Bill James Presents...: Stats Major League Handbook 1998 (Annual) [Paperback]

Bill James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997 | Series: Annual

Now in its ninth year, Bill James's legendary Handbook offers everything the true baseball fan wants and needs, including complete career pitching and hitting stats for every 1997 player, managerial performances and tendencies, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The name Bill James is synonymous with baseball statistics. If you need to know the latest facts and figures about the national pastime, his handbook is the source of record. In it you'll find complete statistics for the past year's pitchers, hitters, fielders, and managers. But far from being a machine-like compiler of data, James plays with the numbers to find the underlying relationships and trends that make baseball such a great game from a statistical perspective. These are stats that enlarge the game, teasing out the human element and giving fans even more reasons to love and respect the game.

Review

STATS Major League Handbook is the quickest reference to the most complete stats on every major league player -- Steve Lyons, FOX Sports --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 357 pages
• Publisher: Stats Inc (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884064426
• ISBN-13: 978-1884064425
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,826,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Basics for Real Baseball Fans, December 2, 1999

By 

Sam Smith (Pasadena, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill James Presents Stats Major League Handbook 2000 (Paperback)

I've been reading Bill James for almost ten years now, and the Baseball Handbook just keeps getting better. Whether you're in a fantasy, rotisserie, or simulation league, this book is the basic set of data and analysis you need. I'd buy it for the career player stats and the left/right breakdowns alone.

Don't draft without it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference, but it could be better, April 8, 2000

By 

Sean Forman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill James Presents Stats Major League Handbook 2000 (Paperback)

I've purchased this book each of the past six years, and I anticipate purchasing it the next six as well. It has all the basic stats for anyone in the major leagues that year and the projections for 2000 and probably the most accurate available.

I enjoy the leaderboards and also the park effects and defensive stats.

My only problems with the book are how it meshes with the Minor League Handbook (green book). For rookies or part-time major leaugers it does not include minor league career totals despite showing all of the player's minor league stats. These numbers would be far more interesting than the career totals they show with just minor leaguers. I also wish they would include Zone Rating in the defensive stats, but Mr. James refuses to allow it in a book with his name, so you are forced to purchase the Player Profiles (blue book) as well if you want those numbers.

All in all, it is the earliest and best yearly stats annual available, but I would like to see some small improvements made.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The baseball annual, December 10, 2001

By 

W. Rudd (Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stats Major League Handbook 2002 (Stats Major League Handbook) (Paperback)

Lists career major league stats for every one who appeared in a game in 2001. There are also break downs for lefty/righty, pitchers hitting, managers tendancies, projections, and leader boards in many obscure categories. You can refer to it through out the year. I haven't missed one yet and don't intend to. No commentary, just pure stats.