The Society for American Baseball Research is a research society, open to anyone with interest in baseball, whose mission is to "foster the research, preservation, and dissemination of the history and record of baseball."
The society's better-known acronym SABR (pronounced "saber"), was famously used by baseball statistician Bill James to coin the term "sabermetrics," a word now in wide usage which describes the objective analysis of baseball using statistical analysis and mathematical models.
Despite the society's association with statistical analysis due to its association with the term "sabermetrics," however, the society is a catch-all group for all sorts of baseball-related research projects, many of which have no relation to statistics, such as an ongoing project to write a comprehensive biography of every major league player ever.
SABR was founded in 1971 by Bob Davids, and is currently headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Altogether, the Society boasts almost 7,000 members and 56 regional chapters, many of which are named in honor of famous baseball figures from that region. The society sponsors an annual conference, held in a different city each year, which features panel discussions, presentations of research papers, a ballgame, and an awards banquet. The society also holds an annual conference on Negro Leagues, and an annual conference on baseball literature.