SABR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Meeting Sheraton Hotel Atlanta, Georgia February 13-14, 2010

Transcription

1 SABR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Meeting Sheraton Hotel Atlanta, Georgia February 13-14, 2010 Present: Andy McCue, President via teleconference Bill Nowlin, Vice President via teleconference Vince Gennaro, Secretary via teleconference F.X. Flinn, Treasurer via teleconference Paul Hirsch, Director via teleconference Tom Hufford, Director via teleconference Gary Gillette, Director Anthony Salazar, Director John Zajc, Executive Director Guests: Nick Frankovich (via teleconference), Terry Sloope The meeting was called to order at 10:00am, Saturday, February 13, at the Sheraton Hotel in Atlanta, GA. Board members decided to remove the following items from the Consent Agenda: Membership Report, Licensing HR Log to STATS, Approval of Shea-Broadcaster Contract, Approval of UNP- SABR Contract for Broadcaster s Book, leaving the following items as the revised Consent Agenda: Consent Agenda Approval of Minutes of Meetings of November 13 and 14, 2009 Approval of Columbus Chapter Formal approval of chartered communities Donation Report Lending Library Report Publicity Report (Petrone) Data Czar Report (Turocy) Knowledge Manager Report (Garver) December 31, 2009 Demographics Report Nominating Committee Report Last Version of the Policy Manual Conflict of Interest Statements to be Signed Approval of Ron Gabriel Award Publications Director Report Discussion of Expectations of Volunteers Behavior Picking Up the Discussion form November on Ways to Do Outreach/Build Community

2 Broader discussion of possibilities with the HoF Potential for new uber-negro Leagues encyclopedia (Gillette) Multi-View-SABRgraphs Outreach to PFRA and other similar organizations (Gillette) Tout Wars Sponsorship (Flinn) Under 30 Task Force Findings (Gennaro) Conventions Report (Zajc and Sloope) Gillette move to accept revised consent agenda, seconded by Nowlin. The motion passed Discussion of the Ron Gabriel award: The award is being created consistent with other awards, which includes allocating only a portion of Ron Gabriel's gift for the purpose to this award. Going forward, the Board needs to determine the dollar amount threshold for future naming awards. McCue made a distinction between setting policy when we discuss an isolated issue vs. addressing the broader policy question in the context of additions/revisions to the policy manual. Flinn was tasked with revising the language of the proposed Gabriel award and to provide a section on the endowment for the policy manual (see appendix). Publications report: Flinn asked Frankovich to network with trade publishing community to uncover opportunities and maintain an on-going dialogue with trade editors who are actively acquiring baseball related books and agents who specialize in marketing baseball related books. Nowlin provided an update on University of Nebraska Press and their demonstration of interest in BioProject team books. Nowlin expects the University of Nebraska Press board to potentially seek to publish 1-2 BioProject books per year. Nowlin ultimately expects the BioProject to produce greater than 1-2 books per year and raised the possibility that McFarland might be willing to take the full flow of bio-related books from SABR. Flinn raised the benefits of trade publishers vs. university presses in terms of speed to market and ability to respond favorably to an unexpected success. With respect to the 1947 Dodgers book, the board consensus after much discussion was to continue to give the University of Nebraska Press the first opportunity to conclude a deal for the Dodgers book. McCue pointed out that the "How to do Baseball Research" online effort would be a sub-section of SABR website. The intent is to screen the contents on BRSP before releasing it to broader website. Membership Report: The executive director discussed the potential membership shortfall to budgeted number for 2010 to be in the range of 200 to 250. Renewal rates are strong but new member rates are driving the expected shortfall. In the context of gaining new members, we discussed the quality of the messaging on B-R.com and the directive the board gave the E.D. in August to pursue and regularly report on how the contractual asset SABR has with b-r could be maximized. Flinn expressed the need to improve and be more targeted with our message, in order to attract potential new members. Gennaro raised the concern that even if the B-R.com ads drove traffic to the SABR site, we lacked any evidence that we had a value proposition that SABR Board of Directors, November 2009 p. 2 of 5

