Books and Publications
on Sports and Mathematics
Journals
Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports
From the Aims & Scope section:
The Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (JQAS), an official journal of the American Statistical Association, publishes timely, high-quality peer-reviewed research on the quantitative aspects of professional and amateur sports, including collegiate and Olympic competition. The scope of application reflects the increasing demand for novel methods to analyze and understand data in the growing field of sports analytics. Articles come from a wide variety of sports and diverse perspectives, and address topics such as game outcome models, measurement and evaluation of player performance, tournament structure, analysis of rules and adjudication, within-game strategy, analysis of sporting technologies, and player and team ranking methods. JQAS seeks to publish manuscripts that demonstrate original ways of approaching problems, develop cutting edge methods, and apply innovative thinking to solve difficult challenges in sports contexts. JQAS brings together researchers from various disciplines, including statistics, operations research, machine learning, scientific computing, econometrics, and sports management.
If you are an SIS member, you can access JQAS journal articles through the following process: (1) Go through the login process on amstat.org, (2) click on "Go to my publications" on the subsequent screen, (3) click on the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports link, and (4) click on the "Access JQAS" button.
From the Aims & Scope section: The Journal of Sports Analytics (JSA) aims to be the central forum for the discussion of practical applications of sports analytics research, serving team owners, general managers, coaches, fans, and academics. We invite analytical research on any single sport or across sports that seeks to improve our understanding of the game or strategies for improving a team or a league.
International Journal of Computer Science in SportFrom the Aims & Scope section: The International Journal of Computer Science in Sport (IJCSS) is published in association with the International Association of Computer Science in Sport (IACSS). It is a refereed electronic journal. Research results with an emphasis on the following topics regarding the application of Computer Science and Mathematics in supporting the development of theory and practice in sport are considered: Modelling (mathematical, informatics, biomechanical, physiological) Computer aided applications (software, hardware) Data acquisition and processing Data Bases Simulation (interactive, animation, ?) Development of theories Multimedia / Internet Presentation Education
Journal of Sports Science and MedicineThe Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (JSSM) is a non-profit making scientific electronic journal, publishing research and review articles, together with case studies, in the fields of sports medicine and the exercise sciences
International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering(S-SCI) is a multidisciplinary journal, mainly publishes original research and applied papers on sport science and sports engineering, including the application of system science and system engineering, mathematics and statistics, computer and information, mechanics and physics, material and textiles, operation research and management, modelling and simulation, medicine and biology, measurement and design, electric and machine engineering, etc. for sports, physical education, exercise, game and human movement.
Publications
Anthology of Statistics in SportsThis manuscript is a collection of previously published articles on the use of statistics to analyze sports which the editors have culled from a variety of American Statistical Association publications.
Books
Thank you to Roland Minton for creating an initial compilation of books that was the basis for this list.Baseball
Adair, Robert. The Physics of Baseball. Harper Perennial, 2002.
Adler, Joseph. Baseball Hacks: Tips & Tools for Analyzing and Winning with Statistics. O’Reilly Media, 2006.
Albert, Jim and Jay Bennett. Curve Ball: Baseball Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game. Copernicus, 2001.
Baseball Prospectus Jonah Keri. Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong. Basic Books, 2007.
Baseball Prospectus. Extra Innings: More Baseball Between the Numbers. Basic Books, 2012.
Baumer, Benjamin, and Andrew Zimbalist. The Sabermetric Revolution: Assessing the Analytics of Baseball. U. Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
Bradbury, J.C. Hot Stove Economics. Copernicus, 2010.
Daniels, Eddie. The Baseball Hall of Fame Corrected. Ed Dykhuizen, 2015.
Dewan, John, and Ben Jedlovec. The Fielding Bible IV. ACTA Publications, 2015.
Freedman, Lew. Knuckleball: The History of the Unhittable Pitch. Sports Publishing, 2015.
Friedlander, Brett, and Robert Reising. Chasing Moonlight: The True Story of Field of Dreams’ Doc Graham. John F. Blair, 2011.
