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I have reading Bill James for over 20 years and he's still a great baseball writer. Very few baseball people understand the game the way he does. I liked the essays on each team, but my favorite part of this excellent book is the section on evaluating Hall of Fame chances for today's stars. I highly recommend this book to any baseball fan.
A seminal event in my life was my discovery of James' Baseball Abstracts. The Baseball Abstracts remain a treasured possession that I'll keep to the end of my days. It doesn't.
If I had begun my working career as a night watchman, as did James, I'd like to think that I would have also spent some of the quiet hours on baseball analysis, but know that I couldn't have done it with the insight, wit, or pithy commentary of James. I came away with the feeling that a clever 50-page Abstract was expanded into over 300 pages for no good reason except sales price.I agree with others that "Gold Mine" reads like an extended advertisement for James' online website. His application of statistics and commonsense to my beloved game of baseball was eye-opening and has informed my worldview ever since.
Although the insights of James shine through occasionally, much of the book is soulless tables that don't have the song of knowledge within them. I still remember the hollow feeling when I first read that James was ending the Abstracts.With that backdrop, I was thrilled to learn of the "Gold Mine" book. I hoped it would fill the Abstract vacuum.
And I expect that I'll subscribe to the website, and never purchase another "Gold Mine" book.I can say it no better than this. I'm unsure if I'll even keep "Gold Mine' until October.
This is an offbeat addition from baseball stats-guru Bill James. I wish he'd included more team information in this offbeat effort. The book's great strength is providing hardcore fans with important yet little-known stats that otherwise go unreported.
James examines all 30 teams by looking at a few of their players. Instead, its an unusual but valuable look for students of the game. The book is partly 30-team abstract, but primarily a look at little-known statistics compiled over the last season or so.
I'd have liked more information on my favorites (White Sox) and the other teams as well, but this book isn't really an abstract. We see where certain players hit their batted balls, how many bad pitches others swing at, the pitch selection of certain hurlers, etc. Interspersed between the team sections are chapters on such subjects as no cigars (players that bat.299, or drive in 99 runs, or win 19 games), hard-luck starting pitchers, relievers that allow too many inherited runners to score, etc.
Like many, I've enjoyed Bill James' books dating back to his 1980's Abstracts (which I still miss). Still, as always, James helps us see baseball in a more informed and imaginative light.
James is also the most talented writer among the current crop of baseball authors. Bill James is well known for revolutionizing baseball statistics. While I find his analysis very insightful, I would not pay for a book of numbers and poorly written text. Many fans, however, are satisfied with traditional baseball statistics and may avoid his books. If so, they are missing a hanging curveball. This man will one day be inducted into the Writers' Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the Babe Ruth of baseball writers, in my estimation.
If you enjoy reading Bill James' articles you'll enjoy this book, but you'll enjoy it in the same way someone who loved Raiders of the Lost Ark enjoys the coming attraction for the new Indy movie. Other reviewers have accurately pointed out that this book is basically an advertisement for Bill James' new website. This is an outline for what Baseball Abstracts used to be, and while there are some very interesting statistics and amusing observations (on Troy Glaus' HOF chances: Birthdays are not kind to.250 hitters), there aren't enough to justify the cost of the book when, for the exact same price, you can get everything in this book and waaaaaay more by subscribing to the on-line site for seven months. You want more. A lot more.
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