Big Data Baseball

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Big Data Baseball

Author : Travis Sawchik
Publisher : Flatiron Books
ISBN 13 : 9781250094254
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (942 download)

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Book Synopsis Big Data Baseball by : Travis Sawchik

Download or read book Big Data Baseball written by Travis Sawchik and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Big Data Baseball provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the Pittsburgh Pirates used big data strategies to end the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history. New York Times Bestseller After twenty consecutive losing seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, team morale was low, the club’s payroll ranked near the bottom of the sport, game attendance was down, and the city was becoming increasingly disenchanted with its team. Big Data Baseball is the story of how the 2013 Pirates, mired in the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history, adopted drastic big-data strategies to end the drought, make the playoffs, and turn around the franchise’s fortunes. Big Data Baseball is Moneyball for a new generation. Award-winning journalist Travis Sawchik takes you behind the scenes to expertly weave together the stories of the key figures who changed the way the Pirates played the game, revealing how a culture of collaboration and creativity flourished as whiz-kid analysts worked alongside graybeard coaches to revolutionize the sport and uncover groundbreaking insights for how to win more games without spending a dime. From pitch framing to on-field shifts, this entertaining and enlightening underdog story closely examines baseball’s burgeoning big data movement and demonstrates how the millions of data points which aren’t immediately visible to players and spectators, are the bit of magic that led the Pirates to finish the 2013 season in second place and brought an end to a twenty-year losing streak.

Big Data Baseball

Author : Travis Sawchik
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1250063515
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Big Data Baseball by : Travis Sawchik

Download or read book Big Data Baseball written by Travis Sawchik and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Big Data Baseball provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the Pittsburgh Pirates used big data strategies to end the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history. New York Times Bestseller After twenty consecutive losing seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, team morale was low, the club’s payroll ranked near the bottom of the sport, game attendance was down, and the city was becoming increasingly disenchanted with its team. Big Data Baseball is the story of how the 2013 Pirates, mired in the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history, adopted drastic big-data strategies to end the drought, make the playoffs, and turn around the franchise’s fortunes. Big Data Baseball is Moneyball for a new generation. Award-winning journalist Travis Sawchik takes you behind the scenes to expertly weave together the stories of the key figures who changed the way the Pirates played the game, revealing how a culture of collaboration and creativity flourished as whiz-kid analysts worked alongside graybeard coaches to revolutionize the sport and uncover groundbreaking insights for how to win more games without spending a dime. From pitch framing to on-field shifts, this entertaining and enlightening underdog story closely examines baseball’s burgeoning big data movement and demonstrates how the millions of data points which aren’t immediately visible to players and spectators, are the bit of magic that led the Pirates to finish the 2013 season in second place and brought an end to a twenty-year losing streak.

Big Data Baseball

Author : Travis Sawchik
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1250063507
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Big Data Baseball by : Travis Sawchik

Download or read book Big Data Baseball written by Travis Sawchik and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was old school and stubborn. But after twenty straight losing seasons and his job on the line, he was ready to try anything. So when he met with GM Neal Huntington in October 2012, they decided to discard everything they knew about the game and instead take on drastic 'big data' strategies. Going well beyond the number-crunching of Moneyball, which used statistics found on the back of baseball cards to identify market inefficiencies, the data the Pirates employed was not easily observable. They collected millions of data points on pitches and balls in play, creating a tome of reports that revealed key insights for how to win more games without spending a dime"--

The MVP Machine

Author : Ben Lindbergh
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 1541698959
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (416 download)

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Book Synopsis The MVP Machine by : Ben Lindbergh

Download or read book The MVP Machine written by Ben Lindbergh and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Move over, Moneyball -- this New York Times bestseller examines major league baseball's next cutting-edge revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players. As bestselling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in The MVP Machine, the Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance. Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals: How undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPs How polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contender How new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniques How a wave of young talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watch Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.

When Big Data Was Small

Author : Richard D. Cramer
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 1496215761
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (962 download)

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Book Synopsis When Big Data Was Small by : Richard D. Cramer

Download or read book When Big Data Was Small written by Richard D. Cramer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-05-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard D. Cramer has been doing baseball analytics for just about as long as anyone alive, even before the term "sabermetrics" existed. He started analyzing baseball statistics as a hobby in the mid-1960s, not long after graduating from Harvard and MIT. He was a research scientist for SmithKline and in his spare time used his work computer to test his theories about baseball statistics. One of his earliest discoveries was that clutch hitting--then one of the most sacred pieces of received wisdom in the game--didn't really exist. In When Big Data Was Small Cramer recounts his life and remarkable contributions to baseball knowledge. In 1971 Cramer learned about the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and began working with Pete Palmer, whose statistical work is credited with providing the foundation on which SABR is built. Cramer cofounded STATS Inc. and began working with the Houston Astros, Oakland A's, Yankees, and White Sox, with the help of his new Apple II computer. Yet for Cramer baseball was always a side interest, even if a very intense one for most of the last forty years. His main occupation, which involved other "big data" activities, was that of a chemist who pioneered the use of specialized analytics, often known as computer-aided drug discovery, to help guide the development of pharmaceutical drugs. After a decade-long hiatus, Cramer returned to baseball analytics in 2004 and has done important work with Retrosheet since then. When Big Data Was Small is the story of the earliest days of baseball analytics and computer-aided drug discovery.

