The Bill James Handbook 2008
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Book Reviews of The Bill James Handbook 2008
Book Review: Baseball Stats
Summary: 4 Stars
Was pleased with the fast good service. Book being used every day
while watching baseball games - to look up stats, etc of different players.
Thanks much.
Book Review: For Stat Heads Only
Summary: 3 Stars
This is not a book for those who prefer Bill James' Historical Abstract type of stat books. This is stats and nothing but the stats.Book Review: The Great Game deserves the Good Book
Summary: 5 Stars
It's baseball Christmas. Bill James seems to always add new twists to what most people think is basic statistics. The Great Game of baseball deserves this type of dedication and Bill delivers.
It's baseball season so have good and get give!
Book Review: A Perfect Book For the Baseball Fanatic
Summary: 5 Stars
When the Sporting news stopped publishing their annual Baseball Register, I was Very dissapointed. However after finding about the Bill James Baseball Handbook there was once again Hope for this Baseball Fanatic.
The Differences in the books are simple. Bill James' Book Is a Much Easier read With a treamendous amount of extra Statistics. The Only Pluses that the Sporting News book had were 1. It had Career Transaction records. and 2. All Players That played in the majors the previous Season,In Order to gain entry into the book had ALL their Minor league Stats Listed as well as Career Major League Stats.
Bill James While Having A Ton More Stats. Only Lists Minor League Stats Of Players Who have One or Two Years in the Majors. After that only Major League Stats, and any Minor League stats From the Last Season Played if Any As Well as All Major League Stats Are Listed.
What I Really Like Is In The Career Register The Season Stats Are Combined For A Grand Total and then They are Separated if Two or more Teams Are Played for In a Given Season. Overall I Hope They Publish This Book as Long As The Game of Baseball Lasts- Which I hope Is Forever.
All in All A Five Star Book.
Book Review: Solid
Summary: 4 Stars
I hear a lot of people talk about how the internet has largely rendered titles such as this obsolete, and to some extent that may be true. The bulk, maybe 80-90%, of this book--the career register that lists career statistics, the splits, and even much (though not all) of the leaderboards--is freely available online. Even the outstanding defensive analysis--John Dewan's plus/minus system--is posted online.
But this book still has some gems. The manufactured runs analysis, for instance; the detailed baserunning numbers; the detailed park factors (most other sources list just basic factors); and if you're a fan of James' writing, while there's not a lot of it here (I don't want to mislead anyone on that), he does do an intro for most sections, and in typical Jamesian fashion often provides a thoughtful, unique spin on what these numbers and analysis are saying (as well as their limits). And in this era of more and more competitors selling "deadly accurate" projections, James and Co. provide a refreshing dose self-accountability, highlighting both their good and bad projections from last year, and quietly noting the nature and limitations any projection system will have.
In short, if you're a fantasy player, maybe this isn't for you. They have projections, but they're grouped in a smaller section at the back of the book, and probably don't include as many younger players as other annuals (particularly young pitchers: they note that they prefer to see some baseline from young pitchers before projecting them). If you're more interested in some of the more nuanced details of "real baseball," however (how often did a guy go first-to-third on the basepaths? how might a left-handed hitter with just doubles power play in Dodger Stadium? who's the best team at manufacturing runs? how about defending manufactured runs? who crushes sliders? or balls outside the zone?) then you'll enjoy it. (Although again, that stuff is maybe 20% of the book, so you must balance that into whether or not it's worth the price.)
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