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State of Play
- The Old School Guide to New School Baseball
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
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Publisher's Summary
America's favorite pastime is undergoing an operations-to-field transformation. In recent years, the sabermetrics and analytics craze has infiltrated Major League Baseball - from its front offices to dugouts to clubhouses to media covering both, inciting a baseball culture war. New phrases like "launch angle," "spin rate," and "pitch framing" have entered the vocabulary, often with little real meaning when it comes to how the game is actually played on the field. No more.
In State of Play, 12-year Major League veteran, Emmy Award-winning MLB Network analyst, and best-selling author Bill Ripken breaks down these modern statistical methods to explain which ones make sense in the game's historical context, bringing them together with proven old-school strategies. He simplifies those sabermetric terms hastily added to the baseball lexicon without being fully realized, taking new-school confusion out of old-school baseball's tried-and-true common sense. In the end, he unites the teachings of each school to show fans of both how to listen to and understand the game as it's played today and how it should be played moving forward.
From a true baseball lifer, State of Play offers a fascinating insider's look at how to reconcile years of historical tradition with the rules and trends of the new millennium.
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- James
- 08-08-21
Not a guide, more of an
Danny Campbell was the perfect narrator for this book. His mature, scratchy voice perfectly matches the tone of this book. He gives the reader the feel that are listening directly to the author. He nailed it.
These things are actually said in this book. “Get off my lawn”, “Things were better in my day”, “The world is flat”. OK that last one wasn’t said, but it would have fit right in.
I bought this book based on seeing how an old school baseball guy acclimated to New School Baseball. But that’s not what this book is about. It’s more of a Old School guy trashing New School strategies. How is arguing against everything a guide? The sad part of Ripken’s book is that he does not Seem to understand “New School Baseball” so how can he guide anyone to understanding it? That’s not my opinion, it’s his, as he says that several times in the book.
He argues with that it as “better in my day” on almost every chapter. Some make sense in his agreements on defensive statistics but completely misunderstands WAR and seems to claim that “New School” is stealing terminology by giving it a more catchy or appropriate name.
I am not a hard core Sabermetrician but I’m much more of one now than I was prior to reading this book.
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Story
In this groundbreaking book, Keith Law, the ESPN baseball writer and author of the acclaimed Smart Baseball, offers an era-spanning dissection of some of the best and worst decisions in modern baseball, explaining what motivated them, what can be learned from them, and how their legacy has shaped the game....
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Narrator is negative value compared to replacement
- By Daniel W. Franzen on 11-28-20
By: Keith Law
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Homegrown
- How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up
- By: Alex Speier
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The 2018 season was a coronation for the Boston Red Sox. The best team in Major League Baseball - indeed, one of the best teams ever - the Sox won 108 regular season games and then romped through the postseason, going 11-3 against the three next-strongest teams baseball had to offer. As Alex Speier reveals, the Sox’ success wasn’t a fluke - nor was it guaranteed. It was the result of careful, patient planning and shrewd decision-making that allowed Boston to develop a golden generation of prospects - and then build upon that talented core to assemble a juggernaut.
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Great read if you like the Red Sox or baseball ops
- By Amazon Customer on 01-11-20
By: Alex Speier
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One Last Strike
- By: Tony La Russa
- Narrated by: Tony La Russa, Scott Sowers
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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After 33 seasons managing in Major League Baseball, Tony La Russa thought he had seen it all - that is, until the 2011 Cardinals. Down ten and a half games with little more than a month to play, the Cardinals had long been ruled out as serious postseason contenders. Yet in the face of those steep odds, this team mounted one of the most dramatic and impressive comebacks in baseball history, making the playoffs on the night of the final game of the season and going on to win the World Series despite being down to their last strike - twice.
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Insight to the 2011 Cards Magical Season and More
- By Mark Gandy on 10-06-12
By: Tony La Russa
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The Cubs Way
- The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse
- By: Tom Verducci
- Narrated by: Tom Verducci
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.
