Bill James Presents STATS All-Time Baseball Sourcebook (Hardcover)

~ (Editor), John Dewan (Editor), Neil Munro (Editor), Don Zminda (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Once again, the irrepressible Bill James has gone deep into the numbers and come up with a volume that will strain your bank book, inflame your hernia--and, if you really love baseball--offer countless hours of delight and debate. The enormous companion to STATS All-Time Major League Handbook, the Sourcebook slides into corners that the 2,500-plus-page Handbook somehow overlooked.

There are complete rosters and player stats for every major-league team since 1876, year-by-year league and team-leader boards in hitting and pitching, and career- and team-leader hitting and pitching stats. Though James and company manage to push the statistical limits, the real fun of the Sourcebook begins on page 1,524, with complete box scores for every postseason game ever played. Want more? All-Star game boxes begin on page 2,326; year-by-year Hall of Fame balloting on page 2,374 (down to journeymen who managed only to eke out a single vote); complete Most Valuable Player, rookie of the year, and Cy Young Award voting on page 2,411; a set of STATS-imposed retroactive annual all-star teams (page 2,450) culminating in an all-time all-star team that should flare a few tempers; and, most fun of all, box scores for more than 150 great games, with the authors' explanations of why each is notable, on page 2,470. These, of course, cry out for debate--if not all-out thermonuclear war--as well.

If your pulse isn't jangling yet, the Sourcebook may be an extravagance that will only bow your bookshelves and break your back. But if your heart is racing, you're probably halfway out the door already, off to the bank in search of a small loan. --Jeff Silverman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 2653 pages
• Publisher: STATS Publishing; 1st edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884064531
• ISBN-13: 978-1884064531
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.2 x 3.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,417,084 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Info Not Found Anywhere Else, May 16, 2007

By	wrbtu (Long Island Motor Parkway) - See all my reviews

I've owned this book since it came out about 10 years ago. I have frequently referred to it to find info that, at the time of its release, was unavailable anywhere else (that I knew of). Now, some of this info is available on the internet, if you know where to look. I'm writing this review so many years after my purchase, because I've just seen the reviews written here, & I think they give this monumental work an unfair amount of criticism. It's loaded with facts & figures that will help any baseball researcher, & even if you're not a researcher, you'll be amazed at the number, length, & uniqueness of the lists & stats that are presented here. I recommend it to anyone who is serious about baseball & interested in baseball statistics.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Leaves you thirsty for stats, January 7, 1999

By A Customer

This isn't a bad book, unless of course, youre like me and want fielding stats for everyone, and hitting stats for pitchers. This book omits fielding stats for all but post-season. It also omits Sacriifice Hits and pitchers hitting stats. Go with the Major League Handbook if youre big into stats like I am.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Gotta Be Kidding! They Did It Again!, October 7, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

The National Pasttime has a long, rich tradition of extraordinary literary coverage. However, no one has quite captured the essence of the great game of baseball...until now. Meet STATS All-Time Baseball Sourcebook, close to 9 lbs of pure magic. Bill James and John Dewan must have really had an epiphany to dream up this level of detail.

If you thought the first monster, STATS All-Time Major League Handbook was good, this one really hits the target. At over 2500 pages, I doubt that you'll want to read this book in one sitting, however, I think it's a heck of an accomplishment and the guys and gals at STATS should really be proud of this one.