Gill, Dwight, and Tad Reeve. Mathematics in Baseball: the Science of the Art. Rational Perspectives, 1989.
Gray, Scott. The Mind of Bill James: How a Complete Outsider Changed Baseball. Doubleday, 2006.
Humphreys,vMichael. Wizardry: Baseball’s All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed. Oxford University Press, 2011.
James, Bill. Fools Rush Inn: More Detours on the Way to Conventional Wisdom. ACTA Publications, 2014.
James, Bill, and Rob Neyer. The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching and Pitches. Touchstone, 2004.
James, Bill. Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame: Baseball, Cooperstown, and the Politics of Glory. Free Press, 1995.
Kennedy, Kostya. 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports. Sports Illustrated, 2012.
Keri, Jonah. The Extra 2% How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Team from Worst to First. ESPN Books, 2011.
Lewis, Michael. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.
Lindbergh, Ben and Sam Miller. The Only Rule is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a Baseball Team. Henry Holt and Co., 2016.
Marchi, Max, and Jim Albert. Analyzing Baseball Data with R. Chapman & Hall, 2013.
Martinez, David. Baseball Detective: Unraveling the Mystery of the Batting Order. Homerunweb Books, 2011.
Ross, Ken. A Mathematician at the Ballpark: Odds and Probabilities for Baseball Fans. Penguin Group, 2007.
Rothman, Stanley. Sandlot Stats: Learning Statistics with Baseball. John Hopkins University Press, 2012.
Sawchik, Travis. Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak. Flatiron Books, 2013.
Schwarz, Alan. The Numbers Game: Baseball’s Lifelong Fascination with Statistics. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005.
Seidel, Michael. Streak: Joe DiMaggio and the Summer of ‘41. Bison Books, 2002.
Tango, Tom, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. CreateSpace Independent Pub., 2014.
Thorn, John. Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game. Simon & Schuster, 2011.
Thorn, John, Pete Palmer, and David Reuther. The Hidden Game of Baseball: A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball. U. Chicago Press, 1984.
Watts, Robert, and Terry Bahill. Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Curve Balls, Knuckleballs, and Fallacies of Baseball. W.H. Freeman, 2000.
Zoss, Joel, and John Bowman. Diamonds in the Rough: The Untold History of Baseball. Bison Books, 2004.
Fontanella, John. The Physics of Basketball. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Blockner, Andy. Chasing Perfection: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the High-Stakes Game of Creating an NBA Champion. Da Capo Press, 2016.
Oliver, Dean. Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis. Potomca Books, 2004.
Shea, Stephen, and Christopher Baker. Basketball Analytics: Objective and Efficient Strategies for Understanding How Teams Win. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
Shea, Stephn. Basketball Analytics: Spatial Tracking. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
Taylor, Ben. Thinking Basketball. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.
Wakschlag, Andrew. 10 Squared: An Unconventional Analysis of the NBA. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
Football
Berri, David, and Martin Schmidt. Stumbling on Wins in Football: Two Economists Expose the Pitfalls on the Road to Victory. FT Press, 2010.
Carroll, Bob, Pete Palmer, and John Thorn. The Hidden Game of Football. Warner Books, 1988.
Connelly, Bill. Study Hall: College Football, Its Stats and Its Stories. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
Gay, Timothy. Football Physics: Discover the Science of Bone-Crunching Hits, Soaring Field Goals, and Awe-Inspiring Passes. It Books, 2005.
Lahman, Sean. Pro Football Historical Abstract: A Hardcore Fan's Guide to All-Time Player Rankings. Lyons Press, 2008.
St John, Allen, and Ainissa Ramirez. Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game. Ballantine Books, 2013.
Golf
Broadie, Mark. Every Shot Counts: Using the Revolutionary Strokes Gained Approach to Improve Your Golf Performance. Avery, 2014.
Cochran, Alastair, ed. Science and Golf: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf. SPON, 1990.
Cochran, Alastair, and Martin Farrally, ed. Science and Golf II: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf. Taylor and Francis, 1994.
Cook, Kevin. Driven: Teen Phenoms, Mad Parents, Swing Science and the Future of Golf. Avery, 2008.
