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“No furniture so charming as books.”

– A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith,
Lady Holland

About These Books

The books listed below are a few that seem to stand out from the crowd, but you should not think that omission of a title here means we don’t like it. We are human, and can only read so many things, and of those, here are the ones that endured.

Some of these titles are, as you might expect, oriented toward analysis and analytic measures. But there are others that are important for anyone who wants to understand the game as a whole; and, besides being informative, they are interesting and pleasant reading. Have at!

(As noted elsewhere on this site, we are an AbeBooks affiliate, and the links below are to AbeBooks listings for the books, which will include used and, where available, new copies.).

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The Recommended Books

Books Pertaining to Analytic Measures

• The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball;
  by Tom M. Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, Andrew Dolphin
  Possibly the single best book on modern analysis methodology.
  
  
• Beyond Batting Average: Baseball statistics for the 21st century;
  by Lee Panas
  Another excellent book, at a slightly more introductory level and so a good first-start book on the topic.
  
  
• Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong;
  by Jonah Keri (of the The Baseball Prospectus)
  Another great sourcebook on contemporary baseball analysis.
  (Note: search includes both hardcover and softcover editions.)
  
  
• 2023 Baseball Prospectus;
  by the staff of The Baseball Prospectus
  The only word for this annual is “invaluable”—well, maybe also “essential”.
  (Note: search includes both hardcover and softcover editions.)
  
  
• The Numbers Game;
  by Alan Schwarz
  A fine history of the attempts to analyze baseball with numbers, which culminated in modern analytic methods.
  
  
• The Sabermetric Revolution: Assessing the Growth of Analytics in Baseball;
  by Andrew Zimbalist and Benjamin Bauer
  From the author of Baseball and Billions (see farther below) comes this work, not yet read here, but widely discussed and usually praised. Somewhat controversial is the book’s extensive criticism of Moneyball (see farther below) as inaccurate and misleading.
  
  
• Percentage Baseball;
  by Earnshaw Cook
  Arguably the book that started the whole stats-analysis revolution. Turgid reading, but utterly brilliant work. A lot of what he said in 1963 remains sound today. (Now somewhat scarce and expensive.)
  
  
• Percentage Baseball and the Computer;
  by Earnshaw Cook
  A follow-up to the book just above, wherein Cook tunes his theoretical work with the power just then becoming available for rapid mass computing. (Now virtually unfindable; how sad…)
  
  

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Baseball Background Books

• The Physics of Baseball (3rd edition);
  by Robert K. Adair
  Professor Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics at Yale, was for some years “Physicist to the National League”. This book is absolutely vital to anyone who wants to know the true workings of baseball.
  
  
• Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside The Big Business Of Our National Pastime (updated edition);
  by Andrew Zimbalist
  An indeed probing economic examination of team ownership and revenue that reveals the massive hypocrisy of the Lords of Baseball (updated). This and The Physics, listed above, are the two most crucial baseball books outside of analytic theory works.
  
  
• The Dollar Sign on the Muscle (with added afterword);
  by Kevin Kerrane
  The little-known truths about scouting; a fascinating and revealing read.
  
  
• The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball’s Drug Problems;
  by Will Carroll
  A clarifying book by the author of the Baseball Prospectus on-line feature “Under the Knife”.
  (Note: search includes both hardcover and softcover editions.)
  
  
• Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game;
  by Michael Lewis
  A remarkable insight into how a highly analysis-minded major-league organization carries on the business of baseball.
  (Note: search includes both hardcover and softcover editions.)
  
  

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General Baseball Books

• Ball Four Plus Ball Five;
  by Jim Bouton
  A “tell-all” reminiscence of the game by an outspoken (and literate) former player of note (updated edition).
  (Note: search includes both hardcover and softcover editions.)
  
  
• The Sinister First Baseman;
  by Eric Walker
  A collection of essays by the man described by George F. Will, writing in The New York Times, as “the most important baseball thinker you have never heard of.”
  
  

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