The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League Baseball

In a list of my six favorite books for "The Week" magazine, I wrote: An exhaustive statistical compilation of everything you could possibly want to know about leagues, teams, and players since 1876 in the one true sport.

Given that _no_ book of baseball statistics can possibly be without errors (or controversies!), this book surpasses all its competition. My most recent edition of this is the eighth edition (complete through the 1989 season). I wanted to buy the latest version, but given that this copy only goes through 1995 (and the supplement through 1996), you can imagine my disappointment. Nevertheless...This book is remarkable, especially for the scope of what it attempts. Most baseball references only have lifetime records and statistics for the American and National Leagues. This book has complete statistics for all _six_ major leagues throughout history, team lineups, standings, and season records for each of those leagues, managers' records, every trade made in baseball, every postseason series, every All Star game, a National Association register, and an admirable (albeit understandably incomplete) register of Negro League players. Finally, I can think of only one reason a baseball fan might be disappointed with The Baseball Encyclopedia. As a book of statistics, this is a reference work, and not a collection of colorful stories. There are scores of great baseball books out there to enjoy. However, one of the great joys of baseball is that whether you're looking at this year's stars or those from the 19th century, statistics can paint a very vivid picture of anyone. The Baseball Encyclopedia displays that picture better than any other work. Reading about Babe Ruth's mighty swing is one thing, but seeing the numbers in black and white is staggering.Especially when you realize he had 94 pitching wins as well. Whew!

I have used this tome as my bible for years. I have run into former baseball players who swear they were players for a major league team but are not listed. I still have not figured out how often it is revised.

The definitive baseball book. Equally satisfying during the summer or hot stove season. An idea for the next edition - provide an interactive CD rom version of the encyclopedia. Updates will be easier, and you can charge a lot more money.

You could easily spend hours paging through the book. It has just about every stat that you could think of. One feature I really liked was a complete list of trades that were made over the many years. All-star game stats as well as world series stats complete with the box scores. If you like stats and you like to see the stats of the old-timers, this is the book to get.