The potential writer of biographies for three prominent players: Charlie
Gehringer, Babe Herman, and Rube Walberg, has informed us he will be unable to
do them.

Anyone interested in taking on any of the three, please contact me at
lspatz@mchsi.com
Lyle

We're getting into the home stretch of the Baseball season, but a lot of great activities are scheduled.

Dedication of Historical Marker

A historical marker commemorating the Milwaukee Bears of the Negro National League and Borchert Field, the historic ballpark where they – and many other local teams – played their home games, will be unveiled in a ceremony on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 10 a.m. in Clinton Rose Park. The marker will be located beyond the outfield fence of the facility’s baseball field (off of Burleigh Street).

 

The event will include brief remarks by Club officials from the Milwaukee Brewers and local dignitaries. Representatives from the Milwaukee Bears, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers will also be in attendance. The public is invited to attend.

 

Funded by the Brewers, the creation and installation of the historical marker has enjoyed the full support of the Yesterday’s Negro League Baseball Players Foundation, The Milwaukee County Historical Society and the Milwaukee County Parks Department.

 

The Milwaukee Bears represented the Cream City in the Negro National League during the 1923 season. The Bears were led by player-manager Joseph Preston “Pete” Hill, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

 

Borchert Field, which o ccupied the city block bounded by West Burleigh, West Chambers, North 7th and North 8th Streets, was home to a number of Milwaukee ballclubs. Named Athletic Park from the first season in 1888 until 1927 when it was renamed after Brewers owner Otto Borchert, the stadium also was home to the Major League Milwaukee Brewers in 1891, the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers from 1902 until 1952, and the Milwaukee Chicks of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1944. Marquette University and the Milwaukee Badgers and Green Bay Packers also played football at the facility.

Come to the dedication of the marker, and watch the Brewers- Nationals game in the afternoon.

Upcoming Meeting


The next meeting of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter of SABR Meeting will take place on Saturday November 8, 2008, 11 AM at Long-Wong's Chinese-American Sportsbar on 53rd and Bluemound Road in Milwaukee. Food and drink will be available at the meeting. If you're interested in making a research presentation contact Rick Schabowski at 414-322-4997 or via e-mail at RICKIU76@aol.com.

New Book Released
Roger Gogan, a member of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter of SABR sent the following message.
 Being a member of SABR has inspired me to write my first book that some of our fellow Milwaukee Chapter SABR members may be interest ed in. Attached is the announcement for my book, "Bluejackets of Summer: The History of the Great Lakes Navy Baseball Team 1942-45" which was released on June 21, 2008. The Great Lakes baseball team included 68 former/future major league players, 18 major league all-stars and five future Hall of Fame members as well as the Milwaukee Chapter namesake Ken Keltner.
Written with the help of former surviving members Ernie Andres, Bob Feller, Eddie Carnett and Virgil Trucks. The book has 242 pages, 47 rare photographs, game results, team rosters and stats and a game log of the 1942 Servicemen All-Stars Game.
    The Great Lakes team played numerous games in Milwaukee against the American Association Brewers and the Bucyrus-Erie, Falk and Allen Bradley industrial teams as well as defeating nearly every major league team in the four years during the war.

Roger can be reached by e-mail at rogergogan@hotmail.com.

Hank Aaron Trail Run

Join me as a participant in the Henry Aaron State Trail run this Saturday August 9th. You can register.....even on the day of the race. For more info go to:http://www.hankaaronstatetrail.org/hank-aaron-run-walk.html.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have!

Be st of Luck

Rick Schabowski

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is pleased to announce the
recipients of the 2008 Yoseloff-SABR Baseball Research Grants. They are
(alphabetically) Rick Benner, Gene Carney, Ken Fenster, David Laliberte, John
Lewis, and Justin Murphy. The Yoseloff-SABR Baseball Research Grants support
baseball research efforts by providing reimbursement funding for worthy
projects. The result of the research will be published in some from by SABR.

The grants were made possible by the generosity of the Anthony A. Yoseloff
Foundation. This year’s recipients mark the fourth cycle of SABR’s program in
which it will award no less than $4,000 in baseball research grants each year.

