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

• The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract This book will give you a great overview of the game from 1870 to 1999. Breaks the game down by decades and what the game was like and how it changed. Also ranks the top 100 players at each position. Really anything by James is an entertaining read, but this is the must have for baseball conversation.
  
• Baseball Prospectus - Baseball Between the Numbers A good introductory course into the newer sabrmetrics. It will answer many questions in depth about what was going on as far as player evaluation in Moneyball.
  
• Tom Tango - The Book Much more advanced sabrmetrics but very current and groundbreaking. The author started on the internet, and last offseason secured a job working for the Seattle Mariners.
  
  The next three are to give you a better view of the game from the players/owners perspective.
  
  
• Veeck as in Wreck Bill Veeck was one hell of a guy. His father was president of the Cubs in the 30's, and Bill would go on to own his fair share of teams. Always an individual, he stood against the baseball ownership cabal on many occasions. Spent the last years of his life watching the Cubs from the center field bleachers. His autobiography is humorous and insightful. A must read for any baseball fan.
  
• Buck O'Neil - I was Right on Time Called the soul of negro league baseball, Buck O'Neil recounts his playing days in the negro leagues, and covers many of the legends in a very matter of fact way.
  
• Jim Bouton - Ball Four Last but not least is former Yankee star, now washed up knuckleballer Jim Bouton recalling the inaugural season of the short lived Seattle Pilots. Baseball players in all their vulgar glory. Also will teach you the fine art of "shooting beaver".

http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470

This one is the best. Tango's "The Book" is probably second.

Moneyball is as much fiction as it is fact. It's a fun read but it really only scratches the surface.

Depends how much effort you want to put into it.

For general baseball knowledge and history:

• Watch all of Ken Burns Baseball (its all on Youtube).
  
• Read Moneyball for an understanding of how modern analytics revolutionized the game and upended the status quo. (Some people are still fighting this fight, but among MLB front offices the nerds have already "won" basically).
  
• Read Baseball Between the Numbers for a good primer on modern analysis (though there has been more progress since that book came out of course)
  
  
  For Dodgers specific history:
  
  
• Watch the ESPN 30 for 30 on Valenzuela (Fernando Nation).
  
• Read Jon Weisman's book about the Dodgers for a great overview of team history.
  
• Read Molly Knight's book for a good narrative look at the current team and ownership group. This is great context for understanding how we got to where we are now.
  
  For current news and analysis:
  
  
• Dodgers Digest is a great blog for level-headed, intelligent Dodgers analysis. The writers there know what they are talking about and aren't overly reactionary, as a general rule.
  
• True Blue LA, the Dodgers SB Nation blog, is run by Eric Stephen who is the most diligent Dodgers beat writer today. In the off season for example, he's writing a season review for every player who appeared for the Dodgers in 2015.

Baseball Between the Numbers from Baseball Prospectus is a good read. I picked it up for $0.75 at a used book store!

Sabermetricians have done the analysis. Read Between the Numbers.

TL;DR: Even when corrected for different eras, level of competition, and so on, Babe Ruth is still the greatest player ever.

Read a book

Or scroll this article

The hitter/pitcher style might matter, but not individual match-ups.

Yeah definitely a classic. Just to clarify I'm definitely not saying that clutch is a real or important thing, as it has never been statistically proven so. However, the biggest finding in most of these studies (the one I'm thinking of is unfortunately not available online) is the correlationship between performing well in high leverage situations and patience at the plate. So to reiterate, it's not that I think Belt is clutch as much as I think that a player with Belt's approach should continue to do well in high leverage situations.

If you're looking into the more advanced stats I'd recommend the following:

A good place to get started is the Fangraphs resource pages. Just follow the tabs below the search bar/"follow us" section of the page. For my money, Fangraphs offers the most complete and well-rounded advanced stats out there and they don't use black box proprietary stats like Baseball Prospectus.

If you want to dive in a little more deeply, "The Book" by Tom Tango lays things out really well.

"Baseball Between the Numbers" by Jonah Keri is a solid read too.

Have fun getting started!

