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The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team | Sam Miller, Ben Lindbergh
13 posts | 6 read | 12 to read
What would happen if two statistics-minded outsiders were allowed to run a professional baseball team?Its 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. Thats 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.We tag along as Lindbergh and Miller apply their number-crunching insights to all aspects of assembling and running a team, following one cardinal rule for judging each innovation they try: it has to work. We meet colorful figures like general manager Theo Fightmaster and boundary-breakers like the first openly gay player in professional baseball. Even Jos Canseco makes a cameo appearance.Will their knowledge of numbers help Lindbergh and Miller bring the Stompers a championship, or will they fall on their faces? Will the team have a competitive advantage or is the sports folk wisdom true after all? Will the players attract the attention of big-league scouts, or are they on a fast track to oblivion?Its a wild ride, by turns provocative and absurd, as Lindbergh and Miller tell a story that will speak to numbers geeks and traditionalists alike. And they prove that you dont need a bat or a glove to make a genuine contribution to the game.
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ness
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Mehso-so

It took me a year, but I finally finished this book. The audio was excellent. If you‘re a baseball fan, you will love it. I am not, so the parts about the game and statistics bored the hell out of me. The human interest stuff (and, lbr, the Read Harder challenge) kept me going. If you like baseball, I highly recommend! If not, I‘d skip it.

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ness
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Working on my Mass Effect Holiday Cheer gift so I don‘t get harvested by Holiday Harbinger.

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ness
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Got a couple hours in on the way to the beach! #24in48

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librarydebster
Pickpick

Great book about a independent minor league baseball team. Read for the #popsugarreadingchallenge (book bought on a trip)

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ness
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Time to work on checking off the sports book category for the #readharder challenge.

7 likes1 stack add
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missevievelyn
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Pickpick

I looove baseball!! ❤⚾️ including the stats side, so this was a great book for me. It's about two baseball analysts who get to run an independent minor-league team and, in theory, can freely try out weird statistical strategies with it. While there is some of that (the 5-man infield bit was great!), it actually ends up being a lot about clubhouse dynamic, players' careers, and why they CAN'T just freely try out crazy stuff. Still great 😊👍

ReadingSusan Ohhh I love baseball too. This sounds so good! 7y
missevievelyn @ReadingSusan it was a lot of fun and also really fascinating! 7y
CallMeIshmael I love baseball so much 7y
Suet624 I'm a baseball girl too. I'll check this out. 7y
56 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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missevievelyn
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#bookhaul!! 😁borrowed these from my dad, pretty excited about both of them! I'm starting The Only Rule Is It Has To Work first. It sounds fascinating and I looove the stats side of baseball, plus I think the first openly gay pro baseball player is on their team and it looks at that some. Hopefully these can sustain me until spring training and the WBC! Any other baseball fans on Litsy?? ⚾️❤😁

RanaElizabeth Have you read Moneyball? 7y
missevievelyn @RanaElizabeth I HAVEN'T, I know I should probably start with that for baseball stats books haha... but it's definitely on my tbr! I loved the movie. 7y
RanaElizabeth I'm much more interested in your book, MLB level baseball is still 100% profits driven even when stats are used. I can imagine there is more leeway with semi-pro / amateur ball that allows for crazy ideas. 7y
See All 9 Comments
annkuch13 Omg the Nightrunner series is one of my favorites!! 7y
missevievelyn @annkuch13 ME TOOO, I love them so much!!! That's my stack of all-time favourites, the only books I brought to grad school with me that I'd already read. 7y
annkuch13 So cool! ❤📚 7y
Cortg Yes! The all-American sport. There is nothing I enjoy more than watching my son play ball. ❤️ 7y
missevievelyn @Cortg awesome!! Although as a Canadian fan I'd argue that baseball isn't all that all-American at all 😉 7y
Cortg @missevievelyn You are correct! My son and husband went to Toronto a couple summers ago to catch a game. They're trying to visit all 30 Major League stadiums! 7y
66 likes9 comments
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Coffeymuse
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sinus headache today, not sure how much I'll actually get read on my lunch. Love the pickles though 😋

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Coffeymuse
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I received this back in April to review! Oops! Liking this one-however Christmas music and baseball is an odd combo.

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Deezer89
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Pickpick

As a note, you will only like this book if you like the nerdy side of baseball. That being said? Chapter 9 is about the first openly gay professional baseball player (a pitcher named Sean Conroy) and it is AMAZING

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Deezer89
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And now my every-so-often foray into baseball's nerdy side

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jeff
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Now hiring: general manager of a minor-league baseball team in Sonoma. No experience required. Excited to see what two sports writers (and baseball stats nerds) with no restrictions (2 outfielders - why not??) achieved running a real team. Fantasy baseball come to life!

Curley_Bender Very excited about this one! 8y
55 likes7 stack adds1 comment
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Kate4
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Watching baseball - go Mariners! - while reading about baseball. I'm only three chapters in, but I am hooked!!!