How tall would A-Rod's annual salary be in pennies?
What does Nolan Ryan have to do with the Supremes and Mariah Carey?
You might never have asked yourself any of these questions, but Craig
Robinson's Flip Flop Fly Ball will make you glad to know the answers.
Baseball, almost from the first moment Robinson saw it, was more than
a sport. It was history, a nearly infinite ocean of information that begged
to be organized. He realized that understanding the game, which he fell
in love with as an adult, would never be possible just through watching
games and reading articles. He turned his obsession into a dizzyingly entertaining
collection of graphics that turned into an Internet sensation.
Out of Robinson's Web site, www.flipflopflyball.com, grew this book,
full of all-new, never-before-seen graphics. Flip Flop Fly Ball
dives into the game's history, its rivalries and absurdities, its cities
and ballparks, and brings them to life through 120 full-color graphics.
Statistics-the sport's lingua franca-have never been more fun.
(By the way, the answers: about 26,000 miles, at least if the team in
question is the 2008 Kansas City Royals; 3,178 miles; they were the artists
atop the Billboard Hot 100 when Ryan first and last appeared in MLB games.)
Craig Robinson is, among other things, an Englishman and a New York
Yankees fan with a soft spot for the Colorado Rockies and a man-crush on
Ichiro. Last season he played outfield for the Prenzlauer Berg Piranhas
in the Berlin Mixed Softball League (.452/.548/.575). His previous books
include Atlas, Schmatlas: A Superior Atlas of the World and Fun
Fun Fun.
This is the ultimate guide to the new statistical thinking that's revolutionizing
the game of baseball. In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics
don't merely record what players, managers and owners have done. Properly
understood, they can tell us how the teams could employ better strategies,
put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The 1970s
saw a revolution in baseball statistics, and it's a controversial subject
that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this
fundamental change in the way the sport is watched and understood, no-one
has ever written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and
management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball
think about the game. "Baseball Between the Numbers" is that book. In separate
chapters covering every aspect of the game - such as hitting, pitching
and fielding - the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden
aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how various
teams could win more games.
Whether you're a major league couch potato, life-long season ticket-holder,
or teaching game to a beginner, Watching Baseball Smarter leaves
no territory uncovered. In this smart and funny fan's guide Hample explains
the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering
insider trivia and anecdotes that will surprise even the most informed
viewers of our national pastime.
What is the difference between a slider and a curveball?
At which stadium did "The Wave" first make an appearance?
How do some hitters use iPods to improve their skills?
Which positions are neverplayed by lefties?
Why do some players urinate on their hands?
Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the
compulsive brilliance of Schott's Miscellany, Watching Baseball
Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport-no
matter what your level of expertise.
Zack Hample is an obsessed fan and a regular writer for minorleaguebaseball.com.
He's collected nearly 3,000 baseballs from major league games and has appeared
on dozens of TV and radio shows. His first book, How to Snag Major League
Baseballs, was published in 1999.
Written by three esteemed baseball statisticians, The Book continues
where the legendary Bill James's Baseball Abstracts and Palmer and
Thorn's The Hidden Game of Baseball left off more than twenty years
ago. Continuing in the grand tradition of sabermetrics, the authors provide
a revolutionary way to think about baseball with principles that can be
applied at every level, from high school to the major leagues.
Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin cover topics such as
batting and pitching matchups, platooning, the benefits and risks of intentional
walks and sacrifices, the legitimacy of alleged "clutch" hitters, and many
of baseball's other theories on hitting, fielding, pitching, and even baserunning.
They analyze when a strategy is a good idea and when it's a bad idea, and
how to more closely watch the "inside" game of baseball.
Whenever you hear an announcer talk about the "unwritten rule" or say
that so-and-so is going "by the book" in bringing in a situational substitute,
The Book reviews the facts and determines what the real case is.
If you want to know what the folks in baseball should be doing, find out
in The Book.
When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract
in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune
as the "holy book of baseball." Now, baseball's beloved "Sultan of Stats"
(The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition
for the new millennium.
Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth
of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic
facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In
The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each
position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based
ratings method called "Win Shares," a way of quantifying individual performance
and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers,
pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference
section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers
a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians
alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential,
entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.
Discover the unconventional, the offbeat feats, the historic moments,
and the one-of-a-kind characters that have made baseball a hit for more
than 150 years. This comprehensive and updated volume features all the
need-to-know stats, scores, and strikeouts every diehard baseball fan wants.
Born in the 1970s as a radical challenge to traditional baseball statistics,
sabermetrics has developed into a new way of understanding many aspects
of the game. Its practitioners have created new statistical tools and revised
our old ways of thinking about established measures such as the batting
average, tactics such as the sacrifice bunt, and even who among the greats
was truly great.
This introduction to the basics of sabermetric analysis explains concepts
including normalization, peak versus career performance, linear weights
and runs created, as well as popular calculations like OPS (On-Base plus
Slugging), WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched), PF (Park Factor) and
others increasingly used by baseball fans.
