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Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
At last available in paperback, the critically acclaimed bestseller that brilliantly analyzes, turns upside down, ranks the best and the worst of, pokes fun at, and shows a completely new way of viewing the game of baseball. Illustrated.
723 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
201 people are currently reading
4160 people want to read
About the author
Bill James
157 books199 followersGeorge William “Bill” James (born October 5, 1949, in Holton, Kansas) is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he termed sabermetrics in reference to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), scientifically analyzes and studies baseball, often through the use of statistical data, in an attempt to determine why teams win and lose. His Baseball Abstract books in the 1980s are the modern predecessor to websites using sabermetrics such as Baseball Prospectus and Baseball Primer (now Baseball Think Factory).
In 2006, Time named him in the Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. He is currently a Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox. In 2010, Bill James was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James
In 2006, Time named him in the Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. He is currently a Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox. In 2010, Bill James was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
January 14, 2019
Things got so bad for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders that they canceled their home games, and turned the last two months of the season into a long road trip. No one was going to their home games, so shortterm economics favored playing road games and taking their cut of the gate. The team finished with 134 losses, including 101 losses on the road (now there is a record that will be tough to beat) and a 1–34 record after September first.
There is an elan to James’ approach in The New Bill James Historical Abstract as he gleefully jots down all these nuggets of major league history. The reader can be heard saying, “Gee I didn’t know that.”
These moments of enlightenment are really what this book is about. One part wonder, one part history and one part statistics. Fortunately most of the information is conveyed in a contextual way so that the factoids and stories are not overly random.
In his writing, James can be sanctimonious or at least a little cheeky. He often disparages overweight players, homely players and has a morbid fascination with player suicides which occurred in the early 20th century with shocking regularity. I guess, in fairness, these ‘insensitivities’ keep the book interesting at times.
Some of my favorite sections of this abstract are, in no particular order:
1. Learning about the official beginning of major league baseball with the National League, the senior circuit in 1876. Comprised of teams in the Northeast and heavily influenced by players of Irish descent. The official American league, the junior circuit, did not come around until some 25 years later. It was comprised mostly of midwestern teams and farm boys often of German descent.
2. The Louisville scandal of the 1870’s. This was the 1919 BlackSox scandal before the BlackSox scandal.
3. In 1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first openly African American player in major league baseball playing in some forty games as the catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings. His brother Weldy played a few games late in the season as well. They faced heavy bigotry from players such as Cap Anson. The team unloaded the brothers and other players for ‘financial’ reasons the following year. The brothers continued in the minors for a few seasons. Jackie Robinson was the next African American major leaguer —again breaking the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 some sixty-three years later.
4. As of the year 2000, there have only been roughly 15,000 players in the one hundred thirty years of major league baseball.
and a hundred more like this.
Of course James is best known for creating novel ways to measure player performance and his innovations are too numerous to mention here. More than any other person in baseball, and of sports in general, James promoted the cause for using advanced statistics to objectively assess teams and players. He had a heavy influence on Billy Bean, the GM of the Oakland A’s and MoneyBall fame, and James also has had an influential run assisting the Boston Red Sox front office for the past fifteen years. James operates in the realm of data overload without compiling opinions in ways that make him look like a conspiracy theorist. This is one reason why he is so valuable to the game and appeals to so many baseball fans.
If there is one area of his writing that James is weak, it’s his tendency to portray sports figures as two dimensional. I don’t think he believes this in his own mind but the over-simplification is most evident in the one paragraph summaries of players lives including the personal. Most players of today or decades past, I submit, are probably complex and three dimensional enough to warrant full length biographies written about them. But there is little space to do that in a book covering the history of baseball so I give James a break here.
My other area of criticism is James’ need to rate all players of different eras against each other, more than a century’s worth of baseball. This is a very common thing to do in online forums but five hundred pages worth - yikes! I grew up as a baseball fan in the 1970’s and 1980’s and I am enough of an enthusiast to have made the Cooperstown pilgrimage several times. I agree with most of Bill James assessments of players in these eras but comparing second baseman Ryne Sandberg (1980’s) to second baseman Honus Wagner (1910’s) is a pointless exercise. The type of game played and the players’ physical characteristics have evolved too much.
So I give thjs book four stars. There is enough fascinating history and pearls of wisdom here to enjoy the book. Most of the material was written some twenty years ago so the book feels dated however.
The early portion covering the first fifty years of baseball 1870s through 1910’s is absolutely five star material. The vignettes and odd facts provide genuine insight into the early part of the game up through the Black Sox scandal of 1919. This is where James’ writing is best. The coverage of the remaining decades through 2000 is four star material, at times it seems a little thin for many of us who lived through these decades. The latter half of the book on player comparisons, as previously mentioned, was uninspiring. I would rate this portion two stars but it is self contained and can be easily skipped.