Farrally, Martin, and Alastair Cochran, ed. Science and Golf III: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf. Human Kinetics, 1998.
Gummer, Scott. Homer Kelley’s Golfing Machine: The Curious Quest That Solved Golf. Avery, 2009.
Jorgensen, Theodore. The Physics of Golf. Springer, 1994.
Minton, Roland. Golf by the Numbers: How Stats, Math, and Physics Affect Your Game. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
Nicholson, Peter. Science and Golf. Amazon, 2014.
Pelz, Dave, and Nick Mastroni. Putt Like the Pros: Dave Pelz’s Scientific Way to Improving Your Stroke. Harper & Row, 1989.
Schmanske, Stephen. Golfonomics.World Scientific, 2004.
Smith, Mark. Golf Science: Optimum Performance from Tee to Green. University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Thain, Eric, ed. Science and Golf IV: Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf. Routledge, 2002.
Werner, Frank and Richard Greig. How Golf Clubs Really Work and How to Optimize Their Design. Origin Inc, 2000.
Wesson, John. The Science of Golf. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Wishon, Tom, and Tom Grundner. The Search for the Perfect Golf Club. Sports Media Group, 2005.
Zumerchik, John. Newton on the Tee: A Good Walk through the Science of Golf. Simon and Schuster, 2002.
Soccer
Anderson, Chris. The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong. Penguin Books, 2013.
Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. HarperCollins, 2009.
Kuper, Simon. Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Spain, Germany, and Brazil Win. Nation Books, 2014.
Sumpter, David. Soccermatics: Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game. Bloomsbury Sigma, 2016.
Wesson, John. The Science of Soccer. CRC Press, 2002.
Tennis
Brody, Howard. Tennis Science for Tennis Players. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.
Brody, Howard, Rod Cross, and Crawford Lindsey. The Physics and Technology of Tennis. Usrsa, 2004.
Elliott, Bruce, Machar Reid, and Miguel Crespo. Tennis Science: How Player and Racquet Work Together. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Klaasen, Franc, and Jan Magnus. Analyzing Wimbledon: The Power of Statistics. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Other Sports
Hache, Alain. The Physics of Hockey. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Leslie-Pelecky, Diandra. The Physics of NASCAR: The Science Behind the Speed. Plume, 2008.
Lind, David, and Scott Sanders. The Physics of Skiing: Skiing at the Triple Point. Springer, 2013.
Mallette, Vincent. The Science of the Summer Games. Charles River Media, 1996.
Payne, Howard and Rosemary. The Science of Track and Field Athletics. Salem House, 1981.
Vollman, Rob, Tom Awad, and Iain Fyffe. Hockey Abstract Presents … Stat Shot. ECW Press, 2016.
Analytics
Albert, J., Glickman, M.E., Swartz, T.B., Koning, R.H. Handbook of Statistical Methods and Analyses in Sports. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2016.
Albert, J., Koning, R.H. Statistical Thinking in Sports. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2007.
Carlberg, Conrad. Predictive Analytics: Microsoft Excel. Que Publishing, 2012.
Kuhn, Max, and Kjell Johnson. Applied Predictive Analytics. Springer, 2013.
Martin, Lorena. Sports Performance and Analytics: The Science of Assessing Performance. Pearson FT Press, 2016.
Miller, Thomas. Sports Analytics and Data Science: Winning the Game with Methods and Models. FT Press, 2015.
Minton, R. Sports Math: An Introductory Course in the Mathematics of Sports Science and Sports Analytics. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2016.
Severini, Thomas. Analytic Methods in Sports: Using Mathematics and Statistics to Understand Data. CRC Press, 2015.
Siegel, Eric. Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die. Wiley, 2016.
Annuals
Baseball Prospectus
Bill James Baseball Abstract
College Basketball Prospectus
Football Outsiders Almanac
Hardball Times Baseball Annual
Hockey Prospectus
General Interest
Alamar, Benjamin. Sports Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other Decision Makers. Columbia University Press, 2013.
Albert, Jim, and Jay Bennett, ed. Anthology of Statistics in Sports. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2005.
