So after the year I’ve had, I decided to bite the bullet and venture down to SABR 50, the annual convention that should have been held in 2020 but, well, you know… I have to say, it wasn’t without a bit of trepidation. Driving was out of the question so Amtrak it was. I love travelling by train but going it alone was a bit daunting since I’m still not at 100 percent, physically and emotionally. But life goes on. Thankfully.
There’s something very nostalgic about the rails. I loved going to Montreal that way. I would take a train that left around 1o p.m. from Penn Station in New York and arrive mid-morning. Waking up to the sunrise was always enjoyable. Even the sounds of the announcements and the clicking as the arrivals times were updated is somehow soothing.
Funny, I never really was much of a traveller, but when I do it always seems I end up at a place I’ve been before. For example, I was at the convention site — the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor — some 30 years ago when my company at the time was having its meeting.
But I digress.
I always have mixed feelings about these conferences. On the one hand, it’s baseball, a game I’ve loved since I was a kid. But the National Pastime in 2022 is not the one I grew up with. Most of the attendees are middle aged or above. The younger ones strike me as more interested in the analytics than the history (although I was tickled to overhear someone say he was a “huge Hack Wilson fan” since the Hall of Famer passed away in 1948, long before this guy was born.
It’s also fun to put faces to names. I’ve been a member of SABR for 30 years or so and have only chatted with these people through texts and e-mails with perhaps a handful of phone calls. Here I get to meet them. (One person actually said to me, “Are you the famous Ron Kaplan of Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf?” That was special. Even after three books and this blog, I still feel a bit shy about hearing about the work.)
On the other hand, some of these topics are too out there for me. They are often specific to the host town, so a lot of stuff about the Orioles. Some are very esoteric, focusing on one tiny detail in history. And God bless, the people who take it upon themselves to do the research and write up the presentations do a great job.
Then there’s the loneliness factor. Since I always attended by myself, there’s a fair amount of downtime with little to do since I’m not extremely adventurous when it comes to exploring new venues. I often end up grabbing something to go and eating in my room trying to figure out the TV set-up.
This year it’s even worse in that regard. Baltimore has been hit hard by the pandemic. It has not bounced back like New York. Many stores near the hotel — including eating establishments — are closed, a combination of a lack of tourism and the inability to find workers.
Moving on…
Looking forward to the opportunity to chat with some old friends and make some new ones. Rather than the standard “Bookshelf Conversations,” I thought it would be fun for more, shorter chats with some folks who have some new projects either just out or in the offing. First up, author Dan Schlossberg.
Next, we have Gary Mitchem, acquisitions editor for McFarland Publishers, which produces an extensive array of eclectic topics on the game.
And last but not least, Walter Friedman, founder and publisher of Summer Game Books.
Ta ta for now.
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