Pre-Owned Baseball's Best 1,000: Rankings of the Skills, the Achievements and the Perfomance of the Greatest Players of All Time (Hardcover) 157912397X 9781579123970

Baseball's Best 1,000 is the first book to present the lives, legends, and lore of baseball's best 1,000 players together in one big, illustrated volume. Sportswriter, Derek Gentile, analyzed player listings and record books, gathered information, compared statistics, and pared down a list that initially numbered literally in the tens of thousands to an elite ranking of the thousand greatest players of all time. Not an easy task. "Believe me," says Gentile in the introduction, "when I say that after Babe Ruth [who ranks at #1], the next 999 players were a tossup." In truth, Gentile went about his selection methodically and with a system. Using various criteria including lifetime statistics, player durability and consistency (based on factors like number of seasons played and winning vs. losing records), All-Star participation, MVP and Gold Glove awards, individual statistical championships, personal and professional contributions to the game at large, sportsmanship, and election to the Hall of Fame, he managed to get the rankings down to nearly a science. The selection spans the generations from Edward "Cocky" Colins (1906-1930) to Barry Bonds (1986-present). And, along with major league players, one will also find dozens of Negro league players included in the mix from the legendary Josh Gibson to Thomas Stearnes and Bullet Joe Rogan. Gentile has also included sidebars on the greatest Japanese players, women players, and "pre-historic" players from the time before stats and other information was formally recorded. Presented in order of rank, each player's entry includes lifetime statistics, positions played, teams for whom the player has played, years during which he played, and the year of his induction into the Hall of Fame (where applicable). Also, included is a mini biography of each player and a photograph. Part book of lists, part baseball encyclopedia, Baseball's Best 1,000 is a fascinating, browsable volume chock full of statistical information and little-known facts that is destined to spark controversy and debate among baseball fans everywhere. Book jacket.