Alexander, R. McNeill. Exploring Biomechanics: Animals in Motion. W.H. Freeman, 1992.
Arbesman, Samuel. The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date. Penguin Group, 2012.
Armenti, Angelo, ed. The Physics of Sports. American Institute of Physics, 1996.
Barrow, John. Mathletics: A Scientists Explains 100 Amazing Things About the World of Sports. W.W. Norton, 2012.
Blanding, Sharon, and John Monteleone. What Makes a Boomerang Come Back: How Things in Sports Work. Longmeadow, 1992.
Brancazio, Peter. Sport Science: Physical Laws and Optimum Performance. Touchstone, 1985.
Brenkus, John. The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Limits of Athletic Performance. HarperCollins, 2010.
DeMestre, Neville; The Mathematics of Projectiles in Sports. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Denny, Mark. Gliding for Gold: The Physics of Winter Sports. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
Eastaway, Rob, and John Haigh. How to Take a Penalty: The Hidden Mathematics of Sport. Anova Books, 2005.
Ellenberg, Jordan. How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. Penguin Books, 2014.
Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. Penguin Group, 2013.
Farrow, Damian, and Justin Kemp. Run Like You Stole Something: The Science Behind the Score Line. Allen & Unwin, 2003.
Flatow, Ira. Rainbows, Curve Balls, and Other Wonders of the Natural World Explained. Harpercollins, 1989.
Fort, Rodney, and Jason Winfree. 15 Sports Myths and Why They’re Wrong. Stanford Economics and Finance, 2013.
Gallian, Joseph, ed. Mathematics and Sports. Mathematical Association of America, 2010.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown, and Company, 2008.
Goff, John Eric. Gold Medal Physics: The Science of Sports. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.
Griffing, David. The Dynamics of Sports: Why That’s the Way the Ball Bounces. Dalog Company, 1982.
Hall, William. Changing the Game: How to Profit From Your Passion for Sports. Bookworm Sports, 2012.
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus, and Groux, 2011.
Klawans, Harold. Why Michael Couldn’t Hit, and Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports. W.H. Freeman, 1996.
Langville, Amy, and Carl Meyer. Who’s #1? The Science of Rating and Ranking. Princeton University Press, 2012.
Levy, Joel. All the Right Angles: From Gear Ratios to Calculating Odds, Mathematics in the World of Sports. Firefly Books, 2013.
Ma, Jeffrey. The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business. St. Martin’s Press, 2010.
Mauboussin, Michael. The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing. Harvard Business Review, 2012.
Mlodinow, Leonard. The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. Vintage, 2008.
Pardalos, Panos, and Victor Zamaraev, ed. Social Networks and the Economics of Sports. Springer, 2014.
Pink, Daniel. Drive: the Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. Riverheads Books, 2011.
Popular Mechanics. Why a Curveball Curves: The Incredible Science of Sports. Hearst, 2014.
Reifman, Alan. Hot Hand: The Statistics Behind Sports’ Greatest Streaks. Potomac Books, 2011.
Russell, Gordon. Sport Science Secrets: From Myth to Facts. Trafford Publishing, 2006.
Sadovskii, A.L. and L.E. Mathematics and Sports. American Mathematical Society, 1993.
Schrier, Eric, and William Allman. Newton at the Bat: The Science in Sports. Scribner, 1987.
Scientific American Editors. The Science of Sports: Winning in the Olympics. Scientific American, 2012.
Silver, Nate. The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – but Some Don’t. Penguin Books, 2013.
Spathopoulos, Vassilios. An Introduction to the Physics of Sports. Amazon, 2013.
Torrey, Lee. Stretching the Limits: Breakthroughs in Sports Science that Create Superathletes. Dodd, Mead, 1985.
Wertheim, Jon, and Tobias Moskowitz. Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played. Crown Archetype, 2011.
Wetheim, Jon, and Sam Sommers. This Is Your Brain on Sports: The Science of Underdogs and the Value of Rivalry. Crown Archetype, 2016.
Winston, Wayne. Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics. Princeton University Press, 2012.