Benner, 50, a paralegal from Baldwin City, Kansas, received funding for his
proposal on researching what colleges major league baseball players have
attended. The current chair of the SABR Collegiate Committee, Benner has been a
SABR member since 2001.

Carney, 62, a writer/editor from Utica, New York, received his second
Yoseloff-SABR Baseball Research grant. His funding will allow him to pore
through many of the documents relating to the Black Sox Scandal recently
purchased by the Chicago History Museum. He has been a SABR member since 1991.

Fenster, 63, an associate professor of history at Georgia Perimeter College,
received his grant to research Earl Mann. Earl Mann, known as “Mr. Atlanta
Baseball,” operated the Atlanta Crackers of the Double-A Southern Association
for the Coca-Cola Company from 1934 until 1949 when he purchased the team. He
owned the team through the conclusion of the 1959 season when he returned his
franchise to the League. Fenster has been a SABR member since 1993.

Laliberte, 30, a graduate student from St. Cloud, Minnesota, received his grant
to explore baseball at several Minnesota Native American boarding schools in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. He has been a SABR member since October
2007.

Lewis, 53, of Columbus, Ohio, will use his grant to compile the complete season
statistics from the 1905 Ohio-Pennsylvania League. The league began the season
as the Protective Association, but changes its name mid-season when it joined
the National Association. The league president announced at season’s end that
there were no official hitting, pitching and fielding statistics because most
official scorers failed to send in the statistics. Lewis plans to reconstruct
the statistics by collecting box scores from each game. Lewis joined SABR in
1993.

Murphy, 23, a linguist from Penfield, New York, received his grant to aid in his
research of Jocko Flynn, especially his life and his amateur career. Murphy has
been a member since February 2007.

Information regarding the 2009 Yoseloff-SABR Baseball Research Grants will be
posted soon. To review the most recent guidelines, see http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,2057
.

Thank you for your continued support of SABR!

John Zajc
Executive Director

SABR
812 Huron Rd E #719
Cleveland OH 44115
1-800-969-7227

Gregg,
 
There are two ballplayer graves in Milwaukee who just had a grave marker installed after over 70 years. Dan Lally and Donald G. "Dan" Marion (see baseball-reference.com).
 
Lally was generally an upper-level minor leaguer for nearly 20 years, having spent time in 17 different cities. He hit .400 with Minneapolis of the Western League in 1895. He was committed to the Wisconsin Insane Asylum in Milwaukee County in 1910 and passed away there in 1936.
 
Marion played for Milwaukee in the American Association in 1911-12 and developed a fastball for which he became renouned. Alchohol brought him to an early demise as he passed away in 1933 at his apartment in what is now known as downtown Milwaukee.
 
I first discovered that Marion's grave was unmarked in 2004. Two years later I discovered that Dan Lally's grave was located a mere number of yards from where Marion is buried, also unmarked.
 
Then last winter I endeavored to secure funding for the grave markers of these two forgotten ballplayers.
 
Two weeks from today I will be conducting an onsite grave marker unveiling for Lally and Marion. If you could pass the word a bit I'd appreciate it.
 
The short ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Milwaukee. The cemetery is located at 35th and S. Morgan Ave.
 
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MORE INFORMATION.
 
Take care, and GO BREWERS!
 
Rex Hamann
14201 Crosstown Blvd. NW
Andover, Minnesota 55304-3311
 
The American Association Almanac
A Baseball History Journal (1902-1952)
www.AmericanAssociationAlmanac.com
Subscriptions available...Be the first on your block!
And be sure to check out the latest entry in my blog: www.theoldaa.wordpress.com
or
www.almanacpark.blogspot.com

The 38th Annual gathering of SABR members, also known as the Annual Convention,
concluded on Sunday, June 29. The event was the fourth-largest SABR convention
with 632 registrants -- one more than Washington DC had in 1987. While the
weather caused our picnic on Thursday to end early and gave us a rain delay
prior to the start of SABR Night at Progressive Field on Friday, a good time was
still had by all.

