Book Description
The New York Times bestselling guide to major league baseball returns for the 2008 season

For over a decade, Baseball Prospectus has been the ultimate guide to the game for fantasy players, professionals, and casual fans alike. Baseball Prospectus 2008 continues that tradition, bringing together the top young baseball writers and analysts in the business to provide a definitive look at the season to come. Featuring groundbreaking essays on the performance of each of the thirty teams and an in-depth look at every major league player and all the top prospects, Baseball Prospectus 2008 offers the cutting-edge analysis that has inspired nearly every major league team to seek the advice of current or former Prospectus writers. Also included are projections of player stats for next year, as determined by the groundbreaking PECOTA system, which Sports Illustrated has called “perhaps the game’s most accurate projection model.” The most authoritative and entertaining book of its kind, Baseball Prospectus 2008 is as essential to the baseball-watching experience as hot dogs and cold beer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good book to hold you over until the real stats are compiled.
I really like the Baseball Prospectus website and I've been buying these books yearly for a few years now.It features pretty decent write-ups and PECOTA projections for most players.I enjoy the books and enjoy looking at the projections for my favorite players (even though I don't think they've ever projected one of my players to have a better year!).

I do wish they'd start adding a little more to the book than they already do though.For instance this year they had a pretty decent write ups on fielder's arm values and pitcher counts.It'd be awesome if they'd throw in more than a few extra pages at the end of the book for stuff like this.

That being said it's a good book to have fun with while we wait for spring training to wrap up and the real thing to begin.Just don't be THAT guy that decides to quote PECOTA projections as his only legitimate baseball argument. ... Read more

Book Description
The Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook is the leading annual reference guide to the next generation of rising stars.The Prospect Handbook profiles in-depth analysis and statistics of 900 players, provides a detailed amateur draft report card, a list of the top one hundred prospects, and a ranking of the Major League Baseball player development programs.The Prospect Handbook is the resource for information regarding the leading minor leaguers throughout baseball and is a valuable tool for fans, fantasy leaguers, and anyone who wants to know more about the player development process. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scouting Reports for 900+ Players
Every year, the Baseball America writers produce an in-depth analysis of top prospects from every major league baseball organization. This year's edition is more of the same, with updated rankings and analysis for all 30 organization's farm systems. This project really draws on the strength of the BA team, as no other publication does a more thorough job of talking to pro scouts. The 2008 rookies are covered, but you'll also learn about recent draftees and guys who are years away from the major leagues. Each player entry includes biographical information, a paragraph summary of scouting reports, and basic statistics when available. There are a few 'extras', too. This year, Baseball America brought back their early 2008 draft rankings so you can get a head start on learning about the top prospects for the June draft.

Of course, the book isn't perfect. The writing isn't always easy to read. The analytical skills of the writers are also questionable. The rankings still reflect traditional scouting biases and may overemphasize player size, fastball velocity among pitchers, and speed/athleticism among hitters. Just last year, they ranked Daniel Bard ahead of 2007 AL Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia. There are plenty of similar rankings in this book, where Drew Stubbs is still portrayed as a top-five prospect within his organization.

But the rankings are really a small part of this work, and there is just an amazing amount of information in this book. Buy this book and learn about the history, strength, and weaknesses of over 900 young baseball players that the average fan has never heard of. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Baseball America's 2008 Almanac offers a complete recap of the 2007 baseball season from the World Series to the major, minor, college, high school, independent, and amateur leagues. The Almanac has organization, team, and player statistics and season reviews covering all of professional, amateur, and youth baseball. It is also the only volume to feature in-depth coverage of the annual draft of players at all levels.

... Read more

Book Description
Freakonomics meets Moneyball in this provocative exposé of baseball’s most fiercely debated controversies and some of its oldest, most dearly held myths—explained through the language of numbers and cool cash.

Two hot topics team up in The Baseball Economist, and the result is a refreshing, clear- eyed survey of a playing field that has changed radically in recent years. Utilizing the latest economic methods and statistical analysis, writer, economics professor, and popular blogger J. C. Bradbury dissects burning baseball topics with his original Sabernomic perspective, such as:
• Did steroids have nothing to do with the recent home run records? Incredibly, Bradbury’s research, reviewed by Stanford economists, reveals steroids had little statistical significance.
• Is the big-city versus small-city competition really lopsided? Bradbury shows why the Marlins and Indians are likely to dominate big-city franchises in the coming years.
• Which players are ridiculously overvalued? Bradbury lists all players by team with their revenue value to the team listed in dollars—including a dishonor role of those players with negative values.
• Is major league baseball a monopoly that can’t govern itself? Bradbury sets out what rules the owners really need to play by, and what the players’ union should be doing.
• Does it help to lobby for balls and strikes? How would Babe Ruth perform in today’s game? And who killed all the left-handed catchers, anyway? The Baseball Economist knows.

Providing far more than a mere collection of numbers, Bradbury shines the light of his economic thinking on baseball, exposing the power of tradeoffs, competition, and incentives. Statistics alone aren’t enough anymore. Fans, fantasy buffs, and players, as well as coaches at all levels who want to grasp what is really happening on the field today and in the coming years, will use and enjoy Bradbury’s brilliant new understanding of the national pastime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Wonderful book for any baseball stat head
I just finished reading The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed the other night.If you're not a baseball fan then you can skip the rest of this post without offending me.Besides being a book about something that I love, this book was written by a Wofford alum!All the more reason to reason to read it!The author J.C. Bradbury runs an interesting blog, Sabernomics, where he writes all sorts of interesting baseball articles. Sometimes they are specifically Atlanta Braves related articles, but they run the gamut from free agent player values to, and most recently, the steroid situation.

This book was absolutely fantastic and one that I would highly recommend to anyone that is either a fan of the game or loves statistics.Because the subject of the book is baseball, the regression analysis and formulas presented seem to flow naturally.The chapters are perfectly sized analysis in themselves that each make for an evening sit-down.

