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Sheldon Hirsch
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The Beauty of Short Hops: How Chance and Circumstance Confound the Moneyball Approach to Baseball Paperback – March 11, 2011

by Sheldon Hirsch (Author), Alan Hirsch (Author)

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Sabermetrics, the search for objective knowledge about baseball through statistical analysis, has taken over the national pastime. The authors argue that this approach began as a useful corrective but has come to harm baseball. The book demonstrates that the so-called moneyball approach, based on sabermetrics, offers only limited guidance for assembling a team, managing games, and evaluating player performance. Equally important, the obsession with statistics and vision of the game as wholly predictable obscure baseball's spectacular improvisational quality. It is the game's unquantifiable and relentless capacity to surprise--the source of wonder so central to its greatest stories and personalities--that informs any real appreciation of baseball.

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  1. Print length
    212 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    McFarland & Company
  4. Publication date
    March 11, 2011
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.42 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0786462884
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0786462889
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“engagingly written...highly recommended”―Library Journal; “a thoughtful, spunky counterpoint of a book, sure to be panned by true believers”―Spitball; “thankfully, the Hirsch brothers provide the first sensible rebuttal to the Moneyball approach. After summarizing Moneyball in the opening chapter, the authors…pick apart Michael Lewis’s arguments with relish. The authors compare a base-running gaffe in a Mets-Nationals game to the famous 1960 world series, [describe] a game delayed 52 minutes because of a swarm of bees, baseballs hidden in Wrigley Field’s famous ivy, and many other anecdotes which remind us why we love baseball and its unpredictable nature”―FrumForum; “terrific.... Proponents of sabermetrics should do themselves a favor and buy the book to find out if they should have something to think about. Those who have no use for sabermetrics should buy the book to find out why they are on solid footing.”―Murray Chass, 2003 J.G. Taylor Spink Award Recipient; “Compelling...authors Sheldon and Alan Hirsch take aim at [the] presumption that baseball is essentially a series of highly predictable results. They call into question the value of many of the advanced statistics that have popped up in recent years...correctly pointing out that it doesn’t take more than a handful of short hops (or bad bounces) over the course of a season to yield dramatically different ratings/rankings/statistics.”―Kevin Greenstein, Department of Communication and Journalism, Suffolk University; “Good, fun stuff.... The descriptions of bizarre incidents and freak plays make for a good read and is done in a similar vein as some of Rob Neyer’s work on the game’s historical oddities.”―Joe Tarring, columnist for www.fullcountpitch.com.

About the Author

Sheldon Hirsch's dreams of the major leagues died after a mediocre season as a high school junior. He is a nephrologist living outside of Chicago, and has published extensively in medical journals.

Alan Hirsch, chair of the Justice and Law Studies program at Williams College, has written numerous books and been published in The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Newsday and Village Voice, among many others. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland & Company
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 11, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786462884
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786462889
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.42 x 9 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #1,743,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Sheldon Hirsch

Sheldon Hirsch

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