Smart Baseball

Smart Baseball

Author: Keith Law

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-04-25

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 0062490257

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Predictably Irrational meets Moneyball in ESPN veteran writer and statistical analyst Keith Law’s iconoclastic look at the numbers game of baseball, proving why some of the most trusted stats are surprisingly wrong, explaining what numbers actually work, and exploring what the rise of Big Data means for the future of the sport. For decades, statistics such as batting average, saves recorded, and pitching won-lost records have been used to measure individual players’ and teams’ potential and success. But in the past fifteen years, a revolutionary new standard of measurement—sabermetrics—has been embraced by front offices in Major League Baseball and among fantasy baseball enthusiasts. But while sabermetrics is recognized as being smarter and more accurate, traditionalists, including journalists, fans, and managers, stubbornly believe that the "old" way—a combination of outdated numbers and "gut" instinct—is still the best way. Baseball, they argue, should be run by people, not by numbers.? In this informative and provocative book, teh renowned ESPN analyst and senior baseball writer demolishes a century’s worth of accepted wisdom, making the definitive case against the long-established view. Armed with concrete examples from different eras of baseball history, logic, a little math, and lively commentary, he shows how the allegiance to these numbers—dating back to the beginning of the professional game—is firmly rooted not in accuracy or success, but in baseball’s irrational adherence to tradition. While Law gores sacred cows, from clutch performers to RBIs to the infamous save rule, he also demystifies sabermetrics, explaining what these "new" numbers really are and why they’re vital. He also considers the game’s future, examining how teams are using Data—from PhDs to sophisticated statistical databases—to build future rosters; changes that will transform baseball and all of professional sports.


Incredible Baseball Stats

Incredible Baseball Stats

Author: Kevin Reavy

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-04-16

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1683583132

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As America's pastime since the mid-1800s, baseball offers the sights, sounds, and even smells that are deeply entrenched in our culture. But for some, the experience can be less sensory. Some, such as Ryan Spaeder and Kevin Reavy, live for baseball statistics. Stats give the game historical context and measurables for past, present, and predictive analysis. Incredible Baseball Stats, newly updated, helps tell unique baseball stories, showcasing extraordinary stats and facts in baseball history, through the 2018 season. For example, in 2015, the Nationals’ Bryce Harper broke out in a major way. He batted .330/.460/.649 with 42 home runs en route to his first MVP Award. It was his fourth MLB season, but he was still younger than NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant. He became the youngest player to lead the league in both on-base percentage and homers in the same season since Ty Cobb in 1909. The authors have scoured the records for untold tales and looked at familiar ones with new statistical insights, to create Incredible Baseball Stats, a perfect book for baseball fans from coast to coast. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.


Baseball: Then to WOW!

Baseball: Then to WOW!

Author: The Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids

Publisher: Sports Illustrated Kids

Published: 2016-04-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781618931429

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Baseball: Then to WOW! shows readers how baseball has evolved from the early days of the 1920s to the game it is today. Using MLB action photographs, illustrations, stories, and trivia, the book is a journey through time both for baseball fans and those new to the game. Kids will learn how basic equipment has changed from fingerless gloves to specially tailored leather-bound mitts and how the evolution of game strategy has transformed the sport, players, and equipment. Players throughout history are stacked up against each other in every position so fans can dream up the perfect fantasy team with Babe Ruth playing alongside Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson. A fun-filled section of the book explores everything fan culture-from the perfect ballpark frank to the importance of baseball cards and video games in popularizing the sport.


The Book

The Book

Author:

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 1597973653

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Baseball "by The Book."


Teaching Statistics Using Baseball

Teaching Statistics Using Baseball

Author: Jim Albert

Publisher: American Mathematical Society

Published: 2022-02-04

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1470469383

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Teaching Statistics Using Baseball is a collection of case studies and exercises applying statistical and probabilistic thinking to the game of baseball. Baseball is the most statistical of all sports since players are identified and evaluated by their corresponding hitting and pitching statistics. There is an active effort by people in the baseball community to learn more about baseball performance and strategy by the use of statistics. This book illustrates basic methods of data analysis and probability models by means of baseball statistics collected on players and teams. Students often have difficulty learning statistics ideas since they are explained using examples that are foreign to the students. The idea of the book is to describe statistical thinking in a context (that is, baseball) that will be familiar and interesting to students. The book is organized using a same structure as most introductory statistics texts. There are chapters on the analysis on a single batch of data, followed with chapters on comparing batches of data and relationships. There are chapters on probability models and on statistical inference. The book can be used as the framework for a one-semester introductory statistics class focused on baseball or sports. This type of class has been taught at Bowling Green State University. It may be very suitable for a statistics class for students with sports-related majors, such as sports management or sports medicine. Alternately, the book can be used as a resource for instructors who wish to infuse their present course in probability or statistics with applications from baseball. The second edition of Teaching Statistics follows the same structure as the first edition, where the case studies and exercises have been replaced by modern players and teams, and the new types of baseball data from the PitchFX system and fangraphs.com are incorporated into the text.


Sandlot Stats

Sandlot Stats

Author: Stanley Rothman

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 587

ISBN-13: 1421408678

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Sandlot Stats uses the national pastime to help students who love baseball learn—and enjoy—statistics. As Derek Jeter strolls toward the plate, the announcer tosses out a smattering of statistics—from hitting streaks to batting averages. But what do the numbers mean? And how can America’s favorite pastime be a model for learning about statistics? Sandlot Stats is an innovative textbook that explains the mathematical underpinnings of baseball so that students can understand the world of statistics and probability. Carefully illustrated and filled with exercises and examples, this book teaches the fundamentals of probability and statistics through the feats of baseball legends such as Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams—and more recent players such as Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez. Exercises require only pen-and-paper or Microsoft Excel to perform the analyses. Sandlot Stats covers all the bases, including • descriptive and inferential statistics • linear regression and correlation • probability • sports betting • probability distribution functions • sampling distributions • hypothesis testing • confidence intervals • chi-square distribution Sandlot Stats offers information covered in most introductory statistics books, yet is peppered with interesting facts from the history of baseball to enhance the interest of the student and make learning fun.


The Book of Baseball Literacy

The Book of Baseball Literacy

Author: David H. Martinez

Publisher: Plume Books

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13:

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For baseball's millions of fans, this ultimate reference to the national pastime features a listing of more than 800 memorable people, places, dates, events, terms, records, and statistics. From the game's origins in the 1840s to the present day, The Book of Baseball Literacy presents complete details on the great sport in one lively, fascinating treasury.


Hidden Ball Trick

Hidden Ball Trick

Author: Jeremy Frank Jim Passon

Publisher:

Published: 2019-05-09

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9781793996930

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Hidden Ball Trick: The Baseball Stats You Never Thought To Look For goes year-by-year throughout the history of baseball, starting with the founding of the National League in 1876 until the end of the Dead Ball Era in 1919. With a few pages dedicated to each season, Hidden Ball Trick tells a near century-and-a-half long story about baseball's history through it's craziest stats, wildest events, and mindblowing seasons starting with the Dead Ball Era.One doesn't have to be a statistics professor to appreciate the game from a numerical perspective; Hidden Ball Trick's simplicity appeals to everyone from a baseball card collecting little leaguer who grew up watching Mike Trout play, to their 80-year-old grandparent who had the same connection to Willie Mays. Written by a teenager and a cable guy who share a love for the world's greatest sport, Hidden Ball Trick is sure to be enjoyable and informative to anyone who loves the game of baseball.


Baseball Between the Numbers

Baseball Between the Numbers

Author: Jonah Keri

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2007-02-27

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 0465003737

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In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game. Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy.