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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
All the essentials, excellent value, March 17, 2006
This is a reasonably-priced, excellent reference book.
The encyclopedia has a half-page essay for each year from 1901-2005, individual stats grouped by year and team, career stats, annual leaders, active leaders as of 2006, and much more. This is the 25rd edition of a classic which provides all the essentials of 20th and 21st century baseball in a managable size and easy-to-use format.
Here are some things I particularly liked:
* Article summaries of each season.
* Separate articles for the postseason starting in 1998
* The player statistics are organized by year and team, a very useful alternative to Total Baseball.
* Reasonable price.
Here are some things I wish were different:
* The 19th century is barely acknowledged.
* On-base average is not included, a major omission.
* The All-star Game are not included.
This book is not nearly as comprehesive as Total Baseball, but delivers the essentials at less than half the cost.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
my review was for the 2000 edition, June 25, 2002
I published a review for the 2000 edition of this book not 2001 or 2002. Many of the reviews listed under this edition are for earlier editions and some comments may not pertain. Books like this one can change dramatically from year to year. Errors could be corrected, new errors introduced and there is always a whole new season of statistics that has an effect on the flavor of the book. For instance 2002 was the year that Bonds broke McGwire's homerun record, so I am sure that there is coverage of that. These books are not worth buying every year. But these authors do a credible job and I would expect this to be of similar quality to the one I own. I would suggest buying a copy once every 5 years if you are a baseball enthusiast and only every year if you are a fanatic. However for sports statistic fanatics it may be that Total Baseball has more information.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Great Book, But..., February 25, 2003
I bought the 2003 edition of The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball today, & as usual am overall pleased with the wealth of information in this very valuable book. However, there are a few problems which the editors need to resolve for future editions.This series has always been plagued by poor editing & typos, & the 2003 edition is no exception. In fact, there is one HUGE error that should never have gotten past whoever edited this edition. Turn to page 700 & you'll see it: instead of the statistics for the 2002 NL Championship Series between St. Louis & San Francisco the ones for the 2001 NLCS between Arizona & Atlanta have been reprinted. Someone should have caught this major blunder.Since this annual series does have typos & errors (what book with so much info doesn't?) the editors should provide their readers with an e-mail or snail mail address to notify them of mistakes so they can be corrected. I was able to do so in the 1980s & several errors were corrected. I hope the editors will be open to input from their readers once again, for that only strengthens the factual integrity of the book.I'm sure there are other mistakes but the one above is the reason I give The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2003 a rating of 4 instead of 5. It will make a good addition to your baseball reference library, but it's probably a good idea to have another encylopedia handy to doublecheck the info. Trust, but verify, with all these huge statistical books, I say.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
nice source for statistical information on the major leagues, July 31, 2000
I bought this book because I wanted to do a longitudinal data analysis on home run frequency. The book has all the details for teams and the leagues going from 1900 through 1999. I used the data from 1910 to 1999. I also found the brief summaries of the year in baseball interesting. For those seasons that I remember it brought back memories and filled in details that I had missed or forgotten.I very much agree with Tucker's evaluation of the book. The many typos are annoying and if a book is intended to be a reference on baseball statistics the numbers should be correct. I found a few typos on team games played in a given season. Usually these errors are easy to detect and sometimes even to correct. However I wish I had better confidence in the numbers since I need them to get the home runs per game for each team.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Good But Flawed Reference, January 31, 2000
St. Martin's Press's Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2000, the 20th edition of this inexpensive but handy reference, is full of statistics & summaries of every baseball season since 1901. Arranged in a team format it allows you to see who played for what team in any given year. Starting with the 1999 edition & continuing this year a separate playoff & World Series summary has been added.The book does have a flaw that has persisted since its beginning, however, & that is poor editing. Every year there are numerous typos that make it less than a definitive reference. The editors need to proofread their work a little closer. It would help if they would put back contact info, as they did in the early editions, so the readers can tell them about any mistakes found. (No work this large is going to be without mistakes).Despite the sometimes glaring typos this book, for its price, is a useful addition to any baseball fans library. But, you need to check other sources to verify the accuracy of some of the info due to the typos.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Great source for everything since 1901..., July 28, 2001
This book does a great job of giving a one-source place to see how every player did for a particular team in a particular year. If you're not particularly interested in what happened before 1901, this is a must-have. But being an amateur student of 19th century baseball, I do wish they'd expand their coverage to at least go back to 1876, including the start of the National League, and include other recognized major leagues before 1901 (the American Association, Players League and Union Association). I give it five stars for what it does since 1901. But because "major league" baseball goes back to 1876 and arguably 1871 (with the National Association), I have to take a star away because it feels "incomplete."
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
sports statistics begins with baseball, February 3, 2008
I published a review for the 2000 edition of this book not 2001 or 2002. Many of the reviews listed under this edition are for earlier editions and some comments may not pertain. Books like this one can change dramatically from year to year. Errors could be corrected, new errors introduced and there is always a whole new season of statistics that has an effect on the flavor of the book. For instance 2002 was the year that Bonds broke McGwire's home run record, so I am sure that there is coverage of that. These books are not worth buying every year. But these authors do a credible job and I would expect this to be of similar quality to the one I own. I would suggest buying a copy once every 5 years if you are a baseball enthusiast and only every year if you are a fanatic. However for sports statistic fanatics it may be that Total Baseball has more information.
now with the revelations about steroid use many of the records of the late 1990s and the 21st century are tainted.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
This is the best baseball book ever!!! buy it, May 7, 2001
i was in the bookstore one day looking for a baseball book that i get every year-- the sporting news 2001 baseball guide (which by the way is very good)but it wasnt there. Then I came across this book, I read the back and discovered that the Sporting News had named it a must for every baseball fan, so it must be good. I got home and took it out of the plastic and discovered it was great! It has every baseball player from 1900 to 2000. Every statistic possible. This is a must have for every baseball fan!!!
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The only baseball book you'll ever need, February 10, 2006
I received the 2004 edition of this book as a graduation gift and picked up the 2005 edition soon after. I was amazed by just how in depth it is. This book gives you season by season recaps from 1876 to the present, complete standings and player stats for each of respective seasons, league leader charts, a complete player index broken down by decade etc. It's unbelievable how much research the authors have done and that they were able to fit it all into one thick volume.
As other reviewers have stated there are typos in the book and the print is a little small, but you'll be too lost in statistical heaven to notice. Another drawback is after you've picked up one edition of the book it seems kind of a waste to pick up a current edition because you're only getting a recap of the previous season, 2005 lets say, and not much else. The authors don't go back and revise old sections; they just plough ahead and give you basic updated stats from the previous season.
If you're looking for a baseball book about a specific team, season, player, or one with quirky statistics, this probably isn't the way to go. But if you're looking for a baseball book with cold hard statistics, Buy it now and don't bother looking for other books about this great game.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
very informative, gave me plenty of useful information, July 31, 1999
By A Customer
I think that this book was very informative. It gave me a lot of new information on players who I had heard about but never knew their stats. This book is must read for any baseball stat fan. I agree however that it seems to have omitted the negro leagues and info pertaining to them. Everybody involved with this book did a great job and appears to have done their homework. Once again I give it five stars.
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