Intelligent Influence in Baseball is a novel concept that goes beyond statistics and anecdotes and has something for everyone, from fans just learning about the game to the most diehard among us.

—Mike Lynch, Founder and President of Seamheads.com

Baseball is a game played by teams, but it is the individual players, managers, and coaches who eventually become the focal point of our attention. While we as fans each have a favorite team —leading some to callously say that we are rooting for laundry and logos—it is the players who provide the human quality with which we can truly identify. If we didn't know about the player's strengths, weaknesses, and their personality traits and quirks, we would likely lose interest rather quickly in watching the games. When all is said and done, it is the players, and our knowledge of them, that truly drive our interest in the sport, says the foreword. This insightful book delivers on that promise. We say, Play ball!

Dr. Dale G. Caldwell was born in Boston and, therefore, has been a Boston Red Sox fan for his entire life. Robert V. Hurte Jr. cannot remember not being passionate about baseball. In 1998 he joined the Society of Baseball Research (SABR).