“The Hidden Game,” 25 years later
An almost 25 year late review Thorn and Palmer’s landmark book.
The history of sabermetrics is highlighted by two major booms that thrust the analysis of baseball statistics to great heights and brighter lights. The more recent of these two leaps is crowned by Moneyball and the Internet, the latter being responsible for everything from providing the public forum for publishing ideas to disseminating digitized records of baseball games. The first boom was crowned by published works that still carry tremendous influence on the field: Bill James’ Baseball Abstracts and The Hidden Game of Baseball by John Thorn and Pete Palmer.
It was in a somewhat nostalgic spirit that I acquired (via eBay) my own copy of The Hidden Game of Baseball. Knowing it was the source for the Linear Weights system, I figured it could be a handy reference book. I also, being a regular visitor to Tangotiger’s website, knew he had a “New to Sabermetrics” page that has a recommended reading list, and that this book tops it. I now understand why.
While there are a couple schools that have had a Sabermetrics 101 course, neither has started with The Hidden Game of Baseball as required reading, most likely due to its length and its rarity as an out-of-print book. Yet, even now, the history of baseball statistics and sabermetrics in Chapters 2 and 3 are the ideal introduction, even before reading Mr. James. Chapter 2 is on the development of the common metrics, starting with the godfather of the box score. If you’ve read Alan Schwartz’s The Numbers Game, you probably will know most of what is included here. Chapter 3 is the early stages of development of sabermetrics. I particularly keyed in on everything that didn’t relate to Bill James, as I would like to read his Abstracts.
After the history lesson, the most notable piece of the book is the introduction of Linear Weights, which, by design, is in Chapter 4. If you read anything from a known sabermetric site like those we link to on the sidebar, you’re familiar with this system. While the nuts and bolts of Linear Weights are dated, the process and theory are not, and that alone makes it worth the read. After this, however, The Hidden Game shows it age, as many of the studies that are contained in the remaining chapters have been honed and fine tuned over the years. Yet, for anyone looking for models of good methodology and foundational work in sabermetric, these chapters are very resourceful.
It is somewhat amazing to think that 2009 will mark the 25th anniversary of Thorn and Palmer’s book. I wonder if they can believe it either. Regardless, if you haven’t read The Hidden Game of Baseball, do yourself this favor: locate a copy of the book and find a way to loan it through your local library or buy it if you are so inclined. You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll have a better understanding of sabermetrics to boot.
