|
|
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Hot Stove League Commissioner?, May 2, 2002
After reading "Politics of Glory" I would like to nominate Bill James for Hot Stove League Commissioner. The Hot Stove League is where baseball hungry fans spend their winter days arguing that "My favorite player is better than yours!" James approaches baseball arguments the way a Philadelphia lawyer evaluates lucrative contracts, by examining every point with microscopic clarity.A book about the Hall of Fame, with its unending controversies over just who is truly deserving of entry and who is not, is ideal grist for the analytical mind of James. He covers many controversies, two of which surround Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale and Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto. Drysdale had been voted into the Hall by the time James wrote his book while Rizzuto was elected just as James was completing his final chapter. The evaluations of both players were so thorough that James concluded his analysis of Drysdale by covering the tall right-hander's performance in pennant stretch drives of the Dodgers as well as in the twelve games James deemed the most crucial of his career excluding World Series performances. Rizzuto's Hall of Fame worthiness was ultimately evaluated by a statistically microscopic comparison of the Yankee star with his counterpart New York contemporary at shortstop, Pee Wee Reese of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In addition to comparing and contrasting players both in and out of the Hall, James also delves into the politics of Cooperstown. He decries the period of the fifties and sixties for what he deems less than deserving choices made by the Veterans Committee. James pinpoints the reason as the leadership influence of Frankie Frisch, the great infielder of the Cardinals and Giants, whose love affair with the game of his playing days continued even when he was managing teams years later. James notes that the "Fordham Flash" was less than a hit with his players for constantly proclaiming that "The players of my days were much better than the players now." Frisch's period on the Veterans Committee resulted in numerous former teammates being selected, including choices James statistically debunks as inadequate, including three former St. Louis Cardinals, pitcher Jess Haines, first baseman Jim Bottomly, and outfielder Chick Hafey. Reading James improves a baseball fan's instincts for looking beyond the sheer numbers, such as park advantages, i.e.: Did a pitcher perform in a home park favorable to pitchers or hitters or did a hitter play half his games in a stadium with short or long fences? James comes up with some convincing arguments by searching in places where most fans have never treaded.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
What Sabermetrics is all about, November 29, 1999
Back in the 70s, when Tony Kubek was considered a baseball savant, Bill James began popularizing a rigorous statistical analysis of baseball. In the 80s, when the pedantry of the Elias Baseball Analyst team threatened to remove the ideas from the study of the game, James kept chugging along with his yearlies, and the Historical Abstract (another must read). Later he produced this, probably his best work. For anyone who shakes his head at a player or manager dismissing another's opinion by saying "He never played the game;" for anyone who is not cowed by the received truth of an inside "authority" or eyewitness, for anyone who loves baseball and thinks we can do better by using the tools at our disposal, Bill James is a godsend. If you're a big baseball fan and you don't know who he is, get this for yourself. It will open up your appreciation of the game, its history, and the numbers and debates that keep its history alive.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding, refreshingly logical, February 2, 2005
Noted baseball analyst Bill James, author of the famous annual Baseball Abstracts of the 1980s and other baseball books, turns his considerable talents to Cooperstown. Here, James discusses the ultimate baseball question: Who belongs in the Hall of Fame?
If you liked the Abstracts, you'll probably like this too. If you want a calm, logical, insightful discussion of Hall of Fame history and candidates, this is the place.
James uses a number of methods, both quantitative and qualitative, to evaluate whether someone should or should not be in the Hall of Fame. Some of these appeared in his previous books, others are new. Perhaps his most important contribution is a discussion of common fallacies used in hyping Hall of Fame candidates.
James focuses on two candidates in particular: Don Drysdale (inducted 1983) and Phil Rizzuto (inducted 1994, just before this book was released in hardcover). Others who get a good deal of attention include Hall of Famers Bobby Doerr, Joe Tinker, Catfish Hunter, and Pee Wee Reese along with Joe Gordon, George Davis, Jerry Priddy, Luis Tiant, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Oliva, Vern Stephens, Pete Rose, and Joe Jackson. Davis and Cepeda have since been inducted.
James also traces the institutional history of the Hall of Fame: how it was founded, how it developed, how the selection process evolved, when the standards began to get lax (in 1946!), problems with cronyism (he harshly denounces the 1970s Veterans' Committee), the debate over inducting Negro Leaguers, the Pete Rose debate, and more.
A fascinating chapter addresses both sides of that eternal debate: "Are today's players better than yesteryear's?"
This is one of the best books on the Hall of Fame you will find!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Fame That Has Too Much Shame, October 4, 2006
I have been sceptical about the Baseball Hall of Fame ever since the enlightened power structure selected Satchel Paige as the first Negro League Baseball inductee, but wanted to place his plaque in a section away from the Major League Baseball enshrinees. The perpetuation of racism in the sport was negated when the ensuing controversy forced the panel to honor Paige and future NLB inductees like the rest of the ball players.
That is why with great interest I purchased this book when it was published more than a decade ago. It did not disappoint then and much of the text is timely today.
James exposes the created history on Cooperstown, NY, being the birthplace of the sport and how the hall of fame was created. The heart of the book is the politics of induction and centers on how the Veterans' Committee - stacked with former Yankees - negotiated an agreement to get the popular Phil Rizzuto inducted. James also writes about the power of certain committee members to get former teammates and friends elected.
