The best Baseball Abstract so far, partly because he hired an assistant (Jim Baker) who could assume part of the writing load. This edition's largely about the things managers do, though of course there are excursions in other topics on nearly every page. There's also a lot of discussion of "Victory Important RBIs" that I have difficulty taking seriously.

As always, the team essays are the heart of the book. As usual, he shorts the discussions of individual pitchers; it's pretty clear that James finds hitting and fielding more interesting than pitching. And managers and general managers probably more interesting than hitting.

A few short essays at the end of the book; those on home field advantage and day/night pitching splits look, even now, like valuable exercises.

This short review has also been published on a dabbler's journal. ( )