With chapters like "The Legendary Power of the On-Deck Hitter", "The Evolution of Baseball Talent", and "Scouts vs. Stat-Head" you know that you have something interesting in your hands.J.C. does a masterful job of laying statistical data to support his conclusions without losing the reader.

My personal favorite chapter, "The Extinct Left-Handed Catcher," looks at why there is no such thing as a left-handed catcher in baseball.J.C. looks for performance reasons and ultimately concludes "the benefits of using right-handed catchers are small, maybe the costs will yield some answers."These costs ultimately show their solution in the very simple revelation: "The biggest reason there is no left-handed catchers is natural selection.Catchers need good throwing arms.If you have a kid on your baseball team who is left-handed and has a strong arm, what are you going to do with him?"Any baseball person can easily answer this, he's going to pitch!

The entire book was filled with revelations similar to this! Every chapter brought statistical analysis into the equation to definitively prove relationships in baseball.Is any of this going to make me a better baseball player, coach, or fan?Probably not, but for anyone that has a passion for the sport I'm sure they will feverously consume this book with the same passion.It's obvious that J.C. also shares that passion and it carries through this work.

You can read my other reviews on my blog:http://doteduguru.com

Inquiring Minds Wander from This Book
I work with economic theorists all the time, but I am not going to tell you this is a good book.Pieces of it are.Bradbury dwells on the steriods issue, prattling on and on about the lack of evidence.Yet, no where does he accept the challenge of studying the relative performances of the individuals to determine the effect of steriods.Rather, he just says it has never been proven.He even blurs the distinction of taking steriods for performance reasons vs. health reasons (and he never considers the differences in the steriods themselves!)

Some of his economic observations are interesting, those where he really studies the game and statistics.I, for one, can find other, more rewarding but boring books to give me a Saturday afternoon snooze.And Bradbury should stick to his statistical analysis of the game (where he excels), not the policy points (where he only debates under the ruse of economic theories).

Didn't care for the book
I'm a rabid baseball fan and have read most of the sabermetrics books and have enjoyed most of them.I bought and read all the Elias Baseball Analysts books (if you have to ask you're not a hard core fan) in the series.That said, I didn't care for the subjects or writing in this book.The books needs more punch to make it enjoyable and interesting.I got through the first couple of chapters, then rapidly skimmed parts of the rest of the book.

If you thinking about buying the book for a friend don't.If I didn't care for the book, I can't imagine casual fans even going past its cover.

"Good things tend to be scarce, ..."
This quote starts chapter 13, and applies to this book as well.The Baseball Economist holds its own andthen some when compared to most sabermetric stats books out there.It contains an ecletic but interesting collection of subjects like Freakanomics, presented within a baseball/economic context like MoneyBall.This isn't a book specifically about the economics of baseball, it is more about how the author applies economic methods to answer certain baseball related questions.

That sounds kind of dry, but the author is a better writer than I am, so the book is quite interesting.The first section I found particularly convincing, as it applies principles of economics to identifying why the DH promotes more hit batsmen, why there are almost no lefty catchers, and the over-ratedness of the protection afforded by the on deck hitter.Latter chapters discuss how baseball differs from a true monopoly, and how this has worked to the benefit of the fans.

In the Epilogue, the author writes that he considered calling this book, "An Economist Ruins Baseball", which I'm glad he didn't.That would have done a disservice to this book.Very interesting book to the general baseball fan, and not just a number cruncher book.Probably the best baseball book I have read since MoneyBall.

An economist writes about baseball
Bradbury is an associate professor of Economics.He wrote this book with an economists' viewpoint on baseball.He may have gone too in-depths in economics for some people's taste, but being an economics major in college, I enjoyed it and re-learned a few concepts.He covers some topics that have were previously discussed by folks like Bill James, Voros McCracken, Michael Lewis and Jay Gould (and gives them due credit).Topics that were new to me that I found interesting included the effect of "protection" by the on-deck hitter, managers lobbying for balls and strikes, and the baseball monopoly.

I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to baseball fans that are not afraid of charts, numbers and economic concepts.I would be the first in line to buy his second book if Bradbury expands his economic analysis and writing into other sports.
... Read more

Book Description
Whether you’re a major league couch potato, life-long season ticket-holder, or teaching game to a beginner, Watching Baseball Smarter leaves no territory uncovered. In this smart and funny fan’s guide Hample explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will surprise even the most informed viewers of our national pastime.

What is the difference between a slider and a curveball?
At which stadium did “The Wave” first make an appearance?
How do some hitters use iPods to improve their skills?
Which positions are never played by lefties?
Why do some players urinate on their hands?

Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the compulsive brilliance of Schott’s Miscellany, Watching Baseball Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport–no matter what your level of expertise.

Zack Hample is an obsessed fan and a regular writer for minorleaguebaseball.com. He's collected nearly 3,000 baseballs from major league games and has appeared on dozens of TV and radio shows. His first book, How to Snag Major League Baseballs, was published in 1999. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

For deeply serious geeks...
I purchased this book for my husband who happens to be a deeply serious baseball geek.He's not much of a reader so I wasn't sure if the book would keep him enthralled enough to keep reading it. Much to my surprise he's yet to put the book down. The two of them have been inseparable since Christmas. I figure if it can keep his interest it most certainly will keep the interest of other baseball fans wanting to learn the sport. For this reason I highly recommend the book.

Informative, easy & enjoyable to read
Zack Hample wrote this book in an easy-to-understand and pleasant writing style. His writing style is conversational and you almost feel as if he is there in person talking to you. He provides an extensive glossary near the back and words that are in the glossary are italicized when they're used in the body of the book. The book provides a lot of insight into professional baseball and is really useful for someone who is not an aficionado. It helped me enjoy the game more by understanding strategy and understanding baseball jargon. Hample also provides some history of the game and of the league as a tool for helping the reader understand why certain rules or strategies exist. A book on a subject like baseball could easily be written in a dry style; this book is anything but dry. I enjoyed reading it.

