If you are not familiar with SABR, it is the Society of American Baseball Research. I have been a member since around 2013 when I returned from living in Korea. If you know me, I am a huge baseball fan. And if you don’t know me, now you know.
My master’s thesis was written on baseball’s impact during World War II, and my dissertation I hope to be baseball related as well. As I work on my Ph.D. through Liberty University, I am working to become a baseball historian. My goal is to be published in different journals and present at various events. Thankfully, I got to do both at the recent SABR #53 Convention.
Held in Dallas toward the end of June, this was a baseball lover’s paradise. For more than 3 days there were research presentations, talks from various Texas Rangers players/management/announcers, a small vendors market, baseball trivia, games to attend, and just so much baseball being discussed all weekend. I absolutely loved it and cannot wait to go back.
I have been wanting to attend one of these for years. But most of the time it either came down to affordability or timing. Last year it was done after the school year started for teachers here, and some years it was done when I was taking students overseas. But this year it was in Dallas just a short drive away. Plus I was able to save money by getting a free room for the long weekend right across the street at the Doubletree. The event was held at the Westin.
Article
Months prior to the convention I submitted a few abstracts and thankfully both were accepted. The first was for an article to be published in The National Pastime: Baseball in Texas and Beyond. My article featured the 1953-54 Waco Pirates and the trials the team went through coming out as ranked as one of the all-time great minor league teams. You can click on the image below and see the article.
While you are there in the journal, be sure to check out all the other great articles here.
This was the first time I have been published in a legitimate peer reviewed journal, and I loved the process. I am already working on my next article to submit to another journal.
Presentation
My second abstract was for a presentation. It was accepted as well, and below is the snippet on what I was going to talk about straight from the SABR #53 Convention website.
The Waco Navigators won three consecutive Class B Texas League titles from 1914-1916. Bynum focuses on the first of their titles, shared with the Houston Buffaloes. Houston was accused of delaying the last game of the season until it was too dark to play, allowing it to win the title by percentage points over Waco. The league Commissioner ultimately made a decision that eventually led to Houston and Waco having the same record and sharing the title. Bynum explores what led to this decision, while touching on the rather brief major league career of the Navigators’ Harvey Grubb.
The Texas League Controversy of 1914
Eric Bynum
I cannot recall being as nervous as I was before my presentation. Luckily there were people there that were very supportive and want to shout out to Dan Wallach. Dan is a great guy. As I was looking at this records for sale in one of the boardrooms, he saw I was a presenter and started chatting me up. Just so happens he was also one that was helping record the presentations. He calmed me down a bit and gave me the confidence I needed. So thank you Dan. By the way, Dan is the host of the My Baseball History podcast – which I am listening to right now as I type this. Go check it out. You can find it at ShoelessPodcast.com or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
I had a great time giving the presentation. I worked hard to prepare, and felt like overall it was pretty decent. It wasn’t the best, but I enjoyed doing it and had plenty of people tell me they enjoyed it afterwards. Hearing that positive feedback really boosted my confidence. I saw Dan afterwards and when he asked how it went my initial response was, “I want to do it again.”
Here are a few pics that one of my fellow chapter mates took for me. Special thanks to Don Dingee for taking these.
Depending on where the next SABR Convention is, I hope to be back with a different topic to present. I will also be looking for other conventions to present at as well. This is something I want to continue and help build up my CV with.
I thought I did a good job on the presentation. It was recorded and eventually they will post the sound on the SABR site. When that happens I will post the link. There were some other great presentations on all sorts of topics. I really enjoyed listening and learning.
Panels
The panels were amazing as well. Many were current or former Texas Rangers players and staff. It was a lot of fun listening to old stories and where they are now. I think my favorite panel was with Fergie Jenkins, Charlie Hough, and Colby Lewis. Hough was hilarious. I great up watching him pitch in the old Arlington Stadium, so it was fun listening to him talk about baseball.
I got to meet some great people, many of whom are apart of my local SABR chapter – the Rogers Hornsby Chapter. Now when I say local, it covers an area from Waco to San Antonio, which is a good 3 hour drive between the two. I have been to a few meetings, but it has been years so I did not really know anyone. Thankfully people like the aforementioned Don Dingee, Cyril Morong, Jim Baker, and Michael Lassman made me feel welcomed. For that I will be forever thankful, and look forward to attending more meetings in the future.
Trivia
As a chapter we created a trivia team to compete, and that was a blast. Our Rogers Hornsby team consisted of Jim, Cy, Mike, and myself. The first round we barely progressed to the semifinals. In the semifinals we managed to finish second. The first 2 rounds were on paper and timed. I think one was 40 questions in 12 minutes. We huddled around a paper and frantically wrote down answers as fast as we could. Unfortunately, I did not help much in the first 2 rounds. I kept asking Don if he wanted to replace me in the finals, but everyone was positive and went on.
The trivia finals were live in the big ballroom. I wasn’t really nervous because I didn’t think I was going to even say anything. It was a Jeopardy style game with buzzers and microphones and all. We were up on stage and were up against a stacked team. The first few questions and categories went by and I did not help at all. One question about mascots came about and the answer was the Colorado Rockies, Don’s expertise. I looked at him thinking he should be up on stage. Then came the Rangers Trades category.
I don’t remember all of the questions, but they got tougher as you went up in point values. One of the first 2 questions was about who the Rangers got Michael Young from. I sat there knowing the answer and was kind of shocked nobody buzzed in. So, now I was nervous. I buzzed in and quietly said “Blue Jays”. Then I went on to almost run the category missing one that still haunts me dealing with Koji Uehara. I should have known it but couldn’t come up with it in time. I got 3 questions in the category right and helped get our team some much needed points because we got smoked.
The final score I do not recall but they were in the 90s and we were in the mid 20s. We were up against a stacked team from around the country filled with former individual trivia winners or high placed finishers. Regardless of the score, I had a blast and was more than happy to help score our team some points and not be completely useless.
Wrap Up
Overall, it was one of the best conventions I have ever been to. I loved it, learned a lot, and hope to be back again next year. Thanks to everyone I met. I know I left out some names.
One last thing, Texas Monthly’s Jeff Miller did a write up of the SABR #53 Convention and it is great. Check it out here. He does a great job describing the event and even mentions yours truly.