Buy from the GBC
Betting the Bases, written by Mike Lee, provides the baseball handicapper with solid techniques to use when handicapping baseball games. Published well over twenty years ago, Betting the Bases is only 71 pages, but it is filled with little fluff.
The meat of Betting the Bases is spent detailing profitable angles the sports handicapper can use in his arsenal when looking for value with a baseball proposition. Based on historical results, the author expects these angles to hold true in the future.
Although past results can't guarantee future success, the angles detailed in this book provide the sports handicapper with an understanding of factors affecting the outcome of a baseball game. These factors include: home underdogs, streaks, the "sweep game" fallacy, pitching layoffs, and virgin pitchers. The author specifically refers to these as angles that you should bet when the given condition exists. These best use of these factors, however, is when you are creating and adjusting your own line.
The downfall to this book, however, is the section on money management. The money management guide outlined in the book is only good to you if you're a gambler. Someone looking to stay in the game without going broke during a losing streak should read this section simply to learn what not to do. The author guides the bettor to bet a percentage of his bankroll that is too high to withstand losing streaks.
At the current price of $8.95 this book is a sound investment for anyone looking to add to his baseball handicapping repertoire, but it is most helpful to the new baseball handicapper.
I give this book a three out of five on the Benjamin scale.
- Ryan J. Parker | Ryan's sports handicapping blog
| 
