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Tom M. Tango

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball Paperback – March 10, 2007

by Tom M. Tango (Author), Mitchel Lichtman (Author), Andrew Dolphin (Author),

149 ratings

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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.

Print length

386 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Potomac Books Inc.
Publication date

March 10, 2007
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

1597971294
ISBN-13

978-1597971294
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Editorial Reviews

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

About the Author

Tom Tango runs the Tango on Baseball website and has consulted for major league baseball teams. He lives in New Jersey.

Mitchel Lichtman has been doing sabermetric research for over seventeen years and was the senior analyst for a major league baseball team. He lives in New York.

Andrew Dolphin has been working with sports statistics for over ten years and is a consultant for a major league baseball team. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Potomac Books Inc.; 0 edition (March 10, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 386 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1597971294
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1597971294
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,878 in Baseball (Books)

Customer Reviews:
149 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		15%
3 star		8%
2 star		5%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Melrin

The Book is a must for baseball nerds, Joe fan should read it too

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Baseball nerds must read The Book, it's the bible of their world. Statisticians and math majors will find it easier to understand than the average fan because that's who wrote it. Like all sabermetric oriented texts it ignores the human factor and provides only the probability based side.
The Book does however provide insight into traditional ideas, proving some and disproving others. It will help those who aren't sure about the new metrics in the game have at least a general idea where they came from. I caution those who read it and become immediate disciples to remember that people create the trends that became baseline for these metrics. They provide guides to probability not absolute answers to what should be done.

9 people found this helpful

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Noitamroftuo

Tables are difficult to read on kindle version

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

The tables are too small to read easily on the kindle version. I have to strain to read them. And obviously they are important to the content. I would not recommend buying the kindle version. Or, there should be a repository on the web of all the tables. I tried on my kindle paperweight, and kindle app for mac and ios (iphone 7).

8 people found this helpful

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The book on the book in baseball

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2011

Verified Purchase

One of the common phrases that we hear in baseball is that a manager was playing by "the book." That is, the manager was doing what the unwritten rules of baseball suggest. One example at the outset illustrates: walking a batter intentionally with first base open. This book, in essence, rewrites the book.

The authors use a detailed data base (including each at bat over a period of years) and then do a statistical analysis of results. And, they argue, the unwritten book is often wrong. The first chapter lays out the logic of this book's orientation. Many readers might find the chapter dense and too quantitative for their taste. My advice? Close the book and put it away, because the book features much statistical analysis.

To illustrate the work's approach. . . . Here are some issues addressed: How real are batting streaks (Answer: You can't predict how a player will do during a hot streak; there is no inherent "momentum")? Chapter three looks at pitcher-batter confrontations. Do certain pitchers "own" batters? Do certain hitters "own" pitchers? Data analysis suggests that we overrate these ideas. We all talk about clutch hitters and clutch pitchers. Chapter 4 takes this notion on (read the book to find out what actually happens).

Chapter 5 examines how to construct a batting order; Chapter 6 examines lefty-versus righty confrontations between hitters and pitchers; Chapter 9 looks at the value and efficacy of the sacrifice bunt; and so on.

If the reader is a figure filbert and likes sabermetrics, this book will be a delight. If you are old school, not so much! But, for me, a lot of fun. . . .

20 people found this helpful

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Elihu Feustel

Best math book on baseball ever.

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2008

Verified Purchase

The authors of "The Book" reveal truths of baseball derived from careful statistical analysis. The clear explanations are such that any person who can understand percentages will gain insight from the book. The conclusions (and data upon which they are based) are truly amazing. I have never read a book on baseball in this league. Every angle of the game is analyzed objectively. While it is presented such that "non-math" people can understand it, there is enough meat to the analysis that substantiate the conclusions without scaring the average reader.

My purpose in studying baseball is from a sports betting perspective. The conclusions (such as run equity and win percentages given different situations) make this book a mandatory purchase for anyone who bets on Baseball live, or conducts a very thorough analysis of moneyline prices.

There has never been a book on baseball so well written that targets all ranges of sabr-metric fans. This will teach you the subtleties in baseball that add small percentages to winning games and scoring runs. If you are a fantasy baseball player, a lot of this content is invaluable to you as well.

22 people found this helpful

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Arnold Greenley Jr.

Heavy in statistics

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

The whole book is data. It's about 12 years old, but was very informative

2 people found this helpful

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Jacob Serafini

Even for a baseball stat nerd like me, I thought this book was pretty overwhelming ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Even for a baseball stat nerd like me, I thought this book was pretty overwhelming past a certain point. Definitely one I will read again with a pen and notepad by my side.

6 people found this helpful

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Arturo M. Perez

Good read, terrible publishing

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2012

Verified Purchase

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. I am not sure if I got a preliminary version or what but it is just awful.

The book does miss a key idea on the bunting chapter. It does not differentiate between sac bunts and bunts for base hits. Some of the information is a little redundant. I recommend "Baseball Between the Numbers" if you want to keep reading about interesting baseball stats.

Also, the information on this book is a little outdated. It would be interesting to see "The Book 2" or something with more recent numbers

18 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Basically tells you nothing...

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

A lot of great research went into this book. I applaud their effort when it comes to applying math to sports, particularly baseball. But honestly....it offers zero help to coaches. The statistical data is so vast and the differences are so minuscule, that it will just confuse any amateur coach trying to read this book.

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Top reviews from other countries

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JM

Essential reading

Reviewed in Canada on December 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

I keep coming back to reference parts of this book. It is still relevant after more than a decade.

Bosephus

Okay

Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

A bit dated now, but an interesting read

Evan MacKenzie

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on August 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

Awesome book for the statistical enthusiast!

Reno

Complet avec des exemples

Reviewed in France on September 27, 2012

Verified Purchase

Clairement LE LIVRE pour commencer dans le monde du "Sabermetrics". Des exemples concrets, avec des tableaux, des formules, bref la meilleure entrée en matière pour celui qui souhaite apprendre et surtout comprendre les statistiques dans le baseball.

De plus, sur le site internet de l'auteur, il y a régulièrement des annotations ou des mises à jour de certaines parties du livre. Bref, l'auteur est très réactif pour toutes questions ou même suggestions.

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Vasos Lagoudis

Good

Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

Good