Table of content for this book:

Ch. 1, The Basics
Covers the draft, how players get into the Major League, How the League is organized, spring training, regular season, post season.

Ch 2, Pitchers and Catchers
Covers the signs they use, the different types of pitches (with diagrams), pitching strategy, what's really going on during time-outs at the mound.

Ch. 3, Hitting
Covers how the lineup is determined, fundamentals, stances, recognizing pitches, hitting strategy, and more.

Ch. 4 Baserunning
Covers the rules, strategy, signs, base-stealing,the various types of slides, signs given by coaches to runners, duties of the first base coach.

Ch. 5 Fielding
Covers the various types of defensive alignments (and why), why you'll probably never see a left-handed catcher, types of ball bounces and how the player responds to each, field positions and the skills needed to play each, and more.

Ch. 6 Stadiums
Covers the challenges of playing in various well-known stadiums.

Ch. 7 Umpires
How umpires get to be umpires, what life is like for an umpire, meaning of gestures used by umpires, why umpires work in fours, why the ump places a hand on the back of the catcher, why the ump puts mud on the balls, why the ump goes with the trainerwhen the trainer goes to the mound to talk to the pitcher, and lots more.

Ch. 8 Statistics
Lists baseball stats, gives formulas for how the stats are determined, and explains how they are used. (This chapter could have been dry, but was not. It was as fun to read as the rest of the book).

Ch. 9 Random Stuff to Know
Why the players grab and adjust their crotches, why the letter K represents a strike in scoring, how baseball began using numbers on the uniforms (and negative reaction to it), unwritten rules, controversies, and more.

Ch 10 Random Stuff to Notice
A few pages of odds and ends; some of it interesting and some of it mundane.

Glossary: Baseball Slang
42 pages of terms with definitions

Appendix A: More Statistics
Baseball stats with their abbreviations, the record holders, and informative commentaries.

Appendix B: Uniform Numbers
Shown in order by number, provides list of famous players who wore the numbers 1 - 55.

not for the enthusiast
I'd give this book to a girlfriend or anyone who wants to understand the game.It's on par with Baseball for Dummies.Not much new for the real fan.Disappointing.

great for any fan of the game
excellent for all level of fans.great reference and a fun read.I have been looking for this book along time, it's not too technical (like some coaching books) and it's far from dry.

Good book for just about any knowledge level of baseball.
I have gone to probably over two hundred baseball games and counting in my lifetime so I know quite a bit about the rules and little details of the game, and by the time I was done reading I even learned a few things that I had always been a little unclear on in the past regarding the rules, strategies, etc. The good thing is that just about any one with any knowledge level of baseball from knowing hardly anything to experienced watchers will get something out of this book. Some more than others but everyone will get something. It's also a very easy read, I think I got through it in a day or two. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

The best in the business!
All one has to do is a little research as to the prognostication record of minor league "gurus" and they'll discover that Deric McKamey's accuracy is at the top of the heap.For anyone who loves minor league baseball, this book is written by the one of the best.For those who have attended any of BaseballHQ's live seminars, they would agree. Deric doesn't use notes as he fields questions about any prospect. The reason?This book is written by a real MLB scout who has seen most of the players that he writes about.

If you are in a fantasy baseball league that includes minor leaguers, THIS is the book you want.

Stats and more Stats
This book contains detailed scouting reports on hundreds of potential major league ball players.The amount of information garnered is truly amazing. Every serious baseball fan should have this book.

Solid read for people looking at future players.
I really like this book for the information that it has. You can really look into the guts of a players ability by the stats and writes ups that are provided by the writer. Anyone trying to find a future star in baseball needs to have this book.

Only issue I had is that there are a few older minor league players in this book. These guys to me seem to be 4A players for their career and could have been left out for me.

Glad I picked it up
I was hungry for another set of prospect evaluations after digesting all of the "Baseball America Propsect Handbook" and figured for $13 and from an author I was familiar with, what the heck.

I was impressed at the number of velocities he had(everyone's fastball) for the prospects secondary pitches and Home to First Base times he had for the position players( a 1/3 approx.).He also had his own top rankings for every position on the diamond including separating starting from relieving.There's over a 1000 players evaluated(around 35 for each) so you really get a good feel for each player with the combination of grades(on a 5 point scale), sabermetric stats and blurbs(and for 3/4th velocities or times).Not really a fan of sabermetrics but I liked the one used here to try to see how my favorite Giant prospects matched up with other team's.

He was really stingy with his accolades.He didn't hand out many 5's(his highest grade for the tools or pitches) and the ones he did hand out backed up what I've heard from a couple different sources.He also got a lot(around 95% for my Giants) of the velocities and times to 1b absolutely correct, as a couple places have gotten some exaggerated reports.Very interesting that he could have such a good read on so many players on what has to be a limited budget.Like the guy before me said, I will definetly be picking one up next year.

Excellent
Great combination of statistics and scouting methods.Quantifies scouting evaluations well, and has useful basic stats as well as sabermetric measures.Definitely will pick up again next year. ... Read more

Book Description
Get more out of each practice! The Baseball Drill Book presents 198 activities to sharpen every aspect of player and team performance.

The American Baseball Coaches Association enlisted 17 top baseball coaches to create the best and most complete collection of baseball drills in print. Bob Bennett, Ed Cheff, Gordie Gillespie, Gene Stephenson, RayTanner, and a dozen more coaching greats cover all the bases:

· Conditioning and warm-up
· Throwing and catching
· Base running and sliding
·Hitting and bunting
·Pitching
·Fielding
·Offensive and defensive tactics

Additional chapters explain how to incorporate drills in practice sessions and simulate game situations. The Baseball Drill Book provides the essential links between initial skill learning, mastery, and winning performance on the diamond. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not so great for younger players
I bought this hoping for practice and drill ideas for my 7-year-old baseball nut son.While I'm sure it will be great in future years (high school), it has very little of use for younger players such as Little Leaguers.That's not a flaw with the book exactly, just a shortcoming of the marketing info at the time of sale.

transaction
Very prompt and seamless transaction. Fast mail delivery. Would recommend this seller to anyone

Times have changed
Kids are playing baseball at a much higher skill level these days, and are playing less sandlot baseball like I did when I was a kid.As a result, Little League practices need to be more than just BP and infield practice for the players to develop to their full potential.

