A Timeline of Sabermetrics 101:
Fall 2005 | Spring 2005 | Fall 2004

Fall 2005
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November 2005: The class is treated to a double-dose of Sabermetric Basics and Sabermetrics History when Bill James and Alan Schwarz visit the Tufts campus. James, Senior Baseball Operations Advisor for the Boston Red Sox, discusses his controversial paper Underestimating the Fog in a student roundtable. Schwarz - a writer for ESPN, Baseball America, and the New York Times - gives a campus-wide talk about his book, The Numbers Game. To read Evans Clinchy's Tufts Daily article on their visits, click here.

October 2005: Class alumni launch Baseball Analysis at Tufts, the nation's first undergraduate-led, sabermetric research club. The BAT Club welcomes its first speaker, Dr. Gerald Gill, who speaks on the history of the Negro Leagues. Andy Andres lectures on the effects of steroids on hitters at First Pitch Arizona.

September 2005: The new academic year brings another class of budding sabermetricians to Tufts. The 18 students in the third semester of Sabermetrics 101 proudly root for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Red Sox

Spring 2005
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August 2005: Led by the co-instructors of Sabermetrics 101, Jumbo's Peanut Surprise captures yet another title in the Tufts Intramural Softball League. Morgan Melchiorre eclipses Barry Bonds by winning his fifth straight MVP award. Former students who suit up for JPS include John Keefe, Jessica Genninger, Jeff Martin, Matt Gallagher, Peter Bendix, and Bryan McDavitt.

Summer 2005: Students present their research at the annual Society of American Baseball Research conference in Toronto. Noah Kaufman presents "The Green Monster Effect: a run saved or a run earned?," (pdf | SABR recap) work he completed with Jesse Gerner. Peter Bendix and Matthew Gallagher present "The Leo Mazzone Effect" (pdf | SABR recap). Andy Andres presents on the "September Falloff Revisited" (pdf | SABR recap).

May 2005: Author and New York Times columnist Alan Schwarz writes an article for the May 22 Sunday Times about Leo Mazzone, citing SABR 101 and getting quotes from former students Peter Bendix and Matt Gallagher in light of their work for their Fall ’04 class project.

May 2005: The second cohort of SABR 101 students presents their research projects. Topics include weather impact on pitchers (Alexandra Granato and Caitlin Rouse), phenotypes of superscrubs (Jeff Martin), and the effect of Moneyball on inefficiencies in the free agent market (Mike Fields and Zach Kolkin).

April 2005: The class is entertained by two guest speakers - Jay Jaffe of Futility Infielder and Zack Scott, Baseball Operations Assistant of the Boston Red Sox. Jaffe serves as sounding board for the student research projects, sharing his experience and knowledge. He presents research on the offensive explosion of the "chicks dig the long ball" era. Scott walks the class through the Fenway thought process on the Nomar Garciaparra trade, the "Millar or Mientkiewicz" coin flip, the mental health days of BK Kim, and the infamous "Pedro Martinez Rule" of the Fenway radar gun.

March 2005: David Tybor unveils the David Tybor Sr. forecasting system in honor of his father, who has gambled that the White Sox will win the World Series and that the starting staff will win 70 games. They will eventually win 72, and father and son will travel to Las Vegas to cash in the winnings.

February 2005: Pitchers and Catchers report. The EX013 students apply their newfound knowledge on projection to predict the final standings of the 2005 AL East. The class is evenly split between Red Sox and Yankees. Eight months later, the teams will finish atop the division with identical 95-67 records.

January 2005: The second semester of Sabermetrics 101 begins, with a new cohort of 20 undergraduates.

Fall 2004
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December 2004: Students present their own sabermetric research. Topics range from pitching (The Mazzone Effect), to hitting (Adjusted RBI Metrics by Jeff Larson) to defense (The Green Monster Effect) to injuries (Tommy John Surgery by Alicia Neubig and Rachel Kraft).

November 2004: Brian O'Halloran, Coordinator of Major League Administration for the Boston Red Sox, visits the class, sharing his experiences from the Fenway front offices during the historic World Championship season. He fields student questions about Moneyball, Theo Epstein, baseball operations, and the impending free agency of Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek, and Derek Lowe.

October 2004: Morgan Melchiorre, while giving what is perhaps the country's first 3 hour lecture on the quantification of defense, is interrupted by a whooping student in the last row who has been surreptitiously monitoring the ALCS on her cell phone. Melchiorre also unveils the six-headed first base monster; Daubach, Offerman et al have never looked better.

August 2004: Andy Andres, David Tybor and Morgan Melchiorre launch EX013, The Objective Analysis of Baseball: Statistics and Sabermetrics on the Medford Campus of Tufts University. Over 20 undergraduates enroll in New England's first sabermetrics course.