THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

I’m not seeing the link to Amazon in my browser--probably because I’m using Firefox with AdBlock. Can you provide the referral link in this post?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1597971294?tag=tangotiger-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1597971294&adid=127W4ZHZCF70XBAPEHN4&

We got a very nice review here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1597971294/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_top/102-2368645-3089749?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books#customerReviews

It looks like the reviewer himself is also an author (on sports betting).

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We also got three good reviews from the original edition, but for whatever reason, Amazon doesn’t port those over (unlike other books).  However, they did put in a link to our original edition.

Good job by Amazon.  They not only linked the products, but put the reviews on both books.

Thanks to all for their kind remarks.

Just noticed that The Book is now down to 14.93$ on Amazon.  If you order something else to total at least 25$, you get free shipping out of it too.  BP’s BBTN is 10.20$, so that’s probably as good a deal as you’ll get… our book and BP’s for 25.13$.

(Order via our link at the top of this page, as we get some tiny referral bonus.)

Thanks to those helping spread the word.  We’re currently #37 on the Amazon baseball list, which we’re elated with considering this is a reprint edition:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/16315/ref=pd_ts_pg_2/102-2368645-3089749?ie=UTF8&pg=2

Man, I don’t know who out there is helping out the cause here, but a huge thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/16315/ref=pd_ts_pg_2/102-2368645-3089749?ie=UTF8&pg=1

As of right now, we are #16 for baseball books, just behind ESPN’s The Bronx is Burning.  This is truly remarkable, first because this is our second run (and most of our fans would have bought the book last year) and secondly because this site is virtually a spec of sand compared to the machine that is ESPN in terms of exposure.

Of course, this will be very fleeting.  The Amazon rankings are likely heavily dependent on recent (by the hour) purchases, and we won’t be able to keep that momentum.  Still, it was nice to see!

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And, for those still looking to support the cause, when you buy at Amazon, go through the link at the top of this page.  We get referrals even if you don’t buy our book.

For those self-publishers out there, and if you don’t have someone to handle all the storing and mailing of the books, Amazon has something new:
http://www.amazonservices.com/fulfillment/

Fees look very reasonable.

To all those that are going through the link at the top of this page to get to Amazon to make your purchases (for The Book or not), thank you!  Exactly 50% of your purchases through the above link have been for something other than The Book.  We get referral fees on everything.  It’s not much, but it’ll be just enough to pay for various overhead costs.

Most popular purchases are Baseball Hacks, Cheater’s Guide, BP 2007, BP BBTN, Baseball Economist, and Fielding Bible. Someone even managed to find The Hidden Game of Baseball for $8.50.  Congrats to whoever managed that!

bumping

Whoah.  #5 baseball book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/16315/ref=pd_ts_pg_2/102-2368645-3089749?ie=UTF8&pg=1

For a reprint edition, that’s pretty cool. 

Thanks to all who are spreading the word…

Friendly reminder:

And, for those still looking to support the cause, when you buy at Amazon, go through the link at the top of this page.  We get referrals even if you don’t buy our book.

You guys have been doing this, as 50% of purchases are for non-The Book.  Thanks.

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Thanks again.  Half of the referrals we get are for items outside of The Book, so thanks for supporting the cause.  The referral fees will just about cover our annual expenses.

Please keep making your Amazon purchases through our site.

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Here are the top items purchased through our site, if you are wondering what other The Book-wormers are reading (I’ve read all items with an *):
* Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong
* Baseball Hacks: Tips & Tools for Analyzing and Winning with Statistics (Hacks)
* The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball
* How Bill James Changed Our View of the Game of Baseball
* The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed
* Baseball Prospectus 2007: The Essential Guide to the 2007 Baseball Season (Baseball Prospectus)
* The Fielding Bible
* The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007 (Hardball Times Baseball Annual)
* The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
The SABR Baseball List & Record Book: Baseball’s Most Fascinating Records and Unusual Statistics
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks
Betting Baseball 2007
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
It Ain’t over ‘til It’s over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book

Rest assured that Amazon does not give us any information whatsoever about their buyers.  We just get information on items purchased, and totals.

By the way, one person bought Percentage Baseball, by Earnshaw Cook, for 50$.  Click on the Amazon link at the top of this page to get into Amazon, then do a search on it.  It’s currently selling at a bit above that price.  I read it via inter-library loan, which is a great way to get at old books.  I got Player Win Averages like that.

My monthly thank you for continuing to use the link above to make your Amazon purchases (The Book or not).

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The Google Ad Sense program is horrendous.  They are showing 25,000 ad impressions to-date, with TWO clicks, and 93 cents in our pocket.  All I can say about Google is that I’m pleased with Amazon.

Tango, think about who reads this blog.  Then think about how many of us will ever click on a random Adsense Ad.  If anything, put up some Chikita or Amazon ads for tech toys.

Yeah, I agree.  I don’t know what “Ads by Google” is thinking.  I think Amazon offers a “storefront” that I can probably work with.  I’ll look into it next week.

A book review of The Book:
http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2007/12/04/book-review-the-book-playing-the-percentages-in-baseball/

I comment at post #9.

That typo doesn’t exist in my version, either.

Thanks studes.  I posted a followup on their blog showing the reason.

