Book Information

Book ID Asin: 0465005470
Book Title: Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong
Book Author: The Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts,Jonah Keri
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Kindle
Book Format Price: $14.99
Book Format Name: Hardcover
Book Format Price: $17.98
Book Format Name: Paperback
Book Format Price: $23.38
Book Price: $23.38
Book Category: Books, Sports & Outdoors, Baseball and unknown
Book Rating: 95 ratings

Book Product Detail

• Best Sellers Rank: #482,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1,007 in Baseball (Books)

• Customer Reviews:
  4.5 out of 5 stars 95 ratings

Book Review

Name: Patrick Reddick
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Must Own For Baseball Fans
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 19, 2012
Review: Baseball Between the Numbers is obviously a book for baseball fans and one that will appeal to both those who are and are not into sabermetrics. The top-notch writing and the way the book presents its findings and arguments combine to present a work that I give it the highest rating I possibly can.

The group I was in when I first started reading--newer to advanced statistics and looking to get more into how all the numbers work--will eat this book up. The best aspect of BBTN, however, is that it does not ignore what the game has been for so long, and still is to most people.

It is not a bunch of cold numbers or saying a player stinks because stat X is under Y, as if each guy is an answer to a third graders' math test--which is too often the impression people get of advanced stats, particularly among the non-sabermetric crowd. It's quite the opposite. Had somebody shown me concepts in math class--a few of which I recognize from school--and explained I could actually apply them to sports, you bet I would've been a heck of a lot more excited to go to math every day and probably actually understood the concepts.

Nobody is claiming these findings are gospel either. In many cases, they let the numbers themselves point out why a statistic is or is not repeatable. Or say flat out, that in certain cases it comes down to luck. This may seem to weaken the entire argument of why to use sabermetrics in the first place, but it is actually quite the opposite; understanding the weaknesses of your field will allow you to apply the findings more appropriately.

The most eye-opening sections are why the statistics shown with every batter on television are often poor gauges of performance. Many of these figures were developed at a time when the game was very different and while the game has changed, our ways of analyzing it has not (at least in the mainstream).

Each chapter seeks to answer a simple question: "Is David Ortiz a Clutch Hitter?" or "Is Joe Torre a Hall of Fame Manager?" While they seem simple, those questions encompass a great deal and each author does a solid job of explaining why they look at the figures they do to answer the questions. A side effect of which is training the readers to not only come up with their own questions, but figure out how to answer them. That is, if they are not too busy reading this book's sequel.

Name: Jeff
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Required reading for any baseball fan
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 13, 2014
Review: Baseball is a game of statistics and probabilities, yet "sabermetrics", as the study of advanced baseball statistics has come to be called, proves scientifically that much of what's been historically valued in baseball is wrong. This book is broken down into case studies that definitively settle some of the hottest debates in baseball. What's the ideal batting order? When should you bring in a closing pitcher? How long should a starting pitcher stay on the mound? Who's the best hitter of all time? And more.

It's really an interesting book if you go into it with an open and analytical mind. Some of the conclusions may be controversial - for example, don't tell any New Yorker that Derek Jeter's actually a below average shortstop, a Pirates or Tigers fan that Jim Leyland didn't really do much to help his team, or an A's fan that Rickey Henderson's steals were mostly worthless! But reading through how the authors got to these conclusions is fascinating, and ultimately impossible to argue with. Math doesn't lie, and the statistics that back up these conclusions - while requiring a few more calculations - are no less factual than batting average or on-base percentage (OBP itself is a sabermetric stat!).

It would be easy for this to have been a dry, reductionist book, as you might expect from a bunch of mathemeticians. It's written by multiple authors and while it's true that some chapters are a little livelier than others, generally speaking everyone seems to realize they're writing about a game - and that game is supposed to be fun. This book exists because these people love baseball and have fun thinking about it, and thinking of different ways they can challenge conventional wisdom.

It's taken a while to overturn baseball's old guard, but many teams these days incorporate some level of sabermetric thinking into their team building and on-field strategy. Times are changing, and this book will help you understand why that pitcher's swinging away instead of bunting, why your favorite team doesn't have a "speed guy" in the leadoff spot, and why you shouldn't be too upset when a manager gets fired.

Maybe more than that, it'll leave you wondering why teams still do things that are mathematically proven to be self-destructive. (Usually it's because it's what the fans and media expect them to do.) Baseball still has a ways to go to catch up to its own science, but reading this book will literally put you ahead of the game.

Name: JohnnnySmallls
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent, But Dated
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 23, 2012
Review: Will the Allies be organized to win World War II? Can Richard Nixon overcome his personality in his second term? Will Michael Jordan finish his career with the Chicago Bulls?

I know those questions are off-topic, but I found myself thinking along those lines while reading "Baseball Between the Numbers" because I found it to be a groundbreaking work that would've been even better if some of the questions posed throughout had more staying power or covered a greater expanse of time. Some of the essays do this very well -- particularly the chapters on stadiums and re-development, on whether Barry Bonds is better than Babe Ruth, the value of the RBI, and five starters vs. four.

However, some of the essays show their age -- is David Ortiz a clutch hitter?, is A-Rod overpaid?, what causes Billy Beane's teams to struggle in the playoffs, etc. A lot of these questions are settled, or irrelevant 10 years later. I definitely recommend purchasing this and reading some of the more topical elements, but the work would benefit from a re-print with new material (which Baseball Prospectus kind of did in "Extra Innings," its newest publication).

Name: gk1
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book for the “stat fan” but not for the beginner
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 6, 2020
Review: I really enjoyed reading the book. It’s a great book for the baseball fan who really wants to know more about the intricacies of the major league game. It’s not for the faint of heart. It has charts and explanations and summaries of different topics such as “why doesn’t Moneyball win in the playoffs? “. But for me it was outstanding! Well researched and thoughtful and well- written .

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