Earlier on BC: Part One - Books #15 through #6.
#5: The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (2003 Edition) by Bill James
James's new abstract is a make-over of his original Historical Baseball Abstract, published in 1986. The biggest difference in the new version is the use of James's new all-inclusive statistic: Win Shares. James uses Win Shares to update his rankings of the all-time 100 greatest players at each position. I've heard from several people that they prefer the 1986 edition, at least in part because they're not sold on Win Shares. Still, I very much enjoy the new edition, and the '86 version is out of print.
James' position-by-position ranking of the all-time greatest players is fuel for some serious arguing. Any attempt to re-examine history using statistics as a tool is going to seriously change our understanding of it. Even among those who do favor statistics, James' arguments remain hotly debated to this day. Was Darrell Evans really a Hall-of-Famer? Was Jeff Bagwell really the fourth-best first baseman of all time? Are Tinker, Evers, and Chance overrated simply because they were the subject of a poem? You simply have to read this book to find out the answer, and deal with even more questions.
Whether you agree with James or not, you have to respect his opinion as well as the evidence he backs it up with. You'll love the historical research done on a great many aspects of the game's evolution, as well as Bill's great sense of humor.
#4: Total Ballclubsby Donald Dewey & Nicholas Acocella
Total Ballclubs looks at every major league ballclub in history, even those who were only around for a couple of years (or a couple of months). It focuses mainly on the activity behind the scenes of these franchises, and as such it constitutes an invaluable resource of information about the off-field history of each major league franchise and league.
Dewey and Acocella have compiled an excellent history of each major league franchise. Want to hear the story behind the rise (and fall) of all the big dynasties? Looking to find out how the best (and worst) teams of all time were created? This book is your answer, exhaustively researched with the background on every major move in the history of your favorite team, not to mention many more you never heard of.
This would rank even higher except that I have two significant problems with the book. One, they provide no index. There are thousands of names, places and key phrases mentioned in a book like this, and it is infinitely tiresome to go flipping through several hundred pages looking for a single anecdote.
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
I would recommend Moneyball to anyone who is breathing oxygen and hasn't read Moneyball yet. Or even if they have.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Might I recommend Halberstam's The Teammates (and also my review of it?). Good work here, Aaron. I've added a few of these books to my list of must reads, along with one Suss brought to my attention on the Teammates thread.
3 - Aaron Whitehead
Josh --
Thanks for the suggestion. One big gap in my reading is that I haven't read a Halberstam book, even though I've heard such good things about Teammates and Summer of '39. I also want to read his political books, like The Best and the Brightest and The Fifties.
I'll check out your review and look for some other books I've missed.
Suss --
A very Moneyball-ish book is Seth Mnookin's Feeding the Monster, where he shadows the Red Sox front office for a whole season. It's not as brisk or readable as Moneyball, but there's a lot of interesting stuff there (I think it was the '05 season, maybe '06).
4 - Becky
My favorite baseball history book is "What Were They Thinking?: The Brainless Blunders that Changed Sports History," by Kyle Garlett. The reason why I like it so much is because you do not have to be a sports fan to enjoy this book. Sure, it’s hard to avoid the sports â€" it’s right there in the subtitle. But there is enough entertainment to be found without already knowing what position Bill Bergey played for the 1978 Philadelphia Eagles.