SABR

SABR Baseball Research Award

The SABR Baseball Research Award, formerly known as the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award, honors those whose outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. Each award shall consist of a cash prize of $200. Awards to projects involving more than one individual must be shared. 

Eligible projects must be the product of original research or analysis and must significantly advance our knowledge of baseball. They must be characterized by factual accuracy and notable insight. Eligible projects will include, but not necessarily be limited to, research in statistics, statistical analysis and statistical compilation, plus research in such diverse areas as advertising, architecture, bibliography, collectibles, economics, equipment, labor relations and technology. 

Research projects may be of any length and, if published, may be published separately or as part of a larger work. Researchers honored for unpublished work may not later receive an award for that work (or similar work) in published form

The selection committee is chaired by Steve Gietschier. Other committee members are Andrew Goldblatt, Marlene Vogelsang and Bill Felber.

From 1996-2011, the award was known as the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award. All past SABR Baseball Research Award winners, listed below, can be purchased at the SABR Bookstore.

Please note: No research project will be considered for more than one SABR Research Award.

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2014 award nominations

To submit a nomination for the 2014 awards, for works published in 2013, please send back this downloadable nominating form plus FIVE (5) copies of the work by January 31, 2014, to:

E-mail: sgietsch@gmail.com
or
Mail: Steve Gietschier, 313 Butler Library, Lindenwood University, 209 S. Kings Highway, St. Charles, MO 63301

The awards will be presented at the SABR 43 convention in Summer 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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SABR Baseball Research Award Winners

2013

• Ron Keurajian for Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs: A Reference Guide (McFarland & Co.)
• Herm Krabbenhoft for "The Accurate RBI Records for Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg and Babe Ruth" (Baseball Research Journal)
• Peter Morris, William J. Ryczek, Jan Finkel, Leonard Levin and Richard Malatzky for Base Ball Pioneers, 1850-1870: The Clubs and Players Who Spread the Sport Nationwide (McFarland & Co.)

2012

• Rebecca T. Alpert for Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball (Oxford University Press)
• Gary Ashwill, Scott Simkus, Dan Hirsch and Kevin Johnson for assembling the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database (Seamheads.com)
• Bill Staples Jr. for Kenichi Zenimura: Japanese American Baseball Pioneer (McFarland & Co.)

2011

• Timothy M. Gay for Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson (Simon & Schuster)
• Chris Jaffe for Evaluating Baseball’s Managers: A History and Analysis of Performance in the Major Leagues, 1876–2008 (McFarland)
• L.M. Sutter for New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present (McFarland)

2010

• Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks for Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, 1862-2007 (McFarland)
• Dennis Pajot for The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball: The Cream City from Midwestern Outpost to the Major Leagues, 1859-1901 (McFarland)
• L.M. Sutter for Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South (McFarland)

2009

• Ron Selter for Ballparks of the Deadball Era
• Andy Strasberg, Bob Thompson and Tim Wiles for Baseball's Greatest Hit
• Jim Walker and Rob Bellamy for Center Field Shot: A History of Baseball on Television

2008

• Paul DeBono, The Chicago American Giants (McFarland)
• Bill Felber, A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 Pennant (University of Nebraska Press)
• William F. McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season: Pay for Play Outside the Negro Leagues (McFarland)

2007

• John Dewan, The Fielding Bible (ACTA Sports)
• Ed Koszarek, The Players League: History, Clubs, Ballplayers, and Statistics (McFarland)
• Jeff Sackmann, for research found at his website, www.minorleaguesplits.com

2006

• Will Carroll, The Juice (Ivan R. Dee)
• Robert K. Fitts, Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Southern Illinois University Press)
• Steven R. Hoffbeck, Swinging for the Fences: Black Baseball in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

2005

• Peter Bjarkman, Diamonds Around the Globe: The Encyclopedia of International Baseball (Greenwood Press)
• Timothy A Johnson, Baseball and the Music of Charles Ives: A Proving Ground (Scarecrow Press)
• Rob Neyer and Bill James, The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (Simon and Schuster)

2004

• Mark Armour and Dan Levitt, Paths to Glory: How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way (Brassey's Inc.)
• Jim Vitti, The Cubs on Catalina (Settefrati Press)

2003

• Larry Lester, Baseball's Black Showcase: The East-West All-Star Game, 1933-1953 (University of Nebraska Press)
• Joseph Reaves, Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia (University of Nebraska Press)

2002

• Jim Albert and Jay Bennett, Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics and the Role of Chance in the Game (Copernicus)
• David Vincent, Lyle Spatz, and David W. Smith, The Mid-Summer Classic (University of Nebraska Press)
• Greg Rhodes and John Snyder, Redleg Journal (Road West)

2001

• Joel Hawkins and Terry Bertolino, The House of David Baseball Team (Arcadia)
• Tom Simon, representing the Gardner-Waterman Chapter of SABR, The Green Mountain Boys of Summer (New England Press)

2000

• Greg Rhodes and Mark Stang, Reds in Black and White (Road West)
• Bob Tiemann for research on attendance in the National Association, 1871-1875, published in the sixth edition of Total Baseball (Total Sports)

1999

• Joseph Dorinson and Joram Warmund, editors, Jackie Robinson: Race Sports, and the American Dream (M.E. Sharpe)
• Chris Holaday, Professional Baseball in North Carolina: An Illustrated City-by-City History, 1901-1996 (McFarland)
• Marshall D. Wright, The International League: Year-By-Year Statistics, 1884-1953 (McFarland)

1998

• Joseph Dittmar, Baseball Records Registry: The Best and Worst Single-Day Performances and the Stories Behind Them (McFarland)
• Jonathan Fraser Light, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball (McFarland)
• David Nemec, The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball (Donald I. Fine Books)

1997

• Dan Gutman, The Way Baseball Works (Simon and Schuster)
• Richard Orodenker, Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth Century American Sportswriters (Gale Research)
• Frederick Ivor-Campbell, Robert L. Tiemann and Mark Rucker, editors, Baseball's First Stars (SABR)

1996

• George W. Hilton, The Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring W. Lardner, 1914-1919 (Stanford Univ. Press)
• Dan Gutman, Banana Bats and Ding-Dong Balls: A Century of Baseball Inventions (Macmillan)
• John Benson and Tony Blengino, Baseball's Top 100: The Best Individual Seasons of All-Time (Diamond Library)