Baseball Hacks | O'Reilly Media

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"...an exceptional guide for finding, graphing, and analyzing the stats at the heart of the game."
--Marc Garrett, Since1968.com

By Joseph Adler
January 2006
Pages: 467
Series: Hacks
ISBN 10: 0-596-00942-9 | ISBN 13: 9780596009427
(5) (Average of 6 Customer Reviews)

Average oreilly.com Reader Review:
Based on 6 review(s) with ratings.

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Some suggestions to readers, February 21 2009

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Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]

To start, this is an extremely well done book. If you are proficient in programming/databases and love baseball statistics you should enjoy these hacks. Please Note: you will need to refer to the book's errata to complete/understand a few of the hacks (i.e. fetchretro.pl if you use WinXP). Doing this will save you a great deal of time. Enjoy!

Adler jacks SABRmetrics!, February 11 2009

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Submitted by cactusmitch [Respond | View]

"Moneyball," perhaps the greatest of all sports books, showed us the utility, nay the necessity of “SABRmetric” thinking. Michael Lewis' showed how smarts makes for competitiveness even in unfair pursuits.

In "Baseball Hacks," Joseph Adler shows how to get those "smarts."

With "Baseball Hacks" any contender has a shot at becoming a champion. Any industrious kid now has access to the information, and tools to play smart. Think of "Baseball Hacks" as legal intellectual steroids!

Now, (mid Feb. 2009,) anybody with some free time should get and read this book. Use the knowledge to work on the "stuff that matters" much more efficiently.

The "hacks," is just a hip word for creative, analytical techniques. See Stewart Brand's definition in "Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death among the Computer Bums" for a pre criminalized definition of "Hacker."

Adler jacks SABRmetrics!, February 20 2009

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Submitted by cactusmitch [Respond | View]

I forgot to mention that the sub-title "Tips and tools for analyzing and winning with statistics," is applicable to most any topic that has lots of measurements.

Stuff that matters like the financial crisis, health care, school policy....

A Must for baseball geeks like me!!!, January 05 2009

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Submitted by Jjerg [Respond | View]

Amazing tool for baseball study and analysis. I've been creating and manipulating data for years and I am finally having fun with it! My eight years of college are finally being put to use!!!!
If you are in to baseball and statistical theory, pick this gem up. One warning; If you are married or have a significant other that likes to spend time with you, please don't purchase. There is so much to do you may lose all social life.
Thanks Mr. Adler

Jj

Very Good Indeed!, March 03 2007

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Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]

Walking into my favorite bookstore last summer I was surprised as all get out when I saw an O'Reilly book - being very familiar with the look of their books - and being a baseball fan, I picked it up. I loved it! Not only did it give me a chance to further my enjoyment of the great American pasttime, I was introduced to several new data analysis tools - which I have subsequently used in my job.

Well written and perfectly detailed - I recommend this book highly.

Take Me Out to the Bookstore!, March 24 2006

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Submitted by R. Bryant [Respond | View]

I have to say that I have only read four or five chapters thus far, and yet this is the best book I have read in a long, long while. The breadth is both deep and wide: it covers a lot of ground regarding baseball's rules, statistics, history, etc.; and somehow no subject is given short shrift.

The writing is lively--Mr. Adler's love for the game shines through on every page. But here is the best part: if you are a new fan of baseball, or a diehard who remembers the pre-DH days, there is something for you. So far, all the code examples I have tried are correct. I am just not seeing much "first edition"-isms in this book. Again to be fair, I have not read the whole book yet, but what I have read is truly excellent.

Can't wait for opening day!