This book has drills that range from fundamentals, to more complex workouts for the entire team.There are some drills appropriate for kids as young as T-Ball (and I have used them with players as young as 5) - but all of the drills are good for players as old as High School/Big League age.

This book would be particularly useful for Coaches returing to the game.The developments in the study of body mechanics have changed the way that a lot of basic skills are taught now, and this book includes up-to-date drills to reflect these changes.

For example, batters are taught a much more compact and quick swing than I learned when I was a kid.

This book is a good investment for the beginning OR experienced coach, or the parent who wants to see their kids excel in baseball - America's National Passtime. ... Read more

Book Description
Coaching young players, developing their skills, andcultivating a love for the sport may be the most rewarding experiencebaseball can offer. Cal and Bill Ripken understand this like fewothers.

From their father, Cal Sr., a legend in the Baltimore Orioles organizationfor 37 years, they learned to play the game the right way. Those lessons,paired with their combined 33 years of big league experience, helpeddevelop the Ripken Way, a method of teaching the game through simpleinstruction, solid explanations, encouragement, and a positive atmosphere.In Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, Cal and Bill share thisapproach to coaching and development.

Whether you're teaching your children at home, managing the local travelteam, or working with high school-level players, Coaching Youth Baseballthe Ripken Way will help you make a difference both on and off thefield, with these features:

• More than 50 drills covering defense, hitting, pitching, andbaserunning
• Age-specific practice plans for players ranging from 4 to 15+
• Strategies for setting goals and reasonable expectations for yourplayers and team
• Advice on communicating with parents, players, and staff
• Methods for creating a positive and fun environment in which kids canlearn the skills and strategies of the game

Bill Ripken was once voted by his peers as one of the big league playersmost likely to become a manager. Cal Ripken, Jr., known as baseball's IronMan, is a member of the game's All-Century Team and a future Hall of Famer.Together, they are proof positive that the Ripken Way is the right way toteach the game of baseball. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fundamentally Sound coaching book
Very well written book on coaching baseball for all ages. I read this book to get more informed on how to coach 5-6 year old T-Ball. This book provided a very good framework for this age group. Many well timed photographs used to describe practice drills.

Table of contents

Part 1
1 Responsibilities of Coaching
2 Realities of Coaching
3 Reasonable Expectations
4 Baseball Practice Basics

Part 2
5 Hitting and Baserunning Drills
6 Throwing and Pitching Drills
7 Fielding drills

Part 3
Practice Planner
8 Practice Particulars for Ages 4 to 6
9 Practice Particulars for Ages 7 to 9
10 Practice Particulars for Ages 10 to 12
11 Practice particulars for Ages 13 to 14
12 Practice Particulars for Ages 15+

Favorite parts of the book:

Page 6
As coaches, we need to be able to cater to the needs of the kid who can't catch one ball and still make baseball fun and exciting for the kid who can. It's a difficult balance but one that's important to understand at all levels.



... Read more

Book Description

Simply put, The Bill James Handbook 2008 is the best and most complete annual baseball reference guide available today. Avid stat fans look forward to it every year, and casual baseball fans enjoy its comprehensive content. This book contains a myriad of stats on every hit, pitch and catch in Major League Baseball's 2007 season.

Customer Reviews (4)

A Useful Compilation of Stats and Projections
This book contains useful data as well as interesting projections for all players during the 2008 season.
Much of this data can be found on free databases online, such as the one by Sean Lahmahn but for those who aren't computer savvy the stats are there for you to read.

Bill James, good stuff (again)
As in past years, Bill James handbook is timely and chock full of numbers for both the baseball guy and fantasy baseball guy in all of us. A must read till all of the magazines start appearing in January.

It's that time of year again--the 2008 Bill James Handbook
Those familiar with the Bill James Handbooks will know what the 2008 version is about.This volume is chock full of intriguing statistics.

One part that I like is a prediction of how various players are expected to do in the next baseball season (in this case, 2008). On pages 442 and following, we see the projected batting figures for players; on pages 456 and following, we see projections for pitchers for 2008.This year, the work does not contain predictions of career totals, given the uncertainty of injuries.Let's take a look at some predictions for 2008: Prince Fielder is projected to hit 44 homers with a batting average of .289; he is predicted to steal 4 bases and be caught twice. Frank Thomas, nearing the end of his career is projected to hit 28 home runs with a batting average of .262.One nice thing about the book is that it provides an indicator of how accurate last year's predictions were.Fielder was predicted to have the following statistics in 2007: 30 homers and a .280 batting average; his real productivity was 50 homers and a .288 average.Injuries accounted for some erroneous projections, as with Joe Crede and Scott Rolen.The text notes which predictions were way off and which were pretty accurate.A nice bit of accountability.

There are the unique statistics created and developed by Bill James and his colleagues, such as team efficiency, baseball park indices, those batters who are most apt to swing at the first pitch (Delmon Young in the AL, at 51.4% of first pitches; the corresponding NL figure is Jeff Francouer at 44.1%), those who are least likely to swing at first pitches (e.g., Reggie Willitts of the Angels at 4.6% and J. J. Hardy of Milwaukee at 7.9%.

And on it goes.So, this book gives baseball fans a chance to start gearing up for 2008, provides lots of material for hot stove league discussions, and gets one to thinking about performance of major league players in a different way.

