THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Panas’ sabermetric primer book, part 2

Ok, I went back to read the email I sent Lee, and all my comments were of a technical review nature.  Personally, I think that all the people who put out books should do what we did, and show the first 2 or 3 pages of each chapter on a website.  It’s the virtual equivalent of “leafing through a book”.  Buying a book sight-unseen, and relying on the reviews of others is not the best way.  That’s why Amazon’s Look Inside is so very cool.

Anyway, Lee sent me a review copy, so let me try to give you some highlights.  First, here’s the table of contents:

Introduction .7
Chapter 1 – History of Baseball Statistics .10
Chapter 2 – Winning Games .17
Chapter 3 – Basic Batting .23
Chapter 4 – Total Batting Contribution .34
Chapter 5 – Linear Weights .47
Chapter 6 – Situational Hitting .55
Chapter 7 – Baserunning .62
Chapter 8 – Basic Pitching .71
Chapter 9 – Fielding Independent Pitching .82
Chapter 10 –Relief Pitching .93
Chapter 11 – Individual Fielding .99
Chapter 12 – Catcher Defense .113
Chapter 13 – Team Fielding .120
Chapter 14 – Adjusting for Environment.126
Chapter 15 – Total Player Contribution .132
Bibliography .143
Web Sites .146
Index .148

The first three chapters lays the foundation from going from basic stats to more involved (but not sabermetric) stats.  The target audience would be guys like Mike Silva and Will Carroll.  They should enjoy those chapters.

Chapter 4 is when he tries to get all of us on the same playing field, those that are into sabermetrics, and those who are keen on joining.  Lee does a great job in his progression of trying to introduce the readers from the basics to the more advanced stuff.  Chapters 5 and 6 is where he tries to get it to the next level.  The regulars here would be good with it, and I’d be interested to hear from the less math-y guys what they think.  I think Lee does a pretty good job here.  Chapter 7 is all about baserunning, and again, pretty good job.

He then gets into pitching, and I think his Chapter 9 is a pretty good one in terms of getting everyone on the same page.  Again, this is one where he tries to get the less math-y guys to understand the math part better.

The whole book is like that, he has also of tables and charts.  I would call this book an ideal book for SABR 101.  In this regard, Seidman’s Bridging the Statistical Gap would be a good companion as well.  Lee has more of the basis, while Eric has more of the studies.  Really, if you are quite not there yet with sabermetrics, or are just as the cusp of trying to get it, I’ll give a thumbs up to Lee’s book and Eric’s as well.

Lee also has a bibiliography, and I’ll show you what his last page looks like (click below).  As you can see, Lee really defers to the new guys on the block, rather than what most others do.  And for what it’s worth, since I have the PDF, I can do a quick search, and “James” 60 times, “Tango” appears 33 times, “Prospectus” 32 times, “Palmer” 22 times, “Lichtman” 18 times, “Stude” 14 times, “Tippett” 6 times.  That’s just to give you a flavor of who Lee introduces to the reader.

If you are a non-mathy guy, but want to understand sabermetrics better (you identify youself with Mike Silva and Will Carroll), than a huge thumbs up for this book.
If you are pretty much comfortable with sabermetrics, but still not there yet (you haven’t run any of your own studies), then a regular thumbs up.
If you are bathed in sabermetrics already, like I am, then it’s a so-so call.  It’s a decent read, you might learn a thing or two.  It’ll act more like a reference manual or a wiki. 

Studenmund, David, and The Hardball Times staff writers (2006). The Hardball Times Baseball
Annual 2006. Skokie, IL: ACTA Sports.
Studenmund, David, and The Hardball Times staff writers (2007). The Hardball Times Baseball
Annual 2007. Skokie, IL: ACTA Sports.
Studenmund, David, and The Hardball Times staff writers (2008). The Hardball Times Baseball
Annual 2008. Skokie, IL: ACTA Sports.
Tango, Tom, Lichtman, Mitchel, Dolphin Andrew (2007). The Book: Playing the Percentages in
Baseball. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, Inc.
Thorn, John, Birnbaum, Phil, Deane, Bill (2004). Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball
Encyclopedia. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Sports Media Publishing.
Thorn, John, Palmer, Pete (1985). The Hidden Game of Baseball. Garden City, NY: Doubleday
and Company, Inc.
Tippett, Tom (2002). Evaluating Defense. December 5, 2002, Diamond-Mind.com:
http://www.diamond-mind.com/articles/defeval.htm
Tippett, Tom (2003), Can Pitchers Prevent Hits on Balls in Play? July 21, 2003,
Diamond-Mind.com: http://www.diamond-mind.com/articles/ipavg2.htm
Woolner, Keith (2001). Introduction to VORP: Value Over Replacement Player. StatHead.com:
http://www.stathead.com/bbeng/woolner/vorpdescnew.htm