This is a gracious account of two nerdy statheads learning firsthand the difficulty of applying sabermeteric theory to real-life baseball. Invited by a new owner to put their ideas where their mouths are, the 30-something writers for Baseball Prospectus join the Sonoma Stompers, a club in one of professional baseball’s lowest ranking leagues, and are given carte blanche to run whatever crazy experiments about which they have ever fantasized, including in this account the first deployment in professional baseball of a five-man infield.
Unlike their fantasy baseball clubs, though, where they can move players around at will, the writers discover that in real life real people with real emotional lives often make implementing experiments difficult, if not sometimes impossible. Bringing change to the clubhouse, to the dugout, and to the field is fraught with all the complications of making changes in the office. It’s not enough to have clever ideas about baseball. To make effective change requires understanding how to manage human needs and desires, to be able to read and anticipate how the actors in the drama may react and finding ways to convince them that your cause is their cause. (Another stathead author and professional psychologist (reviewed here), makes a guest appearance to offer advice on bonding.) As in any such projects, there are successes and failures. The writers are brave enough not to gloss over their own mistakes nor to claim all the credit, which makes this a very refreshing read, a very real drama about learning and living graciously. The writing is sharp and crisp, though I never could distinguish different authorial voices. The writers take turns writing alternating chapters, but you’d never know it if they hadn’t said so. Even so, this is one of the better baseball books I’ve read. Highly recommended.
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