The Bill James Baseball Handbook 2008
For 13 years, STATS Inc. published the STATS Major League Handbook. However, in the fall of 2002, STATS Inc. all but suspended its publishing operation. At that time, it had appeared that 2002 would be the end of the Major League Handbook (that so many had grown fond of over time). However, in June of 2003, thanks to the good folks at Baseball Info Solutions and Acta Publications, The Bill James Handbook (as this grand annual was renamed) reappeared on the scene - and it has continued to be available in the years to follow.

On November 1, 2007, The Bill James Handbook 2008 was released.

As usual, this version of the Handbook contains team statistics from last season - including Bill James' Team Efficiency Summary, a register of career stats for everyone who played in the majors this past year, 2007 fielding stats - including the 2007 Fielding Bible Awards, manager records and tendencies, park data, player splits, leader boards, win shares data, and 2008 player projections.

In addition, this version of the Handbook contains some new and expanded features. These include:

* Bill James' Young Talent Inventory - with good grades for the Rockies, D-Rays and D-backs...and bad grades for the Astros, Cubs and Tigers.

* Bill James' Manufactured Run Analysis - which notes that, last season, manufacturing runs was slightly more a trait of successful teams than preventing teams from scoring them.

* Bill James' Player & Team Baserunning Analysis - that shows why Mike Cameron is the king of going first to third and why Jason Varitek is a station-to-station guy...and that the Angels, as a team, will first to third you to death whereas the Astros killed themselves on the bases as a team.

Granted, in the past, the STATS Major League Handbook had an edge that is no longer available for The Bill James Handbook. Both books provide reams and reams of great baseball data and were/are the earliest "baseball annual" each year. For the STATS Major League Handbook, these two wrinkles were a major draw as, at that time, there were not web-sites that provided (both traditional and sabermetric) baseball data on a real-time basis. Nor, for the most part, were there software programs that contained this information. Therefore, if you wanted baseball data like this, and you wanted it "ASAP," the STATS Major League Handbook was your source.

However, while not having an edge in terms of exclusive data and publication timing, The Bill James Handbook does provide you with something unique - call it a serendipitous benefit - with its retro-style media format. In simple words: It's a book!

Being a book, you can do something with The Bill James Handbook that you can't do with a web-site or software program - meaning you can read it...like a book.

You can sit with it for an hour, or just a few minutes, and no matter how much time you spend when looking at the Handbook, you will find abundant nuggets of baseball enlightenment and amusement. With every turn of a page - albeit if you start at the first page of it or just pick a starting page at random - you can begin a fun journey into the land of baseball statistics. And, again, because it's a book, The Bill James Handbook lends itself towards being used in locations and/or times, and in a way, that web-sites and/or software programs cannot provide the same satisfying results.

Think of it this way: You need a screw-driver. You know where to find it. It's in a tool-box on a shelf in your garage. So, you go exactly there, and get the exact screw-driver that you need. That's nice and satisfying feeling. You have a need, you know the best place to address it, and it's easy to complete that need at that place.

Now, think about this situation: You have some time to kill. Just for the heck of it, you go for a walk in the neighborhood. As you are strolling, you run into an old friend that you haven't seen in years. You talk to them and start to realize how much they had to offer in terms of enjoying their company. Then, as you're talking, someone that you never noticed before comes by and joins your conversation - and you start to realize that this new person also offers insight that is something that you never thought of...and, you find it useful and enjoyable as well.

Both of these situations benefit you. But, going for that screw-driver is not going to deliver the same benefit that you get from that random and chance meeting with old and new friends. And, chances are, if you needed a screw-driver, the best route was that direct line to that tool-box on a shelf in your garage - rather than hoping you might find one, or run into someone with one, if you went for a walk around the block.

Still with me? What I'm trying to say here is that using a web-site or software program to get baseball data, is like the screw-driver situation. If you know what you need (or want), specifically, and you know the quickest place to get it, then going there makes sense. However, if you're looking to take some time, and allow yourself to find something - that you're not specifically looking for - and want it to be a positive experience, then a more indirect and broader route is the better way to go...like taking that walk and rolling with chance meetings...or like picking up The Bill James Handbook, reading it, and seeing what you'll find out.

It's for this latter reason that I highly recommend The Bill James Handbook 2008. Just don't get it for all the great data and analysis that's inside it - get it because of the way in which it can be used...and enjoyed...in a manner that only a book can provide. ... Read more

Book Description
Written by three esteemed baseball statisticians, The Book continues where the legendary Bill Jamess Baseball Abstracts and Palmer and Thorns The Hidden Game of Baseball left off more than twenty years ago. Continuing in the grand tradition of sabermetrics, the authors provide a revolutionary way to think about baseball with principles that can be applied at every level, from high school to the major leagues.

Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin cover topics such as batting and pitching matchups, platooning, the benefits and risks of intentional walks and sacrifices, the legitimacy of alleged clutch hitters, and many of baseballs other theories on hitting, fielding, pitching, and even baserunning. They analyze when a strategy is a good idea and when its a bad idea, and how to more closely watch the inside game of baseball.

Whenever you hear an announcer talk about the unwritten rule or say that so-and-so is going by the book in bringing in a situational substitute, The Book reviews the facts and determines what the real case is. If you want to know what the folks in baseball should be doing, find out in The Book.
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Customer Reviews (5)

Authors Illuminate the Guts of Baseball
This is the single most important math-centered analysis of baseball since The Hidden Game of Baseball came out over 20 years ago. I unreservedly recommend it for those already experienced with statistical analysis of baseball (the authors are much better at insight and explaining to the initiated than they are the Dick & Jane bits).

They attack a sequence of important subjects, mostly around game-tactics and, by consequence, roster-construction with hard data. And they are aware of an important bit of knowledge: (a) that not everything is measurable, and (b) that some aspects of the not measurable are important.

One star short of maximum because it's not a page-turner for most readers; the writing is more than adequate, but not energizing, so it's a book most will pick up, read 15 pages, put down to digest.

I'm very glad I read it. This is a keeper even for a limited-shelf-space baseball reader; I'm squeezing it in right next to "Hidden Game".