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The best baseball book I’ve ever read
- By Michael Klotz on 04-15-17
By: Tom Verducci
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Big Data Baseball
- Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
- By: Travis Sawchik
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was old school and stubborn. But after 20 straight losing seasons and his job on the line, he was ready to try anything. So when he met with GM Neal Huntington in October 2012, they decided to discard everything they knew about the game and instead take on drastic "big data" strategies.
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The Science of Baseball Choices
- By Lifeisshort on 06-03-15
By: Travis Sawchik
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The MVP Machine
- How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players
- By: Ben Lindbergh, Travis Sawchik
- Narrated by: Josh Hurley
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball.
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Just too much cussing!
- By D Maybee on 04-19-20
By: Ben Lindbergh, and others
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Swing and a Hit
- Nine Innings of What Baseball Taught Me
- By: Paul O'Neill, Jack Curry
- Narrated by: Jack Curry
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In SWING AND A HIT, O'Neill elaborates on his most important hitting principles, lessons and memories—exploring these elements across 10 chapters (to align with the nine innings of a baseball game and one extra inning). Here, O’Neill, with his fiery temperament, describes what he did as a hitter, how he adjusted to pitchers, how he boosted his confidence, how he battled with umpires and (water coolers) and what advice he would give to current hitters.
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Pleasant surprise!
- By Peter Moscariello on 01-11-23
By: Paul O'Neill, and others
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The Grandest Stage
- A History of the World Series
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The World Series is the most enduring showcase in American team sports. It’s the place where legends are made, where celebration and devastation can hinge on a fly ball off a foul pole or a grounder beneath a first baseman’s glove. And there’s no one better to bring this rich history to life than New York Times national baseball columnist Tyler Kepner, whose bestselling book about pitching, K, was lauded as “Michelangelo explaining the brush strokes on the Sistine Chapel” by Newsday.
By: Tyler Kepner
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The Team That Changed Baseball
- Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates
- By: Bruce Markusen
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, veteran baseball writer Bruce Markusen tells the story of one of the most likable and significant teams in the history of professional sports. In addition to the fact that they fielded the first all-minority lineup in major league history, the 1971 Pirates are noteworthy for the team's inspiring individual performances.
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Reader didn't know the game
- By David on 05-01-19
By: Bruce Markusen
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When the Braves Ruled the Diamond
- Fourteen Flags over Atlanta
- By: Dan Schlossberg
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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From 1991 through 2005, the Atlanta Braves did something no pro sports team can match, finishing in first place for 14 consecutive seasons. During that stretch, the Braves parlayed powerful pitching with potent hitting that produced under pressure. Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox won with veteran teams, young teams, slugging teams, and several times with teams that emphasized speed and defense. His teams captured 100 wins in six different seasons.
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Highs and Lows
- By Casey on 08-05-17
By: Dan Schlossberg
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They Bled Blue
- Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers
- By: Jason Turbow
- Narrated by: Jason Turbow
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers' crazy 1981 season, a watershed campaign that cemented the team's place and reputation as fitting thoroughly within the surrounding LA culture. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win - during a split season demarcated by a strike, no less - is not even the most interesting thing about this team.
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Dodgers history smeared by a Giants fan...
- By Bim Henderson on 07-28-19
By: Jason Turbow
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Full Count
- The Education of a Pitcher
- By: David Cone, Jack Curry - contributor
- Narrated by: David Cone
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Met and Yankee All-Star Pitcher David Cone shares lessons from the World Series and beyond in this essential memoir for baseball fans everywhere. To any baseball fan, David Cone was a bold and brilliant pitcher. During his 17-year career, he became a master of the mechanics and mental toughness a pitcher needs to succeed in the major leagues. A five-time All-Star and five-time World champion now gives his full count - balls and strikes, errors and outs - of his colorful life in baseball.
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outstanding book, glad Cone voiced it himself
- By Tom W. on 06-19-19
By: David Cone, and others
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24
- Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
- By: Willie Mays, John Shea, Bob Costas
- Narrated by: Bob Costas, Julian McWilliams, Larry Herron
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Widely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid. Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime.
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Loved It
- By Peter on 07-01-20
By: Willie Mays, and others