The Diamond Appraised [Paperback]

Craig R. Wright (Author), Tom House (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This volume of baseball analysis is a collaboration between House, pitching coach of the Texas Rangers, and Wright, a former Rangers' statistician who styles himself a sabremetrician, a coinage based on the acronym for the Society of American Baseball Research. Their aim is to approach the game from both theoretical and practical standpoints, with each man handling his own area of expertise. Among the questions the two confront: What constitutes excellence in a catcher? Was Ty Cobb or Pete Rose a more valuable player? Should some pitchers be trained to become knuckleball specialists? Does baseball need a system like pro football's instant replay? The book will surely spark arguments galore, even though the authors frequently meander into one another's territory.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Fireside (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671707191
• ISBN-13: 978-0671707194
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have classic, April 30, 2011

By 

Bill Gray - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Diamond Appraised (Paperback)

Students of baseball analysis should know and own this book. To give The Diamond Appraised anything less than a full five star rating fails to take this decades old classic work into proper context. Craig Wright's 1987 contribution to baseball analysis is as important to the way we've come to understand baseball as anything written on the subject. This book was not intended to have a long shelf life and not intended to age well. The maps and charts of Lewis and Clark, Magellan and Columbus don't age well either, but they gave the world clarity of purpose, direction and possibility.

2.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Pitching Sections, December 31, 2010

By 

Ryan C. Lewis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Diamond Appraised (Paperback)

Like most books written by Sabermetricians, they do not age very well. Same goes for this book.

The Book starts out talking about Catcher Earned Run Average (CERA), which has been studies extensively since then and been proven to be not nearly the best way to evaluate catchers. It goes on from there with more dated info.

I was, and am, really only interested in the pitching aspect of the book, which, is very informative. For that alone, this purchase was worth the $.75 I paid for the used book.