(Part 3) Top products from r/Dodgers

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.

Late 2 years ago I had just really gotten back into baseball after having paid less attention to it for like a decde and was basically in the same place - so i went to my local library are they had this massive book The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball. It covers basically everything you'll ever need to know about the dodgers - it even covers teams that aren't "technically" part of brooklyn/Los Angeles dodgers "lineage" like teams which played in brooklyn but left or died or whatever. I'd also recommend True Blue stories(a documentary series on FOX sports about the dodgers), it's not the most unbias history but it's good for what it is. Outside of that wikipedia is your friend, you can find just about anything there.

(EDIT: if you want to be heartbroken read Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers I teared up at the end and hated Walter O'malley even though he brought the dodgers to the best coast.)

Outside of that i'd recommend watching all 10 innings of ken burns' documentary Baseball. It's on netflix and i'm sure you could find it in shadier ways but it'll give you a real appreciation for the sport and it's history as a whole. Moneyball is also really good, but it's not that applicable to us...because we're the second biggest market in baseball.

Moneyball helped me enter the world, but actually reading fangraphs has been really good. There's a glossary that's pretty good whenever I see someone commenting on some stat I don't know about.

I'm reading The Book. It's a bit less prose and a bit more...baseball research essay-feeling, but it's interesting. It does get mentioned kind of often when people start asking about advanced stats.

Okay, class. I insist you read this book if youre a Dodgers fan. Test and group discussion next VVednesday. #2 pencils only. CLOSED BOOK

I'm not evn sure what the lineup is. If Utley is in it, my money is on Dad.

The first time Baseball broke my heart was in 1998 when the Mets, not the fucking Dodgers signed Mike. Fucking. Piazza. No other trade , no signing, etc I dislike more

Mom Brag: My son was accepted into a small selective middle school today because he is fucking awesome. . . AND THE PRINCIPAL IS A DODGERS FAN (which is more exciting when you realize I live in the Bay Area) . I think when we talked about baseball during the parent interview, I nailed it.

Happy Thursday!

Edit: oh shit! AGon is back!!!

Game Of My Life, Dodgers by Mark Langill, the Dodgers Historian, is a great read. It's a collection of stories from former Dodgers.


Did I mention I have a signed copy? No? Ok, I do.

He wrote a book. Looks like the Ted talk is the tl;dr version, haha

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Baseball-Finding-Stillness-mph/dp/1439191204

https://www.amazon.com/True-Blue-Dramatic-History-Angeles/dp/0380806150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478199236&sr=8-1&keywords=true+blue+dodgers

buy this book. read it all. best dodger book ever

Dodgers From Coast to Coast is great too, got it as a present a few years ago.

My understanding is usually the data upon which the matchup is based is so limited that it is essentially useless and therefore you should always just play you best player.

My source is The Book by Tom Tango.

I'm a Cardinals fan but I just ordered this and had it shipped to MadBum. Go Dodgers (today)!

I second this. I am actually doing some surgery right now on a jersey using this to remove the stitched name: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001DSIVY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Forever Blue

about Walter O’Malley’s time as owner of the Dodgers

Doc should order this book

Natural Harvest?

Not 100% sure but I think this is it: https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Thesaurus-Jesse-Goldberg-Strassler/dp/1938532120

As Psycho says, the geeks have taken over the game. It's only a matter of time!