Total Baseball, Completely Revised and Updated: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

~ John Thorn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The eighth edition of Total Baseball lives up to even the highest expectations. By continuing to supplement, amend, and expand, this publication reminds us how hard work and dedication can result in a reference book that significantly improves with each edition. Thorn, chief editor, has masterfully integrated previous editions with much new content from many new and old contributors. Covering major league baseball in wondrous detail, this is, as the new subtitle proclaims, truly the ultimate baseball encyclopedia.

Improvements and enhancements since the seventh edition include the introduction of new statistical measures, a new organizational structure, and detailed table of contents. The important and well-written essays (many new to this edition, others revised from previous editions) that appear here set this volume apart from other comprehensive baseball reference works. These essays are sprinkled throughout the volume and cover ideas such as a discussion of the secret behind the recent success of the Oakland Athletics ("Moneyball"), a ranking of the greatest teams of all time (the '39 Yankees rank first), and an overview of recent research that uncovered the appearance of William Edward White in a 1879 Providence Grays game. White was the first black man, and only former slave, ever to appear in major league game, predating Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier by a full 68 years.

Sections 2 through 5 highlight another new feature in this edition, year-by-year essays covering every single year of major league baseball from 1873 to 2003. As in previous editions and other sections of the encyclopedia, statistics supplement the knowledgeable prose. The reader will also find some wonderful historical essays that originally appeared in the pages of SPORT magazine.

About half of the volume is made up of detailed statistics for every player ever to appear in a major league game. Other statistical sections, including records, awards, and MVP and Hall of Fame voting results, help round out this tribute to the statistical minutiae that fascinates many baseball fans. For anyone who wants to know all about baseball statistics, the detailed "Glossary of Statistical Terms" will delight (and perhaps overwhelm).

Total Baseball demonstrates how a fanatical commitment to sharing the love of the game can produce a truly remarkable reference work. If your library can only afford one book about baseball, this is it. Highly recommended; supercedes the seventh and all previous editions. Jeff Kosokoff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The book is essential, irreplaceable..." -- Katherine A. Powers in Boston Globe on October 24, 2004

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 2688 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 8 Rev Upd edition (July 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189496327X
• ISBN-13: 978-1894963275
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 3.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #733,377 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Baseball Reference Book, June 29, 2004

By	M. Carroll "007 fan" (Springfield MA) - See all my reviews

I have read two previous editions of Total Baseball and this 8th edition is the very best. For all TB readers out there the 8th edition still has complete statisical player guide with the standard statistics baseball historian tend to expect. The newest stat added is the Win Shares for each season and carrier. Anyone would has read Bill James' Historical Baseball abstract is familiar with this stat.
What makes the 8th ed of TB a better book than all that have come before are the essays on both the historical progession of the game and on hot botton issues. Essays take on hot button subjects as the greatest team of all time (not the '27 Yanks) and whether Bonds is the greatest ever. Also included are essays from contemorary SPORT magizines on player profiles.
In short this book is simply the greatest as far as historical reference and as always is the greatest stat guide ever produced. 5 stars +

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Complete Stat Resource Available, January 2, 2005

By	Purplelabrador (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This is the best statistical resource I have seen. It is comprehensive; you will find just about anything you're looking for in here. All of the traditional statistics plus many of the analytical stats developed by the Society of American Baseball Research to determine more accurate measures of a players actual impact on winning games. It also includes a number of interesting articles on the evolution of the game, which anyone with an interest in baseball history will find invaluable. This reference tool is well worth the price.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A baseball fan's dream, December 30, 2006

By	Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book for baseball fans who like detail, context, and statistics.

One of the greatest features of this volume is the year-by-year starting lineups for all major league teams since their origin. What about Altoona's starting lineup in 1884? Baltimore's lineup in 1893? John McGraw at 3rd base. Chicago Cubs in 1876? Cal McVey at 1st base; Cap Anson at 3rd base; Al Spalding as pitcher. Chicago White Sox in 1987? Greg Walker at 1st base; Carlton Fisk at catcher; Harold Baines at DH. What a resource! This may be my favorite part of the book.

Of course, the statistics for every player who has ever stepped onto the diamond during a game is presented. Bill Leinhauser played one game during Ty Cobb's suspension in 1912; his statistics are here. So, too, Eddie Gaedel's stats from his one game as a pinch hitter for Bill Veeck in 1951.

This massive (over 2500 extremely thin pages long) book contains data on the game's history (including team histories), the players (including such gems as members of families who played, such as the Alous, the Boones, the DiMaggios, the Mathewsons, et al.), great streaks (such as hitting and pitching streaks), All-Star Game data, postseason records, a roster of coaches and managers from Day One of major leaguer baseball, a listing of all umpires, an enumeration of owners (e.g., the eccentric Chis Von der Ahe of the St. Louis Cardinals from the 1890s) and executives , even a listing of baseball announcers, great quotations (e.g., Frank Robinson on his role as manager saying that: "I had no trouble communicating. The players just didn't like what I had to say"; or Willie Stargell speaking of Steve Carlton: "Sometimes I hit him like I used to hit Koufax, and that's like drinking coffee with a fork"), and so on. A treasure trove of data on baseball, from its origins to the present.

If you don't like numbers, don't look at this book. For baseball fans, this is a must acquire volume. . . . You can spend hours with fellow fans just rifling through the pages and sharing trivia and minutiae that are fodder for Hot Stove League discussion.