Analyzing Baseball Data with R, Second Edition

Author : Max Marchi
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1351107070
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (511 download)

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Book Synopsis Analyzing Baseball Data with R, Second Edition by : Max Marchi

Download or read book Analyzing Baseball Data with R, Second Edition written by Max Marchi and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-11-19 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzing Baseball Data with R Second Edition introduces R to sabermetricians, baseball enthusiasts, and students interested in exploring the richness of baseball data. It equips you with the necessary skills and software tools to perform all the analysis steps, from importing the data to transforming them into an appropriate format to visualizing the data via graphs to performing a statistical analysis. The authors first present an overview of publicly available baseball datasets and a gentle introduction to the type of data structures and exploratory and data management capabilities of R. They also cover the ggplot2 graphics functions and employ a tidyverse-friendly workflow throughout. Much of the book illustrates the use of R through popular sabermetrics topics, including the Pythagorean formula, runs expectancy, catcher framing, career trajectories, simulation of games and seasons, patterns of streaky behavior of players, and launch angles and exit velocities. All the datasets and R code used in the text are available online. New to the second edition are a systematic adoption of the tidyverse and incorporation of Statcast player tracking data (made available by Baseball Savant). All code from the first edition has been revised according to the principles of the tidyverse. Tidyverse packages, including dplyr, ggplot2, tidyr, purrr, and broom are emphasized throughout the book. Two entirely new chapters are made possible by the availability of Statcast data: one explores the notion of catcher framing ability, and the other uses launch angle and exit velocity to estimate the probability of a home run. Through the book’s various examples, you will learn about modern sabermetrics and how to conduct your own baseball analyses. Max Marchi is a Baseball Analytics Analyst for the Cleveland Indians. He was a regular contributor to The Hardball Times and Baseball Prospectus websites and previously consulted for other MLB clubs. Jim Albert is a Distinguished University Professor of statistics at Bowling Green State University. He has authored or coauthored several books including Curve Ball and Visualizing Baseball and was the editor of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports. Ben Baumer is an assistant professor of statistical & data sciences at Smith College. Previously a statistical analyst for the New York Mets, he is a co-author of The Sabermetric Revolution and Modern Data Science with R.

The Book

Author :
Publisher : Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1597973653
Total Pages : 458 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (979 download)

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Book Synopsis The Book by :

Download or read book The Book written by and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2007 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball "by The Book."

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Author : Michael Lewis
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393066231
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by : Michael Lewis

Download or read book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game written by Michael Lewis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-03-17 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

The Church of Baseball

Author : Ron Shelton
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0593313968
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (933 download)

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Book Synopsis The Church of Baseball by : Ron Shelton

Download or read book The Church of Baseball written by Ron Shelton and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2023-06-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LA TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. "This book tells you how to make a movie—the whole nine innings of it—out of nothing but sheer will.” —Tony Gilroy, writer/director of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy "The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball."—Annie in Bull Durham Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball—especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. There were doubts. But something miraculous happened, and The Church of Baseball attempts to capture why. From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie. Shelton explains the rarely revealed ins and outs of moviemaking, from a film’s inception and financing, screenwriting, casting, the nuts and bolts of directing, the postproduction process, and even through its release. But this is also a book about baseball and its singular romance in the world of sports. Shelton spent six years in the minor leagues before making this film, and his experiences resonate throughout this book. Full of wry humor and insight, The Church of Baseball tells the remarkable story behind an iconic film.

Baseball Between the Numbers

Author : Jonah Keri
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465003737
Total Pages : 520 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

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Book Synopsis Baseball Between the Numbers by : Jonah Keri

Download or read book Baseball Between the Numbers written by Jonah Keri and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-02-27 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game. Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy.

