| Sabermetrics | ||
|
My assumption is that anyone who's made it to this page falls, more or
less, into one of two categories: you don't know what sabermetrics is
and want some idea of what I'm talking about, or you're interested in
the field and are looking for resources that are available online. When
I started this part of the site, I heartily bemoaned the lack of information
online from a population that has long been among the most technically
literate. I'm happy to report that this is no longer the case. The
sabermetric community is in the midst of a wonderful time when information
is readily accessible online, but not yet scattered and illiterate, as
it's become for Zeppelin fans and kernel hackers. I've made a few
recommendations in my links area,
and there's actually a great deal more out there if you're willing to
explore a little.
For those of you who are curious about what sabermetrics is, a quick answer would be something like "the scientific and historical study of baseball." A longer answer would involve the development of statistical models to explain how various facets of the game work, unearthing pieces of information relevant to the early history of the game, and passing this information along in more of an academic manner. It's a pastime of eggheads, mostly -- eggheads seeking a greater level of understanding about something which is, fundamentally, a game. Bill James is probably the preeminent sabermetrician in the history of the field. He's certainly been profoundly influential for many years, though he no longer writes the Baseball Abstract annuals which established his name. If you would like some sense of what his work is all about, I've provided a few samples. I've tried to redress the lack of original material in here by developing something I've titled a Sabermetric Notebook. The truth told, unless Jim Murray's and Peter Gammons have been writing sabermetric treatises for a few decades now (I'm not comparing myself to them as a writer, I'm merely trying to explain the content herein), I'm hanging a trendy name on something that's decidedly straightforward. A real sabermetrician will surely take me to task for this, but my approach is informed by the principles and methods of sabermetrics, so I've decided to leave the name as originally constituted. There isn't actually much up there now -- as I HTMLize some of the things I'd written earlier, the area should be backfilled reasonably. Of course, as with all discussions of things baseball, I'm sure toes will be stepped on. If you think I've dramatically underestimated how great a player Ozzie Guillen is, feel free to fire me off some mail appraising me of the error of my ways. |
|