Though several of the players James questions why they had not been selected for enshrinement have been elected, too many of his statistical matchups questioning past selections still need answers today.
Nearly 600 pages long, it is a must read for baseball fans who want to understand what the Baseball Hall of Fame is really about.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
An Elightening Look at the Hall of Fame, February 1, 2004
For anyone who has ever been interested in baseball's Hall of Fame, from being a serious historian of the game to simply being a fan who wanted your favorite player to be honored, this book will teach you a great deal. Bill James, in a very entertaining style, will show you how some of the game's greatest players have been overlooked for the game's highest honor, while lesser men have been awarded. He will show you the passion of those who promote a certain player for election, while also demonstrating how illogical many can be as they argue for their favorites. He shows the inconsistency of the various voting bodies, the chronyism, the politics, and most other aspects of the long history of the Hall of Fame's process for determining the game's greatest players. It is a subject not often outlined in this depth, and James does a splendid job with it. There are some flaws. James, as he often does, contradicts his own previously stated views on some players, and does so without explanation, which can be maddening to anyone who has read most of his work. He also has the unnecessary habit of insulting people for no real reason. As a man who can write so well and express his views in such detail and with such clarity, it doesn't appear to be necessary, when citing an example of one fan's opinion about Mickey Lolich, to answer this question: "Am I the only baseball fan who feels that statistics provide, at best, a meager measure of a player's worth?" with this answer: "Well, no, Mr. Miedlar, actually, there are an amazing number of idiots in the world." Stooping to that level is entertaining at times, but it also serves to convince the reader that James is a bit full of himself, and a bit of a bully to boot. Still, those flaws are minor when compared to the overall quality of both the information presented and the manner in which James presents it. Anyone with an interest in baseball in general, or baseball history or the Hall of Fame in particular, will be pleased with what they find in this book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Would be a better book if he weren't trying a hatchet job on Rizzuto!, January 19, 2006
Actually, I liked a lot about this book. But early on, he claims that he doesn't mean the book to be a putdown of Phil Rizzuto, and he then proceeds to put Rizzuto down in chapter after chapter. Even when his statistics seem to justify Rizzuto's inclusion in the Hall, he then claims that the statistics are not to be trusted -- a strange case of having one's cake and eating it! And the very last thing in his book is a statement that Rizzuto doesn't belong in the Hall. This is unbiased? I think not.
Excluding the hatchet job on Phil Rizzuto, it's an interesting book. It goes into the history of the Hall, tries to come up with criteria for Hall of Fame membership (distinguishing what he might like them to be from what has guided the selectors), and presents a lot of statistics (which, of course, is what James is famous for). If he'd been more neutral on Rizzuto, the book might have gotten a higher rating.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding research and thought-provoking prose, June 20, 2006
Baseball's "uber-statistician" Bill James has put together a painstakenly detailed look at Baseball's Hall of Fame process for determining membership. James, with some degree of overkill, goes over the rationale for who's "in" and who's not. Many pages, (this reviewer would believe too many, as a matter of fact) are spent reviewing the vitaes of players like Phil Rizzuto, Don Drysdale, and Pee Wee Reese. Hundreds of other players are covered, however, in this extensively researched work. James certainly is unafraid to let the reader know (early and often) whom he believes is worthy of the honor of being in the HOF.
Baseball historians and fans alike, however, will find plenty of things to like about this book. The head-to-head comparisons of players are outstanding, as is the information that James has included about the history of the HOF. James does an outstanding job tying all of the baseball eras together while trying to show some method of comparing modern player to those from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If the reader can allow for some of James' pontificating to rear its ugly head periodically throughout the book, then he or she will certainly want to add this work to their baseball collection.
RECOMMENDED FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS, BUT ESPECIALLY THOSE INTERESTED IN BASEBALL HISTORY
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Hard To Ignore, If Not Always Right, October 30, 1999
I'll say for this Mr. James, he knows how to put his numbers together. And though I do not agree with some of his conclusions, this book is a success in that it will force one to think about the issue of HOF selection.Where James fails though, in particularly with regard to Phil Rizzuto is that he fails to take into account that a player who's numbers might be par to others not in the HOF merit induction if one also makes significant contributions to the game after his playing career. As a shortstop alone do Rizzuto's stats merit induction? You can argue about that and say maybe not. But when you factor in what Rizzuto added afterwards in 40 years as an institution in the Yankee broadcasting booth, you realize how much more he contributed to the game. Ditto Richie Ashburn. As a first baseman Gil Hodges might not have been HOF, but factor in managing the Mets to a championship *in addition* to his playing career and his induction should have been automatic long ago. That type of above average player who serves the game beyond his playing career deserves merit for reasons that go beyond James' comparative stats, and I think that represents the book's one true flaw. Also, he spends no time discussing the merits of HOF selection for managers, executives and umpires which I think also should have been addressed.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
This is a classic for baseball fans, June 1, 2001
Bill James is a legend in the world of sabermetrics (the use of non-traditional stats to model baseball). If you read Rob Neyer or the Baseball Prospectus, you will love this book.Even for more casual fans, the book gives a great history of the Hall and how the methods for selecting honorees have changed throughout the years. The book focuses on the cases of Don Drysdale and Phil Rizzuto, who are definately borderline Hall of Famers. There is great information on how voters often misuse statistics to aid the player they support. The book is extremely well-written and displays a great sense of humor at the appropriate times.. A must-have for die-hard baseball fans..
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
| | |