There is an elan to James’ approach in The New Bill James Historical Abstract as he gleefully jots down all these nuggets of major league history. The reader can be heard saying, “Gee I didn’t know that.”
These moments of enlightenment are really what this book is about. One part wonder, one part history and one part statistics. Fortunately most of the information is conveyed in a contextual way so that the factoids and stories are not overly random.
In his writing, James can be sanctimonious or at least a little cheeky. He often disparages overweight players, homely players and has a morbid fascination with player suicides which occurred in the early 20th century with shocking regularity. I guess, in fairness, these ‘insensitivities’ keep the book interesting at times.
Some of my favorite sections of this abstract are, in no particular order:
1. Learning about the official beginning of major league baseball with the National League, the senior circuit in 1876. Comprised of teams in the Northeast and heavily influenced by players of Irish descent. The official American league, the junior circuit, did not come around until some 25 years later. It was comprised mostly of midwestern teams and farm boys often of German descent.
2. The Louisville scandal of the 1870’s. This was the 1919 BlackSox scandal before the BlackSox scandal.
3. In 1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first openly African American player in major league baseball playing in some forty games as the catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings. His brother Weldy played a few games late in the season as well. They faced heavy bigotry from players such as Cap Anson. The team unloaded the brothers and other players for ‘financial’ reasons the following year. The brothers continued in the minors for a few seasons. Jackie Robinson was the next African American major leaguer —again breaking the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 some sixty-three years later.
4. As of the year 2000, there have only been roughly 15,000 players in the one hundred thirty years of major league baseball.
and a hundred more like this.
Of course James is best known for creating novel ways to measure player performance and his innovations are too numerous to mention here. More than any other person in baseball, and of sports in general, James promoted the cause for using advanced statistics to objectively assess teams and players. He had a heavy influence on Billy Bean, the GM of the Oakland A’s and MoneyBall fame, and James also has had an influential run assisting the Boston Red Sox front office for the past fifteen years. James operates in the realm of data overload without compiling opinions in ways that make him look like a conspiracy theorist. This is one reason why he is so valuable to the game and appeals to so many baseball fans.
If there is one area of his writing that James is weak, it’s his tendency to portray sports figures as two dimensional. I don’t think he believes this in his own mind but the over-simplification is most evident in the one paragraph summaries of players lives including the personal. Most players of today or decades past, I submit, are probably complex and three dimensional enough to warrant full length biographies written about them. But there is little space to do that in a book covering the history of baseball so I give James a break here.
My other area of criticism is James’ need to rate all players of different eras against each other, more than a century’s worth of baseball. This is a very common thing to do in online forums but five hundred pages worth - yikes! I grew up as a baseball fan in the 1970’s and 1980’s and I am enough of an enthusiast to have made the Cooperstown pilgrimage several times. I agree with most of Bill James assessments of players in these eras but comparing second baseman Ryne Sandberg (1980’s) to second baseman Honus Wagner (1910’s) is a pointless exercise. The type of game played and the players’ physical characteristics have evolved too much.
So I give thjs book four stars. There is enough fascinating history and pearls of wisdom here to enjoy the book. Most of the material was written some twenty years ago so the book feels dated however.
The early portion covering the first fifty years of baseball 1870s through 1910’s is absolutely five star material. The vignettes and odd facts provide genuine insight into the early part of the game up through the Black Sox scandal of 1919. This is where James’ writing is best. The coverage of the remaining decades through 2000 is four star material, at times it seems a little thin for many of us who lived through these decades. The latter half of the book on player comparisons, as previously mentioned, was uninspiring. I would rate this portion two stars but it is self contained and can be easily skipped.
August 15, 2007
They asked me to guess the date I read this book. I put down August 2007. The reality is, I first picked up this book in August 2003 and have not put it down since, except to eat, sleep, good to the bathroom, go to work, etc. etc. etc. It is like a bible to me. Okay, that is putting it mildly. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is quite possibly - no, absolutely - the best book written about baseball, ever. Hands down. What is so special, you may ask? Well, the stats, for one. James lays out his methods and arguments for sabrmetrics, the art of judging baseball talent through a historical lens, through the use of stats and a reasonable analysis thereof. And he makes it INTERESTING. It reminds me of the tax professor I had in law school; he could teach federal income taxation to a reasonably bright 5-year-old, and make it fun; well, Bill James is like that. But more than the stats are the stories; the historical anecdotes are those that you can find only by combing the baseball section of your local city library for weeks on end, or by accosting some crazy old guy who once saw Babe Ruth pitch for the Red Sox. And best of all, James injects a healthy dose of opinion and attitude into everything he says. If you cannot tell by now, I am in love with this book; it has gotten me through more than one night of insomnia; if I had one book to bring with me to a desert island, this would be the one. If you are a baseball fan, this book is required reading.
May 23, 2015
3 1/2. Before the NEW edition, a 5.
