Customer Reviews

Japanese Baseball: A Statistical Handbook

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

 

 

Batter stats included in this book are games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, doubles, triples, homeruns, rbi, stolen bases and batting average. Does not include strikeouts, walks or positions played. Pitching stats include games, wins, losses, winning percentage, saves, innings pitched, hits, strikeouts, walks and ERA. The entire roster of players on each team is not included, only the players who qualified for the batting or pitching championship (usually 4-7 per team). Season-by-season stats including team and individual player stats. Also includes the leaders in 18 categories (including the top five in batting average, home runs, rbis, era, wins and strikeouts), MVPs, Sawamura Award winners, All-Star game results and Japan Series results (as well as series award-winners). Also includes career record holders, but does not contain comprehensive career player stats. Given the dearth of Japanese baseball statistical books written in english, this book is very informative and interesting and the best I have seen to date. I would like to see a "Neft and Cohen" type book in the future.

Dan Johnson has spent a great deal of time collecting data in English on Japanese Baseball. This book is a must for anyone interested in the history of Japanese baseball. No other book like it written in English.

It is refreshing to see a book finally uncovering a previously hidden area in the US, a statistical source for the major leagues of baseball in Japan. However, this publication is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of Japanese baseball.
Information on team performances and leaders in individual seasons is featured up to 1997. A section is devoted to lifetime and individual category leaders. Appendices are provided which list no-hitters, the Japanese Hall of Fame, and a list of "foreign" teams which have played in Japan. There is also an index which facilitates looking up players who are mentioned in the book.
But if you are looking for a comprehensive, detailed guide to every player with their stats, this is not the book. That being said, this book is better than the alternative, which is nothing, and I did enjoy filling in the blanks on Warren Cromartie's baseball card.

Like Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's, Dan Johnson's book is a genuine "white elephant." His English-language statistical survey of Japanese baseball is as rare as it is exhaustive. JAPANESE BASEBALL: A STATISTICAL HANDBOOK is a valuable resource -- and an ideal acquisition for those interested in the INTERNATIONAL pastime.