Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game

by Rob Neyer Narrated by Rob Neyer

Overview

The former ESPN columnist and analytics pioneer dramatically recreates an action-packed 2017 game between the Oakland A's and eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros to reveal the myriad ways in which Major League Baseball has changed over the last few decades.

On September 8, 2017, the Oakland A's faced off against the Houston Astros in a game that would signal the passing of the Moneyball mantle. Though this was only one regular season game, the match-up of these two teams demonstrated how Major League Baseball has changed since the early days of Athletics general manager Billy Beane and the publication of Michael Lewis' classic book.

Over the past twenty years, power and analytics have taken over the game, driving carefully calibrated teams like the Astros to victory. Seemingly every pitcher now throws mid-90s heat and studiously compares their mechanics against the ideal. Every batter in the lineup can crack homers and knows their launch angles. Teams are relying on unorthodox strategies, including using power-losing-purposely tanking a few seasons to get the best players in the draft.

As he chronicles each inning and the unfolding drama as these two teams continually trade the lead-culminating in a 9-8 Oakland victory in the bottom of the ninth-Neyer considers the players and managers, the front office machinations, the role of sabermetrics, and the current thinking about what it takes to build a great team, to answer the most pressing questions fans have about the sport today.

This book is a must-read for any baseball fan, especially those interested in the history of the game and how it has evolved over the years.

With a focus on the 2017 game between the Oakland A's and Houston Astros, readers will get an in-depth look at how power and analytics have taken over the sport, and the strategies teams are using to come out on top.

HarperCollins 2024

Editorial Reviews

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Rob Neyer is the author and narrator of this sprightly, informative commentary on the evolution of Major League Baseball. Neyer has covered the MLB in various capacities since the mid-1990s, and his wealth of knowledge is well established. Listeners will be further delighted by his accessible writing style and high-quality narration. There are imperfections, as one might expect from a reader who does not specialize in narration. However, Neyer sounds entirely at ease delivering his own work. His passion for baseball and sense of humor are ever present, and his insights are essential for understanding the contemporary game. The structure of the audiobook further adds to its appeal. He uses a single game from the 2017 season to explore broader trends and history. A.T.N. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

08/27/2018
An afternoon at the ballpark prompts wider analysis in this genial treatise on the recent evolution of baseball. ESPN columnist Neyer (Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Blunders) revisits the Sept. 8, 2017, game between the Oakland A’s and the Houston Astros, which started as a blowout but ended as a nail-biter. Neyer’s sharp play-by-play is a hook for extensive color commentary on changes in the sport, including the increases in home runs and strikeouts; the rise of infield shifts against pull hitters; the proliferation of specialist relief pitchers; uniform and hair-styling fashions; and the tsunami of stats, right down to the velocity and launch angle of every batted ball, that now dictates baseball management. Along the way he profiles the players, recapping their journeys through the minors, trades, injuries, and comebacks. Neyer’s tome is the anti-Moneyball, with a well-informed but skeptical take on sabermetrics and the science of baseball performance: in his telling, well-planned trades and top draft picks fizzle, last season’s bum becomes this season’s star, and statistical certitudes always bow to lady luck. It’s a ramble, but Neyer’s deep knowledge and punchy prose—“The guy on the mound might be throwing aspirin pills, almost too fast to see”—make the book a treat for dedicated fans. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Neyer, in a rare feat, captures the humor and humanity in the game, as well as what makes the revelry and rivalry of baseball so special.”  — Library Journal

“If Marcel Proust had been a 21st century baseball analytics expert…” — New York Journal of Books

“A smart, original, insightful look at all the nooks, crannies, and nuances that make the game of baseball so beautiful—and so fascinating. I’ve always loved Rob Neyer’s passion for the National Pastime. Power Ball brings that forth in vibrant colors.” — -JEFF PEARLMAN, author of The Bad Guys Won

“Sweet, funny, and thoroughly original, Rob Neyer’s rendering of an otherwise meaningless game is an incisive and prescriptive analysis of the game’s past, present, and future.” — -JANE LEAVY, author of The Big Fella

“Any book in which Jose Altuve is mentioned eighty times, Fenway Park eleven times, Roger Clemens seven times, and Vinny Castilla gets a shout-out is good for me. Neyer is painting a picture of baseball today, but like the pictures at Hogwarts, the characters are always in action. The game emanates forward from the players themselves. Pete Incaviglia drops in to make a point. Is it the best sports book of the year? It might be. Let’s say it is; I don’t have one out. No skin off my nose. Three hundred pages of heaven. Matt Chapman is mentioned twenty-eight times.” — -BILL JAMES, author of The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

