Practicing Sabermatrics: Putting the Science of Baseball Statistics to Work

The past 30 years have seen an explosion in the number and variety of baseball books and articles. Following the lead of pioneers Bill James, John Thorn, and Pete Palmer, researchers have steadily challenged the ways we think about player and team performance--and along the way revised what we thought we knew of baseball history.

This book by the authors of Understanding Sabermetrics (2008) goes beyond the explanation of new statistics to demonstrate their use in solving some of the more familiar problems of baseball research, such as how to compare players across generations; how to account for the effects of ballparks and rules changes; and how to measure the effectiveness of the sacrifice bunt or the range of the Gold Glove-winning shortstop.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

SABR member Gabriel B. Costa is a catholic priest and a professor of mathematical sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Michael R. Huber is a retired professor of mathematics at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has been studying sabermetrics for more than 20 years and is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

John T. Saccoman is a professor in the department of mathematics and computer science at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.