It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book

by Steve Goldman and Baseball Prospectus

Book Overview

Pennant races are arguably the most important aspect of baseball. Players, teams, and franchises are all after one goal: to win the pennant and get into the post-season. But what really determines who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465002854
• ISBN13: 9780465002856
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
• Length: 457 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Plenty Of Data

As would be expected coming from the statistical Baseball Prospectus group this entry is chock full of data and analysis concerning a number of past close pennant races. Thirteen seasons are discussed. There are plenty of what might have been type discussions. Sprinkled thruout is much talk about the effects of racial integration in baseball. There are by my count twelve contributors to the book. Some of the chapters have multiple authors. This allows for some uneveness in content. But, all in all, it's definitely a worthwhile read.

another Baseball Prospectus homerun

Baseball Prospectus is a premium web-site that engages in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The authors come from a variety of different backgrounds, including (but not limited to): a meteorologist, a Chicago economics grad, a MBA, a German Romantic scholar, and a dermatologist. This is the third non-annual BP book (Mind Game (2005) & Baseball Between the Numbers (2006)). The book is dedicated to "Branch Rickey, our spiritual father." Mr. Rickey created the farm system, forged three championship teams (the Cardinals of the 30's, the Dodgers of the late 40's/early 50's and the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates), and of course, integrated Major League Baseball by signing Jackie Robinson. The book describes the greatest 14 pennant races over 13 different chapters (the 1948 & '49 AL are combined). The criteria that the authors used to determine the greatest pennant races is outlined in the introduction, but can be simply reduced to (1) "the longer a race remains undecided, the better a race is" and (2) "a three-team race is better than a two-team race." The 1967 season bats lead-off. Jay Jaffe goes into great detail about how Yaz and the Red Sox won a four-team race and breathed life into a new generation of Red Sox fans. This season was the founding of the modern Red Sox franchise and its rabid followers. There are a number of articles at the end of each chapter. There is a fascinating bit about "The Braves Dynasty That Wasn't." It laments the fact that the Milwaukee Braves only won one title in the late 50's, despite having Aaron, Mathews, Spahn, Burdette, Adcock and Logan (part of the problem was a couple of terrible trades). Steve Goldman, a historian turned baseball writer (who also writes on-line for and about the Yankees), has two outstanding chapters on the 48-49 AL and the 1908 NL races. The collapse of the 1964 Phillies gets a chapter. Dick Allen is redeemed (he hit .341/.434/.618 from September 1 on) and Gene Mauch is eviscerated for his handling of the pitching staff. There is an outstanding chapter about The Shot Heard Round the World (`51 NL), in which Mr. Rickey's team lost to the Giants (and the Dodgers old manager, Leo Durocher) in a three-game playoff. Mr. Rickey's 1934 triumph, the Dizzy Dean Gas-House Gang Cardinals, also gets a chapter. It's an excellent baseball book. It is reasoned and well presented. It's not a dry book; the seasons spring to life in flowing narratives that are enhanced by BP's statistical analysis.