Baseball book recommendation?

Question

I was a huge fan of Stats, Inc.'s Major League Baseball Scouting Notebook. Unfortunately, the book was discontinued prior to last season, and I haven't found a suitable replacement. Any suggestions? The book must have the following features: organized by TEAM (not by player), commentary about the player, stats that include home/road and righty/left splits.

I would also like ballpark effects of the stadiums and info on minor league prospects, but these aren't deal breakers.

Thanks for the information.

A couple of comments:
- Baseball rule book guy: I agree that an understanding of the rules enriches the baseball experience, but it really isn't relevant for my particular need - stats and commentary on MLB players.

- Baseball encyclopedia people: yep, the encyclopedia are cool, and I do have a fairly recent one somewhere, but I'm also looking for the commentary.

- Craig S: I'll check out the Shandler book. It looks like it might be close. You're the runaway candidate for best answer at this point, but I want to keep the question open in hopes that I get a few more answers.

thanks, everyone.

Answer 1

I assume you're looking for a good annual like the Scouting Report, not a huge encyclopedia that's mostly irrelevant for the upcoming season.

I can sympathize with you, because I miss the Scouting Notebook in a big way. When I didn't see it published last season, I called The Sporting News and was told that they were rolling the information from the Scouting Notebook into other publications. To this point, it's been a huge failure from my point of view.

To be honest, I haven't found a good replacement to this point. The Bill James annual is the best statistical guide, but there's nothing as far as analysis or scouting reports. Baseball Prospectus offers some decent stats - especially if you like sabermetrics - but they lack splits, and their commentary is limited to a paragraph, as compared to the whole-page analysis the Scouting Report provided.

Shandler's Baseball Forecaster might come the closest to what you're looking for. It provides home/away splits for both the home and opposing teams, tons of great stats, but again lacks the strong analysis you got used to with the Scouting Report (with the exception of some top minor leaguers). You can read more about that one here:

http://www.baseballhq.com/books/bf.shtml

Hopefully you find something you like, but my guess it that you won't find a perfect replacement. I wish they'd just bring back the Scouting Report in its traditional form.

Answer 2

I would say get the ESPN baseball encyclopedia by Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer.It has every player who ever played the game in there and reviews of every season too.It has the all time leaders and single season leaders for almost any category you can think of.It has the player who were elected to the hall of fame and which year and also the players who recived votes but never made it.It also has the ***** Leagues.It costs around $30 with just under 2000 pages.

Answer 3

The Baseball Encyclopedia put out by MacMillan. It is the most complete baseball stat book in the world. More than 3000 pages with every player that ever played the game. Every world series stat from the very beginning. I think Barns & Nobles has copies. It will cost you about $60 but it's worth every penny.

Answer 4

This is an original idea try studing the major league rule book,you think you know baseball,you are in for a suprise there are things in there thet blow some of the so-called rules away.Example-"Tie goes to the runner"
Well thats just a myth,it clearly states in the rule book you have to beat the throw or you are out.Which means if you tie the throw you are out.