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Title details for The Only Rule Is It Has to Work by Ben Lindbergh - Available

The Only Rule Is It Has to Work

Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team

by Ben Lindbergh
Sam Miller
ebook
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"A kind of gonzo Moneyball": The New York Times–bestseller about two statistics-minded outsiders being allowed to run a professional baseball team (New York Times Book Review).
It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies—with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics. Their story in The Only Rule Is It Has to Work is unlike any other baseball tale you've ever read.
We tag along as Lindbergh and Miller apply their number-crunching insights to all aspects of assembling and running a team, following one cardinal rule for judging each innovation they try: it has to work. We meet colorful figures like general manager Theo Fightmaster and boundary-breakers like the first openly gay player in professional baseball. Even José Canseco makes a cameo appearance.
Will their knowledge of numbers help Lindbergh and Miller bring the Stompers a championship, or will they fall on their faces? Will the team have a competitive advantage or is the sport's folk wisdom true after all? Will the players attract the attention of big-league scouts, or are they on a fast track to oblivion?
It's a wild ride, by turns provocative and absurd, as Lindbergh and Miller tell a story that will speak to numbers geeks and traditionalists alike. And they prove that you don't need a bat or a glove to make a genuine contribution to the game.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 4, 2024

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781627795654
      • File size: 7041 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781627795654
      • File size: 7613 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 18, 2016
      What happens when two numbers crunchers take command of an independent minor league team? Through some fancy wheeling and dealing, Lindbergh, a staff writer for FiveThirtyEight, and Miller, the editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, are put in charge of the operations for the Sonoma Stompers, an independent professional squad in California. Their task is to scout and sign prospects for a winning season. Using data-driven sabermetics and spreadsheets, the two set a goal of “making the right decision every time, giving players every resource and advantage available.” Lindbergh and Miller are real storytellers, explaining their strengths and defects as they attempt to field a capable team, using the best stats money can buy. They pay tribute to the collection of older, dedicated players who are pleased to play in the minors and have no illusions of making the majors. Armed with data, they gleefully describe their team’s roaring start in the first half of the season, gaining first place, then slipping to a respectable second-place finish. For fantasy baseball junkies and baseball purists alike, this is a vivid, joyful exploration of recruiting and running a team by numbers—and instinct.

    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2016

      Baseball encompasses a multitude of statistics; every aspect of the game is analyzed and put under a microscope by experts and dedicated fans every year. In this debut, former Baseball Prospectus editor in chief Lindbergh teams with Miller, current Baseball Prospectus editor in chief and coauthor of Baseball Prospectus 2016, to share their experience establishing a winning minor league team. Utilizing their vast knowledge of the game, the authors convinced the owners of the independent Sonoma Stompers to allow them to handle daily operations. Their experiment--whether the statistical analysis system sabermetrics could create a championship team--turned out to be like none other. While critics thought the hypothesis crazy, the results are truly riveting. This absorbing read takes readers through some very unorthodox methods of management. With honest and captivating prose, the authors compel readers to care about players that don't make a lot of money yet still have big league dreams and aspirations. VERDICT Die-hard fantasy baseball players, statistic geeks, and anyone interested in the sport's legacy will appreciate this work.--Gus Palas, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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