From the Bob Davids Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, serving SABR members in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Visit the Chapter's website at:

Several Chapter members are participating in an open symposium on the history of baseball on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The program will include a combination of exhibits and presentations. Among the museums that will be providing displays are the Babe Ruth Museum, the Eastern Shore Hall of Fame, and the Jimmie Foxx Museum. Featured speakers will include Chapter members Norman Macht, Barry Sparks, Mark Millikin, and Marty Payne. The program is to take place at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills MD, on March 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The college is about 15 minutes east of the bay bridge, at the intersection of Routes 50 and 213. Take a right at the first stop light after crossing the bridge [from the west] and you are there. There is a $15 course fee, which includes a continental breakfast. If you would like a course description and registration form, you can email Marty Payne at

The Baltimore-Washington Chapter of SABR was named for Bob Davids in honor of Bob's role as SABR's founder and long-time mainspring.

Like Bob Feller, Bob was born on an Iowa farm and was a pitcher in high school, but then he struck out in a different direction. World War II and the Army Air Force took him to Okinawa. He returned to the University of Missouri, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees [he later earned a PhD in international relations from Georgetown]. In 1951, Bob began a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving mostly as a writer at the Department of Defense, Atomic Energy Commission, and Department of Energy until his retirement at 55 in 1981.

In the 1950's Bob frequently found time to supply analytic free-lance articles on baseball to The Sporting News. When TSN discontinued carrying such statistical/historical pieces in the early 1960's, Bob began his own four-page newsletter, Baseball Briefs, which put him in touch with other researchers and analysts. He invited 40 of them to meet in Cooperstown in August 1971 to think about organizing a formal research group. The 16 hardy souls who attended adopted the name, structure and constitution for SABR. Bob's home in northwest Washington became the nest for the hatchling organization. He was SABR's first President, serving through its startup years.

Bob remained a central figure as SABR grew to become a strong national force; for example, he chaired the publications committee, inaugurated and edited the SABR Bulletin, and long steered the Baseball Research Journal. He remains actively connected to the Chapter that bears his name, traditionally kicking off membership meetings with devilish current trivia tests. [Note: A longer version of this profile will appear on the Chapter website shortly.]

One of the goals of the newsletter is to keep the members of our far-flung Chapter informed of the various points of baseball interest in the region. We would like to offer brief reviews of museums that feature baseball, impressions of historical sites, descriptions of collections and resources, and showcase any other baseball asset in the area. It is our hope to keep members abreast of where to go and what to see, and aware of what others have done and are doing.

If you have any ideas along these lines and are willing to write a short piece about it, let us know. We'll be glad to consider it.

-- Marty Payne [

2000 has been a very important year for SABR. The Executive Board hired a new Executive Director, George Case III, and together we are in the process of exploring the many possible ways that SABR can become better known within the world of baseball. As Ted Williams said, "SABR is baseball's best kept secret."

SABR's mission is expressed in our newly adopted slogan, "Bringing the history of baseball to life." If SABR truly exemplifies that endeavor then our charge should be to bring SABR out of the realm of obscurity that Ted Williams most aptly described and to increase our organization's visibility so that others can more readily participate in the SABR experience.

At times there has been vigorous debate among Board members about this subject. Concerns have been expressed by some that SABR should only attract "serious researchers," not "average fans." My position is that within SABR there always have been researchers as well as consumers of that research. After all, one of SABR's objectives is to distribute the results of such research. Further, I feel that many individuals may be initially attracted to SABR because they simply love baseball, but once exposed to the fascinating work of our organization and its collegiality, many of these members may well become "serious researchers," as well.

I ran for the Board three years ago on an "education platform." in which I stated my belief that a vital charge for SABR should be to actively participate in efforts to teach the history of baseball to America's youth. SABR Director Rodney Johnson is the chair of the Education Committee. I would like to see this committee hold a meeting at this year's convention in Milwaukee so that those who are interested in being active on this committee may share their ideas with Chairman Johnson.

These and other matters will be discussed at the Board's upcoming meeting in Baltimore during the weekend of January 19-21. You are welcome to attend these meetings. If you are unable to attend I encourage you to send your thoughts via email to me at

Lois Nicholson, SABR Director

"We cheer for the Senators, we pray for the Senators, and we hope that the Supreme Court doesn't declare that unconstitutional." -- Lyndon B. Johnson, Speech, July 1962, as quoted in Chapter member Paul Dickson's Baseball's Greatest Quotations, Harper-Perennial, 1992, p. 208.