Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (Full Version)

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KG Erwin -> Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/18/2007 1:28:37 AM)

With all of the up-to-date info available on the web, is there any need for a hardcopy Baseball Encyclopedia anymore?

In the pre-web era, I bought that one (1988 edition), Total Baseball (1st edition), AND the 7th edition of Neft & Cohen's Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball.

However, I haven't bought a baseball reference book since that time.

Now, I gotta add that these works contain some excellent articles, which are worth the price in their own right.

I also gotta add that holding a book to peruse stats is much more comfortable than looking at a web page.

Admittedly, I'm addicted to book collecting, but what do you guys think? Is the baseball reference book a dying genre?



CrashDavis -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/18/2007 3:26:21 AM)

Like you I nabbed an edition of Total Baseball when it came out and thought it was the coolest thing. Never bought another. The web gets-r-done for me. But I believe you are correct about the articles. That is what sets it apart.



LetsPlay2 -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/18/2007 2:50:31 PM)

I haven't purchased one either, But I do a lot of printing !  I, too, like to have the stats in hand.

I also printed the entire Record book that was offered on the web for free.



Frozen Stiffer -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/18/2007 7:56:56 PM)

KG,

I feel your argument mirrors the discussion of the value of the modern day newspaper.  With all of the avialable online content, magazines, e-papers and whatnot, is the newspaper really the same information and business vehicle it once was? I am confident that you probably wouldn't have any difficulty finding numerous persons who would enjoy curling up with a hot cup of coffee and a fresh, crisp newspaper. However, I am also confident that you wouldn't have any difficulty finding even more persons who would enjoy curling up with a hot cup of coffee and a fully charged laptop plugged into their wireless home networks.

You begin to wonder if the newspaper, like the written baseball encyclopedia, is slowly becoming the horse buggy whip of the 21st century; something obsolete enough that it begins to slowly fade away into obscurity. Perhaps it is instead the music CD of the modern day; something that is obsolete in many regards, yet it continues to hold its own ground and retain some measure of value.

I think that your love for the written work should be embraced for what it is... to you. Thus, you should reword your question. Instead of asking "Is the baseball reference book a dying genre?", you should propose the query, "To the rest of you, is the baseball reference book a dying genre? To me, it's a great piece of work that I will treasure always".

[:)]

(Can you tell I'm in a wordy mood today?)



KG Erwin -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/18/2007 8:39:18 PM)

I hold mixed opinions on this, and perhaps it's a philosophical issue. This sort of discussion carries over into my interest in military history. There's a wealth of info online, but reading pdf's has not replaced the simple joy of holding a book in your hands (here's an admission -- I get a strange pleasure out of the smell of a brand new book, or even sometimes a musty old tome. I'm sure I'm not alone in that -- there's something comforting about the smell of a library.)

As for the baseball encyclopedias -- personally, it's been enough for me to have the stats presented in book form for the pre-1990s. After that, the online data bases are fine. Again, perhaps it's psychological. When I'm reading the scrolls, so to speak, about Ruth and Cobb and Jackson, it somehow doesn't seem appropriate to be reading it from a computer screen -- does that make sense? To hardcore baseball fans, the books are almost like sacred texts, and in a weird way that only we can understand, they ARE.

PS to draw another analogy, there's audiophiles who swear that analog vinyl LPs are superior to digital CDs. Having grown up with LPs and 45rpm singles, I can see (and hear) their point.



peregrine -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/29/2007 8:19:13 PM)

I can certainly understand the draw of the original baseball encyclopedias, but I guess I'm a slave of convenience too much, I love being able to pull any statistic up from the web in a few minutes. I also love the feel and smell of books, but all the same I still love my Sony ebook Reader that lets me carry 20 books around with me in my pocket and read them whenever I have a chance. I don't think technology really takes away from the printed word, the real problem is that there is just much less appreciation for it among the younger generation now.



akcranker -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/30/2007 1:27:27 PM)

I have a book that I picked up at a thrift store for .50 cents that I'm glad I did.  It's "1985 The Complete Handbook of Baseball 26 Team Yearbooks in 1".

What's really cool about this book is the stories that are included.  The team profiles, scouting reports and player profiles are cool but like I said the stories are great.  There's one story about Dwight Gooden, another about Pete Rose trying to break Ty Cobb's record etc..

I'd be willing to type these stories up and post them in that new puresimmer's community if anyone's interested?



Don Pedro -> RE: Baseball Encyclopedias: Any Need For Them Now? (7/30/2007 3:40:55 PM)

I'm with KG, there's something special about holding a book in your hands, especially if it's printed on nice paper! I bought the ninth edition of the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia, a weighty tome and not that easy to find in the UK. I had ordered it through a local bookshop, who finally rang me to say it had come in, just before my wife & I were about to set off for a weekend away, so I called and collected the book as the shop was more or less on our route. That night, in bed, we were both reading [we've been married a long time, so we do that nowadays!] and I was leafing through my new acquisition. I was really impressed by how fine the paper was as I turned the pages. After a few minutes silence, my wife said, through gritted teeth, "For goodness sake, you're stroking that book!"



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