Koppett's
Concise History of Major League Baseball by Leonard Koppett
Paperback from Carroll & Graf ISBN: 0786712864 Baseball's greatest asset is the richness of its lore, and Leonard
Koppett has made the entire treasure of the game's history accessible in
one enjoyable volume. In his lively narratives on the shape and significance
of each season from baseball's nineteenth-century beginnings to the updated
and expanded sections on the last decade, Koppett explains the changes
in baseball-the-game and baseball-the-business that forged the major leagues
we know today. Each chapter recounts trends, players, and events during
different eras; offers succinct seasonal recaps, and summarizes how the
consequences of that particular baseball era set the stage for the next.
On the origins and evolution of on-the-field play--from the 1880s origin
of pitching high and tight then low and away, to modern-day use of body
armor at bat--plus statistics and record-breaking achievements, Koppett's
got it covered. On business and organizational controversies, such as the
introduction of night baseball, radio and TV broadcasting, free agency,
strike actions, divisional play-offs, and the policies of owners and commissioners,
Koppett's got it covered. One-stop reading for the most essential stories,
statistics, and opinions on the major leagues, Koppett's Concise History
of Major League Baseball is the most original baseball reference available.The
why behind Hall of Fame sportswriter Leonard Koppett's Concise
History is almost as impressive as the authoritative and fascinating
volume itself. Given that baseball's best pitch is the richness of its
lore, Koppett was appalled that upon their arrival in the majors, contemporary
stars like Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly knew nothing of Lou Gehrig,
and Ken Griffey Jr. had little more awareness of Jackie Robinson than his
name. If the players themselves don't appreciate the legacy or importance
of what they're part of, what chance do the rest of us have? Koppett's
mission is to change that.
What makes the Concise History such a valuable addition to an
already packed baseball bookshelf is that it's an original. First and foremost,
its strong, narrative push spans the divide between statistical encyclopedias
and the chronicles that generally focus on individual years or teams or
issues. It's quite thorough--reaching back to the 1840s and covering the
game up through the 1998 sale of the Dodgers--clearly linking the game
of baseball to the business of baseball. It covers trends as well as players
and events, and, in one of its most useful features, offers succinct seasonal
recaps at the end of each chapter. Koppett's a fine writer with a well-established
voice, which he uses to analyze as well as report; he's no fence straddler
on the more complex questions like free agency, franchise moves, collusion,
realignment, and the replacement of family ownership by conglomerates.
Like a good home run race, it's a book unique to this particular game,
and there's nothing quite like it anywhere. --Jeff Silverman
The essential guide to the 2011 baseball season is on deck now, and
whether you're a fan or fantasy player--or both--you won't be properly
informed without it. Baseball Prospectus 2011 brings together an
elite group of analysts to provide the definitive look at the upcoming
season in critical essays and commentary on the thirty teams, their managers,
and more than sixty players and prospects from each team.
Contains critical essays on each of the thirty teams and player comments
for some sixty players for each of those teams
Projects each player's stats for the coming season using the groundbreaking
PECOTA projection system, which has been called "perhaps the game's most
accurate projection model" (Sports Illustrated)
From Baseball Prospectus, America's leading provider of statistical analysis
for baseball
Now in its sixteenth edition, this New York Times bestselling insider's
guide remains hands down the most authoritative and entertaining book of
its kind.
Top Ten Ways Your Friends Will Know You Haven't
Read Baseball Prospectus 2011 10. You think $86 million dollars sounds like the perfect price to
pay for three years of Derek Jeter and Rafael Soriano.
9. You drafted Josh Hamilton or Ubaldo Jimenez in the first round of
your fantasy draft this year.
8. The fielding metrics you've been looking at tell you Kevin Kouzmanoff
and Matt Holliday were elite fielders last year.
7. You think this might be Chicago's year.
6. You've never heard of Chris Carter, Jesus Montero, or Steven Hill.
5. You've heard of Carter, Montero, and Steven Hill, but without BP's
"MLB %" playing time projection and scouting report, you overdrafted them
in your fantasy league.
4. You think your team will be better than the Red Sox this year.
3. You're not bleary-eyed from staying up all night reading hundreds
of pages of smart stats and witty commentary.
2. The words "Vernon Wells traded" don't make you giggle a little.
1. You're Ed Wade.
Every year, thousands of avid baseball fans eagerly await The
Bill James Handbook--the best and most complete annual baseball
guide available. Full of exclusive stats, this book is the most comprehensive
resource of every hit, pitch and catch in Major League Baseball's 2010
season.
Key features include:
Exclusive! Fielding Bible Awards
Instant Replay History
Pinch Hitting Analysis
Park Indices
Relief Pitching
Manufactured Runs Analysis
Manager's Record
Baserunning Analysis
Career data for every 2010 major leaguer (and a few
bonus players) with more statistical categories than any other book
Sports Posters
