Another Way to Talk About Books

Our fearless, not feckless, leader here at NotG recently debuted a series in which he will annotate readings that are germane to the sport of baseball. Judging from the first post, this will be fun introduction to many different intriguing texts.

But on AmazinAvenue, James Kannengeiser has taken an approach to a text that is more comprehensive. While Cistulli will introduce us lightly to many texts – and allow us to decide if we will continue the study on our own – Kannengeiser is discussing one text. He has approached his text, the inimitable Moneyball by Michael Lewis, in an in-depth manner, going chapter by chapter with discussion questions. Since the site is dedicated to a sabremetric approach to the same team that just hired Sandy Alderson, a major character in the book, it’s a convergence of interest and timing that makes a whole lot of sense.

If you will, a few choice moments from his series so far:

From Chapter Four’s discussion questions:

5. Bill James’s wife says in Chapter Four that if she knew the extent of Bill’s baseball obsession when they started dating, their relationship might not have gotten very far. Without getting too specific, has baseball (or sports in general) obsession interfered with a close relationship? Has it aided a relationship?

My wife wants a word with you, James. From Chapter Three’s questions:

2. Is Jeff Francoeur the present day version of 1980s Billy Beane? Michael Lewis writes in Chapter Three:

“He [Billy] didn’t have a baseball mentality,” said Jeff Bittiger. “He was more like a basketball or a football player. Emotions were always such a big part of whatever he did.”

Frenchy isn’t an unhinged buffet table flipper like Billy seemed to be (although Frenchy did bash a water cooler after a game in 2009). Still, I think there is a legitimate comparison — physically gifted player; beloved by scouts; has The Good Face; can’t hit a lick.

That’s a strange parallel for a player so derided by the sabr-crowd. Then a hard-hitting question from Chapter Two:

4. The men in the A’s draft room are depicted packing lips full of chewing tobacco. Have you ever “packed a lip”? What did you think? Awesome or gross?

Good stuff, and it’s led to some great repartee in the comments sections.

It’s worth wondering if this approach would work here. In order to take advantage of the same confluence of interest and timing, it would have to be a book that was relevant to all of us. Could Tom Tango’s The Book be worth a dust-off and a chapter-by-chapter discussion? Alan Schwartz and The Numbers Game? Baseball Between the Numbers? These aren’t novel to the marketplace, and we wouldn’t be breaking new ground, but perhaps we’d learn something together as we reaffirm what we’ve learned?