Synopses & Reviews
Pitchers, the pitches they throw, and how they throw them -- these days it's the stuff of constant scrutiny, but there's never been anything like a andlt;Iandgt;comprehensive sourceandlt;/Iandgt; for such information. That's what preeminent baseball analyst Bill James and ESPN.com baseball columnist Rob Neyer realized over lunch more than a dozen years ago. Since then, they've been compiling the centerpiece of this book, the "Pitcher Census," which lists specific information for nearly two thousand pitchers, ranging throughout the history of professional baseball. The andlt;Iandgt;Guideandlt;/Iandgt; also offers: andlt;BRandgt; andlt;UL TYPE=DISCandgt; andlt;LIandgt;A "dictionary" describing virtually every known pitch andlt;LIandgt;The origins and development of baseball's most important pitches andlt;LIandgt;Top ten lists: best fastballs, best spitballs, and everything in between andlt;LIandgt;Biographies of some of the great pitchers who have been overlooked andlt;LIandgt;More knuckleballers and submariners than you ever thought existed andlt;LIandgt;An open debate concerning pitcher abuse and durability andlt;LIandgt;A formula for predicting the Cy Young Award winner andlt;LIandgt;Something fresh and new: Bill James' "Pitcher Codes" andlt;/ULandgt; andlt;BRandgt; The andlt;Iandgt;Neyer/James Guide to Pitchersandlt;/Iandgt; is about understanding pitchers, and baseball's action always starts with the pitchers. It's also about entertaining debates and having a great deal of fun with the history of a game that obsesses so many.
About the Author
Bill James made his mark in the 1970s and 1980s with his andlt;iandgt;Baseball Abstractsandlt;/iandgt;. He has been tearing down preconceived notions about America's national pastime ever since. He is currently the Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox. James lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife, Susan McCarthy, and three children.