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The Owlcroft Baseball-Analysis Site
Baseball team and player performance examined realistically and accurately.
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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
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The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball;
by Tom M. Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, Andrew Dolphin
Possibly the single best book on modern analysis methodology.
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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.
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2025 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.)
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The Numbers Game;
by Alan Schwarz
A fine history of the attempts to analyze baseball with numbers, which culminated in modern analytic methods.
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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.
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A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics;
by Anthony Castrovince
Subtitled “Why WAR, WHIP, wOBA, and Other Advanced Sabermetrics Are Essential to Understanding Modern Baseball” Readers seem to like it a lot; it’s probably somewhat elementary, but arguably a good starting point for beginners.
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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.)
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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. (Scaarce and usually—but not always—expensive.)
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Baseball Background Books
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General Baseball Books
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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.)
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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.” Sad to say, now expensive.
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