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Thread: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

  1. #1
    Maple SERP savafan's Avatar
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    Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    I didn't want to hijack any existing threads, so I thought I'd start a new one. I'm primarily looking for books concerning new stats and analytics. I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand much about those still, and feel like if I'm going to engage in conversation about them, I probably should learn. Are there any good books that cover those that wouldn't put someone to sleep, or require a high level math degree?

    Additionally, I'm also interested on if there are any other new baseball books outside of the stats arena that are of particular interest.

    I'll hang up and listen to your reply.
    My dad got to enjoy 3 Reds World Championships by the time he was my age. So far, I've only gotten to enjoy one. Step it up Redlegs!


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    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game by Rob Neyer is in my queue to be read, it's similar to Nine Innings by Okrent and focuses on a single game with deep dives into analytics, It's the Astros and A's

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    savafan (01-23-2020)

  5. #3
    I wear Elly colored glass WrongVerb's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Smart Baseball by Keith Law

    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.
    Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)

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    savafan (01-23-2020)

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Maybe this isn't what you're looking for, but I'll toss it out. Lonnie Wheeler's Intangiball

    Here's a review of it: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/boo...ngiball-subtle
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

    The Baseball Emporium - Books & Things.

    The Baseball Bookstore

    http://tsc-sales.com/
    http://tscsales.blogspot.com/
    http://silverscreenbooks.com/

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    savafan (01-23-2020)

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    Member Redsfaithful's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    I enjoyed The Only Rule Is It Has to Work - https://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has.../dp/B016IBVN6Y
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

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    savafan (01-23-2020)

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    Beer is good!! George Anderson's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    I am a big fan of...

    "Luckiest Man"..by Jonathon Eig. It's about Lou Gehrig.

    "Crash" the Life and Times of Dick Allen.

    "A Terrible Beauty" by Charles Leerhsen. It's about Ty Cobb.

    Any book written by Columbus Indiana writer Doug Wilson. He has wrote good ones about Fidrych, Fisk, Brooks and Banks.
    "Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard

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    Chip R (01-24-2020),savafan (01-24-2020)

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    Member klw's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    "Moneyball" leaps to mind though it may not be quite the analysis explanation that you are looking for (it has been awhile since I read it) as much as how and why the analysis took hold.

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    savafan (01-24-2020)

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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    The Arm by Jeff Passan. Read it when it came out a couple years ago. Really interesting, really informative.

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    savafan (01-24-2020)

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    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Quote Originally Posted by NebraskaRed View Post
    The Arm by Jeff Passan. Read it when it came out a couple years ago. Really interesting, really informative.
    Just finished reading that. Very informative. Guy named Dave Jordan is going to have a book out in April called, "Cobra: Dave Parker & the Boys at the Peak of Black Baseball."
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

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    savafan (01-24-2020)

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    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Quote Originally Posted by Chip R View Post
    Just finished reading that. Very informative. Guy named Dave Jordan is going to have a book out in April called, "Cobra: Dave Parker & the Boys at the Peak of Black Baseball."
    I have started the arm, set i aside for awhile. Packed full of information for sure

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    Chip R (01-24-2020),savafan (01-24-2020)

  21. #11
    Maple SERP savafan's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    Quote Originally Posted by NebraskaRed View Post
    The Arm by Jeff Passan. Read it when it came out a couple years ago. Really interesting, really informative.
    While looking this one up, I saw that Passan had another book come out last year called The Shift.
    My dad got to enjoy 3 Reds World Championships by the time he was my age. So far, I've only gotten to enjoy one. Step it up Redlegs!

  22. #12
    Red's fan mbgrayson's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    I enjoyed "The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players" By: Ben Lindbergh, Travis Sawchik.
    __________________
    "I think we’re starting to get to the point where people are starting to get tired of this stretch of ball,” Votto said. “I think something needs to start changing and start going in a different direction. I’m going to do my part to help make that change.”

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    savafan (01-24-2020)

  24. #13
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Best Modern Day Baseball Books

    These are two very good books, not super modern but they were paradigm types

    The Diamond Appraised by Tom House and Craig Wright

    Baseball Between the Numbers - Baseball Prospectus crew


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