A few other recommendations:

Victory Season

Veeck as in Wreck

Between the Numbers

Cardboard Gods

Baseball Between the Numbers

Baseball Between the Numbers is a good book to get started with. Easy to read, starts from first principles and builds on, etc.
There are other sabermetrics books out there (The Book, etc.), but I found BBtN to be the best intro.

http://www.blessyouboys.com/2011/8/17/2365806/a-sabermetric-view-of-bunting

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-sacrifice-bunt-the-real-rally-killer/

Also check out

"Baseball Between the Numbers"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0465005470?pc_redir=1398148066&robot_redir=1

And also many editions of the "Bill James Handbook"

Honestly, this has got to be my favorite, because I'm a huge stathead. Moneyball is also a good one.

I'll be going to graduate school in Statistics, so as an avid baseball fan, I'm also fascinated with Sabermetrics.

Here are some books I recommend

For a good first book, I recommend either Beyond Batting Average or Understanding Sabermetrics: An Introduction to the Science of Baseball Statistics or Baseball Between the Numbers.... All of those books provide good introductions to the subject

My favorite book would have to be, The Book: Playing Percentages in Baseball. Compared to the first three I mentioned, this book is a bit more complex, but I think it's the best because it's the most thorough.

This book is an excellent resource. It is composed of articles that tackle some fundamental concepts using sabermetrics. I would also recommend reading Moneyball and The Extra 2% to get an idea of the impact that sabermetrics are having on the game, and specific ways teams are implementing them.

check out baseballprospectus.com

Baseball Between the Numbers is good:
http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278466320&sr=8-4

Bill James Historical Abstract is an awesome read. Ranks players throughout history, by position. Needs updating, but still a great read
http://www.amazon.com/Bill-James-Historical-Baseball-Abstract/dp/0743227220/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Also, Fangraphs.com is a good, up and coming site as well.

Seen and read. I have also read The Baseball Economist, Hot Stove Economics and Baseball Between the Numbers. If you have read them already, then bro-fist. If you have yet to read them, then you're welcome :)

No, fantasy sports are nerdy. If you've ever read things like The Numbers Game, Baseball Between the Numbers, or Moneyball, you'll know that baseball statistics are extremely nerdy. This applies to other sports too, but baseball is by far the most nerdy.

That is not to say that all people into fantasy sports are nerds, but a lot of people into fantasy sports are nerds.

Programming is a tool. I suggest finding another interest that you can apply it to. Robots, graphics, music, animation, sports, economics -- the possibilities are endless. Pick your favorite area, look at what kind of problems there are in that area that people use programs to solve, figure out how those sorts of programs work, and try to solve some of those problems yourself.

A few interesting examples:

• Project Euler has a set of challenges relating to both math and computer science that will stretch you to learn more about both.
  
• Python Challenge is basically a series of puzzles that challenge you to do new and interesting things with Python. Granted, several of the puzzles are quite similar and some of the libraries they reference are deprecated, but it's a place to start for programming challenges.
  
• Programming Computer Vision With Python talks all about using programs to do things like find objects in pictures and track them even at different sizes and angles. Lots of great examples.
  
• Programming Collective Intelligence talks about putting together data from different sources (primarily websites) and finding patterns. It deals with many machine learning concepts in ways that are practical and interesting. Things like modelling and predicting, optimizing, clustering (finding similarities), searching and ranking, and pattern recognition.
  
• Arduino Robotics describes many robots you can build with relatively common parts that can be programmed using the inexpensive, C-based Arduino microcontroller platform. I've made several of these myself.
  
• Digital Signal Processing is all about writing software that takes advantage of advanced math to manipulate signals in many ways. It's invaluable for audio, but you see it used with graphics, digital communications, and many other areas.
  
• There is a subset of sports fans that really enjoy statistics and software can be very valuable for them. Things like comparing players across eras, predicting future performance, and helping to find high-value players. The general field is called Sabremetrics. I looked deep into it in relation to major league baseball. Two books that I found valuable are The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball and Baseball Between the Numbers.
  
• Programmable games are cool too. Things like CROBOTS, CoreWar, RoboWar, and Robot Game. It's just as fun building the simulation environment as it is building the bots that compete within them.
  
• Pick up any book on algorithms. Learn to apply the basics like binary search, insertion sort, radix sort, memoization and linear programming, Dijkstra's algorithm, and Newton's method for root finding.
  
• Grab another book on data structures. Make sure you understand the differences between arrays, linked lists, hash tables, and trees. Learn about unique and useful things like binary trees, radix trees, heaps, and queues.
  
• Learn how to write better code. I recommend books like Code Complete and The Pragmatic Programmer.
  
