602-496-1460.