A fine compendium, though the author's own evaluation system, especially for defense, has since been torn apart by Bill James in his Win Shares. Many good essays and almost every possible stat you'd want. Goes through the 1998 season. ( )

Not as good as the title implies. Long on statistics and short on narrative and even some of the narratives run to forgettable musty corners of the sport, not necessarily interesting ones. I'm going back to the McMillian Encyclopedia of Baseball. ( )