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The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball [Paperback]

Tom M. Tango , Mitchel Lichtman , Andrew Dolphin , Pete Palmer
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 10, 2007
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.

Frequently Bought Together

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball + Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong + The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
Price for all three: $50.22

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I can heartily recommend . . . The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by a trio of talented sabermatricians." -- Rob Neyer

From the Publisher

"I can heartily recommend . . . The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by a trio of talented sabermatricians." -- Rob Neyer, co-author of The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers

"It's the book I've always wanted to do."--John Dewan, author of The Fielding Bible


Product Details

  • Paperback: 386 pages
  • Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (March 10, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1597971294
  • ISBN-13: 978-1597971294
  • Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

I'd highly recommend this for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of the game of baseball! Daniel Wick  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
If you're already into Sabermetrics, get this one. Russell A. Carleton  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
If, however, you are interested in purchasing this book, do so quickly. Dr. Pete  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book of its kind - by far! June 23, 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Other sabermetric books have been written in the last few years, The Book is the best one by far. It is chock full of information, results from research and answers a lot of interesting baseball questions. The three authors, Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman and Andrew Dolphin have academic backgrounds and work for major league teams as employees or consultants. They use statistical methods to extract and comprehend information from a massive database of baseball games.

For the layman, there may be too much math throughout the book. However, they do a fantastic job of summarizing each idea in plain English at the end of each section. For example, in chapter 2 on hot and cold streaks, after presenting data, explaining their process and interpreting results, they summarize the section with "Knowing that a hitter has been in or is in the midset of a hot or cold streak has little predictive value. Always assume that a player will hit at his projected norm (adjusted for the park, weather, and pitcher he is facing), regardless of how he has performed in the very recent past. A player's recent history may be used as a tiebreaker."

Managers, players, fans and the media often put too much emphasis on results from small samples sizes. The authors warn against making this mistake. "One of the pervasive themes of this book is the danger of inferring too much from too little by underestimating the influence of randomness". For example, they summarize a section on pitcher-batter matchups with: "Knowing a player will face a particular opponent, and given the choice between that player's 1,500 PA (plate appearances) over the past three years against the rest of the league or twenty-five PA against that particular opponent, look at the 1,500 PA. "

They aren't afraid to point out when general baseball wisdom is correct. On starting pitchers, they write, "pitchers perform best with five days of rest, and worst with three days of rest. To manage our entire starting rotation effectively, four days of rest seems to be the optimal point. The current MLB pattern of scheduling the starting rotation works."

This book is at the top of my recommendation list for thinking baseball fans. I'm a bit surprised that I'm the first reviewer of this book on Amazon, since it has been out for three months. The sales ranking (currently #47,000 as I write this review) is disappointing for such an incredible book. The Book deserves to be at the top of the baseball best seller's list.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Authors Illuminate the Guts of Baseball December 4, 2007
Format:Paperback
This is the single most important math-centered analysis of baseball since The Hidden Game of Baseball came out over 20 years ago. I unreservedly recommend it for those already experienced with statistical analysis of baseball (the authors are much better at insight and explaining to the initiated than they are the Dick & Jane bits).

They attack a sequence of important subjects, mostly around game-tactics and, by consequence, roster-construction with hard data. And they are aware of an important bit of knowledge: (a) that not everything is measurable, and (b) that some aspects of the not measurable are important.

One star short of maximum because it's not a page-turner for most readers; the writing is more than adequate, but not energizing, so it's a book most will pick up, read 15 pages, put down to digest.

I'm very glad I read it. This is a keeper even for a limited-shelf-space baseball reader; I'm squeezing it in right next to "Hidden Game".
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24 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Single Most Important Sabermetrics Book? November 1, 2006
Format:Paperback
Take it from a professional sabermetrician: this might be the best and most important single volume in our field. It's a splendid complement to Baseball Between the Numbers, addressing many of the same questions but in many cases digging deeper. The authors have impeccable reputations in the online sabermetrics community. While they can't match Bill James for wit or BP for snarkiness, the writing is clear and solid.

I don't think that any of the findings here (some of which are truly eye-opening) will end up as the very last word on the subject: but more often than not they are the latest word. And that makes the book an essential purchase for anyone serious about understanding the game of baseball.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Too Technical
I am big baseball fan and I am interested in Sabremetrics. I bought this book in the hope that I could better understand the way those measurements were calculated. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Dr. Pete
5.0 out of 5 stars Good complement to MoneyBall
This book discussed and described how baseball should really be played. Discusses the most important metrics; not just record of a pitcher, and batting average of a hitter; but... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dave
1.0 out of 5 stars Why is this so expensive?
Seriously? It's a book for God's sake. It shouldn't cost upwards of $200. If someone could shed some light as to why it's so expensive, or point me in a direction where I can find... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Carey
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it...
Besides being a bit outdated and much has changed since their date range of study, i.e. 2004 season is used as a focal point in this book, incredible explanation and a great way to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Richard Bachman
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for any sabermetric fans out there!
This book covers every imaginable situation that can occur throughout a baseball game. Great book i highly recommend it! .
Published 6 months ago by Robert
3.0 out of 5 stars Good read, terrible publishing
Let me start off by saying the book has very interesting information. However, the publishing part of it was very poor. There are grammatical errors, typos, missing spaces, etc. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Arturo M. Perez
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book on baseball and statistics
If you are a baseball junkie (check) and interested in data analysis (check) this is a GREAT book. The book walks you through the analysis of the game of baseball using various... Read more
Published 10 months ago by D. Peters
5.0 out of 5 stars Best In Show
Best book of its kind ever. A sustained coherent and unassailable argument throughout based on heaps of data and the base out states on the field. Terrific. Inspiring. Read more
Published 14 months ago by J. A. I.
5.0 out of 5 stars It IS The Book on stats
Mind boggling explanations and theories on baseball stats. This is the First Edition 2007. However, some if not most of the references are outdated covering from 1999-2002, a few... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Porkee Peeg
3.0 out of 5 stars Good read, but not on a Kindle
Insights on things that are often debated, but usually considered from emotion instead of the facts are plentiful. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Matt Austin
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