When Pedro Martinez won his first Cy Young Award with the Boston Red Sox in 1999 many people in the baseball world claimed it to be one of, if not, the greatest pitching achievement of all-time. Though a remarkable campaign it hardly ranks as the greatest ever. This book lists in order the top 150 pitching performances for a single season between the years 1900-1999. Based on the grading system developed for this book Pedro’s season ranks as the 45th best season for a pitcher. Who is the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball? Is it Walter Johnson or Christy Mathewson? Some may argue for Roger Clemens or Nolan Ryan. The debate as to the best ever will continue but the chapter comparing pitchers of today and yesteryear will offer some new insights. This book will truly interest the baseball enthusiast because it offers clear and interesting data. Plus the measuring stick used for the rankings is not based on opinion, potential or favoritism but rather on fair and unbiased criteria. Eighty-seven pitchers (biographies included), from the famous to the one season wonders, make up the list of the greatest 150 pitching seasons. Included as well are brief summaries of an additional 130 pitchers.

Tony Gwynn is the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. That's the conclusion of this engaging and provocative analysis of baseball's all-time best hitters. Michael Schell challenges the traditional list of all-time hitters, which places Ty Cobb first, Gwynn 16th, and includes just 8 players whose prime came after 1960. Schell argues that the raw batting averages used as the list's basis should be adjusted to take into account that hitters played in different eras, with different rules, and in different ballparks. He makes those adjustments and produces a new list of the best 100 hitters that will spark debate among baseball fans and statisticians everywhere. Schell combines the two qualifications essential for a book like this. He is a professional statistician--applying his skills to cancer research--and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. He has wondered how to rank hitters since he was a boy growing up as a passionate Cincinnati Reds fan. Over the years, he has analyzed the most important factors, including the relative difficulty of hitting in different ballparks, the length of hitters' careers, the talent pool that players are drawn from, and changes in the game that raised or lowered major-league batting averages (the introduction of the designated hitter and changes in the height and location of the pitcher's mound, for example). Schell's study finally levels the playing field, giving new credit to hitters who played in adverse conditions and downgrading others who faced fewer obstacles. His final ranking of players differs dramatically from the traditional list. Gwynn, for example, bumps Cobb to 2nd place, Rod Carew rises from 28th to 3rd, Babe Ruth drops from 9th to 16th, and Willie Mays comes from off the list to rank 13th. Schell's list also gives relatively more credit to modern players, containing 39 whose best days were after 1960. Using a fun, conversational style, the book presents a feast of stories and statistics about players, ballparks, and teams--all arranged so that calculations can be skipped by general readers but consulted by statisticians eager to follow Schell's methods or introduce their students to such basic concepts as mean, histogram, standard deviation, p-value, and regression. Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters will shake up how baseball fans view the greatest heroes of America's national pastime.

Statistics, stories, and historical details help the reader to decide which baseball player is the greatest hitter ever.

This annotated bibliography covers approximately 400 novels published from 1838 through 2007. A substantial introduction to the history and development of the genre precedes the chronologically arranged entries, which provide bibliographic details and extensive annotations on plot, themes, and compositional strengths and weaknesses. Mainstream novels by writers such as Hemingway, Wolfe, Roth, and DeLillo are included. Appendices provide historical overviews for the primary baseball subgenres, including mystery, fantasy, and science-fiction; lists for novels that foreground issues of race or ethnicity (or both, as in Winegardner's Vera Cruz Blues), gender (Gilbert's A League of Their Own), and class (Hay's The Dixie Association); and the author's rankings of great baseball novels overall and by subgenre.

Inside tips to improve all areas of your game.

Comparing major league players has always been a popular topic among baseball fans. Debating the strengths and weaknesses of such greats as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, or Tom Seaver and Greg Maddux continues to stir up controversy among fans eager to champion their heroes. In Baseball’s Top 10, Bob Kuenster has compiled a ranking of the game’s best players by position, highlighting the achievements of nearly 300 individuals. In addition to the top 10, Kuenster includes Honorable Mentions—players who were considered but didn’t make the final list—and Dishonorable Mentions—players who were left off the rankings due to alleged steroid and performance enhancing drug use. Drawing upon original interviews conducted by the author, this ranking reveals the best players in major league history as seen through the eyes of former players, managers, and announcers. Player entries include biographical information, individual achievements, stats, and quotes. Organized by position—first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, right field, catcher, designated hitters, multi-position players, right-handed starting pitchers, left-handed starting pitchers, and closers—280 outstanding players made the cut as the most elite pitchers, hitters, and fielders in MLB history. Baseball’s Top 10 features interviews with some of baseball’s greatest personalities—including players who have since passed, such as Al Lopez, Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Lou Boudreau, Andy Pafko, Ron Santo, Harry Caray and Harry Kalas. With over 50 photographs and a comprehensive list of suggested titles for further reading, this book is sure to interest baseball fans and historians who love to debate the many outstanding players who have appeared in the major leagues.

A history of Latino baseball players in the United States, along with individual biographies of current star players, concentrating on fielders.