Sheldon Hirsch – författare

Sabermetrics, the search for objective knowledge about baseball through statistical analysis, has taken over the national pastime. The authors argue that this approach began as a useful corrective but has come to harm baseball. The book demonstrates that the so-called moneyball approach, based on sabermetrics, offers only limited guidance for assembling a team, managing games, and evaluating player performance. Equally important, the obsession with statistics and vision of the game as wholly predictable obscure baseball's spectacular improvisational quality. It is the game's unquantifiable and relentless capacity to surprise--the source of wonder so central to its greatest stories and personalities--that informs any real appreciation of baseball.

Make America Sane Again: Reflections on Trump’s Travesties catalogues Donald Trump’s many travesties, dating back to his first inauguration but concentrating on his second term. The book is a nearly daily analysis of Trump's horrors, one by one, including his personal demons, his quest for unlimited power, and his various wars on democracy, justice, women, trans-genders, medicine, science, universities, free thought, law firms, the environment, the IRS, the homeless, poor people, Africa, and more. The analysis is written with a meticulousness and rigor that reflects the author’s scientific training, but in a conversational, easy-to-read letters-to-the-editor style. (A number were published in the NYT or Chicago Tribune.) Furthermore, many of the letters have a bit of a twist in them, enlivening the discussion. The style is unique in the political reporting genre.

A former Trump supporter's reader-friendly compilation of letters charts his disillusionment and offers a sharp, conversational critique of Trump's actions, abuses of power, and perceived threats to democracy.Make America Sane Again: Reflections on Trump s Travesties is an analysis of Donald Trump s many travesties, dating back to his first inauguration but concentrating on his second term. The author originally was a Trump supporter, in favor of his victory over Hillary Clinton. However, his disillusion began on day one, with Trump s bizarre fixation over the size of his inauguration audience and his subsequent deceitful release of a doctored photograph. Then, along with many conservatives, the author was horrified by Trump s bungling of the COVID-19 endemic, his separation of children from their mothers at the southern border, and then his attempted insurrection on January 6th.The author began writing letters-to-the-editor about Trump to major newspapers, many of which were published. The book is a compilation of those letters, written in a conversational, easy-to-read style. Furthermore, many of the letters have a bit of a twist in them, enlivening the discussion. With that unique approach, the letters analyze Trump's horrors, one by one, including his personal demons, his quest for unlimited power, and his various wars on democracy, justice, women, trans-genders, medicine, science, universities, free thought, law firms, the environment, the IRS, the homeless, poor people, Africa, and more.This is a reader-friendly review of Trump s litany of travesties, the danger to democracy, and the reasons why so many Americans are fearful about his self-promoting and harmful leadership.