The Baseball Almanac

Rating:
Summary: Best Baseball Book I've ever read...
Review: The Baseball Almanac is more a bathroom book than a coffee-table volume. You can leave it on top of the porcelain, pick it up, read it backwards, and still get an enormous charge out of it.
It was filled with fascinating sidebars and anecdotes and even though I've read just about everything, I kept saying "Gee, I didn't know that!" on almost every page.

My favorite parts of the book concerned crazy trades (such as broadcaster Ernie Harwell for a minor-league catcher), the Top 10 vote-getters for the Hall of Fame, baseball in other countries, and retired uniform numbers. Also the special section comparing Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. I recommend it not only as the best baseball book of this year but the best I've seen in many years.