Boston Chapter Fall Meeting
Saturday, 4 Nov 2006

Recap

Saturday, November 4, 2006, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Crafted by Dan Desrochers, SABRBoston's November Regional at Boston
University displayed the quality of presentations that are normally reserved
for the National Convention or the All-Star game.  Each presenter displayed
a deep knowledge of their subject and presented it personably, crisply and
with a command of clarity that enthralled an attentive audience.  In other
words: our lineup hit grand salamis all the way around; everyone got good
wood on the ball and we touched all the bases, etc.

The Research Miniatures were anything but mini in their substance.  
Ron Anderson, gave us insight to the methods and results of his biography of
George Scott, particularly that he established a good working relationship
with The Boomer.  Joanne Hulbert revealed the story of William Selden the
accomplished 19th century African-American player for the Boston teams in
the 1880's and 1890s whose composition, at the time, limited them to members
of their own race.  And Bill Nowlin informed us of the dozens of places
[states, stadiums, municipalities and nations] where the Red Sox played in
championship, league and exhibition games.

Seth Mnookin gave us an insight to the workings of a major league team
[guess] via his book "Feeding the Monster".  Given carte blanche access to
the Sox office, players and meetings, he emphasized that the information we
receive about the team [and, by inference, all sports teams], from whatever
sources, should be viewed with an understanding that truth is often
subjective; that sports writers are not held to the same standards as other
journalists.  Consequently, the story --in whatever medium presented,
including memory-- very often transcends the truth.  Some teams do PR better
than others and the Red Sox new ownership team, he said, performed above
expectations during their early, and continuing, tenure with Red Sox Nation.

SABRBoston member Allison Binns expounded on her SABR award-winning poster
presentation with a PowerPoint on the "Short-term Effect of Salary
Arbitration on Performance".  Her model analysis of player performance after
arbitration indicate two things:
 1.players perform well during the arbitration year
 2.player performance drops the season after arbitration.
She attributed the drop, in part, to a player-present process that is
demeaning to the player and, she said, may need to be reworked.

David Laurila, a prolific interviewer, fed us titillating tidbits from his
numerous interviews of Boston baseball folk taken from his forthcoming book:
"Interviews from Red Sox Nation".  He kept us amused and informed with
excerpts featuring Curt Schilling, Bill Lee, Mike Tamburro, Lou Merloni
among others.

Guest Speaker, Dr. Charles Steinberg blew us away.  Slated to speak for 40
minutes with 20 Q&A, the Red Sox' current VP of Public Affairs held us in
thrall for more than 90 minutes giving us an "overview" of his life in
baseball.  We could have listened for another 90 as he fed us details and
themes of his journey through 3 baseball teams: Orioles, Padres and Red Sox.
His talk contained anecdotes, moral tales and a strong dose of baseball
history while he stressed that loyalty, creativity and love of the game are
major themes that drive his performance in his baseball life.  And, after
receiving accolades, he stayed for the Trivia Quiz!

Mark Kanter presented an extraordinary quiz based on the following
championship teams: 1901 White Sox, 1902 A's, 1919 White Sox, 1926 Cards,
1938 Cubs, 1944 Browns, 1945 Tigers, 1959 LA Dodgers, 1973 Mets, 1987 Twins,
1997 Indians, 2000 Yanks, 2005 Astros and the 2006 Cards.  
Win, Place, and Show: Joe Benedetti 1st, Paul Wendt 2nd, Charles Steinberg 3rd

SABRBoston's next regional meeting will be our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Holiday Regional on Monday, January 15, 2007 at Friends Meeting Cambridge
from 10am-4pm.

Peace in your life and a World Series in Boston,

Seamus Kearney
Chair, SABRBoston
781 321-0681