The Baseball Rookies Encyclopedia

Until now, no single book has brought together so many facts and stats from more than 130 years of rookies playing in major league baseball. No other book has looked so closely at just the performances of first-year play-ers, their hitting and pitching prowess, and their places in major league rookie history. Baseball analysts David Nemec and Dave Zeman fill that gap with the exceptional Baseball Rookies Encyclopedia, the first historical overview of major league rookies and the definitive guide to baseball’s freshmen classes. Nemec and Zeman outline the rookie crops of each season year by year, starting in 1872 and ending with 2003. They highlight the best and worst performances of each season, discuss the future Hall of Famers who debuted, single out one or two exceptional players for closer inspection, present statistical leaders for each major league at the time, and give a timeline of unique or noteworthy rookie accomplishments during the season. They finish up with a page for each major league team, listing their rookie leaders in dozens of statistical categories. The authors examine rookie leaders who have gone on to become Hall of Famers, such as Ted Williams and Eddie Murray, as well as one-year wonders such as Joe Charboneau and Emil Yde, who excelled in that first year but never reached the same heights again. In doing so, Nemec and Zeman explain the contemporary issues that contributed to the fleeting nature of stardom. Whether they played in the American League or National League, or a rival league such as the American Association or the Federal League, those rookies from each major league in every year get full coverage. To find all the authoritative information you can handle on baseball’s long history of rookies―complete with stats, charts, facts, and comparisons― The Baseball Rookies Encyclopedia fills the bill.

Dave Zeman is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and lives in the Chicago area.

DAVID NEMEC is the author of more than twenty baseball books, including The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge and Great Baseball Feats, Facts, and Firsts. He lives in San Francisco. DAVE ZEMAN is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and lives in the Chicago area.