The best book of its kind - by far!
Other sabermetric books have been written in the last few years, The Book is the best one by far.It is chock full of information, results from research and answers a lot of interesting baseball questions. The three authors, Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman and Andrew Dolphin have academic backgrounds and work for major league teams as employees or consultants.They use statistical methods to extract and comprehend information from a massive database of baseball games.

For the layman, there may be too much math throughout the book.However, they do a fantastic job of summarizing each idea in plain English at the end of each section.For example, in chapter 2 on hot and cold streaks, after presenting data, explaining their process and interpreting results, they summarize the section with "Knowing that a hitter has been in or is in the midset of a hot or cold streak has little predictive value.Always assume that a player will hit at his projected norm (adjusted for the park, weather, and pitcher he is facing), regardless of how he has performed in the very recent past.A player's recent history may be used as a tiebreaker."

Managers, players, fans and the media often put too much emphasis on results from small samples sizes.The authors warn against making this mistake."One of the pervasive themes of this book is the danger of inferring too much from too little by underestimating the influence of randomness".For example, they summarize a section on pitcher-batter matchups with: "Knowing a player will face a particular opponent, and given the choice between that player's 1,500 PA (plate appearances) over the past three years against the rest of the league or twenty-five PA against that particular opponent, look at the 1,500 PA. "

They aren't afraid to point out when general baseball wisdom is correct.On starting pitchers, they write, "pitchers perform best with five days of rest, and worst with three days of rest.To manage our entire starting rotation effectively, four days of rest seems to be the optimal point.The current MLB pattern of scheduling the starting rotation works."

This book is at the top of my recommendation list for thinking baseball fans. I'm a bit surprised that I'm the first reviewer of this book on Amazon, since it has been out for three months.The sales ranking (currently #47,000 as I write this review) is disappointing for such an incredible book.The Book deserves to be at the top of the baseball best seller's list.

Step up from 'Numbers'
I wouldn't call it a complement to "Baseball Between the Numbers"--more like, if 'Numbers' is Algebra I, 'THE BOOK' is Algebra II. Where Numbers scratches the surface, THE BOOK goes much deeper, with a more sophisticated analysis, more evidence and more (yes) numbers. If you're new to sabermetrics, you might want to ease into it with Numbers, but THE BOOK is better.

Single Most Important Sabermetrics Book?
Take it from a professional sabermetrician: this might be the best and most important single volume in our field.It's a splendid complement to Baseball Between the Numbers, addressing many of the same questions but in many cases digging deeper.The authors have impeccable reputations in the online sabermetrics community.While they can't match Bill James for wit or BP for snarkiness, the writing is clear and solid.

I don't think that any of the findings here (some of which are truly eye-opening) will end up as the very last word on the subject: but more often than not they are the latest word.And that makes the book an essential purchase for anyone serious about understanding the game of baseball.

fantastic baseball research
A strictly Sabermetric book (the table of contents has a listing of tables and figures... there's 100+ of them in here.)The work is strong, especially the chapter on Game Theory.If you liked Baseball Between the Numbers and are hungry for more, this is a good next step.If you're already into Sabermetrics, get this one.This is a model work. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

What a Fun Book
I just received a copy of this book a few days ago and I've really enjoyed looking at all of the colorful pictures and reading the interesting and sometimes funny essays.Some of the sites I'll visit (like the Field of Dreams Movie Site), others I think I'll skip (like the courthouse where Joe Jackson couldn't say it wasn't so) but it's fun learning about them all.Good book for a snowy day. ... Read more

Book Description
For baseball fans young, old, and in between, the ultimate guide to the new statistical thinking that's revolutionizing the game

In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game.

Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Great book
great read. It shines some light into generally accepted baseball numbers. If you loved Moneyball, you'll love this book.

Nerdy and dense but worth the effort
Not the casual read that I expected for intermittent reading over the summer, but a balanced, thoughtful group of essays.

loved it
I do not subscribe to the Prospectus, so I found this book to be incredibly fascinating.So much so I have passed it around to several friends who have also found it fascinating.
Although one can say a great many things with stats, this book presents some surprisingly sound arguments against many commonly held beliefs.( and had a couple I don't necessarily agree with but that doesn't make the book wrong) I do admit that a couple of the chapters I didn't care about and therefore glossed over, but still I give the book a excellent review overall.
Thanks to this book, I, and several of my friends, now call Derek Jeter "Pastadiving".You'll just have to read that chapter.

A new way to look at old strategies
I've watched baseball since I was a kid 40 years ago. I'd heard of Bill James and kind of knew about saberemetrics, but had never taken the time to learn anything about the new numbers.

This book was a great introduction. The concepts are explained well, and all are tied to real world examples I could understand so it wasn't like reading a statistical treatise.

Some of the concepts confirmed things I already knew, like how silly it is to rely on batting averages. Then there were other topics, like why it's not always a good idea to bunt that I had heard other people espouse, but conflicted with my traditional baseball thinking. After reading the chapter on it, I'm convinced.

Finally, one of the things I most enjoyed about the book was the many ways they compared current stars to former stars and current teams to past teams. That's one of the richest areas of baseball debate, and it's always been totally subjective. And it gets a little stranger when people arguing for the 1930s Yankees are two generations removed from ever seeing them play. But the authors lay out very reasonable statistical measures of how to compare players and teams across time. It certainly won't end debate--this is baseball we're talking about. But it adds a splendid new dimension.

Five Stars for Content
Nice book and just what I needed so I now know why I can not make sense out of the baseball business that is so much about what we see on field now. And why baseball is no longer my grandparents or parents game of baseball. We will all lose interest even with a book explaining why and how about what and what is really what about baseball and what most influences the game besides playing a decent game of baseball for the fans and followers of a game that use to be a game enjoyed not a game that has to be enjoyed because of investments. The investment in the price of a ticket and a day at the ballpark is the fan's investment. No longer affordable because everyone deserves to be huge personalities making millions yearly. Just like we all should be multi-millionaires by now. Most people making money off of baseball have never stepped a foot on the field and probably only check in occasionally to check up on their money.

