Rating: 
Summary: Can't Wait for next year's edition!!!!
Review: As a fantasy sports aficionado, I have found this book to be a MUST HAVE for anyone considering entering a competitive league. The insightful analysis of players' chances of breaking career marks (by Ryan Galla) is thought provoking, and takes into account many factors that I would probably have never thought of otherwise. Galla is clearly the heart and soul of the company that put together this wonderful book, and has a very bright future in the field of baseball analysis. A must have for any baseball fan. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: wow!
Review: As a fantasy sports aficionado, I have found this book to be a MUST HAVE for anyone considering entering a competitive league. The insightful analysis of players' chances of breaking career marks (by Ryan Galla) is thought provoking, and takes into account many factors that I would probably have never thought of otherwise. Galla is clearly the heart and soul of the company that put together this wonderful book, and has a very bright future in the field of baseball analysis. A must have for any baseball fan. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: INSIDE BASEBALL AT ITS BEST
Review: Bill James started out as a wacky guy who saw baseball differently from the so-called "experts." Today, those experts refer to his theories and expound beyond them. He demonstrates that it is much better to think baseball through than to chew tobacco and say things like, "Don't think, you can only hurt the ball club," which is what Rod Dedeaux used to say when I was at USC. Baseball is best approached the same way marketing, science or politics is approached - using numbers and stats, mixing experience with experiment.STEVEN TRAVERS
Author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman"
STWRITES@aol.com
Rating:
Summary: INSIDE BASEBALL AT ITS BEST
Review: Bill James started out as a wacky guy who saw baseball differently from the so-called "experts." Today, those experts refer to his theories and expound beyond them. He demonstrates that it is much better to think baseball through than to chew tobacco and say things like, "Don't think, you can only hurt the ball club," which is what Rod Dedeaux used to say when I was at USC. Baseball is best approached the same way marketing, science or politics is approached - using numbers and stats, mixing experience with experiment. STEVEN TRAVERS
Author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman"
STWRITES@aol.com
Rating:
Summary: Love It
Review: I keep this one on the table whenever watching a ballgame on TV or fooling with a fantasy club. Every active player's career stats, with useful stats created by Bill James, like runs created, stats on manager moves, and ballparks. Useful and well-organized.
Rating:
Summary: Love It
Review: I keep this one on the table whenever watching a ballgame on TV or fooling with a fantasy club. Every active player's career stats, with useful stats created by Bill James, like runs created, stats on manager moves, and ballparks. Useful and well-organized.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Wait for next year's edition!!!!
Review: The Bill James 2003 Handbook goes above and beyond previous publications which were devised in conjunction with baseball guru Bill James. This book provides readers not only with normal baseball statistics, but much much more as well. Just a few of these extra sections include: 1) rating scales and statistics of all Major League Baseball stadiums, 2) statistics of every Major League hitter broken down into at bats against left-handed and right-handed pitchers, 3) statistics of every Major League pitcher against left-handed and right-handed batters, 4) enough leader boards to cover just about every possible pitching and hitting statistic (for example: best batting average against fastballs; # of pitches seen per plate appearance; best % of throwing out baserunners by catchers; batting average with bases loaded, best average in 1st and 2nd half of season, FOR PITCHERS: highest # of batters faced, run support per 9 IP, homeruns allowed, % of pitches in the strike zone, 'quality starts', K/BB ratio, # of double plays induced, fastest average fastball speed in MPH, etc.) The leader boards go on and on. In all, there are 18 pages of all kinds of statistical leaders like these. One of my favorite sections of the book is the page dedicated to career assessments. This section gives a % rate of the chances certain players will reach different milestones at some point in their careers. Did you know there is a 24% chance that Barry Bonds will hit 800 homeruns in his career? These are a few of the many extensive parts of this book. Bill James and the staff at Baseball Info Solutions (the company that provided all of the statisical data) have certainly outdone themselves this time. I look forward to reading this book for many years to come.
Rating: 
Summary: If you liked 2004, you'll like '05
Review: The new edition has some added features like projected career totals and injury projections, but the meat of it is similar to what appeared in 2004. For stats junkies who just want the numbers, it's a great book. For those who prefer Prospectus and their comments (for better or, often, worse), this may be a disappointment because of its lack of commentary on players.
There is some discussion of items like the career projections and injury projections, but no essays that make his Abstracts or other books like Win Shares so popular. I'd definitely consider this a must for 2005 - a concise, easy to use guide to the essential stats that can be kept on your coffee table all season - but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who doesn't share an obsession with stats.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive baseball statistics book
Review: This book is a 'must have' for any baseball fanatic or fantasy baseball coach. It includes up-to-date individual statistics for every single MLB player, and insightful articles explaining the statistics. I especially enjoyed Ryan Galla's contribution to the book explaining Career Assessments - his article sheds a lot of light on the overall perfomances of one player vs. another over their careers. A glossary in the back defines many of the more obscure statistics used in baseball, including the actual formulas used to compute them. I keep my copy handy for every baseball game I watch.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive baseball statistics book
Review: This book is a 'must have' for any baseball fanatic or fantasy baseball coach. It includes up-to-date individual statistics for every single MLB player, and insightful articles explaining the statistics. I especially enjoyed Ryan Galla's contribution to the book explaining Career Assessments - his article sheds a lot of light on the overall perfomances of one player vs. another over their careers. A glossary in the back defines many of the more obscure statistics used in baseball, including the actual formulas used to compute them. I keep my copy handy for every baseball game I watch.
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