Off Base

by Andrew Torrez

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0942627431
• ISBN13: 9780942627435
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Woodford Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Must reading for any baseball fan!

This book provides a lot of unorthodox but well-reasoned insights into the game of baseball. Baseball writers and commentators tend to bombard us with meaningless statistics. Torrez shows how to get real value from just a few well-chosen stats. At the same time, his book is always amusing and fun to read.

This book is Great!

As an avid reader, this book is Great! As a casual baseball fan, this book is Great!This book is easy to read. I love the OPS statistic and using the A-F grading scale for a player's value is easy for a casual fan to calculate and use.This book suggests and offers us the opportunity to discuss and debate the necessity to redefine our traditionally used baseball statistics.

Don't let the Expos Read This Book!

As a fan, I want to see my team in the hunt for the penant race. Like most arm-chair owners (fans), I know that do so so, a team needs to acquire the best talent. Managers also need to rethink what to do once they have that talent. Remarkably, Andrew Torrez offers a recipe for your favorite team to do both and build a dynasty.Most importantly, this book is very readable. Not only is is written so that anyone can understand it, but Torrez's humor and wit make you want to see what's next. While many of his ideas are controversial, they all offer an intuitive logic. On par, Torrez is right on the money. this book should be required reading for all owners, managers, GMs and red-blooded fans! (Expos excluded.) It's a shame that Torrez dedicates most of his waking hours to practicing law, rather than writing more about the game.

This book is enjoyable for any type of baseball fan.

I am more of the "casual" baseball fan, in that I don't endlessly analyze statistics and other numerical data -- I just enjoy watching the game. Every so often I'll get into analysis, but I'd rather enjoy the aesthetic value of baseball, being at the ballpark on a sunny day, eating Cracker Jack...you get the picture. However, Andrew Torrez presents numbers in a non-painful and actually very interesting way in "Off Base." He gives numbers, but they're very easy to swallow. And an absolutely delightful sense of humor permeates the entire book. A highly interesting read -- my sister is now absorbed by it, and she's even less into the "technical" aspects of baseball than I am! Only one complaint -- Andrew compares my beloved Pete Incaviglia to the hated Joe Carter. Arrgh! :-)

Awesome

Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down. This book is a relative quick read and full of interesting analysis and criticism on how managers manage, how sportwriters cover the game, etc. For anyone interested in baseball, this book is most enjoyable. It includes interesting views on what stats are important, how to evaluate talent, the "career curve", the value of closers, how to evaluate catchers. In addition, while not aimed at fantasy baseball players, as an admitted addict, this book also offered me plenty of insight to trading (and especially drafting) effectively. Kudos to Torrez.