Customer Reviews

The 2004 Bill James Handbook (2003 statistics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This came as a total letdown, since I was expecting it to be like Bill James' Handbooks of the past.

Instead, it's basically a listing of active players with statistics, almost zero commentary, and offers little over what you can get over the internet.

Stick with Baseball Prospectus: stats are just as good, but the commentary is plentiful, enlightening, and often very funny.

I purchased this book because I was exposed to the writing of Bill James as a young man. James doesn't extrapolate as much with the written words and witty sayings but his style still comes through in one of the write ups in this book. Sometimes it feels as though James is a friend on mine.

I keep this one on the table whenever watching a ballgame on TV or fooling with a fantasy club. Every active player's career stats, with useful stats created by Bill James, like runs created, stats on manager moves, and ballparks. Useful and well-organized.

Bill James started out as a wacky guy who saw baseball differently from the so-called "experts." Today, those experts refer to his theories and expound beyond them. He demonstrates that it is much better to think baseball through than to chew tobacco and say things like, "Don't think, you can only hurt the ball club," which is what Rod Dedeaux used to say when I was at USC. Baseball is best approached the same way marketing, science or politics is approached - using numbers and stats, mixing experience with experiment.

STEVEN TRAVERS
Author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman"
STWRITES@aol.com