The Baseball Economist and over 400,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle � Amazon�s new wireless reading device. Learn more

12 used & new from $2.50

See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share with Friends

The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed

See larger image

Share your own customer images

I own the rights to this title and would like to make it available again through Amazon.

Start reading The Baseball Economist on your Kindle in under a minute. Don�t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed [Bargain Price] (Paperback)

~ (Author)

3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

4 new from $12.14 8 used from $2.50

This is a bargain book and quantities are limited. Bargain books are new but could include a small mark from the publisher and an Amazon.com price sticker identifying them as such. See details.

	Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Kindle Edition Kindle Edition $9.99 Available for download now. Published February 26, 2008	$9.99	--	--
Hardcover Hardcover Available from these sellers. Published March 15, 2007	--	$1.20	$0.96
See # more hardcovers
Show fewer hardcovers
Paperback Paperback $10.20 In Stock. Published February 26, 2008	$10.20	$5.99	$2.00
Paperback, Bargain Price, February 26, 2008 Paperback, Bargain Price Available from these sellers. Published February 26, 2008	--	$12.14	$2.50
See # more paperbacks
Show fewer paperbacks

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Explore more great deals on 1000's of titles in our Bargain Book store.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong

by Jonah Keri

4.3 out of 5 stars (26) $12.20

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball

by Tom M. Tango

4.5 out of 5 stars (10) $14.93

Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball

by Vince Gennaro

4.6 out of 5 stars (9) $16.47

May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy

by Andrew S. Zimbalist

4.2 out of 5 stars (11) $18.85

The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics

by Alan Schwarz

4.6 out of 5 stars (29) $12.81

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Subjecting recent baseball debates to plentiful regression analyses, Kennesaw State economist Bradbury gamely fuses our national pastime and the "dismal science" somewhat in the spirit of Steven Levitt (Freakonomics), Michael Lewis (Moneyball) and Bill James (Baseball Between the Numbers). Like the latter, Bradbury offers a front-office perspective on labor (that's the players), salaries, managerial influence, steroids, market size and the like. Like a scrappy role player, Bradbury's enthusiasm is evident (he's a Braves supporter); he offers a chapter on managers' ability to work the umps ("it appears that most managers don't seem to have any real impact in arguing balls and strikes") and investigates top pitching coach Leo Mazzone's contributions. A blogger at his Web site sabernomics.com (a play on the acronym SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research), Bradbury, while not forging new ground, shines in the closing chapters, in which he convincingly bucks the conventional wisdom that Major League Baseball behaves like a monopoly. While the numbers crunched are more of the Financial Times than the box score kind, the issues the book deals with are those discussed in many a barroom. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Bradbury would be the first guy to tell you that baseball fans are the most statistically minded sports fans out there. And he should know: he is an economics professor and a baseball addict (and a popular blogger, too). Here, he tackles some of the game's most cherished truisms and controversies. Is being left-handed really a disadvantage for a catcher? What role, really, do steroids play in being a home-run king? (You may be surprised at the answer.) How can we effectively evaluate a player's value to his team? Ball fans may be shocked at how relevant economics is to their favorite game, and economists may find an exciting new application for their specialty. Like John Allen Paulos, author of such "popular math" books as A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Bradbury writes with a smooth, accessible style and makes the tricky game of numbers seem both straightforward and exciting. Like Bill James' Abstracts (2003), this volume could become essential reading for baseball fans. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Plume (February 26, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0452289025
ASIN: B001G8WNIM
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #966,551 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's J. C. Bradbury Page

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	57% buy the item featured on this page: The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed 3.9 out of 5 stars (18)
	16% buy Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong 4.3 out of 5 stars (26) $12.20
	15% buy The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball 4.5 out of 5 stars (10) $14.93
	7% buy Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game 4.5 out of 5 stars (413) $10.04

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

baseball(1)

baseball analysis(1)

baseball history(1)

sabermetrics(1)

sports(1)

statistics(1)

Agree with these tags?