This is a (now) a MINOR LEAGUE book in my baseball library.
Availability. OOP. Available used (cheap), new (expensive).
Type. HISTORY, RATINGS
Use. READ/BROWSE/[EH]
_explanation_
This book appeared in 1985. At the time it was definitely a Major Leaguer, All Star, Top 10 -type baseball book. I lost myself in it for countless hours. If you have it, you probably agree with my (original) 5 rating, especially if you don’t have the NEW Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.
But I do have the NEW version, published in 2001, which is advertised as “The Classic – Completely Revised.” And that it is.
The most significant advantages that the son of this former Major Leaguer has over this, his dad, are first, the inclusion of significant information about James’ Win Shares system of player evaluation, and, second, a longer and better-designed Player section.
For a detailed description of the NEW edition, see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you have this, and not the NEW, here’s a brief synopsis of the differences, addressing each the of three “Parts” which both books have.
Part I is called THE GAME in both books. It contains separate section on each decade of baseball’s history, starting in the 1870s. In this book it ends in the 1980s, but with an abbreviated look at that decade. In the NEW edition, the 1980s section is a bit longer, there’s a section on the 1990s, and also a section (situated between The 1930s and The 1940s) called The Negro Leagues. This is a great addition to Part I, but aside from it there’s not really much difference between the two PART Is.
Part II focuses on significant players in baseball’s history. In this edition it’s called simply THE PLAYERS; in the NEW edition, PLAYER RATINGS AND COMMENTS. This section in NEW is much better than the original. It’s organized better, and it’s three times as long. It looks at a hundred players instead of thirty at each position, and as already hinted above, contains many references to James’ Win Shares system.
Part III is called THE RECORDS in the first edition. In the NEW edition, it’s called REFERENCE. The first edition section is now fairly useless (unnecessary) because of the internet. Everything in it can be easily looked up on the web, it’s mostly just numbers for the players discussed in Part II. In the NEW edition it is also mostly numbers, but the numbers are Win Shares (which cannot, for the most part) be looked up on the web. This is the only part in NEW which is shorter than the corresponding part in the first edition.
So … if you have this original edition, but not the NEW one, take a look at the review above and decide whether you want to invest in NEW.
If you have NEW, but not this edition, I would say that the only reason for wanting to pick up this one (used, cheap) would be the short essays that James included in Part II about individual players – since some of these essays are missing or changed in NEW, for various reasons. Or I suppose another reason would be if you’re a completist. (Now, I’m not much of a completist. But I still have both editions, and though I was recently prepared to get rid of the older edition, I think I’m going to keep it, for the reason mentioned.)
Finally, if you have neither edition, but would like to have one of them, let cost and availability be your guide, especially if you live in a non-baseball country but have an interest. Part I is excellent in both editions.
_to TOP TEN_
This is a (now) a MINOR LEAGUE book in my baseball library.
Availability. OOP. Available used (cheap), new (expensive).
Type. HISTORY, RATINGS
Use. READ/BROWSE/[EH]
_explanation_
This book appeared in 1985. At the time it was definitely a Major Leaguer, All Star, Top 10 -type baseball book. I lost myself in it for countless hours. If you have it, you probably agree with my (original) 5 rating, especially if you don’t have the NEW Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.
But I do have the NEW version, published in 2001, which is advertised as “The Classic – Completely Revised.” And that it is.
The most significant advantages that the son of this former Major Leaguer has over this, his dad, are first, the inclusion of significant information about James’ Win Shares system of player evaluation, and, second, a longer and better-designed Player section.
For a detailed description of the NEW edition, see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you have this, and not the NEW, here’s a brief synopsis of the differences, addressing each the of three “Parts” which both books have.
Part I is called THE GAME in both books. It contains separate section on each decade of baseball’s history, starting in the 1870s. In this book it ends in the 1980s, but with an abbreviated look at that decade. In the NEW edition, the 1980s section is a bit longer, there’s a section on the 1990s, and also a section (situated between The 1930s and The 1940s) called The Negro Leagues. This is a great addition to Part I, but aside from it there’s not really much difference between the two PART Is.
Part II focuses on significant players in baseball’s history. In this edition it’s called simply THE PLAYERS; in the NEW edition, PLAYER RATINGS AND COMMENTS. This section in NEW is much better than the original. It’s organized better, and it’s three times as long. It looks at a hundred players instead of thirty at each position, and as already hinted above, contains many references to James’ Win Shares system.
Part III is called THE RECORDS in the first edition. In the NEW edition, it’s called REFERENCE. The first edition section is now fairly useless (unnecessary) because of the internet. Everything in it can be easily looked up on the web, it’s mostly just numbers for the players discussed in Part II. In the NEW edition it is also mostly numbers, but the numbers are Win Shares (which cannot, for the most part) be looked up on the web. This is the only part in NEW which is shorter than the corresponding part in the first edition.
