Historicial Baseball Reference Books

Bottom Of The Sixth · 07-29-2008, 10:02 PM

I was wondering if anyone owns any of these books and what you think of them? Also, do you think the print size is good or do you need a magnifying glass to read it?

1) Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball by Lloyd Johnson , Miles Wolff

2) The ESPN 2008 Baseball Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition (Espn Baseball Encyclopedia) by Peter Gammons

3) The 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (Espn Baseball Encyclopedia)

3) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2007 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball)

4) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2005 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball)

5) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2004 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball)

6) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2002 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball) by David S. Neft

7) The Baseball Encyclopedia (Seventh -7th- Edition) (Hardcover) by Joseph L. Raichler

8) The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Definitive Record of Major League Baseball (Baseball Encyclopedia) by Macmillan Publishing

9) Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (Total Baseball) by John Thorn

10) The Baseball Rookies Encyclopedia by Dave Zeman

Thanks

BaseballMan · 07-30-2008, 01:40 PM

I like total baseball the best because it gives you stats and essays on players and ballparks. Though i dont think they update it anymore.
The next beats is the The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball. It gives you a good read on what the highlights of each year. I also like the way it gives basic stats for players of each team. I like the way it lists the players for a team that played the most games and below the reserves. So you can quickly get an idea of how good a pitching staff was. The bad thing is it doesnt do a recap of indivual seasons from 1871-1899.
The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia is ok but i would probably only use it if i didnt have anything else or access to baseball reference. It has a small recap of each season but for the most part is just stats.
But it seems like its best to have all three because they each have some info or present the info in a better way.
If you want uptodate records i would get Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball,
ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. But i would still get Total Baseball. Just an awsome book. Only wish they would update it.

Nukester · 07-30-2008, 02:26 PM

Out of that list I have the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (4th edition though) and find the print to be pretty small and hard to read, but its crammed packed with stuff, so I think it was worth it. I also have an older version of the MacMillian Baseball Encyclopedia, which i find easier to read, but there may not be as much info in there. I used that book for years (and still do), but use the BaseballReference.com site more than both of those books now

TribeFanInNC · 07-30-2008, 03:57 PM

Agree with most of that. I have older copies of Total Baseball and the MacMillan Encyclopedia (also known as Big Mac, because it's like 3-4 inches thick). I find Big Mac easier to read, but it isn't as complete as something like Total Baseball. For instance I'm thinking Big Mac doesn't have CS data or something like that. I used both back in the day when internet was not so omnipresent. Seems I remember there is some formatting differences (like R next to AB v. R next to RBI), so one may be easier to use than the other if you are transcribing data in a specific order. Today, baseball-reference.com has supplanted a lot of this data and is easier to access.

I'm interested to hear if anyone has the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. I've been eyeing it, but haven't purchased it. Maybe I'll wait to see if Santa has any copies

07-29-2008, 10:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
Bottom Of The Sixth Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 318 Thanks: 176 Thanked 29x in 20 posts	Historicial Baseball Reference Books I was wondering if anyone owns any of these books and what you think of them? Also, do you think the print size is good or do you need a magnifying glass to read it? 1) Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball by Lloyd Johnson , Miles Wolff 2) The ESPN 2008 Baseball Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition (Espn Baseball Encyclopedia) by Peter Gammons 3) The 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (Espn Baseball Encyclopedia) 3) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2007 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball) 4) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2005 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball) 5) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2004 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball) 6) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2002 (Sports Encyclopedia Baseball) by David S. Neft 7) The Baseball Encyclopedia (Seventh -7th- Edition) (Hardcover) by Joseph L. Raichler 8) The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Definitive Record of Major League Baseball (Baseball Encyclopedia) by Macmillan Publishing 9) Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (Total Baseball) by John Thorn 10) The Baseball Rookies Encyclopedia by Dave Zeman Thanks

07-30-2008, 02:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
Nukester All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Newburgh, NY Posts: 1,930 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2x in 2 posts	Out of that list I have the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (4th edition though) and find the print to be pretty small and hard to read, but its crammed packed with stuff, so I think it was worth it. I also have an older version of the MacMillian Baseball Encyclopedia, which i find easier to read, but there may not be as much info in there. I used that book for years (and still do), but use the BaseballReference.com site more than both of those books now __________________ Well, I don't really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It's like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how - what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what's stopping it, and what's behind what's stopping it? So, what's the end, you know, is my question to you.

07-30-2008, 03:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
TribeFanInNC Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,532 Thanks: 94 Thanked 268x in 209 posts	Agree with most of that. I have older copies of Total Baseball and the MacMillan Encyclopedia (also known as Big Mac, because it's like 3-4 inches thick). I find Big Mac easier to read, but it isn't as complete as something like Total Baseball. For instance I'm thinking Big Mac doesn't have CS data or something like that. I used both back in the day when internet was not so omnipresent. Seems I remember there is some formatting differences (like R next to AB v. R next to RBI), so one may be easier to use than the other if you are transcribing data in a specific order. Today, baseball-reference.com has supplanted a lot of this data and is easier to access. I'm interested to hear if anyone has the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. I've been eyeing it, but haven't purchased it. Maybe I'll wait to see if Santa has any copies __________________ PEBA - Duluth Warriors

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07-30-2008, 01:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
BaseballMan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3,536 Thanks: 8 Thanked 90x in 60 posts	I like total baseball the best because it gives you stats and essays on players and ballparks. Though i dont think they update it anymore. The next beats is the The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball. It gives you a good read on what the highlights of each year. I also like the way it gives basic stats for players of each team. I like the way it lists the players for a team that played the most games and below the reserves. So you can quickly get an idea of how good a pitching staff was. The bad thing is it doesnt do a recap of indivual seasons from 1871-1899. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia is ok but i would probably only use it if i didnt have anything else or access to baseball reference. It has a small recap of each season but for the most part is just stats. But it seems like its best to have all three because they each have some info or present the info in a better way. If you want uptodate records i would get Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. But i would still get Total Baseball. Just an awsome book. Only wish they would update it.