Customer Reviews

18 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An economist writes about baseball, June 2, 2007

By	King Yao - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed (Hardcover)

Bradbury is an associate professor of Economics. He wrote this book with an economists' viewpoint on baseball. He may have gone too in-depths in economics for some people's taste, but being an economics major in college, I enjoyed it and re-learned a few concepts. He covers some topics that have were previously discussed by folks like Bill James, Voros McCracken, Michael Lewis and Jay Gould (and gives them due credit). Topics that were new to me that I found interesting included the effect of "protection" by the on-deck hitter, managers lobbying for balls and strikes, and the baseball monopoly.

I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to baseball fans that are not afraid of charts, numbers and economic concepts. I would be the first in line to buy his second book if Bradbury expands his economic analysis and writing into other sports.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comment

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting look at baseball from a unique perspective, April 10, 2007

By	Joy Avery (FL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed (Hardcover)

Very accessible, very interesting look at baseball. Bradbury tackles both high-profile issues in baseball (steroids, spending disparity amongst teams) as well as ideas you might not have even considered. (What can we learn from trends in hit batsmen?) I recommend this book to baseball fans with an interest in learning more about the inner-workings of the game as well as economists with even a passing interest in the sport.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comment

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inquiring Minds Wander from This Book, August 25, 2007

By	Paul Bohannon (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed (Hardcover)

I work with economic theorists all the time, but I am not going to tell you this is a good book. Pieces of it are. Bradbury dwells on the steriods issue, prattling on and on about the lack of evidence. Yet, no where does he accept the challenge of studying the relative performances of the individuals to determine the effect of steriods. Rather, he just says it has never been proven. He even blurs the distinction of taking steriods for performance reasons vs. health reasons (and he never considers the differences in the steriods themselves!)

Some of his economic observations are interesting, those where he really studies the game and statistics. I, for one, can find other, more rewarding but boring books to give me a Saturday afternoon snooze. And Bradbury should stick to his statistical analysis of the game (where he excels), not the policy points (where he only debates under the ruse of economic theories).

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 18 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Baseball Meet Statistics
The book The Baseball Economist by J.C. Bradbury takes America's pastime and mixes together with both economics and statistical analysis. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Justin E. Williams

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightfull, yet a bit of a slow read
The Baseball Economist was a interesting book that opened my eyes into some aspects of the game that I never thought extensively about. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Michael Sollitto

4.0 out of 5 stars The Baseball Economist
This is a fun, informative book. It is written in a breezy, informal tone. However, there is serious research underlying the informal presentation. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Michael A. Leeds

3.0 out of 5 stars Really Makes You Think...But Also Requires A Math/Economics Major To Truly Understand
After reading Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" and being fascinated (if not altogether convinced) by the concepts he discussed, I picked this book up to see how another mind would... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Zachary Koenig

1.0 out of 5 stars The Baseball Economist
The most boring baseball book I've ever read. As hasrd as I tried, I could not get to the 3rd chapter, and retained nothing from the first two.

Published 16 months ago by Richard Mailloux

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Thought-Provoking Book
This book gives unique insight into popular baseball issues such as the big-city-versus-small-city economic disparity problem we face today, the argument against having... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Jorge F.

4.0 out of 5 stars Some great stat analysis
I found this book worth reading overall, with a few flaws. The author shines on the sections that are more pure statistical analysis to argue a particular point about the... Read more

Published 18 months ago by CJ

3.0 out of 5 stars Economics only partly explains human behavior
This book is good at raising interesting questions and providing an analytical viewpoint. It suffers from the two main limitations of classical economics. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Eric Saund

4.0 out of 5 stars "One More Groundball with Eyes": Economics, Sabermetrics and the National Pastime
On Sunday, Dustin Pedroia made a dumb base running decision on the ball he hit off the Monster at Fenway Park, stopping after he rounded first then continuing on to second. Read more

Published 22 months ago by J. D Morrow

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for any baseball stat head
I just finished reading The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed the other night. If you're not a baseball fan then you can skip the rest of this post without offending me... Read more

Published 24 months ago by Kyle James

› See all 18 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }