52 Weeks, 52 Books

When baseball season is underway, I simply can’t help myself in terms of leaning towards baseball books for my daily reading. In The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, J.C. Bradbury addresses a series of topics in great detail examining them from an economist perspective. The first section addresses ideas within the game such as the lack of left-handed catchers, lineup protection, hit batters and managers & arguing with the umpires. As the book continues the issues examined move further away from the field ending up in the front office.

This book is meld of Freakonomics & Baseball Between The Numbers and is a must-read for any fans of sabermetrics. The Amazon.com Publisher review suggests the same yet oddly attributes Numbers to Bill James. Bradbury’s key tool to measure things is multiple regression analyses, which he uses to pinpoint data effects for things such as walk rates of a pitcher and Leo Mazzone’s coaching ability. Though the book is numbers heavy with several tables and figures, it rarely drags down the chapters. Just the opposite in fact as Bradbury articulates very well and keeps the stories moving smoothly.

While I didn’t agree with every conclusion drawn throughout the book, each is well-reasoned and expertly laid out. Like Freakonomics, it stimulates the brain and allows you to think like you never have before about some historical myths well-entrenched in the landscape of baseball. I especially enjoyed the chapters on lineup protection and left-handed catchers. The deep-dive into talent evaluation and how front offices do & should attribute value to it were also impressive.

My free time was limited when I was reading this book, but when I did take the time I breezed through this book. As an avid stathead and baseball fan, this book couldn’t have been more up my alley if it tried! I pre-ordered as soon as I read about it in the Wall Street Journal back in February and I wasn’t disappointed.