I'd like to thank the supporters of the SABR convention -- Major League Baseball
& the Commissioner's Office, the Cleveland Indians Baseball Club, McFarland &
Company, The Shpigler Group, Western Reserve Historical Society, the Louisville
Slugger Museum & Factory, Medical Mutual of Ohio, and SABR members Catherine
Petroski, Jerry Winchell, and Chuck Hilty.

During the convention, we celebrate the best of baseball research. The winners
of the McFarland-SABR and Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Awards were
honored along with the Seymour Medal Winner (Lee Lowenfish) at the Sunday Awards
Breakfast. Also feted were Vince Gennaro, whose presentation, "What Factors
Influence Free Agent Salaries?" won the Doug Pappas Research Award for Best Oral
Presentation at the convention. David R. Zavagno, Avrami Grader, and Philip M.
Halleck won the USA Today Sports Weekly Award for the Best Poster Presentation
for "Maple Bats Changed the Game."

If you would like to help out by serving on any of the awards judging
committees, drop me a line. The McFarland-SABR and Sporting News-SABR Baseball
Research Awards, and the Seymour Medal all have a regular rotation of judges.
Perhaps we can work you in down the line.

Finally, the FIRST publication of the year was placed in the mail this week --
"Batting Four Thousand: Baseball in the Western Reserve." If you do not have
your copy by August 26, then your copy was probably lost in the mail. Contact
the SABR office after August 26 and we will replace the missing issue. The
National Pastime should be in the mail by mid-September.

Thank you for your continued support of SABR!


John Zajc
Executive Director

Hello,

I just wanted to introduce myself. I recently joined SABR, and I’m looking forward to being a part of it. I recently published a book called “Stat One” and have heard from some SABR members regarding their opinions of it and of my statistic, P/E Average. I’d love to hear some feedback, whether positive, negative, or somewhere in between. It’s great to be a part of SABR…all the best!

Sincerely,

Craig Messmer

www.statonebaseball.com

 

MVP/E

 

            With the All-Star break upon us as the symbolic halfway point of the season, I thought it might be an interesting time to look at some of the leading MVP candidates in each league with regard to P/E Averages. Statistics are current through teams’ final games on Sunday, July 13th. P/E Averages were originally designed just for situations like this; they are an invaluable tool when comparing players, especially those from the same league (facing relatively the same competition) playing during the same time period. Enough talk…let’s take a look at the numbers for this year’s MVP hopefuls.

 

American League

 

Josh Hamilton (Texas): 1.228 P/E Average

            Hamilton leads all of MLB with 95 RBI. He has also eclipsed 200 total bases, leading an offensive explosion throughout the first half of the year in Texas.

 

Kevin Youkilis (Boston): 1.145 P/E Average

            Youkilis has come on strong of late to thrust himself into the MVP argument. With efficiency averages of .314 batting, .381 on-base, and .552 slugging, Youkilis is also on pace to shatter his career best in RBI.

 

Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay): 1.040 P/E Average

            If the Rays can stay in contention throughout, Longoria will receive some serious notoriety, although an MVP trophy is probably not in the cards for him quite yet. He has a .513 slugging percentage and 53 RBI.

 

Carlos Quentin (Chicago): 1.149 P/E Average

            White Sox fans are ecstatic over the numbers Quentin has already put up. He’s hit for power (22 homers, .525 slugging) and been both efficient (.375 on-base) and productive (70 RBI) for his first-place team.

 

Justin Morneau (Minnesota): 1.085 P/E Average

            Morneau leads the overachieving Twins in RBI; he has also batted .323 so far this year. Could a second piece of MVP hardware be in his future?

 

My vote for AL MVP: Hamilton

 

National League

 

Chipper Jones (Atlanta): 1.173 P/E Average

            Jones, who has flirted with a .400 batting average on and off throughout the year, has settled in at .376 for the break. He has more walks (56) than strikeouts (40) and has outstanding efficiency averages of .472 on-base and .614 slugging.

 

Ryan Howard (Philadelphia): 1.132 P/E Average

            Despite the fact that Howard will likely set the strikeout record this year, perhaps going well beyond 200, he has been Mr. Production. His RBI numbers are dominant despite the fact that some of his other stats are not.