So … if you have this original edition, but not the NEW one, take a look at the review above and decide whether you want to invest in NEW.
If you have NEW, but not this edition, I would say that the only reason for wanting to pick up this one (used, cheap) would be the short essays that James included in Part II about individual players – since some of these essays are missing or changed in NEW, for various reasons. Or I suppose another reason would be if you’re a completist. (Now, I’m not much of a completist. But I still have both editions, and though I was recently prepared to get rid of the older edition, I think I’m going to keep it, for the reason mentioned.)
Finally, if you have neither edition, but would like to have one of them, let cost and availability be your guide, especially if you live in a non-baseball country but have an interest. Part I is excellent in both editions.
_to TOP TEN_
July 31, 2011
Required reading for a modern fan.
July 14, 2013
This is one book I would rather have in hardback rather than read on my IPAD because (1) it is a book to be enjoyed by reading short sections here and there, although one could certainly read the entire 1,000+ pages straight through, from beginning to end, and (2) the pages are not numbered on my IAD edition, making it very difficult to go back and forth. For example, after I read the section on Mickey Mantle as a centerfielder, I might want to go back and read the section on Joe DiMaggio, The book is divided into two major sections. The first third or so of the book is a decade-by-decade history of the game. Each brief history includes information on who played the game, how it was played and where it was played; how it changed from one decade to another; who were the stars of each decade; and bits and pieces of information that you never even thought about before. The rest of the book discusses James' evaluations of the best 100 layers at each position. As you might imagine, these evaluations are statistically-based, but always tempered by James' thought and interesting more subjective analysis. Who were the best players at each position? Catcher, Yogi Berra; 1B, Lou Gehrig; 2B, Joe Morgan; 3B, Mike Schmidt; SS, Honus Wagner; LF, Ted Williams; CF, Willie Mays; RF, Babe Ruth; P, Walter Johnson. Wanna argue? Read James' book first or you will look foolish.
May 12, 2015
Great book about Base Ball from the early days to the 90's, a decade by decade snapshot, a top 100 list of players by position, and a lot of stories and of course the numbers.
August 21, 2017
This is my favorite book of all-time. I’ve spent more hours reading this book than any other 10 books combined. I completely wore out my first copy with rereading, and was excited to buy a replacement. It’s my sports Bible.
I love the blurbs about the players, the decade-by-decade league snapshots, and everything to do with how Bill James assesses the value of baseball players and the sport itself.
Bill James isn’t the greatest writer ever – he can fluctuate kind of wildly between hard-nosed critiques and sentimental misgivings. And I’m not sure I appreciate his over-the-top defense of Pete Rose.
But his passion for baseball is never in question. He has some great ideas for how to make the game better. And his formulas, especially Win Shares, are the pioneering standards for how baseball statistics should be valued.
I love the blurbs about the players, the decade-by-decade league snapshots, and everything to do with how Bill James assesses the value of baseball players and the sport itself.
Bill James isn’t the greatest writer ever – he can fluctuate kind of wildly between hard-nosed critiques and sentimental misgivings. And I’m not sure I appreciate his over-the-top defense of Pete Rose.
But his passion for baseball is never in question. He has some great ideas for how to make the game better. And his formulas, especially Win Shares, are the pioneering standards for how baseball statistics should be valued.
February 15, 2024
This book is like the Bible, easy to pick up and read, no cover to cover story, and it is not meant to be read in order front to back. Bill James is in my opinion not a writer of extraordinary or even palpable prose, but his extremely comprehensive baseball knowledge blows the requirement of such prose to be left irrelevant. I keep it by my bed so I can read a section of it whenever I want, as well as having it ready whenever I wish to prove a point to myself. There is not much more to say about the superb quality of this book, so I am going to dedicate the rest of this review to vocalizing my disagreements with Mr. James in his player ratings section of the book.
I want to start by saying that I respect that Mr. James's philosophy of win-shares and that his rankings are based off of a set of goalposts he himself created, so what he says is by all means and accounts correct. That doesn't mean I agree with him. The first thing that I found strange was his affinity for Craig Biggio. He rates Biggio as the 2nd best player of the 90s and the 35th player of all time. I could fill a pamphlet with players better than him placed lower, but the ones I want to highlight that are below Craig Biggio are: Ken Griffey Jr., Greg Maddux, Cal Ripken Jr., and Roberto Clemente. James is also a major Pete Rose apologist, something I don't take major issue with and actually appreciated the contextualization of his scandal as I wasn't alive when it occurs. He also places too much value on the high innings counts of early 20th century pitchers. By valuing so heavy large inning counts held by players like Cy Young and company, I think you are not properly valuing pitchers of today who provide value of equal value in less innings. Rate stats for pitchers are something I feel he did not delve into enough in his referential rankings. I also do not think Honus Wagner is the second best ballplayer ever that was a bold claim. I as well admire how he puts genuine effort and time to rank historic black ballplayers among major leaguers. I love his opinions on Hornsby that was cool.
