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Title: Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups : A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues by Rob Neyer ISBN: 0-7432-4174-6 Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: 02 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (22 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Attention to all baseball fanatics: Buy this book!
Comment: It seems that Rob Neyer is still looking for an argument.
Last year he published BASEBALL DYNASTIES, in which he and co-author Eddie Epstein discussed the relative merits of some of the great teams in the long history of the game. Such "absolute" declarations fairly beg knowledgeable fans to take umbrage and offer counterpoint. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Meaningful discussion (i.e., anything that doesn't end with a beer bottle broken over your head) is an ancillary benefit of rooting for your favorites.
The author picks up where he left off with his fun new offering, ROB NEYER'S BIG BOOK OF BASEBALL LINEUPS. A senior writer and baseball columnist for ESPN.com, Neyer takes a very calculated measure of each team in creating these various lists. These include the greatest players for every ballclub (along with an "all second" team); players who enjoyed one especially fantastic year; an all-rookie team; a line-up of players who came up through the organization's minor leagues and another consisting of those traded to other teams; a best-defensive lineup, along with those who sported "iron gloves"; a roster of the worst players and another of those who were great at one time --- for other teams; and finally, a collection of the greatest "nicknames" at each position.
The lists consist of thumbnail sketches elucidating the author's choices and sidebars for those selections requiring a more extensive explanation. Neyer finishes off each chapter with a brief essay on a topic dear to his heart.
The enjoyment (or frustration) begins as the reader thumbs through each section. "Hey, why was Joe Shlabotnick left off of the list of all-time greats?" one might ask. Conversely, the fan might want to know why someone was placed on the "all-bust" squad when it's obvious to anyone who has ever even heard of baseball that this paragon of athletic ability would have done so much better if it wasn't for that pesky ingrown toenail.
Neyer pulls no punches and his style might strike some as bordering the realm of "I'm an expert and you're not," but he makes up for it with a sense of humor and a keen eye for detail. Thanks to a group of contributors close to each team (whom he credits, to his credit), he is able to produce this amusing volume. Long on opinion and short on the litany of statistics that many writers use to hammer home their points, ROB NEYER'S BIG BOOK OF BASEBALL LINEUPS might become one of the most useful collections of commentary to grace a fan's bookshelf.
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
Rating: 4
Summary: A good addition to your baseball shelf
Comment: Rob Neyer's "Book of Baseball Lineups" is a solid addition to any well-stocked baseball shelf. It goes right next to Bill James' glorious Historical abstract.
Lineups basically goes through the major leagues team by team. We're given an all-time lineup for each team as well as best homegrown players, gold gloves, iron gloves, all-bust, all-name and used-to-be-great -- which catalogues what great players eeked out their declining years on a certain club. This is accompanied by little essays in the margins detailing certain selections and a short essay for each team addressing some topic. The essays are actually pretty good, sort of like little columns that you might have missed on his espn gig.
Neyer has put together a rather unique look at the game. Most books of this type look at the best players of all time from all of baseball, but Neyer's book focuses on *teams* and gives you a sense of the ebb and flow of each team's history. You'll see how all thre greatest players in Royals history bunched up in the late 70's and early 80's, how Atlanta's best players all came in the 90's. The traded away section will detail eras of stupid management for each team. And in the back, you get year to year lineups.
I can't think of any other book that does this. Most books focus on the history of one team (usually the Yankees) or one great year (Yankees again, '27 or '98). But this book will give you your first real sense of the history of other organizations like the Expoes and Brewers and so forth -- teams I didn't know HAD a history before I read this.
It's not as big, bad and beautiful as the Historical abstracts but this is a book you'll find yourself leafing through frequently. Definitely worth buying.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Enjoyable Read
Comment: This book, like nearly all of Neyer's writing, was an extremely enjoyable read for the money. (Note: I purchased the book at a discounted price of $11.95.) It can be read in one burst, as I read it, or over a long period of time.
This is an excellent book for the knowledgeable baseball fan who is not statistically inclined. While Neyer uses statistical analysis such as Bill James' Win Shares to create his lineups, he does this in the background. This gives the casual fan the pleasure of reading the book without being concerned about the methodology.
At the same time, however, using Win Shares results in some lineup positioning that might be controversial to the casual fan. For example, the exclusion of Larry Bowa from both of the Phillies first and second shortstop positions forces the curious reader to question his exclusion. (The answer, given by Neyer, is that Bowa walked infrequently and had few extra-base hits, leading to a lower value to his team than mere batting average would suggest.)
In sum, this is a fun little book that can - but doesn't have to - make you think.
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Title: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0393057658 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 10 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The 2004 Bill James Handbook (2003 statistics) by Bill James, John Dewan ISBN: 0879462582 Publisher: ACTA Publications Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Baseball Prospectus 2004: Statistics, Analysis and Insight for the Information Age by The Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts ISBN: 0761134026 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James ISBN: 0743227220 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 13 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time by Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein ISBN: 0393320081 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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