So we all will be just as saddened about what baseball is now and wait for it to end while giving our attention to the next sport that begins before the baseball season ends. What began as not a kid's game but a professional game for adults and what adults could enjoy and be entertained by is now like most of what influences our daily lives IT IS all about the BIG money supporting a game and process that use to give us all great games of baseball and an outing with friends or family.

The fun and enjoyment is almost all gone when the game became untrustworthy and dishonest and only credit card affordable.

A game of baseball is where we could escape to and find some enjoyment and not worry about being scammed. The enjoyment of baseball is almost gone, so very sad and unnecessary. I wanted this book so I could see the facts. Business is business and baseball business is the same.

Now our cherished pastime, national game is nothing more and mostly nothing more that BIG BUSINESS and becoming exclusive and what was once for all Americans, has become like so much else only for those who can afford to be Americans. ... Read more

Book Description
Continuing in the tradition of Sports Illustrateds 50th Anniversary Book and The Football Book comes a spectacular celebration of baseball that will be treasured by fans of the National Pastime.With the same kind of unforgettable photographs and award-winning writing that propelled The Football Book to surpass the sales of the 50th Anniversary Book, a New York Times best-seller, this lavish coffee-table volume brings to life the legendary players, the classic action and the great traditions of the Summer Game.In 294 oversized pages, The Baseball Book commemorates the epic teams and characters, the crucial plays and classic games, the personalities and performances and artifacts that have kept baseball at the heart of American sports for more than a century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Let's Play Ball!
I have Sports Illustrated's 50th Anniversary Book and The Football Book, so I decided to get this spectacular celebration of baseball. If you enjoy watching baseball, seeing how the game has changed over the years and reading about the players' lives, you'll love Sports Illustrated's Baseball Book. Great sportswriting from past eras are reproduced here with plenty of lose-ups that bring back memories, charts and trivia. Whenever company comes over, this is the book everyone seems to pick up and can't put down. If you love a team--any team--you'll love this!

Great pictures, wonderful stories
I am 100% baseball fan. Since being a kid I was moved by the great players achievements. I enjoyed this bokk throughly. It's a work very well done and a prize for sports book's collectors. The only thing I regret isthat, for unknown reasons, some of baseball hall of fame players pictures were not included, namely Harmon Killebrew.

Great gift!
I got this as a birthday gift for my boyfriend last October (he's 22 and loves baseball).He loved it and still uses it for reference all the time.

Baseball Book review
My son loved this book from Sports Illustrated. He's keeping it away from other baseball players on his college baseball team.

Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book
This book is great!I loved the Football book and decided to get the Baseball book and we love it! ... Read more

Book Description
Tom Gallagher is in a tight spot. The fate of the Dillontown team rests on the outcome of one baseball game, winner take all. If Tom's team loses, they lose their field too. But how can they possibly win? Just when everything seems hopeless, a mysterious boy named Cruz de la Cruz rides into town and claims to know the secret of hitting. Not to mention the secrets of Dante Del Gato, Dillontown's greatest hitter ever. Since he walked away from the game years ago, Del Gato hasn't spoken a word to anyone. But now he might be Tom's only hope for saving his hometown. From the award-winning author of Over the Wall and Choosing Up Sides comes this imaginative tale of one boy's struggle to preserve the spirit of the game he loves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

a good baseball collectors book
The book I read was The Boy who Saved Baseball. I really liked this book. This book was about a boy that rides into town and claims to know the secret to a famous baseball player that never told anyone. This is all happening while a single baseball game is depending on the survival of the town. The whole town depends on one single baseball game.
I really liked this book because I thought it had suspense. It was a very good book. I like the author of this book a lot because he was descriptive. I would read any other book by this author. This book also made me happy.

The Boy Who Saved Baseball
The book I read was The Boy Who Saved Baseball.This book is about a town called Dillontown and its historical baseball field.The field is in danger of being destroyed by Orange County but it could be saved by just winning a baseball game against the camp down the hill.The fate of Dillontown lies in the hands of Tom Gallagher and the rest of the baseball team.

My favorite part of the book was when Cruz De La Cruz and Tom Gallagher sneak out to go to Dante Del Gato's house to ask him to coach and hopefully tell them the secret of hitting.They ride there horses up to his house and find that there is a large wall surrounding his house.Cruz thinks and comes up with an idea, he gets a rope and finds a metal thing on the ground, he ties the metal thing to the end of the rope and lasso's it around a tree behind the wall.Cruz climbs the wall using the rope but the wall couldn't handle the weight so it collapsed and left a giant gap in the wall.Then Del Gato came with a shotgun, Cruz quickly apoligized and explained what happened and why they came.They asked Del Gato if he could coach there team and he said no, they also asked the secret of hitting but he told them there was none.

This deffinatley wasn't the best book I have read becuase there is a lot of boring parts.Although once you get to the end of the book it is worth it.The title may make this book seem like more of a boys book because of the word "Baseball" but however it is not all about baseball htere is more to it that you would have to find out by readiing this book.This is a good book for any age or gender considering that it is quite an easy read.Overall, I do recommend the book The Boy Who Saved Baseball to anyone.

The book for people who eat, drink, and sleep baseball
This book is about a kid named Tom who got his summer camp baseball team in a lot of trouble. It starts off with his town about to be demolished. Tom doesn't want his town called Dillontown to be torn down to bites. At a town meeting the owner of the Lucky Strike Field, Doc, tells the town that there will be a baseball game deciding the fate of their town.

The team had one week to get ready to beat the other team. After one day a kid came to the camp from the mountains, and his name was Cruz. The team practice for many hours and many days. Cruz and tom went to a guy house to get him to coach their baseball team. Later that day the guy came and taught them all the basics. Cruz made a video game that helps the team with their batting skills. Finally it was game day.