I want to start by saying that I respect that Mr. James's philosophy of win-shares and that his rankings are based off of a set of goalposts he himself created, so what he says is by all means and accounts correct. That doesn't mean I agree with him. The first thing that I found strange was his affinity for Craig Biggio. He rates Biggio as the 2nd best player of the 90s and the 35th player of all time. I could fill a pamphlet with players better than him placed lower, but the ones I want to highlight that are below Craig Biggio are: Ken Griffey Jr., Greg Maddux, Cal Ripken Jr., and Roberto Clemente. James is also a major Pete Rose apologist, something I don't take major issue with and actually appreciated the contextualization of his scandal as I wasn't alive when it occurs. He also places too much value on the high innings counts of early 20th century pitchers. By valuing so heavy large inning counts held by players like Cy Young and company, I think you are not properly valuing pitchers of today who provide value of equal value in less innings. Rate stats for pitchers are something I feel he did not delve into enough in his referential rankings. I also do not think Honus Wagner is the second best ballplayer ever that was a bold claim. I as well admire how he puts genuine effort and time to rank historic black ballplayers among major leaguers. I love his opinions on Hornsby that was cool.
July 4, 2007
I absolutely ADORE this book. Anyone who likes baseball, whether a casual or hardcore fan, should immediately get this book. It's perfect for a bathroom book, even! It goes through baseball by the decade since the 1870s, and makes it INTERESTING! Bill James emphasizes that we love baseball b/c we are emotionally invested in it. So he writes the history of the game in a way that we can be emotionally invested in historical players and teams. It covers teams, players, rules, scandals, births, deaths, and even uniforms. I'm only through the 1930s right now, but it is already one of the best baseball books I've ever read.
A note - this is written by a baseball stat geek, but you don't have to know that much about stats to understand it. He explains well. But if you're someone like Joe Morgan who doesn't believe in baseball analysis using statistics, it might piss you off. I, however, love stat geeks.
A note - this is written by a baseball stat geek, but you don't have to know that much about stats to understand it. He explains well. But if you're someone like Joe Morgan who doesn't believe in baseball analysis using statistics, it might piss you off. I, however, love stat geeks.
February 16, 2025
Bill James is known for his statistical analysis, but here tries to play that aspect down somewhat in presenting this work of baseball history. I'm always amazed at how much serious work has gone into chronicling this sport. James provides a weaalth of information about various aspects of baseball from the earliest days to 2000. He presents much interesting data, argument fodder, and information available nowhere else. The reader may not always agree with James, but he lays out his position clearly with plenty of room for rebuttal. His personal positions on societal and cultural issues, which pop out occasionally, tend toward the reactionary. The main problem with the book is that it becomes more outdated year by year and misses the worst aspects of the steroid era. Still, an amazing book for the true baseball aficionado that can be read straight through or dipped into here and there, a bit at a time. Previous edition in 1985. [5★]
October 1, 2007
I love deconstruction. Tear down your idols and your mythology and get right to the meat of it. Understand your history to create a new future. Bill James has done this with baseball. Instead of just slapping hits, runs and errors into a petri dish, he's got his own (well-researched) spin on things and looks at baseball through a totally different lens than his forerunners, making it at one time both a game of statistic and of individuals.
He covers the early days (1850s) up to the present in amazing detail but with a great understanding of the relevance of those oft-maligned statistics. His wife also contributes giving great sidebar topics from time-to-time. It might be a history of baseball, but it's a personal history.
A fascinating read for anyone who gives a loves the game of baseball.
He covers the early days (1850s) up to the present in amazing detail but with a great understanding of the relevance of those oft-maligned statistics. His wife also contributes giving great sidebar topics from time-to-time. It might be a history of baseball, but it's a personal history.
A fascinating read for anyone who gives a loves the game of baseball.
November 25, 2015
Bill James again brings original insight to historical debates without losing track of what makes baseball the best sport. His closing sections that rank players through the ages will remain readable and valuable for years, and James's own open reconsideration of stands he once took is a testament to his value as a thinker and writer.
April 18, 2024
This is a magnificent book to browse through for a quirky and refreshing history of the game, the players who played it and how and why the game changed over the years. Bill James loves to explain why the 'accepted view' of things is wrong so there is always something to be surprised by. The book is split into two sections, the first being a run through of the history of baseball decade-by-decade, showing how different players, different ballparks, different rules and different organizations changed the game. Personally I found it fascinating to see just how much the rules and equipment, and in particular the ballparks, change how the players played the game and give each period its distinctive character. It also includes an equivalent section on the Negro Leagues and lots of pieces about various players and teams in the minor leagues. James specifically sets out to include both the broad sweep of the history, but also the little details of games and players which make the whole thing designed for the fans much more than the academics. The second section is an assessment of the top 100 ball players in each of the positions, using his 'Win Shares' formula (basically a way of calculating each individual players contribution to his team's victories - it gets explained in much more detail in the book). Again, it has lots of interesting details and anecdotes to flesh out the statistics.
