What goes on at the national SABR convention?

yeah...cincy chili.

i went to school in oh and on the way back from a spring break journey w/ a buddy of mine stopped for dinner in cincy at his gf's house. her old man served up "cincy style chili" like it was some sort of delicacy. i thought it was a joke cause it struck me as bland spaghetti and meat sauce w/ kidney beans.

wtf?

I tried to find an image for "SABR" through Google to answer the question at hand, and this is all I found:

ihttp://www.biologieolympiade-hessen.de/Landesseminar_2003/Bilder_Landesseminar_03/Bild_9_03/Sabr-gr.jpg

BTW, after reading the more "colorful" anecdotes in the Gleeman link, man, I'm glad I missed that bunch.

Next year's convention is in Toronto -- now THAT's a town with some good Thai food and thrift stores!

Why I'll be seeing the Yanks and Jays in August:

http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1005,17

Wow, I didn't know it was coming to Toronto (I never saw this thread)! Too bad it's being held out in the 'burbs.

Holiday Inn on King? That's blocks from Skydome, dude.

Sorry, I misread and got it mixed up with the 1981 SABR meeting. That one was in the 'burbs. This year's is right downtown.

Announced guests thus far: Fergie Jenkins, (Dr) Ron Taylor, Paul Godfrey (keynote speech), Paul Beeston.

http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1212,17,0

gayness is what goes on.

not that there's anything wrong with that.

No Stenc, I've always had to leave the hotel site for any blatant gayness. (You're so full of innuendo today!)

oh man that sucks! they should bring the gay to you. i would insist on it.

"Concierge? It's me.
Please deliver teh gayness.
Leave it by the door."

Some upcoming presentations at Toronto:

"Why don't you teach him a few things?" Dick Allen, Ron Santo and the Battle for Leadership of the 1974 White Sox

The Leo Mazzone Effect

Assessing Pitchers' Impact on the Results for Balls in Play: An Extreme View

Bert Collyer: The Canadian Connection to the Black Sox Scandal

Charles Ives's Musical Depictions of Johnny Evers, Mike Donlin, and Wee Willie Keeler

Migrant, Manager and Mortician: Joe Quinn, Australia's First Pro Player

Were the 1994 Expos Just Lucky?

Dammit, it appears there'll be no Fergie Jenkins appearance. Oh, well...

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Society for American Baseball Research(SABR) and Sporting News are happy to announce that Peter Bjarkman, Timothy A Johnson, Rob Neyer and Bill James will receive The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research award at this year's annual convention in Toronto.

Bjarkman will be recognized for the research he did to produce his book, Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball, published by Greenwood Press. This work traces the history of baseball in Australia, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the rest of the world. Bjarkman profiles the teams and leading players from each country. He also covers the history of tournament play throughout the world, including Olympic baseball. This volume provides an invaluable and unprecedented source on the growth of America's "national pastime" into a global phenomenon that one day might feature a true World Series.

Johnson will be acknowledged for the research he did to produce his book, Baseball and the Music of Charles Ives: A Proving Ground, published by Scarecrow Press. Through intelligent discussion of Ives's musical compositions combined with solid research on the composer's lifelong love of the American pastime, Ives's pioneering spirit and unique creativity are highlighted most clearly in this work.

Neyer and James will be honored for the research they did to produce their book, The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, published by Fireside Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. A culmination of 12 years of research, the centerpiece of this book, the "Pitcher Census," lists specific information for nearly two thousand pitchers, ranging throughout the history of professional baseball.

The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award honors those individuals whose outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. It has been awarded annually since 1995 and each winner receives a plaque and a cash award, sponsored by The Sporting News. Nominations for the award are sought beginning in October.

Who are these guys? ie, anyone insightful, or can I skip it?

TORONTO BASEBALL MEDIA PANEL

Friday, August 5, 2:00-3:00 PM

Bob Elliott, Larry Millson, Neil MacCarl, Spencer Fordin, moderated by John Matthew IV.

Bob Elliott writes for the Toronto Sun and is fairly well-known, Neil MacCarl used to write for the Toronto Star but I believe he's been retired for a while now. MacCarl was highly respected in his time so if you decide to go, go for him.

spencer fordin writes for bluejays.com. i believe he's a new-school guy, very moneyball. see battersbox.ca for more.

