- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press (April 13 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0195397762
- ISBN-13: 978-0195397765
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 599 g
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#338,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #52 in Books > Sports > Baseball > Statistics
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
The book of the season . . . comes from Michael Humphreys . . . who has spent years meticulously extracting reads on historical defensive performance from the flawed and fragmentary numbers we have to go by, and he now offers the definitive work on the subject . . . A careful, thoughtful system that will make you appreciate all the more the genius of the late Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon or the peripatetic and vastly underrated outfielder Kenny Lofton . . . A representation of the future of statistical sabermetrics, which in years to come is quite likely to become more focused less on telling the future than on wresting meaning out of the past." -- Tim Marchman, The Wall Street Journal
"Excellent." -- David Schoenfeld, ESPN ("Sweet Spot" blog)
"Humphreys writes capably and makes the math-heavy parts as readable as anyone could. The outcome should attract all dedicated baseball fans and stat hounds." -- Library Journal
"Michael Humphreys does for fielding what Neil deGrasse Tyson does for astrophysics: he takes an incredibly complex subject and makes a reader who once felt dumb feel smart. He has cut through the cloud of my unknowing and helped me to understand what major league fielding really is and how it can be quantified. Wizardry is the best book yet on the subject." -- Allen Barra, writer for The Wall Street Journal
"Fielding is the hardest aspect of baseball in which to rate performance. In his fascinating book, Michael Humphreys should get the Gold Glove for historical fielding evaluation. With carefully derived formulae, he rates Aaron, Clemente, Gordon and Hooper as saving 100+ runs more than does Total Baseball, while Mazeroski and Ozzie Smith saved their teams over 100 fewer. And that's just among Hall of Famers! Taken seriously, as it should be, this book will substantially shake up our all-around rankings of players." -- Michael J. Schell, Moffitt Cancer Center, author of Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters and Baseball's All-Time Best Sluggers
Product Description
Much of the credit for helping the Red Sox win the World Series went to a more scientific approach to baseball statistics, dubbed "sabermetrics" by its greatest proponent, Bill James. But one aspect of the game has defied quantification: the number of runs individual fielders save. Traditional fielding statistics count errors and plays made, but not hits that fielders should have reached. Major League teams have recently addressed this gap with proprietary location data for every batted ball, but this information has been kept secret, and will never exist for the first century of modern major league baseball history. Now, in Wizardry, comes the long-awaited breakthrough, Defensive Runs Analysis (DRA), created by Michael A. Humphreys. Drawing entirely on public information available to any fan, and using clear, concrete examples, Humphreys demonstrates how to apply classic statistical methods to estimate runs saved by fielders going back to 1893. Humphreys tests his analysis against established fielding measures, and explains their respective strengths and limitations. From shortstop to left fielder, he presents and defends his list of the greatest fielders of all time with anecdote-rich essays. More than that, Humphreys shows how to incorporate DRA into overall player ratings, putting fielding into the context of pitching, hitting, and base running. And he caps off this book with extensive appendices, including a chart of alternative fielding systems, a history of fielding analysis, DRA ratings for all fielders with 3,000 innings at one position, and (in conjunction with the author's website) single-season DRA ratings for all fielders since 1893. Sabermetrics changed baseball and introduced a generation of young people to the art of statistical inference. Now a seasoned analyst makes the case for the biggest changes in historical player valuation in decades, while opening up new approaches for further exploration.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Never ending mathematical formulas,
By
This review is from: Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed (Paperback)
I was utterly dissapointed by Wizardry. My mistake was that I thought I would be reading about the game's best defensive players, their accomplishments, what made them stood above their fellow players. Instead, I was put in front of never ending mathematical formulas, some of them Einstein or Newton would have a hard time to understand.Now, don't get me wrong, I think that WHIP, CERA or OBPS% are good tools to enjoy the game, but I'm not ready for arm-lenght formula that will no doubt cause me serious headaches. That's not fun. So, for the first time in my life, after buying and reading some 200 books and encyclopedia about baseball, I quit after exactly 64 pages. That say it all.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Transformative, seminal work,
By Phils fan - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed (Paperback)
If you like baseball and you like stats, you'll love this book. No math skills are required, yet you can appreciate the methodical research and analysis that went into this book. It transformed the way I watch defensive plays now. The author exposes the obvious ways in which the Gold Glove has been awarded to the wrong players. Separate chapters are devoted to each position, with the author creating his own rankings by era. I didn't know that the best fielding short-stop and third baseman played side by side on the same team! If you enjoyed Moneyball, this is a must, as it applies metrics to fielding, a feat that has never before been fully accomplished. The book does not need to be read cover to cover. It is written in a user-friendly fashion that allows one to use it as a reference book as well. I highly recommend it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating,
By alltimeallstar - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed (Paperback)
A facsinating journey into the world of baseball defense and the often unsung heroes of baseball history.The author searched long and hard for interesting stories that make players both from my youth and from the older days of baseball really come alive, and the relative rankings are alot of fun to consider. Terrific for anyone who enjoys age old arguments about 'who was the best' at any given position - a fun and entertaining read -
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Advance In This Field!,
By MARTYN BABITZ - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed (Paperback)
The Author has done what other giants in this field of study, Bill James among them, could not, in producing a means of analyzing the measure and value of defense to complement the other values of offense and pitching that have been accomplished in the Sabermetrics field. At a time when objective means of determining the value of players has been brought to the forefront by the success of the movie "Moneyball," this book provides tremendous insight and value both for baseball insiders and fans alike. Meticulously researched and extremely well-written. Highest recommendation. Bravo!
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