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The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers: From 1870 to Today

by Bill James

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1166237,205 (4.02)1
The man Newsweek once called "the guru of baseball" offers profiles of top managers, sidebars, statistics, and snapshots of each decade.   Widely considered to be one of the greatest minds in the history of the game, Bill James has changed the way we think about the sport of baseball. In this chronicle of field generals, strategists, and occasional cannon fodder, James writes with piercing insight about the men who hold what may be the most important spot in the dugout.   For nearly forty years, James has led the vanguard of how we measure the game. From sabermetrics to his Baseball Abstracts, James has influenced even the casual fan all the way up to the top brass. Somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, however, is the manager, and Bill James has penned a guide on some of the most innovative and renowned men to ever hold that position.   Some of the game's greatest managers have been Hall of Fame players who put down a bat and picked up a lineup card: Frank Robinson, Mel Ott, Joe Cronin, Tris Speaker, and Rogers Hornsby. Others have achieved greatness from their ability to assemble legendary teams: Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, Connie Mack, Joseph McCarthy, Dick Williams, and Leo Durocher. Here, Bill James explores the history of the manager, and its evolution from 1870-1990, in a decade-by-decade chronicle, examining the successes, the failures, and what baseball fans can learn from both.   The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers is a thought-provoking, entertaining, and seminal guide to a vital part of the national pastime, written by one of its most groundbreaking iconoclasts.   "A delightful collection that will satisfy baseball fans of all ages." --Library Journal… (more)
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It bugs me that Bill James' contribution is reduced to statistics. Yes, he uses them, but not exclusively. To me, his brilliance lies in his quest to find the best way to think about a problem. This is one of his best books. Whether a given manager is any good or not is endlessly debated on radio call-in shows and in bars, generally on the basis of whether one's favorite team is doing well at the moment. James tries to approach the question by breaking the tasks of a manager down, then asking how we can usefully compare one manager to another. Some of these questions can be approached statistically -- how often does manager X call for a squeeze play or an intentional walk? -- while other aspects have to be analyzed with different tools. While his assessments are the "great" managers are great for ammunition in barroom arguments, I find the book useful nearly two decades later for thinking on my own about the newer crop of managers. It's hard for me to imagine anyone who cares about the games not finding this book fascinating and informative. ( )
  HenrySt123 | Jul 19, 2021 |
Good, but not all it could have been and not everything I was looking for. He should have covered a lot more managers in the same number of pages instead of focusing on a few all-time greats and the "current" crop. I was expecting some info on the managers that have largely been forgotten, not another book telling me why John McGraw and Joe McCarthy were so great. ( )
  5hrdrive | Mar 13, 2014 |
A largely descriptive, extremely chronological examination of the evolution of managerial roles, and of tactical and strategic developments, over the history of professional baseball. Each decade gets a chapter; each chapter consists of an overview, detailed portraits of a handful of historically-important managers, anecdotes about interesting events, and an occasional topical essay.

Around mid-book there's an excellent essay about the ways we might compare managers, and of the pitfalls inherent in trying to do so. Late in the book there's an essay about the statistical information which might be used to describe a manager's career. Other essays discuss use of the sacrifice bunt, evolution of relief pitching, and similar issues.

All in all, a valuable book.

This short review has also been published on a dabbler's journal. ( )
  joeldinda | Aug 19, 2011 |
Bill James is a fine teller of baseball history with a long list of axes to grind and some pretty interesting evidence to deploy in his own support. Highly recommended to serious baseball fans. ( )
  ehines | Jul 31, 2011 |
I enjoyed James's comments about society and history more than his observations about changes in baseball strategy.

"Liberalism is not grounded in sensitivity , which is the determination to say or do nothing which might give offense; rather, it is grounded in tolerance, which is the determination not to take offense."

It probably doesn't help that my team (The Phillies) aren't world-renowned for their strategic breakthroughs (and thus don't get a lot of focus in this book). ( )
  dvf1976 | Apr 24, 2008 |
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The man Newsweek once called "the guru of baseball" offers profiles of top managers, sidebars, statistics, and snapshots of each decade.   Widely considered to be one of the greatest minds in the history of the game, Bill James has changed the way we think about the sport of baseball. In this chronicle of field generals, strategists, and occasional cannon fodder, James writes with piercing insight about the men who hold what may be the most important spot in the dugout.   For nearly forty years, James has led the vanguard of how we measure the game. From sabermetrics to his Baseball Abstracts, James has influenced even the casual fan all the way up to the top brass. Somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, however, is the manager, and Bill James has penned a guide on some of the most innovative and renowned men to ever hold that position.   Some of the game's greatest managers have been Hall of Fame players who put down a bat and picked up a lineup card: Frank Robinson, Mel Ott, Joe Cronin, Tris Speaker, and Rogers Hornsby. Others have achieved greatness from their ability to assemble legendary teams: Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, Connie Mack, Joseph McCarthy, Dick Williams, and Leo Durocher. Here, Bill James explores the history of the manager, and its evolution from 1870-1990, in a decade-by-decade chronicle, examining the successes, the failures, and what baseball fans can learn from both.   The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers is a thought-provoking, entertaining, and seminal guide to a vital part of the national pastime, written by one of its most groundbreaking iconoclasts.   "A delightful collection that will satisfy baseball fans of all ages." --Library Journal

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