Bill James Presents... Stats All-Time Major League Handbook (Hardcover)

~ Bill James (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just what the sports world needs, another baseball encyclopedia, right? Don't scoff. If you're a true fan, there is never enough information, never enough stats, never enough raw data. So what sets this 2,696-page, eye-scrunching, numbers-crunching rookie apart from its more established veterans, the venerable Baseball Encyclopedia and its modern cousin Total Baseball? For starters, it has the name-recognition cachet of Bill James.

James pretty much revolutionized baseball statistics in the '70s and '80s; finding deeper meanings in the numbers, he extrapolated new statistical categories that gave the numbers deeper meaning, like runs created for hitters and the amalgamation he called a pitcher's component ERA. And when it comes to numbers, the Handbook packs a powerful lineup. Which is both its strength and weakness. James, to his credit, understood that going in. The Handbook, he admits, is not for everyone.

On the plus side, the entry for Steve Carlton, as James points out in his introduction to establish comparisons, has 625 statistics to describe his stellar 24-year career in Baseball Encyclopedia, and a slightly different set of 625 numbers in Total Baseball. The Handbook almost triples that to 1,795. Does everyone need all that? Of course not. Does anyone? "Only," suggests James, "if you're a baseball fan"--more accurately, an amazingly dedicated one--because if you are, "you want the sharpest and clearest picture of a player's skills that you can get."

The Handbook provides that picture through its myriad numbers for every player to ever make it to the Bigs. What it won't give you are those important, comparative lists of all-time and seasonal leaders, or the provocative essays that beg for debate. However, James steps onto that field in his follow-up at-bat, the Handbook's equally titanic companion volume, All-Time Major League Sourcebook, which includes seasonal summaries and box scores of every postseason game every played. Together, they aspire to be the statistical equivalent of Murderers' Row. --Jeff Silverman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 2696 pages
• Publisher: STATS Publishing (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884064523
• ISBN-13: 978-1884064524
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9 x 3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,256,266 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous reference guide!, June 30, 2000

By	"brian_davis" (Gaithersburg, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stats All-Time Major League Handbook (Hardcover)

Alphabetical lists of every player who performed in major league baseball. Contains standard stats- hits, hr, avg, era, etc. plus harder to find GIDP, HBP, SF, SH, IBB as well as unique stats like park effects and runs created. Pitcher batting stats and comprehensive fielding stats are included. A must have for serious baseball statisticians, although much of the information can be found for free on the internet. Print is very small.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for stat freaks, January 12, 2001

By	David R. Cox (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stats All-Time Major League Handbook (Hardcover)

If you're the type to pour over baseball statistics, for any reason, this is the best book available. I've owned every edition of Total Baseball, MacMillan's Baseball Encyclopedia, The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, and this one. And this is the one.

Not only is every batting and pitching stat in here, but fielding is here, by position, and by year as well. Better yet, this edition estimates innings in the field, so that range factors for defensive susbstitutes are now graded properly (sadly, though, the defensive innings are not published).

This book is particularly good for those who play baseball simulations and enjoy creating their own ratings for players (charts, computer files, whatever). For roughly the cost of one Red Sox ticket, you can have this book and enjoy it for years to come (or at least until the 3rd edition is released).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE baseball player statistical source, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This book takes up where Macmillan's and Total Baseball leave off statistically. For years, I looked for full fielding stats and pitcher's hitting stats and couldn't find them. The Handbook provides these in full.

The only drawback is that team and record information is not provided. But, then again, who'd be able to lift the book?

A must buy for statistics freaks!!!