The Shift

Author : Russell Carleton
Publisher : Triumph Books
ISBN 13 : 1641250135
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis The Shift by : Russell Carleton

Download or read book The Shift written by Russell Carleton and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its three-hour-long contests, 162-game seasons, and countless measurable variables, baseball is a sport which lends itself to self-reflection and obsessive analysis. It's a thinking game. It's also a shifting game. Nowhere is this more evident than in the statistical revolution which has swept through the pastime in recent years, bringing metrics like WAR, OPS, and BABIP into front offices and living rooms alike. So what's on the horizon for a game that is constantly evolving? Positioned at the crossroads of sabermetrics and cognitive science, The Shift alters the trajectory of both traditional and analytics-based baseball thought. With a background in clinical psychology as well as experience in major league front offices, Baseball Prospectus' Russell Carleton illuminates advanced statistics and challenges cultural assumptions, demonstrating along the way that data and logic need not be at odds with the human elements of baseball—in fact, they're inextricably intertwined. Covering topics ranging from infield shifts to paradigm shifts, Carleton writes with verve, honesty, and an engaging style, inviting all those who love the game to examine it deeply and maybe a little differently. Data becomes digestible; intangibles are rendered not only accessible, but quantifiable. Casual fans and statheads alike will not want to miss this compelling meditation on what makes baseball tick.

Smart Baseball

Author : Keith Law
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062490257
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (624 download)

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Book Synopsis Smart Baseball by : Keith Law

Download or read book Smart Baseball written by Keith Law and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 fifteen 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, teh 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.

Analyzing Baseball Data with R

Author : Max Marchi
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1466570237
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (665 download)

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Book Synopsis Analyzing Baseball Data with R by : Max Marchi

Download or read book Analyzing Baseball Data with R written by Max Marchi and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its flexible capabilities and open-source platform, R has become a major tool for analyzing detailed, high-quality baseball data. Analyzing Baseball Data with R provides an introduction to R for sabermetricians, baseball enthusiasts, and students interested in exploring the rich sources of baseball data. It equips readers with the necessary skills and software tools to perform all of the analysis steps, from gathering the datasets and entering them in a convenient format to visualizing the data via graphs to performing a statistical analysis. The authors first present an overview of publicly available baseball datasets and a gentle introduction to the type of data structures and exploratory and data management capabilities of R. They also cover the traditional graphics functions in the base package and introduce more sophisticated graphical displays available through the lattice and ggplot2 packages. Much of the book illustrates the use of R through popular sabermetrics topics, including the Pythagorean formula, runs expectancy, career trajectories, simulation of games and seasons, patterns of streaky behavior of players, and fielding measures. Each chapter contains exercises that encourage readers to perform their own analyses using R. All of the datasets and R code used in the text are available online. This book helps readers answer questions about baseball teams, players, and strategy using large, publically available datasets. It offers detailed instructions on downloading the datasets and putting them into formats that simplify data exploration and analysis. Through the book’s various examples, readers will learn about modern sabermetrics and be able to conduct their own baseball analyses.

Diamond Dollars

Author : Vince Gennaro
Publisher : Diamond Analytics
ISBN 13 : 1310496307
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Diamond Dollars by : Vince Gennaro

Download or read book Diamond Dollars written by Vince Gennaro and published by Diamond Analytics. This book was released on 2013-12-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diamond Dollars is a fresh, provocative, insightful, and analytical look at the business of baseball by author Vince Gennaro, a consultant to MLB teams. Gennaro addresses some key questions that affect how teams make decisions, how they assemble their roster, and ultimately, their bottom line: How does winning affect revenues for each team? How much value does a berth in the postseason generate for the Red Sox and Yankees? What is the Yankees’ marginal revenue vs. marginal cost of winning? What is the economic value of a highly productive Twins’ farm system? Why is a player’s value “situational”, depending on the competitiveness of his team and the market in which he plays? How much was Carlos Beltran worth to the Mets in 2006? How can we quantify Derek Jeter’s “marquee value”…his ability to draw fans? What is the relative cost of developing talent vs. buying it in the free agent market? How can we quantify Nomar Garciaparra’s injury risk and its impact on his dollar value? What is the dollar value of Cubs’ fans loyalty to their beloved team? How have the Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs built their team as a brand? How much Babe Ruth was worth to his Yankee teams of the 1920s and 1930s.? Baseball teams may have thought conceptually about some of these issues, but Diamond Dollars gives them the math to measure the effectiveness of their thinking and practices. This edition includes a 2013 preface by the author and a foreword by Jim Beattie, former Executive VP and General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos. “Diamond Dollars provides an insightful look at the business of baseball—at the free agent market, teams’ scouting and player development systems, and how clubs market their brands. The book mixes Vince’s business acumen as a top executive at a Fortune 50 company with his passion for the national pastime.” -Mark Attanasio, Chairman and Principal Owner, Milwaukee Brewers “Vince Gennaro shows a profound understanding of the economics of a team’s baseball decisions. His analyses of a team’s win-revenue relationship, the player development system and player valuation, make for a remarkably innovative examination of the baseball front office model that’s just as informative for a baseball executive as for a fan.” -Chris Antonetti, General Manager, Cleveland Indians “Diamond Dollars offers up exciting and stimulating new ideas about the business of baseball. It provides a set of metrics for decisions that have typically been a “gut feeling” for many organizations. I think teams should make this required reading for everyone in their organizations.” -Jim Beattie, former Executive VP and General Manager, Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos “Vince Gennaro has written the best book I’ve read on the business of baseball. It serves as both a “how-to manual” for baseball owners and a tour guide for fans who scratch their heads at the things their teams do. It should find plenty of readers in both camps.” -Dave Studenmund, Editor, The Hardball Times Annual

