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Bruce Weber, a New York Times reporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training. As They See ’Em is Weber’s entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, its own colorful vocabulary. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn’t every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn’t a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really? Packed with fascinating reportage that reveals the game as never before and answers the kinds of questions that fans, exasperated by the clichés of conventional sports commentary, pose to themselves around the television set, Bruce Weber’s As They See ’Em is a towering grand slam.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780743294133","publication_date":"20100316","publisher":"Scribner","slug":"as-they-see-em","subtitle":"A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires","title":"As They See 'em"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"SPO003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.8112,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball History","score":0.8073,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Statistics","score":0.7974,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"SPO003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.8112,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball History","score":0.8073,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Statistics","score":0.7974,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"SPO000000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Sports & Recreation","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Baseball Essays","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Baseball History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.8112,"slug":"baseball-essays"},{"label":"Baseball History","score":0.8073,"slug":"baseball-history"},{"label":"Baseball Statistics","score":0.7974,"slug":"baseball-statistics"}],"reader_fit":["Baseball fans curious about umpire decisions and behind-the-scenes work"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Wayne Stewart"],"book_id":"9781510739307","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781510739307.jpg?v=b013896907d618df","score":0.7454,"title":"You're the Umpire","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781510739307"},{"authors":["Zack Hample"],"book_id":"9780307280329","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307280329.jpg?v=924de0209d4a627d","score":0.7303,"title":"Watching Baseball Smarter","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307280329"},{"authors":["Joe Kelly","Rob Bradford"],"book_id":"9781635768893","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781635768893.jpg?v=2bcdcd3ca8ba60df","score":0.7276,"title":"A Damn Near Perfect Game","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781635768893"},{"authors":["Keith Law","Rhett Samuel Price","William Morrow","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780062942722","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062942722.jpg?v=304c305d83abe3d0","score":0.7165,"title":"The Inside Game","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062942722"},{"authors":["Dan Schlossberg"],"book_id":"9781613218365","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781613218365.jpg?v=cc0d6d4302d9e564","score":0.7163,"title":"The New Baseball Bible","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781613218365"},{"authors":["George F. 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