The book is quite big and most readers will probably prefer to dip in and out. However, it does form a cohesive and logical whole which equally supports cover-to-cover reading.
I have both the hardback and the kindle version. The hardback version is brilliant. The kindle version, considered purely from the design point of view is only fair. There are occasions where tabulated information is hard to read, or in a place slightly distant from the text it refers too. Similarly, the sidebars which work so well in the hardback version haven't always been ported across whole to the kindle version, so there are times when there is a baseball anecdote interrupted by a discussion of 'Baseball Uniforms in the 1960s' in its entirety and then resumed. I can't think of an instance where this lost me entirely, but it did break the flow.
However, both versions are highly recommended to all baseball fans.
The book is quite big and most readers will probably prefer to dip in and out. However, it does form a cohesive and logical whole which equally supports cover-to-cover reading.
I have both the hardback and the kindle version. The hardback version is brilliant. The kindle version, considered purely from the design point of view is only fair. There are occasions where tabulated information is hard to read, or in a place slightly distant from the text it refers too. Similarly, the sidebars which work so well in the hardback version haven't always been ported across whole to the kindle version, so there are times when there is a baseball anecdote interrupted by a discussion of 'Baseball Uniforms in the 1960s' in its entirety and then resumed. I can't think of an instance where this lost me entirely, but it did break the flow.
However, both versions are highly recommended to all baseball fans.
December 30, 2021
Easily the best baseball book I've ever read. When I read Bill Simmons's Book of Basketball I said that I wished there was a book like that for every sport. What I meant by that was a book that discusses every significant conversation you can have about the sport. I don't think this book succeeds quite as well as Bill Simmons, but it's close. What's not to like about in depth discussions about every decade of the sport since its inception and rankings of the top 100 players at every position? It even has a statistical reference for James own created statistic and a detailed index which BoB lacked.
However, the two criticisms where I think James falls short of Simmons: 1) he doesn't steer into discussing the big controversial topics and 2) 100 players at each position is probably too many. For the first point while James includes a mountain of interesting anecdotes on tons of players, I would have liked a few more entries on really hot button issues like how the color barrier impacted which players were stars, the use of amphetamines, and the use of steroids. Particularly with regards to steroids. I realize the book was written very early in the aftermath of that era, but there was discussion even in the midst of the McGwire/Sosa chase about steroids. And especially in the afterword after Bonds hit 73 there was tons of discussion about steroids probably playing a role. For the second point, at times James doesn't put as much effort into entries as I would have liked, but often that's because the player just wasn't good enough to really justify the word count. And others who weren't good, but had interesting stories about them probably stole time and effort that could have been put into other entries for better players.
And my biggest gripe, how could he not actually write anything about Jeff Bagwell?! If you're going to rank him in the top 10 all time at the position doesn't that justify saying something?
However, the two criticisms where I think James falls short of Simmons: 1) he doesn't steer into discussing the big controversial topics and 2) 100 players at each position is probably too many. For the first point while James includes a mountain of interesting anecdotes on tons of players, I would have liked a few more entries on really hot button issues like how the color barrier impacted which players were stars, the use of amphetamines, and the use of steroids. Particularly with regards to steroids. I realize the book was written very early in the aftermath of that era, but there was discussion even in the midst of the McGwire/Sosa chase about steroids. And especially in the afterword after Bonds hit 73 there was tons of discussion about steroids probably playing a role. For the second point, at times James doesn't put as much effort into entries as I would have liked, but often that's because the player just wasn't good enough to really justify the word count. And others who weren't good, but had interesting stories about them probably stole time and effort that could have been put into other entries for better players.
And my biggest gripe, how could he not actually write anything about Jeff Bagwell?! If you're going to rank him in the top 10 all time at the position doesn't that justify saying something?
July 15, 2010
Love this stuff! I could talk about sabermetrics ALL DAY! In fact, I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who hates OPS, and I proved why it was important--not to prove that Pujols is better than Johnny Damon, for example, but to show that Gehrig was better than Foxx--in fact, MUCH better. So, anyway, I digress, as Bill James does. A critic has said that James is wasting his brilliant mind on baseball, but of course there's no such thing as wasting anything re: baseball. His writing meanders quite a bit, and there are some sentences in there so awkward that I'm shocked an editor didn't catch them. Almost single-handedly started the fantasy league craze, which is VERY upsetting, as even I am tired of the ticker of stats scrolling across the screen. But he also started the mode of writing A LOT about baseball, and almost every sabermetrician in the last 20 years owes something to him. He did change the face of baseball, starting with Billy Beane and Moneyball. Someone with better writing skills should take a few of his articles and expound a bit deeper about the social and moral implications they cover. But his writing IS compulsive: I've read his abstracts over and over and over, though some of the articles are reprinted! He's way off base about Jim Rice, though. Clear HOF candidate between 1975 and 1986, and it's not Rice's fault that there wasn't a ton of 5-tool players during that time. Rice was one-dimensional--but nobody did that dimension better in that era.
