{"product_id":"9781250130907","title":"The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team [Includes a New Afterword]","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller about what would happen if two statistics-minded outsiders were allowed to run a professional baseball team--now includes a new afterword by the authors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies -- with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That’s what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics. Their story in \u003ci\u003eThe Only Rule is it Has to Work \u003c\/i\u003eis unlike any other baseball tale you've ever read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe tag along as Lindbergh and Miller apply their number-crunching insights to all aspects of assembling and running a team, following one cardinal rule for judging each innovation they try: \u003ci\u003eit has to work.\u003c\/i\u003e We meet colorful figures like general manager Theo Fightmaster and boundary-breakers like the first openly gay player in professional baseball. Even José Canseco makes a cameo appearance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWill their knowledge of numbers help Lindbergh and Miller bring the Stompers a championship, or will they fall on their faces? Will the team have a competitive advantage or is the sport’s folk wisdom true after all? Will the players attract the attention of big-league scouts, or are they on a fast track to oblivion?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s a wild ride, by turns provocative and absurd, as Lindbergh and Miller tell a story that will speak to numbers geeks and traditionalists alike. And they prove that you don’t need a bat or a glove to make a genuine contribution to the game.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43157876703293,"sku":"9781250130907","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0603\/0838\/9949\/files\/9781250130907_p0.jpg?v=1778242681","url":"https:\/\/www.tatteredcover.com\/products\/9781250130907","provider":"Tattered Cover","version":"1.0","type":"link"}