Baseball Greatness

David Kaiser taught history for decades at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, the Naval War College and Williams College. He has written nine other books and has given talks at Society for American Baseball Research conventions. He lives in Watertown, Massachusetts.

“a must read for all baseball fanatics...Quite possibly the most in depth discussion of baseball success that one could have, and a must have for fantasy baseball players.”— Against the Grain ; “there is much to learn and enjoy...a pleasant ramble through baseball’s long history, written is a way that puts the achievements of the game’s greatest players in the context of their times.”—The Inside Game (SABR Deadball Era Committee Newsletter); “Outstanding achievement. Highly recommended”—ARBA; “Whatever you already think about measuring baseball greatness, Kaiser’s tour de force will blow your mind…. In these days of websites and statistical black boxes and faith-based beliefs, we owe our gratitude to Kaiser, who shows all his work and doesn’t flinch when the facts call for popping a few balloons.”—Rob Neyer, author Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game; “Baseball Greatness honors underappreciated all-time great players by better incorporating fielding value for everyday players (e.g., Jimmy Wynn and Keith Hernandez) and filtering out team effects on perceived pitcher value (e.g., Wes Ferrell, Luis Tiant, and Dave Stieb). But more than that, author and real-world historian David Kaiser gives baseball fans a new and sophisticated history of the game: how owners and front office managers have built (and failed to build) great teams, how rare it has been that team greatness has relied on great pitching, and much more.”—Michael Humphreys, author of Wizardry: Baseball’s All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed; “The Sabermetric revolution in baseball analysis is no longer in its infancy and the basic principles are now embraced widely in the press, on the air, and by average fans. David Kaiser has done a fine job in clearly explaining the logic behind the calculations and has provided a very welcome synthesis across the various era of Major League Baseball. This book is recommended for those who wish to have a better understanding of the context of modern (and future) baseball analysis.”—Dave Smith, founder, Retrosheet.org; “Baseball’s stately pace encourages discussions, with ‘Who was better?’ being a favorite topic. David Kaiser’s nominations, making full use of Michael Humphrey’s authoritative solution to the ‘is it fielding or pitching’ defensive dilemma, are presented in a delightful style.”—Richard Cramer, PhD, founder, STATS INC.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsviiiIntroduction: Great Players, Great Teams1. The Missionary and Lost Generation Era, 1901–19242. The Lost and GI Generation Era, 1925–19453. The GI and Silent Generation Era, 1946–19664. The Silent and Boom Generation Era, 1967–19835. The Boom and ­Gen X Era, 1984–20046. The ­Gen X and Millennial Era, 2005–2017Epilogue: The Nature of GreatnessAppendixBibliographyIndex