These books were true gems for me. I discovered them in 1998 and they really made me understand and think about the hidden game within the game. What is nice about these books is that they are not too heavy on over the top stats. They are kind of middle of the road. Enough to keep a stathead happy but also able to speak to the average baseball fan. It was a sad day when STATS stopped publication in the early 2000s. But one day I realized that I didn't have the older ones so I shopped around and found these earlier versions. The 1993 addition is pre-Rox as it details 1992. Some good things I found:
1) Great Foreword by the voice of baseball, Vin Scully. Really has a nice talk on what stats can do for a broadcast.
2) When a team scored after loading the bases they went 897 - 388 in 1992.
3) Dante Bichette's Edmonton (Angels AAA club) 1987 and 1988 stats
1987 360AB - 108H - 13HR - 50RBI
1988 509AB - 136H - 14HR - 81RBI
4) 1992 Reds had dual closers in Charlton and Dibble
5) Some precog on the effects of altitude
Brewer's AAA Team 1988 - 1992 (@Mile High)
@ Denver .289AVG .364OBP .420SLG
@ Milwaukee .264AVG .323OBP .363SLG
6) The big attendance draws for 1992 included Atlanta, Dodgers, Toronto, Cubs, and Boston (Yanks sucked back then...)
7) Temperature and Scoring during 1992
Temp G R/G HR/G
> 80 deg 407 8.49 1.61
70 - 79 1082 8.20 1.42
60 - 69 398 8.28 1.46
< class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> 219 7.84 1.23
8) Average Game Times in 1992
Pitches/G Ave Time Sec/Pitch
AL 275.6 2:53 37.65
NL 264.5 2:45 37.43
9) Bill James "The Favorite Toy" was used to project players chance of reaching 500 homeruns. Guess what Bonds chance was at 28 years of age with 176 homeruns? Only 14%...
10) Rob Dibble had 110 K's in 70.1 innings in 1992...after the All Star break he had 63 K's in 34 innings...that's 16.7 per 9 innings!
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