Oh man, statistics. I think they steal little pieces of your soul. That having been said, the baseball in this book was fascinating, even if the numbers made me go blind. Know what the prevailing theme was? Balance. You need pitching and hitting to win. You need stat geeks and scouts in your front office to make solid GM decisions. I feel like this is a great time for me to have this theme reinforced in my life, even if it sneaks in in the form of a baseball stats book.

Briefly: Instructive

For those interested in sabermetrics and the world of deeper stats now being applied to the game, this book serves as a perfect introductory course. With 27 chapters that each ask a separate baseball question and employ stats to come to a conclusion, the book both shows the breadth of uses for sabermetrics thinking in baseball and offers informative conclusions to a number of intriguing baseball-related questions.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty of sabermetrics this book is worth your time. It's practically porn for anyone into baseball statistics and how they can be applied in real world situations to help teams win more often. If you're not into baseball statistics, though, you should probably skip this one, as it doesn't hold the same mainstream appeal as something like Moneyball.

Since the Indians have officially moved on to 2013, I figured I should end my summer baseball reading.

Overall this book got it's job done providing both interesting baseball knowledge and the dorky math stats.

However, I would recommend reading a book such as this closer to the actual publication date. This Baseball Prospectus work originated in 2006. Much of the players used as examples or referenced have retired, skill level has significantly changed, or are now linked to the dreaded PED's.

Incredibly deep book about baseball stats and the like. A little dry at times, and a lot to take in for long periods, but a great little reference material and a worthwhile read if you love the game.

statistics

Really a 3.5. This is a good kind of greatest hits of Baseball Prospectus, and definitely has some good food for thought. Some of the writing could have been a bit more accessible.

It may be easy for me to give a baseball-related book 5 stars, and I may have already known most of the things talked about in this book, but it doesn't make it any less of a necessary primer on sabermetrics for any intelligent baseball fan.

I originally gave "The Book" five stars, but after reading this, I realize that was a bit ridiculous. "The Book" is practically the textbook it's filled with so many numbers and formulas. Baseball Between the Numbers balances actual writing with numbers much better. It creates interesting chapters that center on questions many baseball fans have probably had at some point, such as "Why Doesn't Billy Beane's Shit Work in the Playoffs?"

If Moneyball is what brought the idea of sabermetrics to the forefront, this is the book that actually explains the methodology behind it. And "The Book" is only for graduate students who have serious issues.

I love baseball and I love stats, but this book wore me out. There's no such thing as a clutch hitter? Have any of these guys ever played baseball, stood at the plate with the game on the line? I gave up less than halfway through.

Excellent book! Not too heavy on the numbers, though it did take me quite a while to get through it, but enough detail that I feel like I have a better handle on some of the more obscure baseball statistics. I will say, in places, I felt like the book was oversimplified, or made pretty general statements, heavily based upon on certain interpretations of the statistics, and expected the reader to take these as the gospel-truth. I love stats (weird, I know) and I love baseball - great book!

This book is precisely what it purports to be: baseball numbers put into their proper context. It's a very deep read, going into levels of detail that most people (myself first among them) cannot process. That said, the numbers are not the point.

The authors are very purposeful in translating the mass of statistics into reasonable conclusions. What I'll say is this is best read as a reference book, one where you can find unorthodox answers to common questions. But you don't need to worry if you find yourself skimming or skipping over chapters that don't grab you. There's enough meat here to satisfy a fan with any level of curiosity.

I read the book in order, though that's not strictly necessary. Each chapter is helpfully categorized, but the titles won't necessarily describe the contents of the chapter itself. That means you may have to read the first couple pages of a chapter in order to figure out exactly what Big Question it is asking. If you're reading this strictly as a reference, that may be frustrating.

It's not essential baseball reading, sure, but it is very helpful in teaching a fan the way that modern statisticians ask questions about the game. It also subverts a lot of cliched wisdom about the sport. So if nothing else, it will help a reader feel superior to broadcasters when they talk about RBI numbers or the necessity of handedness platooning. And maybe that's all we need a book like this to accomplish.

Slightly dated... but a worthwhile read for the baseball stat freaks...