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There are good teams, and there are great teams, and then there are teams that cross into legend where a case can be built for naming them the best team of all time. The Cubs of Tinker to Evers to Chance. The Yankees of Ruth and Gehrig, and later DiMaggio and Dickey, and, later still, Mantle and Maris and Ford, and still later, O'Neill and Jeter and Williams and Cone. The '29 A's, the '55 Dodgers, the '70 Orioles, the Big Red Machine. Rob Neyer and Eddie Epstein identify 15 of these powerhouses, assess the overall stats and individual achievements of each, examine the durability of the numbers, and compare and contrast them relative to one another in an attempt to identify the one team that truly lived up to--and exceeded--its potential to stand alone.

It's a fascinating performance, as insightful as it is argumentative. (Neyer, a columnist for ESPN.com, and Epstein, a former baseball exec, don't always see eye to eye, and some of their disagreements are posted as dialogues.) Along the way, they debunk some myths (Mantle's 565-foot home run) and create new stats to test relative performance (one makes Johnny Bench the best catcher of all time--no problem there--with Mickey Cochrane second). Poignantly, they also project some "what-ifs," as in what if Lou Gehrig had stayed healthy for the '39 Yankees.

After parsing and reparsing team after team, Neyer and Epstein arrive at their conclusion, and while they pretty much disagree on places 2 through 15, they manage to present a unified front for No. 1. It's a team in pinstripes, but probably not the first--or second--to come to mind. Given the precision with which way they lay out their case, you'll have to work awfully hard to overturn their verdict. --Jeff Silverman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Davey Johnson
Few athletes are part of one baseball dynasty. I was fortunate enough to be part of two. This book captures the unique characteristics that make great teams great.

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First Sentence:
The Pennant Race: On the evening of July 29, 1906, the Cubs sat atop the National League standings with a brilliant 61-26 record, but that was good for just a five-game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
best run differential, offensive winning percentage, see separate article, worst regular, expansion seasons, batting stats, league average, total baseball, slugging percentage, longest winning streak, plate appearances, fifteen teams, sacrifice hits, league mean, eleven seasons, major league history, career homers, pennant race, greatest teams, first basemen, pennant winners, pitching staff, straight seasons Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
World Series, New York, American League, Red Sox, Hall of Fame, White Sox, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack, Kansas City, World Champions, Philadelphia Athletics, Yankee Stadium, Lefty Grove, Mickey Mantle, Baltimore Orioles, Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Player Position, Louis Browns, Brooks Robinson New!
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