The Best of "By the Numbers"

Do catchers learn to handle pitchers better as they get older?

Do some batters have a greater ability than others in the clutch?

Does good hitting beat good pitching? These questions, and many others asked by fans, are answered in this collection of more than two dozen analytical research studies from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

The provocative conclusions, based as much as possible on objective data and statistics, often fly in the face of conventional baseball wisdom.

The articles are the best of more than a hundred published over the past dozen years in "By the Numbers," the newsletter of SABR's respected Statistical Committee, each accompanied by a new introduction.