April 14, 2021
Assume you are about 70 years old and you've been a baseball fan for your whole life. You aren't just a casual fan - you can recall the starting lineup from your favorite team from 50 years ago. Bill James knows more about baseball than you do. He probably knows more about your favorite team than you do. If Bill James were coaching, he could beat your team, then trade players with you and beat you again. Bill James can tell you how baseball was played in the thirties, who the best second baseman was in 1916, who the ugliest player of all time was, and why it made sense for the fastest runner in baseball to steal no more bases than the slowest runner. Why should Bobby Grich be in the Hall of Fame while many Hall of Famers do not belong?
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract looks at the game of baseball, a decade at a time, profiling the best and worst players and teams, but also who was born, who died, which stadiums were built, attendance records, who the heaviest, fastest and slowest players were, etc, etc, etc. It's a compendium of information on each decade, more than you can ever imagine asking about. The book next ranks the 100 best players in history in each position, and gives justification for each ranking.
I've read many, many books on baseball, and this, bar none, is the best I've seen.
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract looks at the game of baseball, a decade at a time, profiling the best and worst players and teams, but also who was born, who died, which stadiums were built, attendance records, who the heaviest, fastest and slowest players were, etc, etc, etc. It's a compendium of information on each decade, more than you can ever imagine asking about. The book next ranks the 100 best players in history in each position, and gives justification for each ranking.
I've read many, many books on baseball, and this, bar none, is the best I've seen.
August 27, 2015
This book should be to ardent baseball fans what the Bible is to devout Christians. Although James ostensibly allows understandable disdain for players such as Rogers Hornsby to slightly affect his judgment (as evidenced by ranking Joe Morgan as a better player than Horsnby), on the whole James probably does the most effective job ever of objectively ranking baseball's greatest players. This is a gargantuan task, arguably one that cannot be done without engendering some sort of conflict. Few people are willing to evaluate players from all prominent leagues (especially the Negro Leagues) and all eras due to a dearth of meaningful information, yet James approaches the task with earnest humility. His historical insights are not only revealing but also highly entertaining. The writing of James supports the notions that brevity is the soul of wit and that digression is a necessary component of worthwhile entertainment. This wonderful book is not only a fun read but also a useful reference tool. It effectively illustrates how baseball appeals to the statistician, historian, sentimentalist, writer, collector, entertainer, realist, dreamer, seeker, logophile, provocateur, and child in each of us.
April 4, 2016
Great book. The all-time rankings, overall and by position, are fun to read through. I wish there was a 2015 update. I’d like to know where James ranks Derek Jeter on the all-time shortstop list, likewise Ivan Rodriguez on the catcher list, etc. James uses some excellent concepts, like secondary average (which is meant to capture a similar thing as OPS) and the basic idea that you need to look at players’ stats in comparison to the other players playing at the same time. A .320 batting average in the 1930s, when 41% of regular players hit .300 or higher, pales in comparison to a .320 in the 1960s when only 12% of players hit over .300. Lots of things to argue about too, i.e., James claims Craig Biggio is a better player than Ken Griffey Jr. and offers a long and detailed argument to substantiate it. Discuss. I was pleasantly surprised with the historical decade by decade section of the book (about half the book) as well.
February 11, 2016
This is my favorite book of all-time. I 19ve spent more hours reading this book than any other 10 books combined. I completely wore out my first copy with rereading, and was excited to buy a replacement. It 19s my sports Bible.
I love the blurbs about the players, the decade-by-decade league snapshots, and everything to do with how Bill James assesses the value of baseball players and the sport itself.
Bill James isn 19t the greatest writer ever 13 he can fluctuate kind of wildly between hard-nosed critiques and sentimental misgivings. And I 19m not sure I appreciate his over-the-top defense of Pete Rose.
But his passion for baseball is never in question. He has some great ideas for how to make the game better. And his formulas, especially Win Shares, are the pioneering standards for how baseball statistics should be valued.
I love the blurbs about the players, the decade-by-decade league snapshots, and everything to do with how Bill James assesses the value of baseball players and the sport itself.
Bill James isn 19t the greatest writer ever 13 he can fluctuate kind of wildly between hard-nosed critiques and sentimental misgivings. And I 19m not sure I appreciate his over-the-top defense of Pete Rose.
But his passion for baseball is never in question. He has some great ideas for how to make the game better. And his formulas, especially Win Shares, are the pioneering standards for how baseball statistics should be valued.
