2024 the best baseball player ever review

Price: $21.99 - $12.00
(as of Dec 03, 2024 10:14:09 UTC - Details)

You love to argue about the game and its players, delving into baseball history and lore in search of support for your points of view. You'll find plenty of food for thought -- and argument! -- in Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups.
• All-time Red Sox starting pitcher -- Pedro or the Rocket?
• Gold Glovers -- who looked like one, who was one, and who ought to have been one?
• Lopsided trades that'll sting forever, and phenoms who seemed so real
• Classic nicknames -- from "Charlie Hustle" to "Big Hurt" to "The Mad Hungarian"
Neyer presents a series of lineups for each franchise -- from the All-Time and the All-Rookie to the All-Bust and the Traded Away. In notes, sidebars, and essays, he explores the careers of players both famous and obscure. The book includes information on all thirty current teams, as well as a special section covering legendary clubs like the Brooklyn Dodgers and Washington Senators. Neyer's Big Book is an unparalleled reference for settling the debates that arise every day in the lives of baseball fans.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Touchstone; Original ed. edition (June 2, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743241746
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743241748
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
Reviewer: David L. Williams
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Team lineups.
Review: Very good book on various lineups that teams used during the years. I have used this book often for making out my APBA baseball lineup.

Reviewer: Jason A. Miller
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Beyond the Usual Suspects
Review: Rob Neyer chose the publishing of "Big Book of Baseball Lineups" to offer the world a new photo of himself. ESPN.com site-goers had been treated to the same photo of Neyer in a flannel shirt since his column debuted. Only John Kuenster of "Baseball Digest" used the same photo for longer. Now Neyer's got a blue T-shirt and an eerily wide grin. Why is this man smiling?"Lineups" is a "comeback" book, after the self-published "Feeding the Green Monster" failed to make a splash. "Lineups" opens, really, with its appendix, a tremendously useful spreadsheet listing every team's top regular at every position from 1901 through 2002. This may be the first baseball book in years to print the name of Al Moran, the shortstop for your 1963 New York Mets (and what a shortstop!).Working backwards from that chart comes a series of dream (and nightmare) teams from MLB's current 30 franchises. The downside of this is that you're only reading about the Los Angeles Dogers, or the Atlanta Braves. The now-defunct teams (Brooklyn, Boston/Milwaukee) don't get their own exclusive treatment, although the end of the book features joint chapters on the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers et al, which is not how I'd have done it.This is a book best read in brief bursts, one team at a time. With the shifted franchises treated separately, Neyer is weighted toward discussing the last 40 years. However, there are some interesting "finds" here, especially for those less familiar with earlier baseball: The Yankees' best-ever left fielder is Charlie Keller, and the Cardinals' first-team rotation is rounded out by Lon Warneke.The rest of the book is sidebars (mostly related to that page's lineup), and one feature article per team. Neyer debates managers a lot: for Kansas City, Dick Howser v. Whitey Herzog; for the Yanks, Joe McCarthy v. Casey Stengel. He also introduces current perspective into the spectacular flameout of the Mets' "Generation K", and the woeful roster moves made by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.Obviously, there's lots to argue with here. Which is kind of the point. When Neyer chides a "Sports Illustrated" writer for bashing the playoff performance of the Atlanta Braves bullpen, he presents only line stats in their defense. He mentions the famous homers allowed by Charlie Liebrandt and Mark Wohlers, but neglects to mention the 1999 playoffs, when the Braves' pen blew late leads in 5 of 6 straight games against the Mets and Yankees. Later on, he states that the Brewers are the only expansion team to generate 2 Hall-of-Famers in their first 10 years: which is only true if you ignore the Mets, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan.The book's most innovative aspect is its "Traded Away" teams, which allow you to wince in pain with every passing name. Least interesting (to me, anyway) were the "Iron Glove" teams. Overall, though, like "Baseball Dynasties", this is a just plain nifty book to dip into. If I were a broadcaster, this is the book I'd want with me, when the score's 10-3 in the 7th inning and it's time to start talking baseball history again.

Reviewer: mark madenfort
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: excellent
Review: great book

Reviewer: bigronn
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: a great book.
Review: I love it. Greatest lineups of each team. Rookies, gold gloves, etc. Well researched thought out and laid out.I have spent hours looking at it.My only complaint is, its about 10 years old.. I think last active season listed is 2002.Well worth the price and a great book for baseball fans.

Reviewer: roseramsey
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A letdown
Review: Not as good as I expected. I did more research on my own and came up with better lists. okay

Reviewer: liffeystynx
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Sit down & dip in
Review: At the risk of being slightly indelicate, this is the perfect "smallest-room-in-the-house" book for the inveterate baseball fan. Whether it's memories from your childhood, thought-provoking fodder for argument or hilarious nicknames (and their provenance) you're looking for, this book has it all and much more. An easier read (and a more manageable size) than some other weightier baseball tomes, it is both a pleasure and an education to read.

Reviewer: Bruce R. Gilson
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting, but controversial
Review: Anyone who has a knowledge of baseball can easily pick the best first baseman in New York Yankee history: Lou Gehrig. But how about the best centerfielder? Mantle, or DiMaggio? In my lifetime, I've been a fan of both, so either one might qualify... and yet, whichever you leave out, you're leaving out one of the Yankees' greatest players. By restricting your all-time best Yankee team to one at each position, you're forced to choose, and yet, at other positions (like left field or third base), the best one you can find is nowhere near the SECOND-best centerfielder. (I'm assuming, when I talk of left fielders, you consider Babe Ruth a RIGHT fielder, as Neyer does: he played left on the road and right in Yankee Stadium!)I'm sure there are similar problems with other teams; I know the Yankees best, so I gave Yankee examples. But this is the problem with any book of this type.Still, it's fun to look at the lists in this book. I'm not sorry I bought it. 4 stars, yes... but certainly not 5.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Book
Review: Very interesting. I keep it in my car to look through when I have down time.

Reviewer: BtotheS
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: One of the most complete books about baseball with a lot of statistics . A must for the collectors . Nice !

Reviewer: A.D.M.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Rob Neyer has produced a fun and easy to read look at baseball history here, covering each major league team and their players. Each chapter features one team, and a selection of lineups such as "all time best", "best nicknames", "best single season", players that never worked out and so on. Neyer admits in the introduction that he relied on Bill James complex 'win shares' system to help him choose the lineups, but he doesn't get bogged down in the minutiae of that system, nor do you even need to know what it is to enjoy this book.Accompanying each lineup are a couple of sentences on each player listed, and short but sweet sidebars that go into more detail on a particular player. I also enjoyed the essays at the end of each chapter that touch on a particular player or event in that particular teams history.Overall I have found this to be a very good baseball book, and a perfect companion to James' excellent "Historical Baseball Abstract".