The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox SABR Book
After about 18 months from start to finish, the SABR book The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers is officially complete. I referenced more SABR projects in a previous post. This occurred after Eric Conrad and I finished the two biographies, Anastacio Martinez and Sandy Martinez, as part of the 2004 Red Sox SABR book. We were asked to be co-editors on the book by Bill Nowlin, who runs all the SABR book projects and more. Don Zminda, a White Sox fan and long-time SABR member, joined the editing ranks.
Baseball is my favorite sport, and the White Sox are my team. I was in college, living in downtown Chicago, during the 2005 season. My roommates also are White Sox fans, so we went to many games and just watched a lot of games that year. I remember this season well. When the opportunity to work on this book came up, I felt like I had to take it. Eric Conrad, thankfully, also agreed to participate. This was a much larger project than our two previous SABR biographies, but he understood why this was important to me. Once we started the book, more friends and family asked me about its progress over the year. Sure, that security stuff you are doing is fine, but how is the White Sox book coming along? I didn’t want to mess this up. But I also didn’t want someone else to do it and not get stuff right.
I felt this internal self-pressure intensified when the original author of the Frank Thomas biography had to back out early in the process. Though his role on the 2005 team was minor due to injury and age, his role as a White Sox is gigantic. All through the 1990s, he was THE player for the White Sox and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. These types of player biographies don’t become available too often. Eric, again, thankfully, agreed that we should take that biography on.
Each time I take on a SABR project, I learn something new about the subject and the process. I had never been an editor of a book before, and I learned a lot there. Also, I read every single piece in this book and provided notes or corrections. It’s shaped how I write future pieces and the approach I’ll take on them. Now that it is all said and done, I’m happy with the results and excited for folks to get it in their hands. I think we did a good job preserving the history of that 2005 team, and it was released just before the opening day of the 20th anniversary.
I recommend everyone have a project or hobby that takes them away from tech and security. The breaks will prevent burnout and help you develop skills that will improve your day-to-day job.
