The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
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3.4 • 23 Ratings
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium.
Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A premier baseball analyst and brand name, James (The Bill James Player Ratings Book, The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers) releases a revised edition of his 1985 classic, with expanded player and team histories and reconsidered commentary. Divided into two sections, "The Game" and "The Players," this comprehensive and opinionated tome describes the evolution of the sport over the decades (uniforms in the 1890s, best minor league teams of the 1930s, the Negro Leagues, etc.) and the characteristics of its players (stats, injuries, habits and proclivities). The thumbnail player sketches in the second section (the 100 greatest players at each position) vary widely in content and tone: the entry on Lefty Gomez includes a page on his public-speaking abilities, while of Kevin Brown, James merely writes, "I don't root for him, either, but he is a great pitcher." (James has assigned the rankings according to a statistical rating formula he calls Win Shares, which he explains conceptually and mathematically.) The game section, though, is the standout. It may not contain detailed statistical leaders or standings for each year, or even who won each World Series, but it does offer information on new stadiums, the competitiveness of different leagues and shifts in the way the game was played. At the end of each chapter, a "decade in a box" lists major statistics and Jamesian awards, varying from the quantitative (the team with the best record) and the qualitative (the best switch hitter) to the quirky (the decade's ugliest player).
Customer Reviews
Best baseball book ever
True, this book is now 11 years old, and I wish James would keep it updated. Still, for a sophisticated fan, this book will take you into areas of baseball you didn't know existed. A third of the book is a history of the game from the 1870s to today, with tons of stories and descriptions of how the game was played. Another third of the book is James's rankings of the top 100 players at each position, based on his groundbreaking statistical tools. And the last third is an explanation for one of those methods, called Win Shares. It's his attempt to quantify the entirety of a player's contribution to winning, offense and defense, in a single number. I have the print edition of this book and it's the one book that I always keep near by bedside.
- David H. Martinez
Author of "The Book of Baseball Literacy: 3rd Edition"
Don't buy
I bought this thinking it was current given it's 2011 publication date. I come to find it's current thru 2000! What a rip-off.
Will try to get my money back.