Another review for The Book is up (click on the Amazon link at top of page).  I agree with his assessment here:

“...it’s not a page-turner for most readers; the writing is more than adequate, but not energizing, so it’s a book most will pick up, read 15 pages, put down to digest.”

That was the intent!  I know it took me 3 readings to get through MGL’s sac bunt chapter.

Bumping.

Remember, if you want to buy anything from Amazon, get there, through here.

Pete Palmer interview:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/pete-palmer-interview/

Here’s the passage as it relates to The Book:

I thought their book was very good. What they did, as opposed to the Prospectus book that came out at the same time, was analyze in great detail a few situations, rather than cover a lot of different things. Another very important thing they did was show how much difference it actually makes to use the optimal strategy rather than the normal one. Unfortunately it turns out the answer is not much.

Friendly reminder: make all your Amazon purchases, The Book or not, through our link at the top page.  We get small referral fees.

Thanks…

In a recent post, John Peterson at MetsGeek said this in passing about The Book:

http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2008/03/14/bill-james-ken-tremendous-and-joe-posnanski/

The Book was stock full of gems, but terribly written, while Gold Mine may be methodologically suspect but very coherent.

I have no problem quoting bad things about The Book.  I think the “terrible” is not descriptive, based on John’s earlier review (see post 20 above) where he says:

For the casual reader, the book is kind of dull. Looking for a break from numbers and analysis? Want to hear anecdotes you can’t find anywhere else? Do you enjoy witty narrative and ironic prose? Put down The Book and look elsewhere. But if you want the best book on baseball statistics since Baseball Between the Numbers, The Book is just the thing.

I’m definitely ok with this passage, as the book can be very dry for non-hardcore readers.  In fact, I think it’s a very well-written description by John. I think he captured it very well.  Dull is in the ballpark of dry.  But “terribly written” I don’t think is a fair description at all, if the person who says that happens to have said the above more complete description.

I’m sure to some people, The Book was “terribly written”, but they would say that if they also happen to have gotten nothing out of The Book.

That said, John needed to make the necessary contrast (after all, he did say The Book had gems), so I think he makes his point.

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I also agree with him that Joe Poz is a fantastic blogger, what all pro journalists should aspire to be.

Tom, if it’s worth anything, I felt bad later when I read “terribly written.” It really had more to do with the contrast of styles than my take on The Book itself (as you pointed out).

I just went back and read your comments to my original review of The Book on Mets Geek, and it appears that I made a mistake in transcribing the paragraph.

I’m sure there were other typos, though, but I didn’t mark them. If you need an editor for your next book, I’m sure my services could be had on the cheap.

John, I’m not able to submit a comment to your article on Mets Geek, so I’ll respond here.

The problem I have with Bill James (not with him personally, but as a reader), is that his level of insight to modern baseball has gone way down.  His stubborn unwillingness to keep up with what other people are doing can’t be helping him here.  One reason Joe Posnanski is so fun to read is that not only does he weave a good story, but he’s connected with what is going on in baseball at multiple levels.  Posnanski isn’t doing hard core sabermetrics himself, but he’s aware of what’s going on in sabermetrics and how it’s relevant to the game.

That doesn’t mean that James can’t write some great stuff.  He still has incredible insight into baseball history.  But my enjoyment of his current writing has gone way down when half the time I know someone who has written something more insightful about his topic and he’s going on about how he’s breaking new ground and some rube is going to copy his work.

The great writing vs. hard-core stats divide is as artificial, or perhaps moreso, than the stats vs. scouts debate.  Both have their place, and the person who can understand and use both effectively at least to some extent is better off than the person who can only see one side. 

Bill James used to be a guru at taking a fun baseball question and crunching some numbers to get an answer.  He was never a “hard-core” stats guy (neither am I, for that matter, although I get branded that way), but he was capable to do more than enough on the stats side to answer his questions in illuminating ways. 

There are other people who are casting far more illumination on baseball these days or who are just as good at writing an entertaining article with some grounding in the facts.  I’m sure that some of it is an expectations game.  Those of us who grew up on the Abstracts expect BILL JAMES to be bigger than life, and that’s not fair to him.  But neither is it fair to let him pass off shoddy analysis and lap it up with a “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” because of his past work.

There’s something else that’s missing in this comparison.  One of the biggest things that makes Tom Tango a hero in the saber-blogosphere is his willingness to help anyone and everyone, be it answering questions, sharing the nitty gritty details of some analytical method, lending prominence to the work of others, or asking good questions to help them improve their work.  In the age of the web, helping others is a huge, huge plus.

John, no worries, I took it for what it was.

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Mike, I appreciate your praise. 

I guess in some way, what I do is also self-serving, since I derive great pleasure in seeing the sabermetric work of others. And if I can avoid seeing mindless number-crunching, I speak out for the same reason.

I got the feeling James was the same way in the 80s, as he used to put out a newsletter of like-minded guys.  At some point, I guess James took a different path.

We got another 5-star review.  Very nice job.  A little snippet:

While it is presented such that “non-math” people can understand it, there is enough meat to the analysis that substantiate the conclusions without scaring the average reader.

I’m really proud of The Book, and I’m glad it has such staying power.  Thanks to all for the support.

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Remember, if you want to buy anything from Amazon, get there, through here.  We get small referral fees, which cost you nothing at all.