A few paragraphs from C70 at the bat

As part of a longer post, Cards blog C70 at the bat offers his thoughts on what he read of my book. Short version - he liked it. Best quote:

There's not been a lot of work on managers and how they affect the game, but Jaffe's work goes a long way in that regard.

He also says "the details are incredible" of the managers he read. Always nice to hear that.

Dodger and White Sox blogs offer reviews

Two more reviews have gone up. Both are positive takes. The sites and their money quotes:

Inside Dodger Baseball:

It’s good stuff. . . . It’s a very detailed view about what makes managers successful (or unsuccessful for that matter). If you like baseball history, order this book.

White Sox Examiner (which most analyzes Guillen, so there aren't as many good quotes for me to pull from):

Jaffe's Evaluating Baseball Managers is well-researched and well-written.

Ed Kranepool Society says . . .

Mets blog Ed Kranepool Society (two quotes from this one):

In his book “Evaluating Baseball’s Managers” (MacFarland) Chris Jaffe writes the ultimate book on the effect of baseball managers on their team’s success and failure

After reading the excerpt on the Mets managers, I look forward to picking up a copy of Evaluating Baseball Mangers

Another mini-review: Dempsey's Army

I almost missed this one from Orioles blogger Dempsey's Army. He likes it.

I would consider this book an essential reference for the amateur (or professional) baseball historian.

December 23rd mini-reviews

Giants blog Triples Alley says:

Jaffe’s coverage of managers is an ideal blend of statistics and history. You don’t need to be a numbers cruncher to understand or to enjoy the relevance of the statistics Jaffe provides in the book. He provides a thorough depiction of each manager—not only giving a description of their character, but the reputations that they gained throughout the course of their career. And he does a fantastic job at providing statistical evidence to back his claims.

Sox Machine, a White Sox blog, also has a review up. No great quotes to pick up as the review is more descriptive, but the author seems to like what the read.

December 22nd mini-reviews

Two more mini-reviews went up.

Ryan at Let's Go Tribe, the top Indians blog looks it over.

Braves Love also shares thoughts on my book (well, the parts on Braves managers anyway).

Both seem pretty interested in it.

Even more mini-reviews

Pirates blog Hyzdu Headquarters gives it the thumbs up, declaring:

[T]his book will appease the history folks, the stat heads, and anyone looking for arguments on the history of baseball.

Ghost Runner on First, a Blue Jay blog, likes it, saying:

[I]t is simply a must-read for any self respecting baseball nerd.

Jays and Astros mini-reviews

Toronto blog Out of Left Field says a series of nice things about what I sent them. The review actually gives me multiple quotes to pick from. Here are two:

Thanks to Chris Jaffe, you might never look at the men in the dugout the same way.

And the other one:

Good sportswriting should increase understanding or stimulate thought. Evaluating Baseball's Managers hits it out of the park on each count.

Also, Crawfish Boxes (AKA the SBN Blog for the Astros), also posted their mini-review. Their opinion:

What Jaffe does with all these guys is highlight why they were good or why they weren't successful. He does an excellent job of it, providing stats to back it up in each manager's capsule, but also backing it up with solid analysis. Bullpen usage, hitting for power, walks, and more are shown as trends for each manager as Jaffe does a good job of describing what kind of team each guy oversaw. It's exactly what history buffs would want and provides the kind of source material that analysts will be using for years.

Dodger Thoughts' thoughts

Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts offers his opinion of what he read of Evaluating Baseball's Managers, 1876-2008 (he read the Dodger sections). Money quote:

The big test for me these days on anything related to the Dodgers is whether I learn something and whether I'm entertained in the process, and Jaffe succeeds in both.

Casey Stengel excerpt up

Excerpt up on Casey Stengel at the Was Watching site. This went up yesterday, but I apparently suck at letting people know in a timely fashion when this occurs.

Today's mini-reviews

As far as I know: three more mini-reviews of my book went up today: on an Astros blog, Braves blog, and a Red Sox blog (the SBN BoSox blog at that). For the most part, these reviews just describe what the author find striking without editorializing much in the way of thumbs-up, thumbs-down.

The main exception to this was the Braves blog, Capital Avenue Club. That blogger gives me high marks in his review of Brave manager commentary. Best quote:

I would strongly encourage everyone to purchase a copy. I’ve pre-ordered mine and from what I’ve read among the excerpts, I can’t wait to read the whole thing.

Houston blog Astros Daily gives a concise rundown of the Astros managers in the book, and includes a quote from me (from an email exchange) on the recent Houston hire.

Finally, Boston's SBN blog, Over the Monster, is primarily interested in what I said about Jimy Williams.

New excerpt up: Tony LaRussa

I only belatedly noticed this, but a book excerpt went up yesterday at Viva El Birdos: it's on Tony LaRussa. Hope you enjoy my thoughts on him.

Thumbs up from Give 'em Some Stankeye

Another mini-review just went up: Giants blog Give 'em Some Stank Eye gives me kudos for what I wrote on NYG/SFG guys. Money quote:

The work going on at THT is some of the most interesting (and lucid) modern baseball analysis you'll see, and Jaffe's book appears to be a solid extension of that work. It's already on my Christmas list

Favorable forecast from Friar Forecast

Friar Forecast, a Padre blog, just did a mini-review of Evaluating Baseball's Managers. Short version: the site liked what they read. Money quote:

I was highly impressed with the quality of analysis conducted by Jaffe. His writing is clear, and to the point. Although the book is based on stats, I never felt the writing was dense. Jaffe does not just plop statistics onto the reader. Instead he uses the stats to tell a story about each manager he profiles.

Mini-reviews starting to go up

It’s a really nice feeling to have an idea and see it work out as well as you’d hoped.

This summer I had a notion to promote my book. Take the 89 managers profiled in my book, and organize them by teams and create new Word docs for them. If a manager worked for more than one team, he’d go in the file for all those teams.

Then, offer those team-based servings to as many team bloggers I could find contact info for. Ask them to read it, and essentially give a mini-book review to their readers of what they thought of my work. The goal was to provide exposure/awareness/interest for it. McFarland OKd it provided I only sent it to bloggers.

Well, I finished sending out the emails (unless I can figure out a few more). As of now, 106 different blogs have expressed some interest in it, including at least one blog for every team.

And the first few are going online.

The first one up was Viva El Birdos. Dan at V.E.B. says the book is: "the first satisfying answer I've yet seen to one of the most frustrating questions left in our understanding of baseball" (namely the study of managers).

Second, Goat Riders of the Apocalypse raved about it, stating at the outset that: "Chris Jaffe’s "Evaluating Baseball's Managers, 1876-2008" will do for big league managers what “Bill James’ Baseball Handbook” has done for big league players."

EBM goes to Kindle

May as well make a post of this. Just got the following note from McFarland that Evaluating Baseball's Managers has been approved for inclusion in the McFarland ebooks program with Amazon's Kindle.

On a purely mercenary note, I still make the most money if you buy the book from the publisher rather than McFarland, but then again there's no reason my financial well-being should be anyone's main concern:

Another excerpt

Yesterday I had another book excerpt go up: one on Joe McCarthy at the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog. Hope you enjoy

New excerpt, at a new location

Well, I'm done putting excerpts up at THT. So now I'm putting excerpt up elsewhere. The first one went up today: on Gene Mauch over at Crashburn Alley

Two more excerpts up

Another pair of excerpts went up at THT this week. They were on Charles Comiskey and Dusty Bake.