The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
by Bill James

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Book Reviews of The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

Book Review: Feel like staying up all night?
Summary: 5 Stars

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is the kind of work that would absolutely drive my friend mad. Well, at least a solid third of it would drive him crazy.

If you're a big statistics guy, this is your book. If you're a big sports trivia guy, this is your book. If you're into lists, this is your book. If you're looking for a highly educated opinion about who is the greatest to play the game decade-by-decades and cumulatively over the last 140 years, this is your book. If you just plain love baseball and don't like what typically passes as a baseball publication, this is your book.

The Abstract combines the infromational content of an almanac with large doses of sports reporting -- one part Baseball Almanac, another part Sports Illustrated. James conveys the feeling that he actually watched all of the thousands of major league players covered in this mammoth volume, going all the way back to the 1870 season (with a brief rundown on the happenings before that year), and also has a nice section on the sadly underappreciated stars of the Negro Leagues. He does a great job of subtly pointing out the significance of baseball in the evolving American societal spectrum. He seamlessly goes from stats to stories to analysis to prediction, and the journey is thoroughly enjoyable the whole way through.

This book is like reading Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary series -- if Burns hadn't gotten himself hung up on the New York teams for mindless hours on end. (Did that annoy anyone else? Twelve seconds on Ernie Banks? That's it? Ten minutes on the first pitiful decade of Mets baseball? What?! Why?!)

James treats the game as any sports enthusiast should: with a careful blend of scientific objectivity (by the way of practically a million figures and statistical analyses) with an adoring fan's subjectivity (like the guy who sits behind you at the game who seems to have an opinion on everything, only this time the opinions are balanced and backed up).

This book is not for everyone. If you're a casual fan and looking for a great sports novel, pick up a David Halberstam book. If you're into the intellectual, esoteric view of the game and all its possibilities, grab a George Will book. This book is for people who love the game for the personalities and numbers, who watch about 150 games a year, and think "Baseball Tonight" should have its own network channel. If you are a casual fan looking to not only familiarize yourself with baseball but also truly understand the game, this is also your book. Beware: it has the potential turn someone with a passing interest in the game into a complete fanatic.

One minor drawback: the index is somewhat unreliable. A 2-page discrepency seems to pop up at some point (I can't seem to find the exact spot) but just as mysteriously the error corrects itself somewhere (again, I don't know where).

This is really a great resource for baseball nuts. So buy it, love it, and memorize all one thousand pages of it. (Just kidding.)

Summary of The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

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.

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