Ben Lindbergh is a staff writer for Grantland and the co-host of
"Effectively Wild," the daily Baseball Prospectus podcast. He is a
former editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus and has also worked
for the Elias Sports Bureau and Bloomberg Sports. He lives in New
York.
Sam Miller is the editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, the
co-editor of Baseball Prospectus's annual guidebook, and a
contributing writer at ESPN the Magazine. He also co-hosts
"Effectively Wild." He lives on the San Francisco peninsula with
his wife and daughter.
Best Sports Book of the Year by Sports Illustrated, The Boston
Globe, and The Buffalo News, and a Great Read of the Year by NPR
"Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller have given us a brutally honest but
blissfully funny look at where we really stand a decade into the
'analytics revolution.' If you want the insights that statheads and
baseball traditionalists still need to learn from one another,
start by reading this book."
--Nate Silver, bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise and
the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight "The Only Rule
Is It Has to Work is a terrific read, as Ben Lindbergh and Sam
Miller - two of baseball's leading sabermetric writers - put their
beliefs on the line by taking over an actual team of actual players
and trying to implement their unorthodox theories. The story of
their season with the Sonoma Stompers is a fascinating human drama
about the give-and-take between the new thinking and the old
school."
--Ken Rosenthal, MLB on FOX reporter, FOXSports.com senior baseball
writer, and MLB Network insider "In a phenomenal book that is a
fun, breezy, and moving read, Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller invite
us into their mad experiment. They show us the trials, travails,
and challenges of running an independent league baseball team, and
along the way they do something remarkable: they make us care
deeply for the players who put their hearts into every point of
on-base percentage."
--Jonah Keri, bestselling author of Up, Up, and Away and The Extra
2% "The Only Rule Is It Has to Work is the happy, improbable spawn
of Moneyball and Bull Durham--a relentlessly smart and consistently
funny journey into the dregs of the minors that proves one thing
above all: No matter how many statistics you apply to baseball, you
can never kill its heart."
--Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak, A Few Seconds of Panic, and
Wild and Outside "The Only Rule might be the most important
baseball book published this year -- though to use the word
'important' detracts from the sheer fun of the situation. . . .
You'll never look at a baseball game, from professional down to
fantasy, the same way again."
--Allen Barra, Chicago Tribune "A fun lark . . . a terrific
book."
--Will Leitch, Sports on Earth "A worthy modern heir to [George]
Plimpton's 1950s stunt."
--Jack Dickey, Sports Illustrated "The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
[is] more than a book about using data and objectivity to build a
better baseball team. It's an intimately human story. . . . While
readers will come for the stats, they'll stay for the story."
--Michael Kershner, Eephus "Lindbergh and Miller are real
storytellers, explaining their strengths and defects as they
attempt to field a capable team, using the best stats money can
buy. . . . For fantasy baseball junkies and baseball purists alike,
this is a vivid, joyful exploration of recruiting and running a
team by numbers--and instinct."
--Publishers Weekly "The Only Rule tops most works of its genre
because it explains the real-world successes and pitfalls that come
with trying to take theories and apply them to a team of real
humans who might not always be as receptive to change as a
simulation league team. If you ever wondered what it would be like
to jump from running a fantasy team to being a GM, The Only Rule is
your guidebook."
--J. J. Cooper, Baseball America "The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
sounded like it would be a book that would document all the crazy
things you could do on a baseball diamond. And while at times it
did, it was more a story about loving baseball. As the authors note
in the book's acknowledgments, there is no wrong way to love the
game, and this book drives that point home thoroughly and
unflinchingly."
--Paul Swydan, The Hardball Times "Lindbergh and Miller revel in
[esoterica], but they're admirable communicators, too, and unafraid
to explain exactly why and how a particular idea failed or
succeeded. If the game has recently started to seem a little
impenetrable to you, this might be the book that brings you back
into the fold, a welcome reminder of all that's eccentric,
idiosyncratic and optimistic in baseball."
--Dwyer Murphy, LitHub
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