The Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport
"When I read the book, I was impressed by the amount of effort that went into compiling the reams of data that underlie the work . . . The fundamental case the authors make is that the statistical analysis shows that the conventional wisdom about sports is dead wrong—that the data as the put it, "offers many surprises."—Joe Nocera,The New York Times"InThe Wages of Wins, the authors attempt to puncture some popular myths—saying that payroll and wins are not highly correlated, and that in baseball, football.attendance hasn't been significantly affected by players strikes or owner lockouts."—Sue Kirchhoff,USA Today"InThe Wages of Wins, the economists David J. Berri, Martin B. Schmidt, and Stacey L. Brook set out to solve the Iverson problem. Weighing the relative value of fouls, rebounds, shots taken, turnovers, and the like, they've created an algorithm that, they argue, comes closer than any previous statistical measure to capturing the true value of a basketball player . . . Looking at the findings that Berri, Schmidt, and Brook present is enough to make one wonder what exactly basketball experts—coaches, managers, sportswriters—know about basketball."—Malcolm Gladwell,The New Yorker"Wagesis provocative, stimulating and challenging."—Dick Friedman,Sports Illustrated"It is one thing when an obnoxious fan or sports talk show blowhard spouts off about who is the best player or why a certain team doesn't win games.  It is quite another thing when three economics professors, which the authors of this book are, who love sports give you proof to back up their arguments.  Not many casual basketball fans would agree that Allen Iverson isn't a very productive player, but the authors have the data to show otherwise.  It is hard to argue when the cold hard facts are in front of your face... The Wages of Wins is a very important book in the field of sports economics and a very enjoyable and thought provoking read.  It leaves you wanting a sequel to it (which, luckily, the writers hint at)."—CollegeHoops.net"Sports fans with an analytical bent shouldn't skip this book.  And come to think of it, perhaps sports executives should be reading it as well."—The Free Lance-Star"This book presents complex economic analysis in a breezy manner that the casual sports fan and econophobe will appreciate and enjoy.  I plan to assign it to students and recommend it to friends."—Michael Leeds, Temple University, and author ofThe Economics of Sports