Pretty cool book for anyone who liked Moneyball and is interested in the Sabermetrics side of baseball. Occasionally it gets a little too math-heavy for me, but it's got a lot of good discussions about how people analyze the game and players according to certain factors. Good stuff.

This is a couple years old, but still really relevant and interesting to anyone who's a fan. My favorite chapter offers mathematical proof that publicly-financed stadiums are a bad deal for taxpayers.

This book is great if you are a baseball junky or want a first helping of all the sabermetric baseball analysis that has started to become popular in the late 90's. It questions a lot of age old baseball beliefs and brings a lot of objective data to the table. I disagree with how they define "clutch" and I don't think that everything can simply be boiled down to numbers. But if you love baseball, wouldn't you want to understand it more. This analysis has heightened my enjoyment of the game.

I don't think that everything I knew about the game was wrong but this was most definitely an interesting read. As a baseball junkie and die hard Dodger fan I occasionally found myself in a debate with the authors. Whether this is due to me leaning towards baseball traditionalists or simply data interpretation, these debates were entertaining nonetheless. The fact that the book was written in 2006 also provides an interesting perspective on steroid usage and the use of sabermetrics in general. I'm still a believer that there are intangibles in today's game that may not show up in statistics but do help teams win games and become successful organizations.

Well not everything I knew about baseball was wrong, but that's cheating because I already read Baseball Prospectus/The Hardball Times/etc online.

Baseball Between the Numbers is a statistical look at several baseball issues (Was Alex Rodriguez worth the money Texas paid him? How do managers affect the game? Does clutch exist?) with answers that are meant to be surprising to people who don't already read the writing of Baseball Prospectus and their ilk. I think it comes on a little strong because of the heavy statistical analysis and might confuse people who new to the world of ten million baseball stats, all which show things slightly differently.

So maybe this isn't the first book you should read if you're interested in baseball statistics (I guess maybe Moneyball is a good place to start?), but keep it on your shelf for further reading.

You really into baseball?? yeah? How about lots of numbers, charts, and graphs??? Not so much? Well that is too bad for you. Only about 60 pages into this, but the purpose is to use hard baseball data to examine the tenets of traditional baseball thinking. After reading this, stats such as batting average and wins (for a pitcher) will seem so primitive in evaluating a player that every FOX Sunday Baseball game you watch will leave you thinking that Joe Buck must be the biggest fucking idiot ever.

another good baseball book

Good, but not great.

I like the premise behind the book. The way most fans use statistics to evaluate the game is flawed. The book does a good job of pointing out the ridiculousness of statistics like RBI, saves, ERA, and even batting average and OPS. However, because of its publishing date, doesn't include any of the best statistics like WAR, wOBA, tRA, and UZR.

Some of the chapters that have little to do with statistics (like "Is A-Rod overpaid?" or "Is Wayne Huigenza a Genius?"), but are surprisingly good. Others failed to captivate my attention.

After hearing others rave about "The Book", I am going to tackle that one next.

While much has changed in baseball since even 2006 when this book was published--including the return of the pitcher, fewer steroid-fueled home runs, and an increased focus on fielding--one of the most important developments has been the continued rise of statistical analysis in front office decision making.

In 2006, several clubs still held out against the crucial statistical terms discussed in this book, such as value over replacement level, on-base percentage, PECOTA, sample size, true outcomes, and marginal wins. Now many of these terms are at least familiar to casual fans, and known forward and backward by every executive. It's only the talking heads who still insist on talking out of their asses.

Baseball Between the Numbers covers a diverse and provocative set of topics, such as whether newly built ballbarks help create jobs and revenue, whether Barry Bonds is a greater player than Babe Ruth, whether the closer role is a good use of a team's top reliever, whether catchers can affect the outcome of games, and whether some hitters can defy platoon splits expectations.

There are also a couple of chapters on stolen bases and sacrifice plays which draw conclusions based on 2005 offensive numbers, but their premise is nevertheless strong, and the reasoning and analysis compelling.

A must-read for the contemporary baseball fan, and a worthwhile read anyone with interest in economics or business.

Excellent. Thought provoking, especially when applying the process to areas other than baseball.

Is it too much to ask that Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver read a book like this and seriously consider some of the information??? Would Morgan then finally stop talking about the "little things" that makes a team win?!??!

I really liked this book. I found a lot of the concepts very interesting and have even gone back to look at some of the chapters years after reading them.