Total Baseball: The Most Comprehensive Baseball Book Ever with Revolutionary New Statistics & Authoritative Essays on All Aspects of t

This is a wonderful book for baseball fans who like detail, context, and statistics. One of the greatest features of this volume is the year-by-year starting lineups for all major league teams since their origin. What about Altoona's starting lineup in 1884? Baltimore's lineup in 1893? John McGraw at 3rd base. Chicago Cubs in 1876? Cal McVey at 1st base; Cap Anson at 3rd base; Al Spalding as pitcher. Chicago White Sox in 1987? Greg Walker at 1st base; Carlton Fisk at catcher; Harold Baines at DH. What a resource! This may be my favorite part of the book. Of course, the statistics for every player who has ever stepped onto the diamond during a game is presented. Bill Leinhauser played one game during Ty Cobb's suspension in 1912; his statistics are here. So, too, Eddie Gaedel's stats from his one game as a pinch hitter for Bill Veeck in 1951. This massive (over 2500 extremely thin pages long) book contains data on the game's history (including team histories), the players (including such gems as members of families who played, such as the Alous, the Boones, the DiMaggios, the Mathewsons, et al.), great streaks (such as hitting and pitching streaks), All-Star Game data, postseason records, a roster of coaches and managers from Day One of major leaguer baseball, a listing of all umpires, an enumeration of owners (e.g., the eccentric Chis Von der Ahe of the St. Louis Cardinals from the 1890s) and executives , even a listing of baseball announcers, great quotations (e.g., Frank Robinson on his role as manager saying that: "I had no trouble communicating. The players just didn't like what I had to say"; or Willie Stargell speaking of Steve Carlton: "Sometimes I hit him like I used to hit Koufax, and that's like drinking coffee with a fork"), and so on. A treasure trove of data on baseball, from its origins to the present. If you don't like numbers, don't look at this book. For baseball fans, this is a must acquire volume. . . . You can spend hours with fellow fans just rifling through the pages and sharing trivia and minutiae that are fodder for Hot Stove League discussion.

I have read two previous editions of Total Baseball and this 8th edition is the very best. For all TB readers out there the 8th edition still has complete statisical player guide with the standard statistics baseball historian tend to expect. The newest stat added is the Win Shares for each season and carrier. Anyone would has read Bill James' Historical Baseball abstract is familiar with this stat. What makes the 8th ed of TB a better book than all that have come before are the essays on both the historical progession of the game and on hot botton issues. Essays take on hot button subjects as the greatest team of all time (not the '27 Yanks) and whether Bonds is the greatest ever. Also included are essays from contemorary SPORT magizines on player profiles. In short this book is simply the greatest as far as historical reference and as always is the greatest stat guide ever produced. 5 stars +

"Total Baseball" is fantastic, pure and simple. It does have its short-comings, of course (for example, I agree that full, basic fielding statistics are a necessity, especially since the authors' fielding runs statistic is very flawed; it would also be great if the book had a catalog of trades, like the "Encyclopedia" has had), but it more than makes up for these minor faults with some of the best statistics available and almost 300 pages devoted to original history, analysis and opinion. This book helps settle old arguments, but it never fails to incite new (but always more informed) feuds as well. New hall-of-fame caliber players (just look at Cupid Childs's stellar career!) make themselves known to the reader, and inspire further investigation into the history of the game: Why has Childs been overlooked? How did he turn the still evolving rules of the 1890s to his advantage?) This is truly a Bible, and, along with fresh "Baseball Prospectus" editions in the years that intervene between new editions, makes up the cornerstone of my baseball library.

I'd like to thank the writers for giving me stats like homeruns allowed by pitcher, and a few others that are not included in the Baseball Encyclopedia, which also has its strong points. I like Total Baseball's new stats like Batting Runs and Total Player Rating. Interestingly, they make a case that Mickey Mantle should have won the MVP far more often than he did. I also like the attention this book gives to the original pro league, the National Association.I make a statistically-based game, played with dice, that reflects all of the available stats on all players from the past. This book, along with the Baseball Encyclopedia and the new book from Stats Inc., are terrific together.

"Total Baseball" is the most comprehensive baseball book ever published. Period. EVERYTHING you would ever need to know about the history of the game you can find it here. Complete statistical analysis, individual and team, dating back to the 19th century, box scores of all World Series games ever played, starting lineups for every major league team since 1876, and wonderful articles at the front of the book. No basenball library can be considered complete without "Total Baseball"