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Smart Baseball
- The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
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Publisher's summary
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 15 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traditionalists, including journalists, fans, and managers, stubbornly believe that the old way - a combination of outdated numbers and gut instinct - is still the best way.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, the 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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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The Grandest Stage
- A History of the World Series
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The World Series is the most enduring showcase in American team sports. It’s the place where legends are made, where celebration and devastation can hinge on a fly ball off a foul pole or a grounder beneath a first baseman’s glove. And there’s no one better to bring this rich history to life than New York Times national baseball columnist Tyler Kepner, whose bestselling book about pitching, K, was lauded as “Michelangelo explaining the brush strokes on the Sistine Chapel” by Newsday.
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Excellent!
- By DavidF on 09-09-24
By: Tyler Kepner
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The Extra 2%
- How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First
- By: Jonah Keri
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Extra 2%, financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team's Cinderella journey from divisional doormat to World Series contender. By quantifying the game's intangibles, they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay an American League pennant. This is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.
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No Strategies or Insight
- By Victor Luera on 10-11-12
By: Jonah Keri
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The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
- Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team
- By: Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics.
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Narrarators have never watched baseball. Ever!
- By Anon on 06-02-16
By: Ben Lindbergh, and others
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The Baseball Codes
- By: Jason Turbow, Michael Duca
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. What truly governs the Major League game is a set of unwritten rules, some of which are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), and some of which only a minority of players are even aware of (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box).
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A bit dry, both in content and narration...
- By Everett on 09-17-10
By: Jason Turbow, and others
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Dollar Sign on the Muscle
- The World of Baseball Scouting
- By: Kevin Kerrane
- Narrated by: Patrick Kerrane
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Humorous case histories and profiles of great baseball scouts accompany a discussion of the trade secrets of baseball scouts, the economics of scouting, player development, and the history of the profession. In a new epilogue Kevin Kerrane explores the world of baseball scouting in the late 1990s.
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Good for diehards, but dated and riddled w errors
- By Kindle Customer on 03-02-17
By: Kevin Kerrane
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1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever
- By: Bill Madden
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Jackie Robinson heroically broke the color barrier in 1947. But how—and, in practice, when—did the integration of the sport actually occur? Bill Madden shows that baseball’s famous black experiment” did not truly succeed until the coming of age of Willie Mays and the emergence of some star players—Larry Doby, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks—in 1954. And as a relevant backdrop off the field, it was in May of that year that the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that segregation be outlawed in America’s public schools.
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Acumen bugaboo
- By steve finkelstein on 04-25-21
By: Bill Madden
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As They See 'Em
- A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires
- By: Bruce Weber
- Narrated by: Charley Steiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.
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Judging Umpires
- By Bruce on 11-28-09
By: Bruce Weber
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Three Nights in August
- Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager
- By: Buzz Bissinger
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Nordling
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Given unprecedented access to La Russa and his team, best-selling journalist Bissinger captures baseball's strategic and emotional essence. We watch from the dugout as La Russa's Cardinals take on their archrivals, the Chicago Cubs, in a thrilling three-game series.
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Book with good premise follows through
- By Peter on 11-18-05
By: Buzz Bissinger
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Fall from Grace
- The Truth and Tragedy of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson
- By: Tim Hornbaker
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Considered by Ty Cobb as the "finest natural hitter in the history of the game," "Shoeless Joe" Jackson is ranked with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With a career .356 batting average - which is still ranked third all-time - the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in the sport's history. That is until the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, which shook baseball to its core.
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Entertaining and Educational
- By Colorfinger on 06-14-19
By: Tim Hornbaker
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Winning Fixes Everything
- How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess
- By: Evan Drellich
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Baseball has been defaced and consumed by corporate America. As Moneyball-thinking and Ivy League graduates grabbed hold of the sport, the Astros set out to build a cost-efficient winning machine on the principles of the outside business world, squeezing every dollar out of every transaction, player and employee. In less than a decade, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow helped revolutionize the game and create an environment that led to one of the worst cheating scandals in baseball history, a Shakespearean tragedy of innovation and failed change management.
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The Houston Trashstros
- By DavidF on 02-20-23
By: Evan Drellich
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The Best Team Money Can Buy
- The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse
- By: Molly Knight
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2012 the Los Angeles Dodgers were bought out of bankruptcy in the most expensive sale in sports history. Los Angeles icon Magic Johnson and his partners hoped to put together a team worthy of Hollywood. By most accounts they have succeeded, if not always in the way they might have imagined.
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BOTH BOOK AND TEAM NEED TO BE BETTER
- By Ray on 09-06-15
By: Molly Knight
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A Band of Misfits
- Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants
- By: Andrew Baggarly
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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For 53 years, San Francisco waited. Waited for a team like the 2010 Giants to come along. Waited for a team that could end a title drought that started in New York and carried on for more than five decades after a move to the West Coast. Waited for that one magical postseason run that could unleash more than a half-century of pent-up frustration. At long last, the 2010 Giants hopped on that magic carpet and made it happen. San Jose Mercury News beat reporter Andrew Baggarly captured the 2010 Giants' incredible run through the regular season, playoffs and World Series in his new book.
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Relived that season!
- By jeff olson on 12-20-18
By: Andrew Baggarly
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Just too much cussing!
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Yahoo's lead baseball columnist offers an in-depth look at the most valuable commodity in sports - the pitching arm - and how its vulnerability to injury is hurting players and the game, from Little League to the majors.
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A MUST READ for every youth baseball parent and coach
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This smart and funny fan's guide to baseball explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will appeal to anyone - whether you're a major league couch potato, lifelong season ticket-holder, or a beginner. Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the compulsive brilliance of Schott's Miscellany, Watching Baseball Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport-no matter what your level of expertise.
