The Book on The Book: A Landmark Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work [Hardcover]

Bill Felber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2005

Diehard fanatics will enjoy this comprehensive collection of groundbreaking baseball strategies, analyses, statistics, and studies


Baseball fans all across America will delight in this fascinating analysis of strategies and statistics. This unique approach to understanding the "tried and true" methodologies of the game of baseball examines conventional elements like the steal, hit and run, and line up construction. The Book on the Book offers an exciting critique of baseball by placing an actual dollar value on player performance and rating managers based on their on-field moves to determine who are the smartest tacticians.

No corner of the ballpark is left unturned as author Bill Felber explores the various methods of team-building, on-field values of players, the role and influence of the general manager in team success, and the importance of park effects. In a more controversial section, new tactical approaches to the use of the pitching staff contradict the more generally accepted practices.

In the vein of the late Leonard Koppett and Bill James, Felber uses mathematical and statistical principles to evaluate the wisdom of standard baseball strategies. Illustrations and a refreshingly engaging style make The Book on the Book the new textbook of baseball analysis.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Among the myriad accomplishments of the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox was the elevation of the "stat geek" to near-deity ranking, the Sox having shrewdly hired Zen-master statistician Bill James following the 2002 season. James' higher profile should generate that much more fan interest in volumes like this one, a hard-core, up-to-date statistical analysis of many of baseball's essential elements. Felber, executive editor of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury and a baseball historian for 20 years, number-crunches player value per dollar spent, the (dubious) effectiveness of switch-hitting, the win-loss impact of a general manager (huge) versus a manager (not so huge), pitch counts, when to steal, and much more. Some of his conclusions are self-evident, such as: "It's better to succeed at the hit-and-run than to fail." Yet he reveals some surprises, too, such as the investment value of starting pitching, the self-fulfilling nature of the penny-pinching franchise, and who the true MVPs of a team really are. A good pickup for strong sports collections. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Well thought out and soundly based, this book could be used as a text for most current teams, who should be trying to keep up with those few enlightened ones that are using logic rather than guesswork and hope."
--Pete Palmer, Co editor of The Baseball Encyclopedia and co-author of The Hidden
Game of Baseball

"Baseball's 'Book'--the ever-expanding cloud of common wisdom about how the game should be played--has resisted challenge in part because it is unwritten. Ever since baseball began, experts have not been reading from the same page, let alone the same book. But now Bill Felber comes along to poke holes in the clouds and let some sunshine in. Picking up where Michael Lewis left off in Moneyball, he addresses the central questions of risk, reward, and value--on the field and off--and reveals what it takes to win."
-- John Thorn, editor of Total Baseball

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (April 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312332645
• ISBN-13: 978-0312332648
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #533,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Felber is executive editor of The Manhattan Mercury, the daily newspaper of Manhattan, Ks. He is a native of Chicago. Interests include journalism, golf, baseball and history.

He has written the following books:
125 Years of Professional Baseball, published in 1924 by Triumph Books
The Horse in War, published in 2001 by Chelsea.
The Book On The Book, published in 2004 by St. Martins
A Game of Brawl, published in 2008 by Bison Press.

His latest book, Under Pallor, Under Shadow, will be published by Bison Press in the spring of 2011. It is the story of the 1920 American League baseball pennant race, examining the intersection and consequences of three noteworthy developments. 1. The death of Ray Chapman. 2. The arrival of Babe Ruth in New York. 3. The exposure of the Black Sox scandal.

His writing and research can also be examined at www.billfelber.com. Included at this website is his unpublished novel, What So Proudly We Hailed, a fictionalized treatment of the same 1920 pennant race.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Concept; Poor Execution, September 14, 2005

By 

Brian A. Powell "npbb_bap" (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Book on The Book: A Landmark Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work (Hardcover)

A disappointing purchase, this cannot be the last word on the subject. The book is a pretty dry read. Bill James has printed similar types of essays in various books in a much more lively and entertaining style. Also, some of the methods used and assumptions made are very questionable. (I am an MBA with over 20 years experience in compiling and using statistical data.) Felber's book can only be recommended to the really hardcore fan who is willing to wade through a lot of really boring prose.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I have to disagree with the other reviewers, February 20, 2007

By 

Bruce R. Gilson (Wheaton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Book on The Book: A Landmark Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work (Hardcover)

I first looked at the reviews of this book after I'd already ordered it. I'm glad I didn't read the reviews first; their uniformly negative ratings might have put me off getting the book. I disagree strongly with these evaluations.

The book didn't seem that tedious to me; perhaps the reviewers were looking for something different from what the author was trying to do. The author is trying to present his conclusions on baseball strategy, not just as it needs to be used by players, but also by managers and by front-office people who might decide who should be signed and how much they should be paid. This latter part hasn't been addressed by anyone else that I know.

Some of his conclusions on on-the-field strategy may be identical to conclusions already reached by such baseball analysts as Pete Palmer. This doesn't make it less valuable that he enunciate them and give his reasoning. And some of his conclusions are new, or contrary to what other analysts have decided. That's why you want to read other books, not just this one, and come to your own conclusions.

One of the other reviewers seems to think everything Felber states is obvious. I think that some things are -- it is certainly more likely that you will strike out if you already have two strikes against you than if the count is 2-1. But what Felber is trying to do is quantify the chances, so that one can come up with a strategy for swinging/taking, and the very fact that his conclusions run counter than the usual strategies certainly means that managers don't think his conclusions are obvious.

My take on this book is that it is a valuable addition to my library, unlike the other reviews' ratings, though I certainly would not use this as my only book on the subject.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing, February 28, 2006

By 

Michael E. Glander "Mike Glander" (www.wormthenovel.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Book on The Book: A Landmark Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work (Hardcover)

I was really hoping for a fresh, new take on an old topic. But instead, it seems that "The Book on the Book" merely regurgitated the work already done by Palmer and Thorn over 20 years ago.

The author does not appear to have a background in statistics or logical thinking, and unfortunately it shows. On subjects such as the sacrifice bunt, for example, he draws conclusions without analyzing game situations or the quality of the hitter at the plate. Folks at web sites like Baseball Prospectus, Hardball Times and Baseball Analysts have covered this topic in much more extensive detail, thus delivering more meaningful conclusions.