Wednesday, October 12, 2011

20 Books This Year: #17, "Baseball Between the Numbers", by Baseball Prospectus Staff

In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a nerd. I was one of those teenagers who pored over baseball statistics. Don't get me wrong, I focused my attentions on many other things, too, but stats were something that could be listed as an obsession, somewhere slightly below the 22 girls I had crushes on in high school. Most of the people at Baseball Prospectus were similar (regarding the stats; I can't speak for the ladies), although they take it to another level completely.

This book is not for the most casual fan - it can be quite daunting, the number of formulas, mathematical terms, etc. (the book sat on my shelf for a few years before I finally decided to dive in completely). But if you like learning, and you love baseball, then this book is definitely worth a read. If you saw Moneyball and want to figure out what Jonah Hill was talking about, this will help, too. Grade: B+