Baseball Prospectus: 2001 Edition (Paperback)

~ Jeff Bower (Author)
Key Phrases: endurance pitchers, pitcher usage, park factor, San Dieg, Baseball Prospectus, San Fran (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Baseball Prospectus is one of my most-visited bookmarks... If some more general managers understood it, they wouldn't do some of the trades they do." -- Peter Gammons, ESPN & Baseball Tonight

"Its comprehensive statistics and in-depth analysis make this a must-have tool for anyone who is serious about evaluating players." -- Billy Beane, GM, Oakland

Baseball Prospectus has become the standard by which all scouting guides should be measured. -- Billy Beane, General Manager, Oakland Athletics

Baseball Prospectus is one of my most-visited bookmarks. -- Peter Gammons, ESPN & Baseball Tonight

Each spring Baseball Prospectus is the baseball book I look forward to reading the most. -- Jeff Erickson, Editor, rotonews.com

Easily the best book of its kind. -- Rob Neyer, ESPN.com

The clear successor to Bill James' Baseball Abstract. -- John Sickels, Author, STATS Minor League Scouting Notebook

Review

"The best book overall for preparing for a rotisserie draft." John Hunt, fantasy baseball writer, BASEBALL WEEKLY

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574883232
• ISBN-13: 978-1574883237
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,418,315 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always a fun read, February 20, 2001

By	COLIN T. WILLIAM Germany - See all my reviews

This is my third edition of BP, and the book is consistently excellent. The player comments have softened overall across the years, but they're still not without their humor, and the commentary can be tough (e.g. on Al Martin's transgressions). They're getting closer to a good balance on being critical.

Team essays are not the garden variety review of offseason moves that are to be found in most preview magazines; rather, they often go into teams' philosophies of building, scouting, development and so on. I find this interesting in thinking about long-term health of franchises and looking forward to the new year.

Some of the material can be pretty high level. Past player stats are all translated to a baseline according to league difficulty, park effects and other factors. This can be a little unsettling or annoying at times when you want to know how someone did at a raw level, but there isn't room for everything. Predictions are given as expected numbers.

Such presentation probably isn't for everyone, so I'd suggest anyone looking to buy this book for the first time go to their website, http://www.baseballprospectus.com. Check out some of the essays, transaction analyses and such. Be sure to look at the historical EQA cards page, because this also gives an overview of the way they do their translations and present their stats. This will give you the best idea of whether this book is for you.

But don't let the stat stuff scare you away. The detailed player comments and team essays alone make this worth the money for me.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar, as usual, February 21, 2001

By	John R. Mayne (Carpinteria, CA USA) - See all my reviews

BP remains the standard for baseball annuals, with zillions of player comments both informative and entertaining, and team comments which are generally excellent.

They know more about more players than anyone else.

Minor quibble: Every year the back cover exhalts BP's predictive prowess and gives examples, yet for some reason the 2001 edition fails to speak of, for instance, the success of the Minnesota Twins and Jeff Kubenka. But that's just marketing, I suppose -- it is a great book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Analytical Book on Baseball, February 15, 2001

By	Andrew Ritchie (Evanston, IL United States) - See all my reviews

There is no better book on the market for the analytical baseball fan or fantasy leaguer. Some people will be put off by the indepth statistical analysis but this book isn't for statheads only.

The Baseball Prospectus covers every player you need to know, period, from superstars like McGwire to 25th men like Jay Canizaro. It also covers important minor leaguers all the way down to rookie ball. It gives objective translations of every player's statistics over the last three years and projections of every hitter's real life 2001 stat line. This is a must have for any analytical baseball fan or anyone looking to win in fantasy baseball.