Did you \u2026<\/p>\n
– Ever wonder about who has the dubious distinction of throwing the most pitches in the first inning of a game since pitch counts became a reliable statistic?<\/p>\n
– Ever hear the one about Syd Cohen<\/a>, who also played professional baseball under the alias \u201cPablo Garcia\u201d?<\/p>\n – Know that the presence of a Fussell Ice Cream<\/a> advertisement in a ballpark scorecard meant that you had to be scoring that game in Washington, D.C.?<\/p>\n – Know that the same guy played with Larry Bowa<\/a> and Denny Doyle<\/a>, roomed with pro football Hall of Famer Bob\u00a0Griese<\/a> in college, and had the dubious distinction of being flattened at home plate in the minor leagues by none other than Mr. October<\/a>?<\/p>\n – Ever wonder how the terabytes of \u201cBig Data\u201d collected during MLB games can yield useful information for the purpose of putting a lineup together against a particular pitcher in a particular park?<\/p>\n – Know that authenticated, new information about the life and times of Babe Ruth is still surfacing as recently as last year?<\/p>\n Well, if you had attended the Bob Davids Chapter\u2019s 40th<\/sup> Annual Meeting on January 25, 2014, you would have learned the answers to these and many other questions during an entertaining seven hours of presentations, anecdotes, baseball trivia, reminiscences and camaraderie, not to mention lively question and answer sessions with our speakers and presenters.<\/p>\n But first, the Chapter did a little business.\u00a0 The membership re-elected D. Bruce Brown<\/a> as President, Don Seaman<\/a> as Secretary, and Mark Pattison<\/a> as an At-Large Board Member, all starting two-year terms.<\/p>\n With a paid attendance of 135, the meeting heard Amy Tetlow Smith<\/a>, summarize the research she did on \u201cScorecard, Advertisement and Social History,\u201d a presentation that had received an honorable mention at SABR 43 in Philadelphia.\u00a0 Amy described the systematic analysis of the advertisements she and her husband Dave had catalogued while analyzing thousands of scorecards from the 19th century to the present and how the changing product lines reflected wider societal changes across the country. (Amy’s detailed research can be found on the Retrosheet<\/a> site.) Although Amy\u2019s solo performance proved a tough act to follow, Dave Smith<\/a>, a perennial favorite, scored his usual big inning with a sampling of his famous insights to milestones and oddities of the 2012 and 2013 seasons.<\/p>\n Vince Gennaro<\/a>, SABR\u2019s national president, reprised the award-winning presentation he made at the national convention this year in Philadelphia with an updated rendition of “Analyzing Batter Performance Against Pitcher Clusters.”\u00a0 Analyzing pitchers using five factors, Vince provided examples of how manager could employ such analysis to try to determine the most favorable match-up opportunities for his roster against any specific pitcher in a given ballpark.<\/p>\n Del Wilber, Jr.,<\/a> President of the Perfect Game Foundation<\/a>, followed with a discussion of his father Del<\/a>\u2019s decades long career in professional baseball, a career that included experiences as a player, coach, manager, and scout.\u00a0 Del also described his own athletic career that included a short two-sport stint at Purdue University, and minor league stops<\/a> in the Phillies\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n After lunch, Vince Gennaro<\/a> talked about the current state of SABR, and answered questions from the assembled group about the successes of SABR\u2019s recent history and the need for continued improvement in its delivery of service to membership as well as its contributions to the overall baseball community.\u00a0 Thereafter, Ned Rice<\/a> of the Baltimore Orioles discussed the application of sabermetric analytics in today\u2019s baseball operations.\u00a0 Film maker Aviva Kempner<\/a> discussed additional footage associated with her film \u201cThe Life and Times of Hank Greenberg<\/a>,\u201d along with some entertaining recollections of the adventures of former Washington Senator Syd Cohen<\/a> (a\/k\/a \u201cPablo Garcia\u201d). \u00a0Mike Gibbons<\/a> and Sean Herne<\/a>, representing the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum<\/a> and the Sports Legends Museum<\/a> at Camden Yards, noted that the day marked the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of Babe Ruth<\/a>\u2019s first professional contract.\u00a0 Mike and Sean talked about the upcoming birthday bash for the Babe (February 6), discussed some newly discovered facts and memorabilia associated with the Babe\u2019s life, and talked about the plans for events that will coincide with the Bob Davids Chapter\u2019s MLB game this year (June 7, at Camden Yards).\u00a0 To wrap it up, a guest from the Connie Mack chapter, Brian Englehardt<\/span> gave a research presentation about the history of baseball in Reading, PA, focusing on Lee McPhail<\/a> and his Reading Brooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n All in all it was a great way to spend a SABR Day next to the proverbial \u201cHot Stove.\u201d\u00a0 Oh, by the way, the pitcher who threw the most pitches in the first inning of a game since pitch counts became a reliable statistic is none other than Bartolo Colon<\/a>.\u00a0 Needless to say, it wasn\u2019t his best start that year.<\/p>\n Be of good cheer.\u00a0 Spring Training is just a few short days away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you \u2026 – Ever wonder about who has the dubious distinction of throwing the most pitches in the first inning of a game since pitch counts became a reliable statistic? – Ever hear the one about Syd Cohen, who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![Fussell Ice Cream<\/a> advertisement in a ballpark scorecard meant that you had to be scoring that game in Washington, D.C.?