You can read this book from cover to cover if you like, but each hack stands on its own, so feel free to browse and jump to the different sections that interest you most. If there’s a prerequisite you need to know about, a cross-reference will guide you to the right hack.

I’ve tried to keep the hacks independent, but many hacks require you to start with a baseball database. Baseball is a game of statistics, and many of the hacks in this book deal with those statistics. Before you can try many of the hacks, you’ll need to install a baseball database. I’ve also included some hacks that don’t require you to do anything at all. In particular, Chapter 5 of this book explains what formulas mean and how they work. Even if you never plan to calculate a player’s DIPS ERA yourself, I hope you’ll find the explanation helpful when you see this number listed elsewhere.