All Century Team [Hardcover]

Peter Hirdt (Author, Editor), Mark Vancil (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the summer of 1999, baseball fans pitched their votes for Major League Baseball's All Century Team. Celebrated here with hundreds of photographs and deep statistical analysis, the 30-player squad spans the century, representing big leaguers from the golden age to the modern era. Prodigy Ken Griffey Jr. roams the outfield with legends Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle, among others. Relative newcomers Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan are named to a pitching staff that includes Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, and Warren Spahn. Even the oft-injured slugger Mark McGwire makes the cut, riding his late 1990s home run bonanza to join Iron Man Lou Gehrig at first base.

No best-of compilation satisfies every criterion, but the All Century Team comes close, even recognizing omitted players who, statistically-speaking, merit inclusion. Editors Mark Vancil and Peter Hirdt devote a full-page spread to one such player, Greg Maddux, regarded as possibly the best pitcher ever:

Maddux's greatness has all the other trimmings one would expect: four Cy Young awards, four ERA titles, and seven All-Star nominations. He also has one you wouldn't expect: nine Gold Gloves. Still, history doesn't always reveal itself in real time. It's often left to later generations to identify greatness in hindsight.

In fact, it's All Century Team's commitment to identifying greatness that's most admirable. A wealth of statistics, crammed into every available margin space, ranks each player's performance against other 20th-century standouts. Decades of brilliant photography help quantify intangibles like glory and grit. And a series of evocative anecdotes reveals how a player's worth is measured in many ways. Satchel Paige remembers the lightning-quick James "Cool Papa" Bell: "One time he hit a line drive right past my ear. I turned around and saw the ball hit his ass sliding into second." Reggie Jackson calls pitcher Tom Seaver "so good that blind people come to the park just to hear him pitch." Notable for both its style and its substance, All Century Team is an all-century baseball book. --Rob McDonald

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: Rare Air Media; First edition. edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892866161
• ISBN-13: 978-1892866165
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,368,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, January 13, 2000

By 

a baseball fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Century Team (Hardcover)

From the moment I knew this book existed I knew that I had to have it. I immediately set to work procuring this book for my collection. I waited in earnest as the days went by and my anticipation was only heightened after watching the movie version of the book. After waiting a month the book finally arrived and it turned out to be one of the biggest literary disappointments I've ever seen. The book is almost completely "style" and is composed of very little "substance". The pictures are just incredible. There are hundreds and most are full page or multi-page and they are just stunning. You couldn't have asked for a better grouping of photos but the writing was very poor. I didn't particularly care for the author's style and several times I became so bored that I had to stop reading. There is hardly any writing in the book to begin with and much of what is written is repeated several times within the specific stories or somewhere else in the book whittling the already sparse amount to even less. There are almost no stats in the book as well. This was a major disappointment in itself. They could have at least put a box that had the players lifetime stats our something. I found that many of the fast facts were things that would be considered general facts among baseball fans and would only impress those with little knowledge of the game. There were a few fast facts that I genuinely enjoyed but the vast majority were very poor. The book also lacked any general flow and the writing seemed to be very choppy. There were roughly 3 places in the book where my hopes were raised as to the outcome of the rest of the book as it began to flow quite nicely but these were soon dashed as the story meandered back into a disrythmic pattern. The ending quotation of the book was also relatively poor leaving the reader trying to figure out why it was used. I know they could have found a better ending. From start to finish the writing just seemed like it was thrown together and wasn't very well thought out. It seemed disorganized and in some places it left you feeling confused. Again the pictures are incredible but the writing is absolutely sub par. Basically what you'll be buying is a 40.00 picture book and if you have the money to spend the photos just might be worth it. My reccomendation to you; however, is to buy the video instead. It is 20.00 cheaper and a world better than the book. What you lose in the still pictures of the book you infinately gain in the marvelous video clips that range from brand new back to some of the earliest films of baseball. I gave the video a 5 star rating but I would have given it a 500 if that were possible. I would definately reccomend buying the video instead.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Century Team, February 26, 2000

By 

Louis Berceli (Derry, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Century Team (Hardcover)

This is book is the most impressive photographic collection I have ever seen in book about the great American game of Baseball. I found the writing to be very well done in a way that was enjoyable to read. It had the right amount of amazing statistical info that was well presented graphically without having an extreme amount of statistical data. After my father and brother saw it...they had to have their own copy for their coffee tables also. It was a great book to give to my friends as a gift.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the Beef?, January 17, 2000

By 

bbfan - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Century Team (Hardcover)

I saw this book at the local bookstore and browsed through it. It looked really cool so I bought it. After watching the ESPN video-version of the book, I assumed the book would have been of the same caliber. It isn't. Although there are many excellent photos the composition and the editorial is weak. Where is the Beef! This book lacks statistics and a continuity that would make you believe this book was made for the non-baseball fan. Because of the fluff and "image" of this book, the video is a much better value. I should have spent I few more minutes in the bookstore browsing before I wasted my 40 bucks!