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I guess we should reset this…

This blog exists to promote a still-untitled book coming out this fall, my first solo project. The book is a collection of my own Prospectus articles and columns dating to 1996, as well as original material, most notably a chapter devoted to the Mets/Cardinals 20-inning game from April of this year, a game that represented both the joys of being a baseball fan and the agonies of being a baseball analyst in the early 21st century.

Since signing the contract back in January, I have restarted the project twice, once to give it a structure I didn't hate, and once to go over all of my work again to ensure that I've included only the pieces that belong in a book such as this. The good news is that I'm happier today with what the book is than I have been at any time in seven months. The bad news is that I should probably have been there on June 15 or so. I'm behind, there's no way around it.

This isn't a sabermetric tome, but a writer's book, with, as it will turn out, a heavy emphasis on the business of the game and how that has evolved over the last 15 years. It also includes a number of what amounts to mash notes to baseball; it was refreshing, to me, to see that over 15 years of writing, a decade of doing it regularly, my love for baseball seems to come through. If anything, I was more jaded and bitter in 2002, when the economic illiteracy of that year's CBA negotiations drove me to walk away from BP for a little while, than I have ever been since then.

Today, I need your help. This book is still untitled, because I'm horrible at titling things. I'm asking for a brainstorming session, bad ideas, good ideas, ridiculous ideas ("Arrogance: The Joe Sheehan Collection" is the leader in the clubhouse, if that gives you any idea of how deeply in the woods we are on this) are all welcome, and if your idea ends up as the title, you'll be drafted to help me copyedit the gall… no, I'm kidding. However, if we do pick your title BP will tack on six months to your Premium subscription as a thanks.

I'll be posting a bit more frequently in here now, as I work feverishly to meet deadline while also tracking the pennant races and waiver trades, so please check in, use the comments section liberally, and if you're the praying kind, stick me into one, because I will need it.
 

Thank you for reading

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TheRedsMan
8/04
Baseball Prospecting: A Journey Through the Last 15 Years of the National Pastime
lemppi
8/04
Saves and RBI....Oh, How I Love Thee.
frampton
8/04
Learning Curves. Hmm, see a few novels have already used it, maybe add the colon phrase "15 Years Spent Learning Why I've Always Loved Baseball".
Yatchisin
8/04
Platooning Ryan Howard, and Other Provocations
abcjr2
8/04
"An Anthology of One"

(Basically a mash of the slogan "An Army of One" and "The Baseball Anthology" -- think of a collection of essays by a disparate group of writers, but here it is a group of essays reflecting many facets of one diamond-obsessed mind.)
flalaw
8/04
"Sheehan Things My Way: 15 Years of Iconoclastic Bsaeball Commentary"

or "Sheehan Is Believin'" with the same subhead.
andyfoy
8/05
LOL. These are awesome...
mattymatty2000
8/04
Sheehan as in Wreck
jsheehan
8/04
Daddy likey.
StatFreak101
8/04
Joe is writing a book? Sweet. When can I place my order?
mrgriffey
8/04
"Say It Ain't Joe: Joe Sheehan on the Game and Business of Baseball."

I look forward to this book!
bflaff1
8/04
A Pastime Betrayed? How Obama and the Democrats Are Destroying America's Game

Grab it before Hannity does.
Olinkapo
8/05
"A Bold Fresh Piece of Sheehan"
Meurso
8/05
"Economically Literate Pitches"
braden23
8/05
Sheehan's Baseball Perspective
adambennett
8/05
A Cuppa Joe
delugeofgrandeur
8/05
Unclogging the Basepaths: 15 Years of Debunking Baseball's Most Inane Commentary
jsaroff
8/05
They Shoot Statheads, Don't They? 15 Years of Analyzing Baseball by Joe Sheehan
jsheehan
8/05
That'll make the list.
Wrigleyviller
8/05
Just A Bit Outside: 15 Years As A Profession Baseball Fan

Or maybe change the subtitle, like Views From A Professional Baseball Fan, or something.
lemurranger
8/05
Three True Outcomes: Why I Love, Hate, and Write about Baseball
by Joe Sheehan with Rob Deer
JosephC
8/05
Can't Anybody Here Analyze This Game?
twinkies25
8/05
Ryan Howard is The Best First Baseman in Baseball: And Other Lies That ESPN Told Us.
dpease
8/05
great suggestions! please comment rate them accordingly.

I've heard that the maverick publisher of Joe's book thinks industry standard precious dozen-word subtitles are ridiculous.
Olinkapo
8/05
"Beer and Tacos: Have Both!"
mtofias
8/05
Baseball Mistakes
villapalomares
8/05
There's Only One Word for It: You Never Know Enough About Baseball
garethbluejays2
8/05
Still crazy after all these years, or, the colour of baseball money.
fgreenagel2
8/05
How I Know What Isn't So
mwhite6
8/05
Murray Chass is a Grouchy Dolt & Other Observations.
tombores99
8/05
"Fewer Strikes, More Balls"
Oleoay
8/05
"I miss Joe Sheenan: Fifteen years of Baseball Writing and Reflection"

P.S. A lot of commentators at BP have already uttered that first part.
Oleoay
8/05
Eh, it's 3am, I meant Sheehan not Sheenan.
mwball75
8/05
The Sixth Tool
jsheehan
8/05
We're titling the book, not the author.
mwball75
8/05
That's What He Said
eliyahu
8/05
Peeling the Onion.

