bmags Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 (edited) 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, 2016 by bmags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 If I add one more book to my summer reading list I may tilt the earth. But this sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 I am the captain now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 QUOTE (bmags @ May 20, 2016 -> 04:35 PM) 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegionSox Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 I'd be interested in this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 QUOTE (bmags @ May 20, 2016 -> 04:09 PM) 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2Jimmy0 Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3GamesToLove Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nixon Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 QUOTE (Nixon @ May 26, 2016 -> 10:46 AM) 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nixon Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 QUOTE (bmags @ May 26, 2016 -> 12:10 PM) 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 3, 2016 Author Share Posted June 3, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pods70Rowand33 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 22, 2016 -> 10:06 AM) 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panerista Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 I'll join in. Sounds like good fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 I probably could have accelerated this a bit. These chapters aren't very long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 [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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegionSox Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 I actually thought just hearing how a low level baseball team operates was more interesting than the saber stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.