Baseball Encyclopedia A Great Baseball History Book By JPnMO on Mar 12, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

For the baseball fan who loves knowing every little detail, this book is what they need. The Baseball Encyclopedia has individual player statistics, trades and even World Series details going back to 1905. Baseball records in general go back to 1876.

This particular volume was printed in 1988. It has 2733 pages of information, so it is heavy and awkward to hold, but a goldmine for those who love reading about baseball. Included are the rules of the game and every rule change that has been made and when it happened. Playoff and All-Star games are also included with highlights of each game detailed.

If you're wondering what players were involved in specific trades, that's in here too going back to 1900, along with the date of the transaction.

Every team's performance is listed since 1900 (those that go that far back) with win-loss records, performance on the road, home runs both hit and allowed and runs scored.

The Pitcher Register lists each pitcher along with the the teams he pitched for and what his record was with each team. The player register is broken down into leagues and lists statistics on each player. Also, each year is listed and the order the teams finished in and their roster and details on each player. At the time of this printing, there were 13,000 players listed in this book.

Also listed are Cy Young winners, Most Valuable Players, Triple Crown performances, pitchers who threw no-hitters, Rookies of the year and Hall of Famers.

To give one example - Babe Ruth. He was also known as "The Sultan of Sweat" and "The Bambino". Born Feb. 6, 1895 in Baltimore, MD, died August 16, 1948 in NY, NY. He was 6'4" and 215 lbs. All of his stats with both teams are listed, along with the position he played. His World Series stats are separate.

This is a monstrous book and not one you'd just sit and read page after page. If you love baseball stats, you'll love this book.