Friday and Saturday at the SABR Meeting

The first talk that I attended was a celebration of 70 years: Jackie Robinson's journey.  The four speakers discussed Jackie's impact on baseball and more his influence on society.  After he retired from the game he became the first Black executive at a major company (Choc-Full-of-Nuts).  There will be a Jackie Robinson Museum opening in NYC in about a year.

I saw a poster session and a short talk on the Dodgers in Jersey City in 1956 and 1957.  It emphasized the games where the Dodgers played the Giants there.  Those games there back then foreshadowed the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1958.

From there it was off to Citifield.  The group met at about 1:30 in the lobby and took the #7 train to the stadium.  We were brought to section 331 and heard talks by

• Coach Tom Goodwin 
• Broadcasters Steve Gelbs, Josh Lewin, and Wayne Randazzo
• General Manager Sandy Alderson

On Saturday I attended the following meetings:

• The Legacy of Mel Ott, a superstar of the New York Giants who never received the recognition he deserved
• Milestone transformations  of 1968-1969 in major league baseball
• Chronicling Banner Days at Shea Stadium - it was fun to view photos of some of the banners that were brought by fans.  The event peaked in popularity in the 60s and 70s, but then leveled off and eventually was discontinued.
• Jim Bouton: A life in baseball.  The former Yankee pitcher was there as he and the panelists discussed the impact of his book Ball Four.  I read it when it first came out in 1970 1969but didn't know that there were updates.
• 1969: A baseball centennial - Mark Armour discussed many of the events that commemorated the 100th anniversary of professional baseball.

Photos of the event

Links to more detailed accounts of the events during the convention