Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball Hardcover – April 25, 2017

I am a college professor who teaches teachers. I am also an avid baseball fan with no more than a B average when it comes to sabermetrics. I try to get teachers to integrate baseball concepts into classrooms as a vehicle to teach their required curricula. This book is now required reading for its broad appeal regarding math, economics, problem-solving, logic and of course, snarky writing. The two sections are easy enough for newbies but still good refreshers for people like me who read books & blogs but not religiously. Part Three taps into Mr. Law's ideas about where baseball is headed with scouting & data, with front-office insights from baseball business people. Do yourself a favor and get this book. Buy a copy for that friend that talks baseball & goes to the games with you. It will add to your enjoyment & knowledge of the game - what more can you ask from a book!

As someone who worked in the industry (baseball analytics) in the past, I can't overstate how crucial this book is to understanding the state of play in baseball analytics. It's a clear, careful, and logical examination of how bad statistic lead to decisions, how the SABRmetric revolution matured to the point where it's now a part of baseball's establishment, and what the exciting Next Big Thing in analytics will look like. Law's a terrific writer who can communicate math-y concepts clearly and with a surprisingly amount of humor. I doubt that this book will be over any reader's head, and it easily could have been.Some folks seem to be disappointed that this book is not something it never set out to be: A new system for parsing existing statistics to more exactly rate who's good and who isn't. This is a book about how gleaning insight from statistics has gone from alchemy to a science to, well, something that's frankly incredible.

It's a solid enough read but I'd say it's almost surelyonly for a serious or moderately serious baseball fan with a baseline knowledge of the game. It's also repetitive at times as there were exact sentences that showed up at various points in the book. On the other end of the spectrum if you are highly familiar with advanced stats and the like, I don't think you will get a ton of new insight. All that being said it's still an enjoyable read for the serious fan or a less serious one that wants to learn new things.

As someone who has read Keith Law for years (both on ESPN and his personal blog), I'm biased when I give this a 5 star review. I agree with his approach and analysis of the stats used in baseball circles for years and that the modern analytical tools give the game more depth and a truer picture of how the players perform. His take on stats such as RBI and Saves indicate how player analysis has been skewed for generations and how the ill conceived stats have shaped the game. For those new to his work, you may be surprised as some old ideals are pealed away and will learn of some new stats that are starting to be used with increasing regularity. But for me the highlight as usual with Keith Law is the wry sense of humor. I laughed for five minutes at a Salomon Torres joke that most will likely shrug by. Smart Baseball is a good look at how the perceptions the game are changing today and a peak into where the game is headed analytically.

There are two things that are perfectly clear when you read "Smart Baseball": Keith Law knows statistics and he knows baseball. The book is perfectly organized -- here are all the old stats that you know and love (batting average, RBIs, pitcher wins, etc.) and why they're stupid (at worst) or misleading (at best). Having led you to that point, he introduces statistics that actually tell us something about players (WAR, OBP, OPS, etc.) and how they are constructed. All of this is done in a perfectly accessible way, whether you have a strong background in statistics or not. It reads quickly, but you never feel like something important is being glossed over.When Law starts talking about Statcast, the book slows down a bit. It's still good material, but almost feels "tacked on" to the rest of the book.The only bad thing is that once you've finished, watching games on TV with all the old statistics gets a little frustrating.

I'm an avid fan of baseball, and particularly baseball from a sabermetric angle. This book challenged me to think about the game in new and different ways, and the author did a superb job of explaining some of the current concepts in the game (such as ways to analyze defense) in an easily accessible manner.I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in reading about how today's game isn't like the game we grew up with, and how that's a good thing.

I've been following Keith Law since he wrote for Baseball Prospectus. I pay for ESPN Insider mostly to read Keith's current work. This book does not disappoint. Keith has always had a nice, clean way of presenting often complex information and it comes to the fore in Smart Baseball. His experience as a scout, analyst and writer makes him the top baseball pundit currently working and this book is excellent reading for someone interested in how baseball has changed and how a layman can understand the new inner workings of the game.

A great primer for the 'new' stats that add greater numerical description to the performance of a baseball player and team. Wonderful discussions around the old standbys (BA, ERA, etc.) and a quick look at new tools for performance analysis. A pleasant read for this retired math educator.

Interested in reading about Keith Law's vendetta against traditional baseball analytics? Then this book is for you!Fascinated by in depth analysis of the history behind the mathematical equations used to judge player performance? Don't miss Smart Baseball!Want to read a book with very few actual baseball anecdotes, stories, or such? You can't go wrong here!Actually, I really enjoyed the book - it is more technical than most mainstream baseball books, and doesn't have many of the stories and quips and such that make baseball so endearing. It is basically an analysis of the shift in baseball analytic processes: the first section deals with the 'outdated' stats still used today (at least by fans) - wins, RBI, AVG, saves, etc; the second section addresses the superior statistics that are replacing them (and the issues with them as well) and how they work in the practical operation of baseball, and the last section addresses how all these changes will/could/should affect baseball moving forward.As a relatively invested fan, I can't say that I learned a whole lot from the book, other than a term or backstory here and there, but I did enjoy the read. It's not a very entertaining book, and won't really affect the way you watch baseball, so if you have little desire to know what the difference is between VORP and WAR...stick to Baseball When The Grass Was Real. Oddly enough, there wasn't really enough detail to make it that fascinating even on the technical side. He explains the math behind some of the statistics and such, but it's really not about that either.I recommend it with caution!

