Book review: The Hardball Time Baseball Annual 2008
We are living in a golden age of baseball writing, as evidenced by all of the enjoyable, thought-provoking and engaging content being written about all aspects of the game in many different media (books, newspapers, and the internet). The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 is yet another example of this high quality writing in what is already a crowded market for baseball books.
Written shortly after the end of the 2007 season, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 is a good mix of content, broken down into the 2007 season review, commentary, analysis, history, and team statistics. While at first glance, you might think that The Hardball Times Baseball Annual is similar to Baseball Prospectus, the two are fairly different, even if the opinions and focus on statistical analysis by the writers is similar. The Hardball Times Baseball Annual is more of an interesting read than Baseball Prospectus because the focus is on articles from various writers instead of BP’s team-based player analysis and predictions.
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 has a little bit of everything: articles on new ways to evaluate player production, the impact of managers, the globalization of the game, and the business of baseball report are just a few of the enjoyable articles from the first half of the book. Bill James himself contributes a look into his current research around clutch hitting (which doesn’t exist IMO, no matter what he says).
While I found that not all of the content demanded my full attention, such as the 2007 season review and an article about how Derek Jeter is a below average fielder (which even Yankee fans know by now), there is a good mix of varied content in The Hardball Time Baseball Annual 2008 to make it worth reading in the early part of the 2008 season.