(The visual for the cover could be really cool, with a combined onion and baseball, and the "truths" that get discovered the more you peel away the surface and get towards the core.)
georgeforeman03
8/05
I Am Baseball, and So Can You!
stewbies
8/05
Going the Other Way: The Evolution of Baseball
operatic
8/05
No Pepper (except for Joe)
lemppi
8/05
Tuesday's with Torre.
mwball75
8/05
Hello Baseball! Goodbye Logic!
crperry13
8/05
You don't need a title. Just use the graphic from the BP homepage, a giant photo of your face on the cover. That's all it really needs, right?

"Say It Ain't So, Joe!"

Reference to the media's attitude towards advanced metrics slowly replacing barbaric ideas like pitcher W-L records, AVG, and RBI.
CJLugo
8/05
"Las Penas del Outsider Informado"

Oh, well, that'll qualify for the spanish edition. In any case, I'm looking forward to it, Joe.
russadams
8/05
Joe Sheehan: The Missing Link
lemppi
8/05

"Palin's Guide To High Brow Baseball"
yourrolemodel80
8/05
Vampires: A VORP Story
jsheehan
8/05
In that vein:

a book that JUSTIN BIEBER will never read
ahemmer
8/05
"Joe Sheehan's WARPed Mind"
jwferg
8/05
Intentional Walks: 15 years of baseball analysis and musings
jwferg
8/07
...or... Intentional Passages, etc...
Yatchisin
8/05
Funny Moneyball
written by Billy Beane
antoine6
8/05
"Carlos Pena is Better than Ryan Howard, and Other Mistakes in Judgment" by Joe Sheehan.
pferrington
8/05
Your Opinion Counts: From newsgroup ranter to influential columnist - 15 years of loving the game.
mattidell
8/05
Sheehan on Steroids
Asinwreck
8/05
Balk
lemppi
8/05
The Intentional Mocking of Ruben Amaro.
kapnxn
8/05
Baseball Managers Were Put on this Earth to Make Astrologers Look Good: 15 Years of Analysing Inane and Stupid Decisions
jonjacoby
8/05
"Sheehan My Dad Says"
or
"Tuesdays With Torii"
ClubberLang
8/05
Fifteen Years of Joy in Mudville
ClubberLang
8/05
Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch It Like a Pro.

Wait, that one's already inexplicably taken by Tim McCarver.

ClubberLang
8/05
One that you obviously can't use but I wish you could:

Baseball For Dummies Like Dusty Baker, Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver
mark1623
8/05
Sheehan Red: Why Everything Joe Morgan Says About Baseball is Wrong
pobothecat
8/05
Everything I Know Is Wrong: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball
pobothecat
8/05
or just ... A Thinking Fan's Guide To Baseball
pobothecat
8/05
Myth Understood: Baseball for the Thinking Fan
pobothecat
8/06
(tried variations on "A Swing and a Myth" but couldn't make it work)
pobothecat
8/06
Truthian Proportions: Baseball's Biggest Lies

pobothecat
8/06
or ... baseball's tru-isms that aren't. (ain't?)
pobothecat
8/06
Smarter Than Avg. --- a fan's guide to the stats, bats and boneheads that changed baseball forever.
pobothecat
8/06
(probably better in the present tense ... "that are changing baseball forever.")
pobothecat
8/06
A Head in the Count: 15 years in baseball's statistical revolution.
pobothecat
8/06
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: what ESPN, announcers and other so-called experts don't know about baseball could fill a book.
DanoooME
8/06
From First to Third: One Man's Analytical Journey
crperry13
8/06
Jeezuz pobo...couldn't you have put all million of your entires in one comment?


Also (unrelated), there seem to be a lot of angry Phillies fans around here.
antoine6
8/06
I think it's mostly good-natured ribbing from Phillies fans because Joe likes to take shots at Ryan Howard with every opportunity.
bosoxfan01864
8/06
"Who is Bill Pecota? A Compendium of Baseball Articles by No Ordinary Joe"
Cardinals645
8/06
Joe Sheehan: Baseball Reporter WRITER

A Collection of Baseball Analysis


^The 2nd line is optional (as is the first, I guess).
Olinkapo
8/07
"The War on Baseball Ignorance"
ultimatedub
8/07
"Calmer than you are"
brucegilsen
8/07
Sheehan Madness
monkeyfly78
8/07
"Taking the Fun Out of the Game (By Knowing Stuff About It)"
jonjacoby
8/07
Billy Beane Didn't Write Moneyball and other corrections of Joe Morgan.
NL2003
8/07
1)I like the fact that you are going to the community for the book title.

2)I think a lot of the suggestions are either too clever, or revolve too much on Joe's name.

3)My suggestion is a little more conventional, but still has a baseball/BP/double meaning:
Outside Pitch.
jayhook62
8/08
"Blown Leads"


asstarr1
8/09
"Putting the "Anal" in Analysis - A New Look at an Old Game"
mferrin
8/09
"The Human Element"
bccurls
8/11
He Said, Sheehan Said.
paperwinner
8/14
Joe Blow on the Show!!!
baserip4
8/18
The Other 28 Nights in August
AaronHR1981
8/21
It's the Baseball, Idiot