As an intermediate baseball fan from the UK I found this fascinating as it explained the old stats (and their flaws) clearly with great examples.

In recent times, there has been a battle between two camps of baseball fans: the traditionalists and the new generation of stats geeks. The former rely on the same set of statistics that they read on the back of their favorite player's baseball card as a kid, while the new generation rely on sabremetrics and big data. But as ESPN senior baseball writer Keith Law points out in his 2017 book Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball, there really isn't any battle any more, as all 30 major league baseball teams now have advanced analytics departments that have long since replaced archaic stats such as pitching wins, batting average and RBIs with more modern concepts like WAR (wins above replacement) and WPA (win probability added).In this book, Law approaches the subject of how best to measure baseball talent through statistics in three parts. In the first part, he trashes many of the traditional old school baseball statistics such as batting average, pitcher's wins, runs batted in, saves and fielding percentage, making the case why each of these are based more on luck than on talent and are misleading and often meaningless. His point of view will grate on those who still believe that there's a time and a place for a well-placed bunt, a stolen base or the hit and run. In the book's second part, he looks at more relevant measurements of a player's ability, such as on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and WOBA (weighted on-base average) or its counterpart WRC (weighted runs created). He also explains that WAR is not really a statistic, but rather a concept because every team seems to have its own way of calculating how much better (or worse) a player is, compared to an average (baseline) player at that position. Law points out that many of these new-fangled statistics aren't perfect, but that modern baseball data and its analysis is nevertheless extremely valuable in measuring a player's worth, and offers a fairer means of measuring the true talent and value of former, current and future major leaguers.The third and final part of the book is especially interesting for baseball nerds, as it considers such interesting subjects as how to measure who deserves to be immortalized in baseball's Hall of fame, how scouting has changed in the era of new data, how something called Statcast has revolutionized how every big league ball team functions, and what the future holds in store for front offices as more and more data is gathered and new and innovative ways are found to analyze it. The chapter on what a scout actually does was especially interesting (it's nothing like the Clint Eastwood character in "Trouble With the Curve") as well the section on how data analysis may help players to prevent injury.For the most part, Law writes in an interesting, intellectually captivating style and is a pleasure to read. Occasionally he will regress into bouts of petulance, hurling pejoratives at those who disagree with him, and criticizing players who he views as over-rated in a disrespectful manner reminiscent of those people who write angry comments on internet message boards. Law does not suffer fools gladly and at times his writing is that of someone who wants it known that he's the smartest guy in the room. Fortunately this is usually constrained, and is eclipsed by intelligent and thoughtful writing, especially in the book's third part.This is a good book for all baseball fans, especially those who have watched the game for years, but who don't have the time to keep up with the post-Moneyball stats and analysis revolution. Law touches all the bases and his insight into the new world of baseball data analysis will be informative and interesting to all fans of the national pastime.

This is a very good book which questions the status quo of baseball statistics. You may agree or disagree with the author on certain topics, but he does back up his points. He makes an excellent argument regarding the RBI stat and how it is overrated. His basic point is that runners have to be in scoring position for someone to get an RBI which is true. But there is a basic follow up question which he didn't address. Why don't they look at players batting averages with runners in scoring position. That simple methodology can even the tables when it comes to comparing players and their ability to drive in runs. He certainly feels the RBI stat is overrated but he failed to mention that Lou Gehrig hit 140 RBIs the year Ruth hit 60 homers. That meant Gehrig had 60 plate appearances whit no one on base and he still hit 140 RBIs. Quite an accomplishment I'd say.Speaking of batting averages, the author feels that this is another overrated stat. He certainly prefers the on base percentage (OBP). I certainly agree with him, but one fatal flaw with that logic is this. Lets say you have a runner on 3rd and there is less than two out. Lets say the batter takes a walk. That's great for is OBP, but lets also say that there were one or two of those pitches that were called a "ball" yet they were close enough that could have been hit for a fly ball scoring a sac fly. It hurts your OBP but it scores a run and that is more important. That was one of the biggest criticisms of Frank Thomas. There was no mention of that.As far as pitching goes, he hates the won loss record and the ERA. His criticisms are excellent but he made no mention of the WHIP stat. That is walks and hits per innings pitched. This is a great stat in my mind for evaluating pitchers but there was no discussion of this in the book.Nonetheless, I thought it was interesting and a good read for any serious ball fan and the way you look at a game especially if you're into stats. If you think batting averages, RBIs, wonl/loss records and ERA are the be all and end all, you'll find this book blasphemous. If you think those stats are flawed and there is a better way to evaluate players, you'll enjoy this book

Keith Law believes himself as a god and owner whole truth with derogatory comments to players, writers and people who has different opinions. If you can't stand this kind of "people" just avoid this book and look for other more respectful author about sabermetric in baseball