Man, I've never seen visitors' gear hawked in the stands til Yanks @Jays last night. Tragic! Barry and I tried improvising response chants to Jeter fans.

Two kids from Tufts did the Mazzone Effect presentation mentioned upthread; conventioneers cornered Bill James afterward.

This guy did his rundown of team and individual'lucky' seasons:

http://www.philbirnbaum.com

More as I'm able (probably after my return)...

Some TO-based coverage (the second one is OK if alienated, and with the crap stereotypical headline... I did point out the 'variance decomposition' poster to Barry):

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050806/SABR06/TPSports/Columnists

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Ulmer/2005/08/07/1163085.html

The Origin of the Pitching Rotation won best oral presentation; I always seem to miss the award winner.

"For all the cheery talk of the game's recovery, baseball's diminished hold on the young North American male is spectacularly evident here."

wow, 20-somethings aren't flying in to toronto to attend a baseball obssessives convention?? i'm stunned.

in my experience, this isn't really true; at least not any more than it has been over the past 30 or so years. if anything i've noticed exactly the opposite over the past couple years.

if the alcohol flows as freely as gleeman suggested when he wrote about the 04 convention, i'll be there one of these years.

I've never stayed in the Hospitality Room long enough to see heavy boozing. Under-50 drinkers tend to go out on the town.

And I saw a few more 20somethings at previous cons. It's usually in mid-late June, maybe this was too close to the resumption of school for some, or they spent their vacation $$$.

That Canoe article is such BS. It's true that baseball is no longer dominant in American sports, but he talks about baseball as if it's this quaint game of yore that's about to go the way of the dodo.

yeah, i didn't really bother reading it but it is awful, terribly smug and hypocritical. "look at these silly middle-aged men, obsessed with a quaint old game." i mean YOU'RE A FUCKING SPORTSWRITER.

Yeah, but it still didn't rise to outright dismissal, which SABR has gotten from S*lena R*berts of the NY Times.

I had my annual catch Friday morning with a 60ish Red Sox fan and bruised the heel of my hand with my Ramirezesque technique.

The winning presentation's blurb:

Origin of the pitching rotation
Peter Morris

This presentation will examine the origins of the pitching rotation and explain why Cap Anson has been credited with this innovation despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In doing so, it will draw attention to a principle that every baseball researcher and historian should be mindful of: that baseball history is usually written from the perspective of the victors.

PETER MORRIS' first book, Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan, was the recipient of the 2004 Seymour Medal. His second book will be published next spring and will explore baseball firsts such as this one.

Paul Godfrey gave a crisp and amusing luncheon speech -- he talked about the time Toronto nearly snared the Giants from SF around '75 (I remember some pre-season annuals listing them as the Toronto Giants!), and how Bowie Kuhn tried to get the Jays to enter as a National League franchise. After the NL voted 10-2 in favor -- it required a unanimous vote -- Kuhn said to Godfrey "I persuaded ten teams in a week; give me two more weeks to swing the other two clubs!" Two weeks later, another vote was taken... and it was 7-5!

Paul Beeston was part of a panel and received an award from the SABR scouting committee. The Toronto writers were a good lot too.

One morning I was wearing my Industriales de Habana jersey in the breakfast cafe, and an old Latin man with a cane asked me "Have you been to Cuba?" I said yes, and he said "I covered those leagues in 1949." He was a 50-year sportswriter from San Juan named Eduardo Calero (I wrote it down, I think that's it), and we had a 5-minute conversation about Luis Arroyo (the Puerto Rican relief ace of the '61 Yankees), Clemente, the color bar against 'black' Latin players, etc. Sometimes it pays to wear the gear.

After reading Aaron Gleeman's summary of poker-playing and gathering at sports bars, man am I glad I hung with Barry, the ILE folk and such. (I'm 99% sure I shared an elevator with some of AG's crowd around 2am.) You don't have to read it.

Next year's will likely be in late June... in Seattle w/ Jim Bouton!

http://nwsabr.sabr.org/convention.htm

I'll be checking out the Portland Beavers before or after.