Hey I'm going to try something:

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has-Work-E...t/dp/1627795642

 

This book looks great and is baseball related. Ben Lindbergh caught my attention at Grantland writing on baseball. Here is the concept:

 

What would happen if two statistics-minded outsiders were allowed to run a professional baseball team?

 

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.

 

This thread will feature discussion on the book, broken into sections.

 

Buy the book by June 1st.

 

When we start, I'll post ideal sections to accomplish, but obviously there's no "plot" so there shouldn't be spoilers or worries of falling too far behind.

 

I'll post questions in here based off what we read.

 

We'll talk about it.

 

(I'll talk about it)

 

That's it. Let me know if you plan on joining just so I can know how embarrassed I'll be if I keep bumping this and discuss it independently like when I live-blogged the Project Runway finale on soxtalk.

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

Let's start with this schedule:

Week 1

Chapters 1-4 (chapter one is very short. Let's see how we do

 

Week 2 June 11- 17

Chapters 5-10

 

Week 3 June 18 - June 26

Chapters 11-15

Edited June 3, 20169 yr by bmags

If I add one more book to my summer reading list I may tilt the earth. But this sounds great.

I've got a list of 5 books I want to read. If this is going to be a club, we need to vote on the book first haha.

 

I'd be interested.

I am the captain now.

Hey I'm going to try something:

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has-Work-E...t/dp/1627795642

 

This book looks great and is baseball related. Ben Lindbergh caught my attention at Grantland writing on baseball. Here is the concept:

 

 

 

This thread will feature discussion on the book, broken into sections.

 

Buy the book by June 1st.

 

When we start, I'll post ideal sections to accomplish, but obviously there's no "plot" so there shouldn't be spoilers or worries of falling too far behind.

 

I'll post questions in here based off what we read.

 

We'll talk about it.

 

(I'll talk about it)

 

That's it. Let me know if you plan on joining just so I can know how embarrassed I'll be if I keep bumping this and discuss it independently like when I live-blogged the Project Runway finale on soxtalk.

 

I think 538 had an article on this book. In a sense, there are spoilers (how well the team does under their stat-head leadership), so people should be a little careful.

Fair enough. I know people are busy though, and don't want anyone to feel like they need to drop out if they fall behind. Realistically, you could look up right now the stats of that team, so, we aren't talking about game of thrones here.

I'd be interested in this.

Fair enough. I know people are busy though, and don't want anyone to feel like they need to drop out if they fall behind. Realistically, you could look up right now the stats of that team, so, we aren't talking about game of thrones here.

 

True, true. I only put it out there because I personally can say that knowing the results made me far less interested in the book, which I otherwise would have picked up for sure.

This is a cool idea but it's a bit down my list. I'm reading Jeff Passan's The Arm currently and I'm reading Men Amongst Boys by Jonathan Abrams next. Then I'll get to it. Cool idea though.

Read the first 100 pages or so.

 

Waiting them to move on to the end of the cuts stage and start implementing their statistics-driven philosophy.

 

Too much of the "nerds have to prove them belong/justify their existence" stuff that I could do without...there's a better book along the same line written from the perspective of an "outsider/English Lit teacher," Nicholas Mann's "CLASS A" about a recent Clinton Lumber Kings (Mariners' affiliate in Midwest League) led by Nick Franklin, Erasmo Ramirez and Tyler Wilhelmsen.

 

I won't take complete credit for Wilhelmsen ending up with the Rangers, but I did send it to Jeff Banister to read two years ago when he was the bench coach with the Pirates. Of course, he's been terrible for the Rangers so far this season, might even have been released.

 

There's also a shout-out to former Sox exec and Dodgers' GM Dan Evans, who was working at the time to bring the independent Northern League back to life.

I'm a daily listener to Effectively Wild, so I bought a Stompers t-shirt at this time last year and pre-ordered the book as soon as it was available. Read it in just a couple of days. Great stuff--Sam's writing in particular is perfectly suited to this story.

Cool. Well feel free to weigh in on any of the discussion anyway. Glad to hear its interesting.

 

Caulfield - if you could do that to all of your posts that would be appreciated.

I'll jump in on the next round. I just started re-reading Red Harvest, but this'll be my next one more than likely if you're open to suggestions. http://www.amazon.com/Ostend-Stefan-Joseph...ooks&sr=1-2

 

I'll jump in on the next round. I just started re-reading Red Harvest, but this'll be my next one more than likely if you're open to suggestions. http://www.amazon.com/Ostend-Stefan-Joseph...ooks&sr=1-2

 

Is it just a bunch of letters back and forth?

Is it just a bunch of letters back and forth?

No, it's not an epistolary novel. There might be a few chapters like that, but I believe all the characters/people this is based on are together in the same city just before the Third Reich gets the party started in Deutschland.

 

Brothers -

 

My book is arriving by 8pm tonight. I'll post the schedule as soon as I get it, which, don't know why I got hardcover.

Finished this one but will continue to make comments when a discussion comes up...

 

Deliberating between Molly Knight's The Best Team Money Can Buy and Jeff Passan's new one, The Arm. Thoughts?

Finished this one but will continue to make comments when a discussion comes up...

 

Deliberating between Molly Knight's The Best Team Money Can Buy and Jeff Passan's new one, The Arm. Thoughts?

I put the schedule in the first post. Let's start small and see how we do. Pretty sure we could read this book in a week though.

 

Started first 2 chapters last night. This obviously isn't game of thrones, but I think it will be fun to talk about just because it looks like a lot of fun.

This is a cool idea but it's a bit down my list. I'm reading Jeff Passan's The Arm currently and I'm reading Men Amongst Boys by Jonathan Abrams next. Then I'll get to it. Cool idea though.

 

 

I am reading The Arm at the moment. I'm about 100 pages in, and I think it's quite good.

I'll join in. Sounds like good fun.

I probably could have accelerated this a bit. These chapters aren't very long.

[LETS DOOOOO THIIIIISSSSS/b]

 

I was thinking this week, there's not much to analyze here, I'm just having fun reading this.

 

1. Sam telling Baptista to go home was the best part of this so far. That's a hilarious move, and moreso to me when he handwaives the fine even though $2000 is a legitimately painful expense in this league.

2. The most mindblowing thing to me was how much capital you needed to buy a 4th tier independent league team. Reminds me of when I learned you needed at least $800,000 to be a dunkin donuts owner operator. There aren't THAT many rich people in the world, fewer that would then operate a dunkin donuts, and fewer still that would open up an independent baseball team sure to lose money and close down in 2 years. It kinda of sounds like fun, but it amazes me there are even 30+ of those people in the world.

 

3. The discussions with the manager are great. This reads like a movie script and he is an obvious character.

 

4. It kills me some of the sacrifices these players are making to continue to play.In your 20s/30s making $600 a month to sleep on someones couch. That's just crazy.

 

Fun read so far. I'm anxious to see how the shifts and alignments work out.

Since i'm by myself:

 

Note to self: Theo's retort to homophobic commenters asking why there isn't a heterosexual pride night was hilarious:

"We celebrated heterosexuals by starting off the season with 6-STRAIGHT wins!"

 

This book is so interesting and relateable to both business and sports. Easy to forget that while results are all that matters to fans, these people all do work together, and the relationships matter a lot on the backend.

I actually thought just hearing how a low level baseball team operates was more interesting than the saber stuff.