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Loading... The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstractby Bill James
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  tom1066 | Dec 10, 2007 |  A must-have from the incomparable Bill James. The tone can be annoying--James is too often jovial--but his arguments are first rate. (  ) Nestus_Gurley | May 15, 2007 | A great reference for arguments about the best players "of all time" at any position. This is the book that sets out the argument for "win shares" as an individual statistic and summarizes the changes in the game from the late 19th century to the present. Surprisingly easy to read, and riddled with tasty morsels, but in the end, not exactly as filling as its heft would make you expect. (  ) Dystopos | Nov 15, 2005 | I don't know why I buy James's books. I guess I keep hoping I'll find something that isn't there. Maybe some soul. James is the founding father of sabermetrics, which reduces the game of baseball to a numerical formula. It's kind of fun to read his analyses of great players of the game. He does does create a great historical context for baseball in the beginning of the book, and some of the comparisons he makes between players are interesting. However, some of the conclusions he draws I simply don't agree with. I love baseball as an aesthetic activity, and Bill loves something else. He's wrong. (  ) ksmyth | Oct 13, 2005 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0684806975, Hardcover)In 1985, when Bill James, by then already baseball's "Sultan of Stats" (The Boston Globe) and author of a bestselling annual compendium entitled The Baseball Abstract, wrote a 700-page book entitled The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, he produced an immediate classic. Lawrence Ritter, author of The Glory of Their Times, called it one of the three greatest baseball books ever written. Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post wrote, "My own shelf of genuinely first-rate baseball books is very small, but a place will have to be found on it for this one." It's back. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, like the original, is really several books in one. The Game is a history of baseball, decade by decade, from the 1880s through the 1990s. For each decade, the New Abstract offers a bulleted summary incorporating the obvious -- highest batting average, best won-lost record by team -- and the eccentric. Included in the latter are such categories as Heaviest Player (for the 1930s: Jumbo Brown, a 6'4" 295-lb. pitcher), Most Admirable Superstar (for the 1960s: Roberto Clemente), Worst-Hitting Pitcher, Best Minor League Player, innovations in equipment, and dozens more. Also in each decade/chapter are essays on How, Where, and by Whom the game was played; uniforms; Best Minor League Teams; articles on forgotten achievements such as Wally Moses's remarkable 1936 campaign, or Jim Baumann's 72 home runs for Roswell, Texas (the minor league home-run record) in 1954. In The Players, James ranks -- and writes about -- the top 100 players at each position in major league baseball history. To support these rankings, he introduces a remarkable new statistic called "Win Shares," a way of quantifying individual performance and equalizing the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. If you've ever wondered whether Rogers Hornsby or Eddie Collins was the greatest second baseman in history (answer: neither); who made the greatest contribution to his team entirely based on his defense (Bill Mazeroski...and it's not close); how Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and other superstars of today stack up against the legends of baseball; who were the greatest infields and pitching staffs in baseball history; or who had the career home-run record before Babe Ruth (Roger Connor, ranked #22 among the first basemen in baseball history), then The Players is the greatest argument starter -- and settler -- ever. And there's more: Reference sections covering Win Shares for each season for every player who gained at least 300 shares; and Win Share charts for twenty-four representative teams, from the 40-120 1962 Mets to the 114-48 1998 Yankees. A defining -- perhaps definitive -- look at baseball history and players' achievement...an entertaining and enlightening volume that will be referred to again and again...The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is a triumph, an irresistible addition to any baseball fan's library. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Some are offended by James' approach, which tends to use statistics rather than anecdotes to make points. Such criticism, however, writes off a central aspect of the game, one that has been around nearly as long as the game itself -- that baseball is in part a game of numbers. Each individual game is certainly exciting in and of itself, and individual feats of skill and daring may come from any player at any time.
However, baseball is a game that is played in both individual games and in seasons. In this it does not differ from basketball, football or other team sports. But unlike those sports, baseball has emphasized the long-haul since the beginning of the first league in the 1880s. Part of its thrill is in trends seen over time. Both James and Koppett recognize this, and each arranges his book to take advantage of it. James' point, however, is that most trends over time are invisible to the naked eye. Some are only apparent when we look at the numbers.
Statistics in baseball have been around as long as Henry Chadwick, and have been the best way to grasp the sport for over a century. In his historical abstract, James simply applies new measuring tools to an old game.
Many of the tools he uses, such as Win Shares, have been supplanted in sophistication by Baseball Prospectus' VORP (value over replacement-level player) and WARP (wins above replacement-level player). However, his approach is valid and interesting. His writing is very readable and jocular, if occasionally self-congratulatory. However, the reader should come out the other end of this weighty tome with a deeper appreciation of the game and without endangering the visceral enjoyment of simply watching nine innings. (