* But seriously, folks…

Had a good time at the SABR convention in DC. It was nice too meet so many folks who are just as nuts (if not more so) than me. Being the bookworm that I am, it was especially nice hanging out with the writers, many of whom were peddling their products in the vendors’ room.

Representatives from McFarland, Potomac, and University of Nebraska Press were on hand, selling their books and hosting author signings. McFarland, in particular, had so much merchandise, I wonder if there was anything left back at the office.

There’s nothing that makes you rethink your notion of “expertise” in a given subject more than attending a conference like this. The people who attend SABR meetings can rattle of statistics, numbers theory and history like nobody’s business. Some are experts in one tiny aspect of the game, such as the role of the railroad in 19th century baseball or linear regression of Topic A on Topic B (I made that one up).

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my boyeez with whom I’ve become acquainted over the past few years but in many cases had never actually met, as well as some old friends (an asterisk indicates a future audio interview to be posted to the Bookshelf):

• Gary Mitchem, acquisitions editor at McFarland*
• Burton and Bonita Boxerman, authors of Jews and Baseball, Vol. 1, and currently putting the finishing touches on the second volume
• Trey Strecker, editor of NINE
• S.L. Price, a senior writer with Sports Illustrated and author of Heart of the Game: Life, Death and Mercy in Minor League America
• Alan Schwarz, writer of The New York Times Keeping Score column and author of The Numbers Game: Baseball’s Lifelong Fascination with Statistics. Schwarz also published this story on a ritual of the conventions, the trivia contest
• Bruce Weber, another Times writer and author of the most excellent As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires
• Curt Smith, author of the new Vin Scully bio, Pull Up a Chair. Smith even sounded a bit like Scully during his presentation.
• Lee Lowenfish, author of Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman*
• Robert Fitts, author of several books on Japanese baseball including this years bio Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball
• Paul Dickson, editor of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, now at work on a biography of Bill Veeck
• John Thorn, another prolific writer and editor of the sorely missed  Total Baseball series
• Cindy Thomson, blogger at Favorite PASTimes.com
• Dorothy Seymour Mills, author of A Woman’s Work: Writing Baseball History with Harold Seymour and the upcoming Pursuing Baseball: Our National Obsession with Our National Game. Ms. Mills would stake out a small table just outside the hotel’s Starbucks each monring with her coffee and newspaper.
• Dave Smith, creator of the indispensable Retrosheet.org*
• Robert Thompson, dean of music at SUNY Purchase, and Tim Wiles, of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, who, with Andy Strasberg, won the Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award for Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to The Ball Game”

I have been remiss in not posting the TWIBB feature. Oh well. And it’s too late for the “This week in SI” from last week (Mark Buehrle’s perfect game was the cover story). But it’s back to business over the next few days, so stay tuned.