I think that the book was okay, but it wasn't great. One reason why the book was good was that the book gave the reader a good lesson. It said that you can do anything if you put everything into it. It also showed how a baseball team fights for their beloved town. Everyone should have a chance to be someone special and be the winner at something important.

Another thing about the book was that the author should have had an illustration of how the field looked like before the team cleans it up. All the book had was a map of the town. The entire book said about the field was that it had rusty bleachers, a stone wall, and a white cross that represented the miners who died in a cave-in. He could have said something about the how long the field was or was it a nice field or a horrible field. The book needed a little more detail of some characters and the field.

I didn't really like the ending of this book. I thought that the writer would tell us what happened to Cruz. All it said was that Cruz left his game so Tom could use and sell it for big bucks. The only good thing about the ending was that Since, Doc died he gave everything to Tom and Tom left everything the same. He got about 1.5 million dollars from the land and the video game.

I would recommend this book to people who really like baseball. It would also be good book for people who need encouragement with different situations. This book has no bad language and no bad things in it. The book was a little confusing during the end, but it was still a good book to read. Thank you for reading this review.

A Great Book
The Boy Who Saved Baseball is a very good book. [...]
What I liked about this book was the story. This book had a good story to it. This book shows if you you don't give up you can win. Thats what I liked about this book.

People that don't like this kind of story would not like this book. If certain people don't like baseball they will not like this book. Thats why this book is called The Boy Who Saved Baseball.

My overall opinion is that this book is a great book. It has a good story. I would give this book four out of five stars. This was a great book.

The Boy Who Saved Baseball
This book isthe best book I have read.This book is a adventures book filled with twist and turns it is the simple happy people vs. the big dollar greedy people.The story is about a small town with a few problems.First Doc an old rancher might sell his land to developers.But can a boy called Tom and a home town baseball team stop the deal or will it go on read and find out. ... Read more

Book Description

"This book provides practical strategies for developing the mental skills which help speed you to your full potential."---Dave Winfield

What does it mean to play heads-up baseball? A heads-up player has confidence in his ability, keeps control in pressure situations, and focuses on one pitch at a time. His mental skills enable him to play consistently at or near his best despite the adversity baseball presents each day.

Customer Reviews (10)

Great read
Great read for any serious baseball player, coach or parent. One of the BESt books I have read on baseball.

Owners manual for the mental game of baseball and softball
This book was recommended to me by Coach "Hutch" of the University of Michigan's Lady Wolverines, and I've not been disappointed.I highly recommend this book for both coaches and players (over 16).

Heads Up Baseball
The book was in excellent condition and the delivery time was speedy.

Great Book
This book discussed many strategies and skills that are very beneficial in playing the game of baseball.
I would recommend it to anyone

Best baseball sports psych book I have seen
I teach high school sports psychology and have used this book as a text on several occasions. I now make it mandatory for all of my softball and baseball players as additional reading. Their feedback has been nothing but positive regarding performance enhancement. I strongly recommend this user-friendly text for any sport! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (16)

Great content, weak presentation
This book has a lot of great information and presents users with a statistical means for evaluating players vs. what you get in most fantasy mags- someone's rankings which often seem arbitrary and quickly thrown together.

The downside is it takes weeks to figure out what all the codes stand for and how they're calculated. Would seem simple to offer a basic legend with descriptions, but no luck. There's a glossary which often assumes you know more than you already do about their proprietary info, and even those descriptions are often incomplete.

There are also a number of annoying quirks, such as players not listed with a team, and players who don't play full seasons' stats are extrapolated over a full year. That's a nice touch maybe, but can we throw in the actuals also?

I've also found the basic stats to be flatly incorrect in many cases.

Overall, a great resource that could use an editor's touch for some really basic improvements.

Shandler Baseball Forecaster Review
This book is considered the bible of fantasy/roto baseball palyer evaluations.It does live up to ites reputation. I have used it for years as do many of the GMs of MLB teams. An excellent product.

He loved Jose Valverde, I love him!
The articles explaining the statistics are not well written, but who cares! I think he is the best at predicting future fantasy performance. Where Bill James and the Prospectus people focus on new measures of baseball performance, Shandler sticks to the standard 5 fantasy categories. He was the only tout who predicted Valverde doing as well as he did and I profited from that information.

Fantasy Baseball Bible
I have purchased the Forcaster for the last several years.For what it is, I rate it 5 stars.

The book is designed for people who take their fantasy baseball extremely seriously.If you are merely an occasional or casual fantasy baseball participant, this book probably isn't for you.It took me a couple of years to get a handle on some of the information which is presented, and now it helps me lay out a gameplan for my fantasy baseball drafts, the players who I would like to select, and the rounds I would like to select them in.

The Forecaster breaks down the statistics from prior years and gives you methods and procedures as to how to evaluate major, and some upcoming minor league players in the upcoming year(s).It's not just statistics-- there are articles which give you the authors' views on how they intepret some of the info.It won't tell you who to pick for your fantasy team--what it will do is to give you the tools and information to make your own fantasy evaluations and decisions.(To me, that's where the fun is--of course winning helps too.)

For those who are even more serious about their fantasy baseball, Shandler has an internet site, which has daily updates, and articles written by a very top-flite staff. The site is pricey (a little less than $100 per year) but for those who are really into fantasy baseball, it's worth every penny.

P.S.I have been a subscriber to the internet service for several years, but I have no ownership interest (nor any other financial interest) in this enterprise, other than as a subscriber.

Packed with useful info
This is a great resource for fantasy baseball nerds like me.There's a learning curve if you're not well-versed in the sabermetric stats, but eventually you'll see that there's a lot to be taken from those numbers.Rather than just looking at batting average and ERA, this guide allows you to look at some other stats that may be better indicators of trends and future performance.The writing style is engaging and Shandler's (and his fellow contributors') dry humor comes through just enough to make this an enjoyable read in addition to a valauable reference. ... Read more