Roth popped up thanks to a fairly well-done documentary on the MLB Network as part of their Behind the Seams series. It's not a perfect recounting of the stats revolution in baseball (it skips the excellent work done by Baseball Prospectus, for example), but overall if you're looking for an introductory course on the history of so-called sabremetrics, you could do worse.
And probably have, considering how mainstream sports media usually treats this stuff, honestly.
Though Jackie Robinson, as you point out, was definitely Not a Jew, here's a children's book based on a true story about Robinson and his Jewish neighbors:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishjournal.com/books/article/its_christmastime_for_chanukah_books_20101129/
You guys really seem to be into baseball.
ReplyDeleteHalf of us are. The other half likes this weird game where you can't touch the ball with your hands and ties are considered "fun".
ReplyDeleteI prefer baseball over futbol; on the other hand, I prefer Colin Firth over Jimmy Fallon (no Jews anywhere).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Jackie Robinson, though, might I add a book I remember from childhood by Barbara Cohen (who wrote many wonderful Jewish-themed children's books, and died too, too young):
http://books.google.com/books/about/Thank_You_Jackie_Robinson.html?id=0fuFslq0lkAC