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Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill James
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $2.93
You Save: $14.07 (83%)
New (20) Used (36) Collectible (2) from $1.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 443999
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0684800888
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3570973
EAN: 9780684800882
ASIN: 0684800888
Publication Date: April 6, 1995
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 This book had a chance and James choked in the clutch! November 24, 2007
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Baseball Hall of Fame is full of paradoxes and Bill James turns into a literary paradoxical decomposition throughout this effort. Nevermind the man is not at all funny as he uses poor choices in language (do not read this book to young children), but turns his book into a paradoxical attack on "Scooter" Rizzuto and manages to trash Don Drysdale and a few others. If one is seeking the good and the bad along with a history of the HOF voting and members, then prepare to be left in scoring position; you may not be able to finish this book.
 Maybe The Book That Did It For Me June 28, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book may have been the one that finally sold me on Bill James - he asks alot of logical questions about who should and shouldn't be in the Hall Of Fame and I buy most of what he argues. There are alot of players in the Hall who really shouldn't be in there and some who should be in but for some reason, I don't buy his argument for Ron Santo - the various methods he uses to decide on Hall Of Famers is interesting and I could see it being of some use for future voters. His way of dissecting Drysdale's performances in big games goes a little far to be used as a quantifying factor and I believe Drysdale's records weren't all that great anyway - his argument against Rizzuto holds water with me becoz my father always said Rizzuto would've been nothing if he had played his career in a town like Philly, that he would've been just another good shortstop. The similarity scores and objectivity standards are a good way to judge players, both on their own and against those already in the Hall - in fact, since this book has come out, I think the voting for Hall of Fame candidates has become more stricter and I can see some deserving players NOT getting into The Hall, becoz of books like these - but if James' criticism of the Veterans Committee provoked the changes, I am glad he wrote this book.
 Excellent! November 4, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Good info inside, the Hall of fame looks likme a social club of some veterans players
Fame That Has Too Much Shame October 5, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have been sceptical about the Baseball Hall of Fame ever since the enlightened power structure selected Satchel Paige as the first Negro League Baseball inductee, but wanted to place his plaque in a section away from the Major League Baseball enshrinees. The perpetuation of racism in the sport was negated when the ensuing controversy forced the panel to honor Paige and future NLB inductees like the rest of the ball players.
That is why with great interest I purchased this book when it was published more than a decade ago. It did not disappoint then and much of the text is timely today.
James exposes the created history on Cooperstown, NY, being the birthplace of the sport and how the hall of fame was created. The heart of the book is the politics of induction and centers on how the Veterans' Committee - stacked with former Yankees - negotiated an agreement to get the popular Phil Rizzuto inducted. James also writes about the power of certain committee members to get former teammates and friends elected.
Though several of the players James questions why they had not been selected for enshrinement have been elected, too many of his statistical matchups questioning past selections still need answers today.
Nearly 600 pages long, it is a must read for baseball fans who want to understand what the Baseball Hall of Fame is really about.
Outstanding research and thought-provoking prose June 21, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Baseball's "uber-statistician" Bill James has put together a painstakenly detailed look at Baseball's Hall of Fame process for determining membership. James, with some degree of overkill, goes over the rationale for who's "in" and who's not. Many pages, (this reviewer would believe too many, as a matter of fact) are spent reviewing the vitaes of players like Phil Rizzuto, Don Drysdale, and Pee Wee Reese. Hundreds of other players are covered, however, in this extensively researched work. James certainly is unafraid to let the reader know (early and often) whom he believes is worthy of the honor of being in the HOF.
Baseball historians and fans alike, however, will find plenty of things to like about this book. The head-to-head comparisons of players are outstanding, as is the information that James has included about the history of the HOF. James does an outstanding job tying all of the baseball eras together while trying to show some method of comparing modern player to those from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If the reader can allow for some of James' pontificating to rear its ugly head periodically throughout the book, then he or she will certainly want to add this work to their baseball collection.
RECOMMENDED FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS, BUT ESPECIALLY THOSE INTERESTED IN BASEBALL HISTORY
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