Scout's Honor

The Bravest Way To Build A Winning Team

by Bill Shanks

“SCOUT’S HONOR serves as ammunition in the debate over baseball’s soul.”
- The Sunday New York Times

What They're Saying:

“Finally, an entertaining book that validates the importance of scouting.”
—  Pat Gillick, 2-time World Series Champion GM 

"A sometimes barbed answer to the best-selling Moneyball, Shanks puts his biases aside to present a fascinating and long-overdue look at Atlanta's baseball dynasty."        
—  Mike Berardino, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“Shanks proves he's a good journalist with passion. The writing is good and the angles he takes in portraying his human subjects make the book easy to read and enjoyable. Shanks should be commended for his excellent work.” 
—  The Hardball Times

“SCOUT’S HONOR was sorely needed. Very enjoyable.”
—  Ken Rosenthal, The Sporting News, FOX Baseball

“Bill Shanks is the best qualified person to write the scout’s side of this debate, and he does a job they can be proud of. A fascinating book.”
—  Joe Hamrahi, Baseball Digest Daily

“If anyone wants to know what goes on behind the scenes and how decisions are made in baseball, this book is it. It’s a great read.”
—  Billy Sample, Baseball Brunch, MLB Radio

“What makes SCOUT'S HONOR so great is that it brings us into the world of those who determine successful big leaguers by looking into the future, not by looking back at spreadsheets and stats. Now that takes talent. ‘Old-school’ wins, literally. This book is a worthy foil to the Moneyballers.”
—  Lyle Spencer, MLB.com

Michael Lewis’s Moneyball was a huge success arguing the case for the new brand of baseball General Managers and operations people who were changing the  game with their Harvard degrees and outside-the-box, number-centric take on what it took to build a winning team, using the Oakland A’s as the focal point of his argument. Atlanta Braves television host Bill Shanks looks at what that approach has really meant to baseball and why the instincts of the old-school scouts and baseball veterans are the only true way to build a winning and successful baseball team in this ‘new’ generation. Using the Atlanta Braves as a focal point, Scout’s Honor: The Bravest Way to Build A Winning Team is an in-depth look at what instinct and gut-reaction means to baseball and how the numbers-don’t-lie style of the new breed is not only misleading, but mistaken.