  Whatever you do, as you clearly pointed out, you have to be interested in it or you'll grow bored and give up. Find something that is interesting to you and pursue it as wide and deep as you can.

This is one of my favorites

http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470

This one was about if Babe Ruth played in modern stadiums.

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Babe-Ruth-Home-Runs-ebook/dp/B001IDZQZW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398704067&sr=1-1&keywords=the+year+babe+ruth+hit+104+home+runs

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

Check out Baseball Between the Numbers. Outstanding look at statistics in baseball and how they are often misused. One of my favorite chapters was about how Pete Incaviglia was more valuable running the bases than Rickey Henderson during his 130 steal season. Really interesting stuff throughout the book.

I submitted Baseball Between the Numbers. Its a great sabermetrical read. Has some great stats and comparisons. It is a bit longer, 300 pages or so.

Question: Is it okay if I miss a few of the books? I'm not sure if I will be able to get all the books in time to read them.

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

I can recommend several books.

Baseball Between the Numbers by the BP folks.
It's old, and some parts of it are outdated, but I cut my saber teeth on that thing. There's also another book in the same vein by the same group called Extra Innings.
https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501900503&sr=8-1&keywords=baseball+between+the+numbers

The Book by Tango and MGL.
It's very nerdy, so it's not for everyone.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Playing-Percentages-Baseball/dp/1494260174/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1501900528&sr=8-3&keywords=baseball+between+the+numbers

The newer(ish) Keith Law and Brian Kenny books are pretty good too. I'm too lazy to link to those and they are easy to find.

"Hey Boch"

"yeah"

"Let's say there's a runner on third"

"yeah"

"And you have Buster Posey up at the plate"

"yeah"

"Would you rather have Posey try to get a hit or try to produce an out"

"well, i would rather take the hit"

"Wait, really?

"yeah. we only have twenty-seven outs in a game, so each one is precious. a hitter should ALWAYS be trying to get on base"

"Yeah, but in this situation there's a runner at third"

"and? a hitter should NEVER be trying to get himself put out"

Also, I've only seen Moneyball once and thought it was a pretty mediocre movie. They got rid of the actual baseball analysis (that definitely would have bored most people) and added a ridiculous conflict between Art Howe and Billy Beane that never existed.

Look, dude, I get it: hearing that the VAST majority of people in the field are realizing that your way of thinking is wrong is a SCARY thought; you've believed something to be true most of your life and all of a sudden other people are telling you with OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS that you are OBJECTIVELY WRONG. The good news is that it's not too late for you to open yourself up to the GOOD NEWS. Do yourself a favor: pick up this book

https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1500617402&sr=8-4&keywords=baseball+prospectus

give it an honest chance (it's well-written on top of being informative) and open yourself up to the idea that people like Andrew Friedman (who turned the Rays into a perennial cellar dweller to contenders) and Theo Epstein (literally ended the two longest droughts in MLB history) know what the fuck they're talking about.

Here's some recommended reading:

• The Book - That's literally the name of the book. It's full of one-off chapters covering a variety of topics.
  
• Baseball Between the Numbers - This one is also a bunch of one-off type stuff
  
• Moneyball - Talks about how the 2002 Oakland A's capitalized on some offensive statistics that were being recorded but not heavily utilized to determine player values, and thus built a playoff team from undervalued hitters
  
• Big Data Baseball - Talks about the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates and their use of big data strategies to find defensive value where other teams didn't (primarily in pitch framing, ground-ball pitching, defensive range, and shifting)
  
  The first two of those are heavily focused on the numbers and will probably teach you more about the whys and hows, while the second two are more about the narrative but still give you some insight into hard numbers.
  
  Also, I'd recommend just joining SABR. It's $60/year for most people, but if you're under 30 it drops down to $45/year. There are a lot of local chapters out there that have regular meetings. For example, the Twin Cities have the Halsey Hall chapter. There's a book club meeting on Saturday (to talk about Big Data Baseball), a hot stove breakfast in a few weeks (informal meeting to just hang out and talk baseball), a regular chapter meeting in April for people to actually present research, and the chapter occasionally has organized outings to minor league games.
  
  SABR also has a national conference and a specific national analytics conference, as well. Membership also includes a subscription to Baseball Research Journal, which comes out twice per year and contains a lot of really good stuff that members have been written both from a statistics and a history standpoint.