3 would encourage these site visitors to convert to members. McCue agreed that Board will ultimately need to re-visit the degree to which SABR's value proposition is motivating and compelling to prospective members. Regarding the matter of the effectiveness of B-R.com ads and the lack of progress on the directive to maximize the value of the impressions, Hirsch agreed to temporarily take over "management" of the project (up to the time of the convention Board meeting on August 4, 2010). He would be in communication with Sean Forman (B-R.com), generate ad content ideas and would use Salazar's graphic design skills to convert the ideas into banner ads. Ultimately, the ad concepts would be forwarded to Gennaro for final approval to run on B-R.com's site. The goal would be to have the revised messaging posted on the B-R.com site by March 10, Hirsch would also evaluate whether we would want to hire an outside agency for on-going assistance in this project effort. (Note: all the work done by Board members on this project would be pro-bono) Expectation of Volunteers' Behavior: The Board discussed the need to ensure that members who serve in leadership positions conform to a standard of conduct that represents the organization favorably in the eyes of all internal and external constituents. Gillette motioned and Flinn seconded the following: All research committee chairs, project directors, chapter heads, and other volunteers holding any title within SABR shall be required to read and sign a letter annually that outlines their responsibilities as well as standards of comportment. That letter shall contain the following: Their position and title; Notice that they represent SABR in that position; Specification that they are expected at all times to represent themselves and the organization in a professional manner; An absolute prohibition against using profane or insulting language; An absolute prohibition against harassing members or non-members or engaging in ad hominem attacks; Acknowledgment that all information received in that position, including information compiled or edited by the undersigned, is the intellectual property of and belongs to SABR; Acknowledgement that a committee chair has control over any SABR data sets. He/she will follow back-up and security practices and procedures as set by the Director of Knowledge Management; Notice that his/her tenure in that position is subject to termination at any time upon notification by the board of directors; and A clause stating that the undersigned has both read, understands, and accepts the provisions of the letter. The motion was passed SABR Board of Directors, November 2009 p. 3 of 5

4 Discussion of possible new Negro Leagues Encyclopedia: Gillette informed the Board that there is publisher interest in this project. In a related development, Gillette reported that Jim Riley's Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues is now out-of-print and Riley may soon reacquire the rights to his book. The feeling was this could be a collaborative effort with HOF. Flinn raised the possibility that the book could be produced as a multi-volume project and delivered to SABR members as a benefit to be spread out over several years. Gillette pointed out that alternatively, this could be published as one volume, with a deep discount offered to SABR members. A motion was made that the Board authorize Gillette to engage in preliminary negotiations with Sterling or any other publisher on the production of a Negro Leagues encyclopedia. Flinn motioned, seconded by Hirsch and approved (with Gillette abstaining due to conflicts of interest) Convention Report: Terry Sloope briefed us on a full slate of panels, and side trips to the Ty Cobb museum and a minor league game. A draft of the convention schedule is expected to be developed the week of February 15, 2010 for submission to the Board for review and feedback. Flinn raised the idea of recruiting new members/attendees for the convention from local traveling youth teams. Sloope will follow up on this idea. John Zajc also briefed the Board on the site work for the SABR 41 convention in Zajc has outsourced the site selection and will be working with Nationwide meetings to ultimately recommend a location within the greater LA area. Minneapolis continues to be the front runner for SABR 42 in Tout Wars Sponsorship Opportunity: A motion was made to give Flinn the authority to pursue a sponsorship arrangement for Tout Wars to not exceed $3000 in total commitment by SABR. Gennaro motioned, Hirsch seconded and the motion passed Members Under 30 years old Report: Gennaro discussed findings from discussion with some young members on their unique needs and interests, with the overall goal of helping SABR become more youth friendly. The primary follow up is to host a youth event at the national convention. This event would be focused on gaining further insights regarding the wants and needs of younger members and would be hosted/moderated by Gennaro and Hirsch. Bylaw Changes: Hufford motioned to recommend changes to the bylaws pertaining to the articles on research committees and chapters to better reflect how SABR communities are constituted and can be constituted in the future. Salazar seconded the motion, which passed The bylaw change that will appear on the ballot is as follows: SABR Board of Directors, November 2009 p. 4 of 5

5 The Board proposes to remove Article VI (Research Committees) and Article VII (Chapters) from the existing bylaws and replace them with a new Article VI, which shall read: Article VI 6.1 The Board shall adopt such policies governing the creation, administration, operation, and dissolution of communities of SABR members operating within SABR, including, but not limited to, research committees, geographically-based chapters, and communities of interest, as the Board deems appropriate. On-Line Voting option: Gillette motioned that the Board approve the expenses to implement an on-line voting for the upcoming 2010 election. Salazar seconded the motion and it was approved Survey of existing members: The proposal to field a survey of existing members to better understand member needs and wants was discussed. Terry Sloope agreed to perform the analysis of the results, which would allow us to reduce the expense of the survey by approximately $2,600. Gillette motioned to adjourn the meeting, Salazar seconded and the motion passed The meeting adjourned at 5:19pm on Saturday, February 13, Respectfully submitted February 23, 2010 Vince Gennaro Secretary SABR Board of Directors, November 2009 p. 5 of 5