“Power Ball provides the best coverage of the modern game since Moneyball by clicking the + button and zooming in on one game between two franchises at the cutting edge of the fascinating changes. Come for the insight, stay for the riveting narrative spun by the best baseball writer in the business.” — -DARYL MOREY, general manager of the Houston Rockets and cofounder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

“Baseball is the greatest sport not because of its past, but its glorious present. Rob Neyer captures baseball in all its complications and nuances, taking it apart and putting it back together again, reminding us why it remains as powerful and vital as it has ever been. Like a great baseball game, it’s a read I never wanted to end.” — -WILL LEITCH, author of Are We Winning?

“Whoever says baseball never changes hasn’t read Power Ball. You may not like 13-man pitching staffs, or exit velocity, or the Chase Utley rule—but it’s hard not to like Rob Neyer’s way of exploring these and scores of other aspects of what he calls Postmodern Baseball. As this particular game unfolds before you, he’s the perfect companion in the seat next to you in the bleachers.” — -DANIEL OKRENT, author of Nine Innings

“The scope of this book ranges…engagingly, from the potential impact of climate change on the game and the influence of social media on players, to the evolving fashions of player uniforms and hair styles… Mr. Neyer’s prose is sharp and colorful and based on a deep understanding of the game…Mr. Neyer…presents a frank and realistic take on Postmodern Baseball’s newfound obsession with the “science” of baseball.” — -The Wall Street Journal

New York Journal of Books

If Marcel Proust had been a 21st century baseball analytics expert…

DANIEL OKRENT

Whoever says baseball never changes hasn’t read Power Ball. You may not like 13-man pitching staffs, or exit velocity, or the Chase Utley rule—but it’s hard not to like Rob Neyer’s way of exploring these and scores of other aspects of what he calls Postmodern Baseball. As this particular game unfolds before you, he’s the perfect companion in the seat next to you in the bleachers.

JEFF PEARLMAN

A smart, original, insightful look at all the nooks, crannies, and nuances that make the game of baseball so beautiful—and so fascinating. I’ve always loved Rob Neyer’s passion for the National Pastime. Power Ball brings that forth in vibrant colors.

BILL JAMES

Any book in which Jose Altuve is mentioned eighty times, Fenway Park eleven times, Roger Clemens seven times, and Vinny Castilla gets a shout-out is good for me. Neyer is painting a picture of baseball today, but like the pictures at Hogwarts, the characters are always in action. The game emanates forward from the players themselves. Pete Incaviglia drops in to make a point. Is it the best sports book of the year? It might be. Let’s say it is; I don’t have one out. No skin off my nose. Three hundred pages of heaven. Matt Chapman is mentioned twenty-eight times.

JANE LEAVY

Sweet, funny, and thoroughly original, Rob Neyer’s rendering of an otherwise meaningless game is an incisive and prescriptive analysis of the game’s past, present, and future.

The Wall Street Journal

The scope of this book ranges…engagingly, from the potential impact of climate change on the game and the influence of social media on players, to the evolving fashions of player uniforms and hair styles… Mr. Neyer’s prose is sharp and colorful and based on a deep understanding of the game…Mr. Neyer…presents a frank and realistic take on Postmodern Baseball’s newfound obsession with the “science” of baseball.

DARYL MOREY

Power Ball provides the best coverage of the modern game since Moneyball by clicking the + button and zooming in on one game between two franchises at the cutting edge of the fascinating changes. Come for the insight, stay for the riveting narrative spun by the best baseball writer in the business.

WILL LEITCH

Baseball is the greatest sport not because of its past, but its glorious present. Rob Neyer captures baseball in all its complications and nuances, taking it apart and putting it back together again, reminding us why it remains as powerful and vital as it has ever been. Like a great baseball game, it’s a read I never wanted to end.

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Rob Neyer is the author and narrator of this sprightly, informative commentary on the evolution of Major League Baseball. Neyer has covered the MLB in various capacities since the mid-1990s, and his wealth of knowledge is well established. Listeners will be further delighted by his accessible writing style and high-quality narration. There are imperfections, as one might expect from a reader who does not specialize in narration. However, Neyer sounds entirely at ease delivering his own work. His passion for baseball and sense of humor are ever present, and his insights are essential for understanding the contemporary game. The structure of the audiobook further adds to its appeal. He uses a single game from the 2017 season to explore broader trends and history. A.T.N. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173581679
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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