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Baseball's Golden Age comes alive through the voices of men who were there. Selected from the original tapes on which Lawrence S. Ritter based his classic book of baseball history, The Glory of Their Times is a collection of wonderful tales that paint a vivid and evocative picture of a lively young America and the giants who starred on her ballfields, legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and many others.
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A Game Winning, Grand Slam!!!
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Solid overview of Baseball in 2018
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The Bad Guys Won
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It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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Ninety Percent Mental
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In Ninety Percent Mental, Bob Tewksbury shows listeners a side of the game only he can provide, given his singular background as both a longtime MLB pitcher and a mental skills coach for two of the sport's most fabled franchises, the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. Fans watching the game on television or even at the stadium don't have access to the mind games a pitcher must play in order to get through an at-bat, an inning, a game.
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Unique and fascinating perspective
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What listeners say about Smart Baseball
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Skibdibbly
- 08-07-18
Outstanding Overview
This is a great general summary/explanation of the current state of baseball analytics, with some history of baseball statistics for context. I've been interested in baseball stats for almost 40 years -- some of what Mr. Law writes about are things that have been obvious to discerning fans for a long time (e.g. that fielding percentage is a completely useless statistic and that the save rule has actually made managers stupider) but other things are not, particularly the revolution ushered in by the Statcast era, where pitch and every batted ball are observed in detail using optical systems and then catalogued for analysis. The writing is clear and logical and relatively easy to understand, though there are some references to tables of numbers, so you might want to consider getting the print edition (or maybe there is a pdf that comes with the audio book?). Anyhow, great job by Keith Law -- unless you are already an expert sabermetrician, you will learn something from this book!
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- Nori Ochi
- 08-16-17
for baseball fans, this is a must read
As someone who is a fan but still learning the nuances of advanced statistics and how to apply them in understanding the game better, this book has been priceless. With chapters broken into explaining specific stats and their accompanying mythology, I am sure I will go back to this book from time to time to get a refresher. Thanks Keith, a great book!
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-10-18
Must Read For Any Serious Baseball Fan
Keith Law does a great job of explaining many facets of the game of baseball in this book. I'll admit that I found it difficult to accept that many statistics that are common place in baseball may not have as much merit as I previously thought. Batting average for example is something I valued greatly in players and after reading this book, I can honestly say that that has changed. If you call yourself a serious fan of baseball, you need to read this book. This is where baseball is going, and knowing the information behind team's decisions is important for die hard fans of the game. I would highly recommend this book to any fan of America's Pasttime.
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- Dan Dreger
- 05-01-17
A must own baseball book
Well written, easy to understand, and thoroughly entertaining, this is a must read for anybody hoping to understand how a front office makes baseball decisions, and how to evaluate players using current statistics and terminology.
If you are a casual fan, you'll be at the cutting edge of baseball thinking by the end of this book.
If you are a baseball expert, you will enjoy the read, and learn a few tidbits you didn't already know.
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- Daniel Norman
- 05-06-17
Great intro for rookies, nice brush up for vets.
I've followed Keith's work for a long time, this book doesn't disappoint. It's got all the snark you're used to along with a bit of humor and a ton of knowledge. While there wasn't a lot of knew information for someone who follows baseball and sabermetrics it's still essential reading because it looks at how statistics have taken over the game and driven out the old, illogical ways of the past. You'll learn a bit about sabermetrics and a lot about the state of the game itself. Great read, thanks Keith!
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- Lifeisshort
- 05-16-17
Hoped For Better
In small doses, such as his commentary role on ESPN I've always liked Keith Law. That along with my love of baseball made this book an essential buy for me, and for the most part I don't regret the purchase, but it didn't live up to my expectations. I had hoped that this book would be as good as Brian Kenney's Ahead of the Curve, or perhaps more accurately I would like this book as much. The author gets a bit repetitive when criticizing the old stats, he also gets a bit too technical for too long at a time in more than one chapter. Overall this a book that is filled with excellent information, most of it presented well. I had just hoped for more.
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- Mitch Muhs
- 10-24-17
A lot to ponder
Loved the book... a nice leap into stats for the baseball lover. A lot going on in this one, and I listened to it while driving, so Im already looking forward to hearing it all again.
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- El__Fuego_Gio
- 03-19-19
Information for Baseball
This book cleared so many old ways of thinking about the value of an athlete. So glad to have made this reading my first in audible books. For the baseball fan it’s a must read/hear.
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- Joel Mayer
- 01-24-18
A good Sabre-metric glossary
First of all, I am not really a huge Keith Law fan but a friend whose opinion I respect seemed to like it. So I thought I would give it a shot. It was a good book and easy to listen to. Lots of cynical commentary as well as "asides" (He insists on putting "trade mark" after every utterance of "Proven Closer" which I agree with).
But the book is probably best used as a "glossary" of Sabre metrics. It gave a good explanation of the state of the game when it comes to advanced statistical analysis...at least as far as those of us outside of MLB front offices have access to. He gave a good explanation of what different stats measure and how they do it (formulas, etc.).
My main complaint was that this book wasn't so much polemical as it sounded like a book length rant. While I agree with him on most things I couldn't help but think some of his versions he was "disputing" were caricatures or "straw man" type arguments putting other's thoughts into their worst light and then try to come across as the "voice of reason." Again, I agree with him on just about everything--or maybe everything--but it just felt like his version of what those who disagreed with him were saying sounded silly in a way that felt fishy.
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- Mark
- 02-04-20
Good stuff
A great breakdown to fully understand how and why these stats work and changed every front office in baseball. Cardinals and Brewers suck!!
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