March 5, 2008
Definitely my favorite in the William James oeuvre. It's too bad he wrote all those books about philosophy and not more like this one about the great american pastime. His brother Henry had to move to England to get away from, "that damn insidious game played by thieves and drunkards and loud-voiced imbeciles, while those who go by that most disharmonious appellation of 'kranks' look on from the bleachers where they shout their vituperations in the most vile abuse of our glorious mother tongue mine ears have e'er witnessed." What a spoil sport. Good thing William didn't agree or we wouldn't have glorious tomes like this to refer to any time the simple phrase, "scoreboard" will not end an argument about baseball.
November 5, 2007
I used to read all the Bill James books when he published the Abstracts every year. Even though I'm not good with statistics and had to have the "magic number" (i.e., games left that in some combination must be won by your team or lost by the oppsoing team(s) in order for your team to win the pennant) explained to me several times, I loved these books and would pore over them, absorbing baseball lore through the ink rubbing over my fingers. I was very sad when these were no longer published. James writes about baseball, statistics, and live in most engaging ways. This is a great book for anyone who loves the game of baseball.
January 27, 2015
To steal someone else's review: I don't think you're supposed to read this book from cover to cover, it's more intended to be something you pick up now and then and read a little bit at a time. But I just read the whole thing anyway.
To use a beaten cliche: Bill James has forgotten more about baseball than I'll ever know, but he writes about it in a story telling way that never feel feels dry, like you're reading a bunch of facts and statistics of over 100 years of baseball.
It's not for everyone, but if you're even remotely interested in baseball I'm positive there's something in here that'd make it worth at least flipping through.
To use a beaten cliche: Bill James has forgotten more about baseball than I'll ever know, but he writes about it in a story telling way that never feel feels dry, like you're reading a bunch of facts and statistics of over 100 years of baseball.
It's not for everyone, but if you're even remotely interested in baseball I'm positive there's something in here that'd make it worth at least flipping through.
March 26, 2016
What a ride! As far as historical baseball reference books go, "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" is second to none. Admittedly, most people don't find terms like "baseball" and "historical abstract", particularly exciting, so don't make this your next book club read. It's not meant for everyone. However, it is the perfect bedside book for the passionate fan with a healthy respect for stats.
The 1000 page tome contains fascinating anecdotes, statistical wizardry, clever writing, and a staggering amount of research. Bill James brings so much creativity and passion to the table, that you can't help but immerse yourself in his books.
The 1000 page tome contains fascinating anecdotes, statistical wizardry, clever writing, and a staggering amount of research. Bill James brings so much creativity and passion to the table, that you can't help but immerse yourself in his books.
February 4, 2013
I've had mine for about 25 years, now held together by rubber bands, and I wouldn't part with it. Many (most?) of the best discussions do not appear in "The New HBA". One of the best is the "2-dimensional" analysis of HOF membership: you just can't get around it. If you're a baseball fan, and not just a homer, you MUST read this.
February 4, 2019
If you're only going to own one baseball book, this should be the one. Aside from all the great things people say about the content, few people point out that James is one fine writer—engaging, warm, witty, and very adept at presenting his arguments, even when you don't agree with him.
December 1, 2023
The 2nd book of his I have read. I can’t say enough good things about it. I will read all his books if I can. Gives great perspective on comparing stats in different eras. Must read for an6 baseball fan.
September 2, 2017
Massive amounts of information here.
Took a long time to read, but I feel like
I know baseball even more than I did.
Will be keeping this book close by for future
reference.
Took a long time to read, but I feel like
I know baseball even more than I did.
Will be keeping this book close by for future
reference.
August 22, 2019
I love this thread! I am always so worried about spoiling the book that my reviews are usually just a few sentences and basically pointless
March 8, 2021
The Bible of Major League Baseball, authored by sabermetrician Bill James. As this mammoth of a text - containing statistics, essays and top 100 rankings of each position through 2001 - took me parts of 3 years to fully read, I can confidently say that this work is required reading for every devoted fan of the deep history of America’s Pastime. However, as this is not a novel or biography, don’t be in a rush to plow your way through this vast collection of information - enjoy various tidbits from particular decades, teams, players or positions whenever you get the chance or inclination to learn something new. Thank you, Mr. James, for your years of service to baseball!
May 6, 2023
Mr. James came up with several intriguing ideas, thoughts, and possible fixes for some of the issues facing modern baseball late in this book to 'walk it off' with a 3 star rating rather than 2 stars. I see James as the John Sterling of baseball writers. And if you are familiar with John Sterling and not a New York Yankee fan, you probably understand my inference. Sterling is the long time radio play-by-play man for the Bronx Bombers. And to thousands of baseball fans like myself, Sterling is impossible to listen to.... full of hot air and pomposity. So if you've suffered John Sterling, you may have an idea what reading Bill James can be likened to. Let the reader beware!
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