Over baseball history, which park has been the best for run scoring? (1)
Which player would lose the most home runs after adjustments for
ballpark effect? (2) Which player claims four of the top five places for
best individual seasons ever played, based on all-around offensive
performance? (3) (See answers, below).
These are only three of the intriguing questions Michael Schell
addresses in Baseball's All-Time Best Sluggers, a lively examination
of the game of baseball using the most sophisticated statistical tools
available. The book provides an in-depth evaluation of every major
offensive event in baseball history, and identifies the players with the
100 best seasons and most productive careers. For the first time ever,
ballpark effects across baseball history are presented for doubles,
triples, right- and left-handed home-run hitting, and strikeouts. The
book culminates with a ranking of the game's best all-around batters.
Using a brisk conversational style, Schell brings to the plate the two
most important credentials essential to producing a book of this kind:
an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and a professional background in
statistics. Building on the traditions of renowned baseball historians
Pete Palmer and Bill James, he has analyzed the most important factors
impacting the sport, including the relative difficulty of hitting in
different ballparks, the length of hitters' careers, the talent pool
from which players are drawn, player aging, and changes in the game that
have raised or lowered major-league batting averages.
Schell's book finally levels the playing field, giving new credit to
hitters who played in adverse conditions, and downgrading others who
faced fewer obstacles. It also provides rankings based on players'
positions. For example, Derek Jeter ranks 295th out of 1,140 on the best
batters list, but jumps to 103rd in the position-adjusted list,
reflecting his offensive prowess among shortstops.
Replete with dozens of never-before reported stories and statistics,
Baseball's All-Time Best Sluggers will forever shape the way baseball
fans view the greatest heroes of America's national pastime.
Answers: 1. Coors Field 2. Mel Ott 3. Barry Bonds, 2001-2004 seasons
