THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

It is a wonderful book, worthy of terrific reviews!

Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed The Book!  That was our intention in writing it - to provide insight into the game and for readers to enjoy the read.

My wife just had emergency surgery, and nearly died twice this week. A buddy of mine knows I read this blog and bought me a copy of The Book to read in the ICU.

Every nurse who walks in the room: What are you reading?
Me: A book on baseball strategy a friend brought me.
Every nurse who walks in the room: Hit a home run! There! I ruined the ending for you!
Me: (polite, fake laugh) That’s the gist of it.

As everyone, I had awkward conversations in life, but this is the first time it happens on a blog commentary section.
Kudos marcus

Well I suppose I should add that I’ve enjoyed The Book thoroughly.

I should also add that my wife is out of the ICU and recovering nicely. Shockingly, she does not seem interested in having me read a chapter or two aloud to keep her company.

Regarding application to fantasy: I had no idea how true this was until I started playing fantasy this year for the first time in over a decade.  I’m amazed at the number of people who try to play hot streaks and cold streaks on a consistent basis.  That, and people who choose who to start based on historical performance against individual teams.  Those two things account for about a third of the conversations you see on discussion boards or hear on fantasy podcasts.  For the most part, people are just chasing randomness.

I assigned several chapters from the book this past year for my baseball class: clutch hitting, hot/cold streaks, and lineups.  Most students seemed to do pretty well with it, which says something for how accessible much of it is.  These were freshman college students, and often students with little math background.
-j