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The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball [Paperback]

Dennis Purdy (Author), Tony La Russa (Foreword)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 15, 2006
The obsessive reference for every baseball nut, THE TEAM-BY-TEAM ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL is a comprehensive, original, devour-it-like-salted-peanuts single-volume encyclopedia that marries history and statistics and delivers them team by team. Organizing by teams gives the wide view—how do the Murderer’s Row Yankees compare to the Big Red Machine? The long view—what team has given the Red Sox the most trouble over the last 100 years? And the hidden view—name the team that went through all the 1990s without a Gold Glove winner. It’s how the game is played, and now, finally, it’s presented in the way the game is best understood.

Created by baseball historian Dennis Purdy, a true buff’s buff, THE TEAM-BY-TEAM ENCYCLOPEDIA offers the history of every existing major league baseball franchise told through narrative, bios, anecdotes, photographs, and the most comprehensive team statistics ever assembled in a single book. Every year’s record, standing, attendance, and primary starting lineup for each of baseball’s 30 franchises. Top-10 leader lists for every major category (and some minor ones), plus all-time won-loss records versus all opponents. All the awards—MVP, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, Gold Glove. Manager records. Post-season records. Even retired uniform numbers. But the stats are just the beginning—each chapter contains entertaining thumbnail biographies of every franchise’s key players, recalling, for example, how the game’s greatest shortstop, Honus Wagner, was ecruited when spotted throwing rocks across a river. And sprinkled throughout are spicy team facts, bizarre anecdotes, statistical anomalies, and little-known gems—like what Babe Ruth said to Lou Gehrig after hitting his “called shot” homerun in the 1932 World Series.


Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Baseball serves lovers of statistics well. Records and lists are created and maintained on just about every imaginable aspect of the game. There are career, season, and single-game records, and records for walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, wild pitches, home runs, and on-base percentages. Purdy offers a treasure trove for those who cherish such lists. While this volume will not replace The Baseball Encyclopedia (Macmillan, 1993) or Total Baseball (SPORTClassic, 2004), two things set it apart: the focus on team rather than individual statistics, and the inclusion of much more than mere lists of numbers. For each major league team, Purdy supplies well-selected, intriguing anecdotes, histories, trivia, and biographies, as well as the same sets of records and other data. There is much here not found in other sources, and the volume serves equally well as a reference work and a fun book to browse. Surprising features abound, such as the primary starting lineups for every year and every team. Several black-and-white photos, of acceptable if not outstanding quality, are included.–Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“This is THE book! IF you want to find out something you didn’t know about a team or a player, dig right in.” —Brooks Robinson, HOF ‘83

Product Details

  • Paperback: 1200 pages
  • Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (July 15, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0761139435
  • ISBN-13: 978-0761139430
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.4 x 6.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #699,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars By Far the Best Baseball Book in Print!, August 23, 2006
By 
This review is from: The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (Paperback)
This is the best baseball book ever! Not only is it beautifully organized and rich with facts, but it's so well written! As someone who came late to baseball, I find the book hard to put down. IF you can only buy one baseball book, this is it--it's a major reference for any fan, and it's going to make a great holiday gift too. Get your copy before they're all gone!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Beware of Mistakes, March 27, 2008
By 
Baseball Fan (Great Neck, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (Paperback)
Beware of a number of mistakes in this book, including the following:

p120 (1954) - Ted Williams would have needed only 477 plate appearances, not 502. The rule is 3.1 plate appearances per scheduled game. 502 is the number required in a 162 game season, but the season was 154 games in 1954.

p219 (1912) - The author notes that Morrie Rath was "easily" the least productive player in terms of RBIs as he had only 19 in 591 at bats. However, Enzo Hernandez drove in 12 in 549 at bats in 1971, clearly a lesser rate of production.

p552 (1929) - How can Johnny Frederick's six pinch-hit home runs in a single season still be a record, when on page 555 (2000) the author states that Dave Hansen set a new record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with seven?

p665 - The text refers to "attorney Frank Shea." His name is correctly given as "William A. Shea" on page 670.

p727 - Yogi Berra became manager of the Mets in 1972, not 1971. Gil Hodges died during spring training of 1972 (see p581).

p752 - "1908" should be "1980."

p780 - In 1935, Cochrane lead the Tigers to their first-ever World Series victory, not their first-ever World Series.

p826 - Gavvy Cravath lead the NL in home runs six times, not the AL.

p1018 - Christy Mathewson did not prompt the creation of Ladies' Day. Ladies' Days were instituted as early as 1883.

p1030 - If Andrew Freeman purchased the Giants in 1895 (see p1026), how could Ward have retired in 1894 after growing weary of dealing with the principal owner of the Giants, Andrew Freeman?

p1114 (1977) - Doug Ault hit 15 more home runs after that opening day game. I have no idea where the reference to his hitting only two more home runs that season came from.

p1114 (1985) - On 5/23/85, Dennis Lamp picked up a win after pitching but 1/3 of an inning in relief. He also had wins after appearing 1 1/3 and 1 2/3 innings. Even if the latter two are considered "long relief", given the 5/23 win, Lamp did not win all his games in long relief appearances.

p1129 - The author states that George Bell was made the team's DH in 1988 because of his failing knees. Bell played 149 games in the outfield that year, and only seven as DH. In 1989, he played 134 games in the outfield, and 19 as DH. In 1990, the split was 103/36 in favor of the outfield. Bell didn't become a DH until 1992. The chart on page 1119 shows Bell as the team's primary LF in 1988-1990.



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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The baseball fanatic's bible!, January 25, 2009
This review is from: The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (Paperback)
I found this book to be a cornicopiea of information. You would have to go to five or six different sources to get sll of this information and it still wouldn't be as orderly and concise as this. A great fact-finder and a great read for the casual fan and the fanatic!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball is a unique book. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
batting leaders, pitching leaders, league championship series, curt simmons, individual hitting streak, times league champions, team slugging average, teur free agent, shutout loss, amateur draft, new major league record, lie batted, major league history, shutout victory, team batting average, fielding average, grand slants, granted free agency, lie lilt, games fir, fewest errors, platoon player, leaving baseball, two batting titles, hitting categories
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
World Series, Hits Runs, National League, American League, White Sox, Red Sox, New York, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Babe Ruth, Hall of Fame, Walter Johnson, Tom Seaver, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Alex Rodriguez, Luis Gonzalez, Barry Bonds, Carlos Delgado, Jimmie Foxx, Vladimir Guerrero, Roger Clemens, Kevin Brown, Curt Schilling, Mark Langston
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