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2006 Origins Committee Annual Report
Written by The Origins Committee   
Sunday, 31 December 2006 00:00

Some Preliminary Strategy Thoughts & Suggestions

A number of research challenges are posed by the transition/creation of SABR’s UK/Europe Committee into the wider remit of the Origins Committee. One – and let us face this dilemma immediately – is the very name of our Society. If a single salient fact has emerged from the most recent research into the origins of baseball it is that we are dealing with a sporting phenomenon that overlaps and transcends national and ethnic borders and boundaries. As Major League Baseball has recognized in its creation of MLBI as an international marketing and cooperative outreach entity, we in SABR must necessarily engage for our purposes with sources that are not American, nor yet, in many cases, English-speaking. One overriding lesson to be learned from our distinguished Committee member David Block’s to-date definitive work, Baseball Before We Knew It, is that in order to fully understand the origins of our game we must recognize and deal with the universality of its historical manifestations. It is not here suggested that the name of the Society be changed to SIBR, SAIBR, SAUBR or any other inane variation of the original acronym. However, it will be vital to the intended work of the Origins Committee that we recognize – as MLB does in the work of MLBI – that in many instances we will operate in an international and multi-lingual context.

Among the first initiatives of the origins Committees has been the organizing of an internet website as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. One use of this facility would be to research, make contact with and invite participation by and suggestions from the following possible contributors to our purposes:
  • The International Amateur Baseball Federation
  • The national baseball governing bodies of as many countries that can be identified – especially those in Europe and Scandinavia
  • Association of sports historians – both those informed by accredited academic scholars and by freelance professional and amateur enthusiasts.
Of course the website should not be regarded as the only method of broadening the Origins Committee’s range of research sources and contacts. All existing relationships, both those of individuals and of groups, should be examined and, where possible, extended. In conclusion, like those who are working to make the playing and appreciation of baseball truly global, we need to cast our net widely.
Last Updated on Thursday, 19 March 2009 14:18