The Baseball Whisperer

Author : Michael Tackett
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544386396
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (443 download)

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Book Synopsis The Baseball Whisperer by : Michael Tackett

Download or read book The Baseball Whisperer written by Michael Tackett and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2016-07-05 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Field of Dreams was only superficially about baseball. It was really about life. So is The Baseball Whisperer . . . with the added advantage of being all true.” —MLB.com From an award-winning journalist, this is the story of a legendary coach and the professional-caliber baseball program he built in America's heartland, where boys would come summer after summer to be molded into ballplayers—and men. Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,000, sits two hours from anything. There, between the cornfields and hog yards, is a ball field with a bronze bust of a man named Merl Eberly, who specialized in second chances and lost causes. The statue was a gift from one of Merl’s original long-shot projects, a skinny kid from the Los Angeles ghetto who would one day become a beloved Hall-of-Fame shortstop: Ozzie Smith. The Baseball Whisperer traces the “deeply engrossing” story (Booklist, starred review) of Merl Eberly and his Clarinda A’s baseball team, which he tended over the course of five decades, transforming them from a town team to a collegiate summer league powerhouse. Along with Ozzie Smith, future manager Bud Black, and star player Von Hayes, Merl developed scores of major league players. In the process, he taught them to be men, insisting on hard work, integrity, and responsibility. More than a book about ballplayers in the nation’s agricultural heartland, The Baseball Whisperer is the story of a coach who put character and dedication first, reminding us of the best, purest form of baseball excellence. “Mike Tackett, talented journalist and baseball lover, has hit the sweet spot of the bat with his first book. The Baseball Whisperer takes one coach and one small Iowa town and illuminates both a sport and the human spirit.” —David Maraniss, New York Times-bestselling author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered

Ninety Percent Mental

Author : Bob Tewksbury
Publisher : Da Capo Press
ISBN 13 : 0738234931
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (382 download)

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Book Synopsis Ninety Percent Mental by : Bob Tewksbury

Download or read book Ninety Percent Mental written by Bob Tewksbury and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former Major League pitcher and mental skills coach for two of baseball's legendary franchises (the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants) Bob Tewksbury takes fans inside the psychology of baseball. In Ninety Percent Mental, Bob Tewksbury shows readers 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. Tewksbury explores the fascinating psychology behind baseball, such as how players use techniques of imagery, self-awareness, and strategic thinking to maximize performance, and how a pitcher's strategy changes throughout a game. He also offers an in-depth look into some of baseball's most monumental moments and intimate anecdotes from a "who's who" of the game, including legendary players who Tewksbury played with and against (such as Mark McGwire, Craig Biggio, and Greg Maddux), game-changing managers and executives (Joe Torre, Bruce Bochy, Brian Sabean), and current star players (Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo, Andrew Miller, Rich Hill). With Tewksbury's esoteric knowledge as a thinking-fan's player and his expertise as a "baseball whisperer", this entertaining book is perfect for any fan who wants to see the game in a way he or she has never seen it before. Ninety Percent Mental will deliver an unprecedented look at the mound games and mind games of Major League Baseball.

The Extra 2%

Author : Jonah Keri
Publisher : ESPN
ISBN 13 : 0345517652
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis The Extra 2% by : Jonah Keri

Download or read book The Extra 2% written by Jonah Keri and published by ESPN. This book was released on 2011-03-08 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when three financial industry whiz kids and certified baseball nuts take over an ailing major league franchise and implement the same strategies that fueled their success on Wall Street? In the case of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, an American League championship happens—the culmination of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history. 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. When former Goldman Sachs colleagues Stuart Sternberg and Matthew Silverman assumed control of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005, it looked as if they were buying the baseball equivalent of a penny stock. But the incoming regime came armed with a master plan: to leverage their skill at trading, valuation, and management to build a model twenty-first-century franchise that could compete with their bigger, stronger, richer rivals—and prevail. Together with “boy genius” general manager Andrew Friedman, the new Rays owners jettisoned the old ways of doing things, substituting their own innovative ideas about employee development, marketing and public relations, and personnel management. They exorcized the “devil” from the team’s nickname, developed metrics that let them take advantage of undervalued aspects of the game, like defense, and hired a forward-thinking field manager as dedicated to unconventional strategy as they were. By quantifying the game’s intangibles—that extra 2% that separates a winning organization from a losing one—they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay something that Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” had never brought to Oakland: an American League pennant. A book about what happens when you apply your business skills to your life’s passion, The Extra 2% is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.