 

Chase Utley (Philadelphia): 1.184 P/E Average

            A month ago, his P/E was probably 200 points higher than it is right now. He’s cooled off from his ridiculously hot start, but he still owns a .582 slugging percentage for a middle infielder…not bad.

 

David Wright (New York): 1.102 P/E Average

            Wright’s candidacy will naturally be tied to the fortunes of the Mets. If they can stay hot and remain in the playoff hunt, then he will have a good chance to earn MVP votes. He sports a .380 on-base percentage and is well on his way to a 4th consecutive season of more than 100 runs driven in.

 

Lance Berkman (Houston): 1.388 P/E Average

            This is the guy everyone wants on their fantasy team. He has the best P/E Average in baseball and has averaged 1.40 net runs (RBI + runs – HR) per game, which is a terrific figure. Will the voters shy away from him because the Astros have played poorly?

 

My vote for NL MVP: Berkman

 

this blog originally posted on www.statonebaseball.com

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I am still out of town (currently on some lake in Western New York) and was
surprised to discover that I have wireless internet access. I will send out
some more information about the convention when I return. I did want to touch
on my recent award, which Lyle mentioned in a recent note.

It was a rather ego-inflating moment when you consider the people who have won
the award before me. Including, of course, Lyle himself. From the time I heard
my name until the time I had to begin speaking was just a few minutes, not
nearly enough time to get my bearings and properly thank people who deserve to
be thanked. Please pardon the indulgence, as I will do so now.

The Biography Project is the principal reason I won the award I am sure, and
this project has benefited from the work of hundreds of people. In particular,
I want to now thank Fred Ivor-Campbell, who helped get this project started;
Lyle Spatz, ditto, and an important cog in the machine for six years; Bill
Nowlin, who is cracking the whip on all of our new team projects; Trey Strecker,
Warren Corbett, Jeff Bower, Mike Cooney; and perhaps most of all, Jan Finkel,
who has organized a large group of editors and made many writers (including me)
read better than they otherwise would. The day Jan agreed to come aboard may
have been the best day this project ever had.

I often say that this project is a huge undertaking made up of a lot of small
and well-defined tasks--the individual bios. The writers of the 840 bios do not
have to be aware of the greater project, but it is your efforts that have made
the project a success. Thanks to you I have a very big trophy.

Mark Armour

I understand that several committee members have had trouble contacting me. My
current email address is lspatz@mchsi.com
At least it is for now; it will change sometime in the next few months, as I
will be moving back to Florida.

Lyle Spatz

ps For anyone who hasn't heard, our chairman, Mark Armour, was the winner of
this year's Bob Davids Award. Congratulations Mark on a much-deserved honor.

We're hoping you'll participate in a very important survey for SABR.

Click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hHFp...gA6YndO0oxrxA_3d_3d

The survey will only take a few minutes and will be an opportunity for
members and nonmembers to let us know what they like, dislike or could see
working better at SABR.org.
Thank you for taking the time. Your opinion is invaluable in understanding the
way you use SABR.org.


If you have any questions, please e-mail bbristol@sabr.org

Becky Bristol
Director of Special Projects
Society for American Baseball Research
812 Huron Rd E #719
Cleveland OH 44115
www.sabr.org

SABR is making nearly three dozen of its old publications (Baseball Research
Journal and The National Pastime, plus reprints like "Batting" and "Base Ball:
How to Become a Player") available a a deep, deep discount through June 10.

Order from SABR's book distributor, the University of Nebraska Press, by
visiting their bargain book pages.

The link below will take you directly to the SABR publications.

http://tinyurl.com/6s97hy

These books make an excellent Father's Day gift for the Dad who loves his
baseball history.

It's less than 25 days until the Cleveland convention, so I better get back to
work. The entire staff is looking forward to welcoming more than 600 SABR
members from around the world to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Clevenad.

Thank you for your support of SABR!

John Zajc
Executive Director
Society for American Baseball Research
812 Huron Rd E #719
Cleveland OH 44115
1-800-969-7227
www.sabr.org