<\/p>\n– Know that the same guy played with Larry Bowa<\/a> and Denny Doyle<\/a>, roomed with pro football Hall of Famer Bob\u00a0Griese<\/a> in college, and had the dubious distinction of being flattened at home plate in the minor leagues by none other than Mr. October<\/a>?<\/p>\n– Ever wonder how the terabytes of \u201cBig Data\u201d collected during MLB games can yield useful information for the purpose of putting a lineup together against a particular pitcher in a particular park?<\/p>\n– Know that authenticated, new information about the life and times of Babe Ruth is still surfacing as recently as last year?<\/p>\nWell, if you had attended the Bob Davids Chapter\u2019s 40th<\/sup> Annual Meeting on January 25, 2014, you would have learned the answers to these and many other questions during an entertaining seven hours of presentations, anecdotes, baseball trivia, reminiscences and camaraderie, not to mention lively question and answer sessions with our speakers and presenters.<\/p>\nBut first, the Chapter did a little business.\u00a0 The membership re-elected D. Bruce Brown<\/a> as President, Don Seaman<\/a> as Secretary, and Mark Pattison<\/a> as an At-Large Board Member, all starting two-year terms.<\/p>\nWith a paid attendance of 135, the meeting heard Amy Tetlow Smith<\/a>, summarize the research she did on \u201cScorecard, Advertisement and Social History,\u201d a presentation that had received an honorable mention at SABR 43 in Philadelphia.\u00a0 Amy described the systematic analysis of the advertisements she and her husband Dave had catalogued while analyzing thousands of scorecards from the 19th century to the present and how the changing product lines reflected wider societal changes across the country. (Amy’s detailed research can be found on the Retrosheet<\/a> site.) Although Amy\u2019s solo performance proved a tough act to follow, Dave Smith<\/a>, a perennial favorite, scored his usual big inning with a sampling of his famous insights to milestones and oddities of the 2012 and 2013 seasons.<\/p>\nVince Gennaro<\/a>, SABR\u2019s national president, reprised the award-winning presentation he made at the national convention this year in Philadelphia with an updated rendition of “Analyzing Batter Performance Against Pitcher Clusters.”\u00a0 Analyzing pitchers using five factors, Vince provided examples of how manager could employ such analysis to try to determine the most favorable match-up opportunities for his roster against any specific pitcher in a given ballpark.<\/p>\nDel Wilber, Jr.,<\/a> President of the Perfect Game Foundation<\/a>, followed with a discussion of his father Del<\/a>\u2019s decades long career in professional baseball, a career that included experiences as a player, coach, manager, and scout.\u00a0 Del also described his own athletic career that included a short two-sport stint at Purdue University, and minor league stops<\/a> in the Phillies\u2019 organization.<\/p>\nAfter lunch, Vince Gennaro<\/a> talked about the current state of SABR, and answered questions from the assembled group about the successes of SABR\u2019s recent history and the need for continued improvement in its delivery of service to membership as well as its contributions to the overall baseball community.\u00a0 Thereafter, Ned Rice<\/a> of the Baltimore Orioles discussed the application of sabermetric analytics in today\u2019s baseball operations.\u00a0 Film maker Aviva Kempner<\/a> discussed additional footage associated with her film \u201cThe Life and Times of Hank Greenberg<\/a>,\u201d along with some entertaining recollections of the adventures of former Washington Senator Syd Cohen<\/a> (a\/k\/a \u201cPablo Garcia\u201d). \u00a0Mike Gibbons<\/a> and Sean Herne<\/a>, representing the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum<\/a> and the Sports Legends Museum<\/a> at Camden Yards, noted that the day marked the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of Babe Ruth<\/a>\u2019s first professional contract.\u00a0 Mike and Sean talked about the upcoming birthday bash for the Babe (February 6), discussed some newly discovered facts and memorabilia associated with the Babe\u2019s life, and talked about the plans for events that will coincide with the Bob Davids Chapter\u2019s MLB game this year (June 7, at Camden Yards).\u00a0 To wrap it up, a guest from the Connie Mack chapter, Brian Englehardt<\/span> gave a research presentation about the history of baseball in Reading, PA, focusing on Lee McPhail<\/a> and his Reading Brooks<\/a>.<\/p>\nAll in all it was a great way to spend a SABR Day next to the proverbial \u201cHot Stove.\u201d\u00a0 Oh, by the way, the pitcher who threw the most pitches in the first inning of a game since pitch counts became a reliable statistic is none other than Bartolo Colon<\/a>.\u00a0 Needless to say, it wasn\u2019t his best start that year.<\/p>\nBe of good cheer.\u00a0 Spring Training is just a few short days away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you \u2026 – Ever wonder about who has the dubious distinction of throwing the most pitches in the first inning of a game since pitch counts became a reliable statistic? – Ever hear the one about Syd Cohen, who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabrdavids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/jimijonesvisuals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Jacob-Fussell-Ice-Cream.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Vince Gennaro<\/a> talked about the current state of SABR, and answered questions from the assembled group about the successes of SABR\u2019s recent history and the need for continued improvement in its delivery of service to membership as well as its contributions to the overall baseball community.\u00a0 Thereafter,](\"http:\/\/usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/03\/vince-gennaro-sabr.png%3Fw%3D640\"){kind=link}
![Syd Cohen<\/a> (a\/k\/a \u201cPablo Garcia\u201d). \u00a0](\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8031\/7986431727_6e0e858c49.jpg\"){kind=link}