In 1969, MacMillan published the first edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League Baseball. It was under the Christmas tree for me that year, and it has been a constant companion ever since. The encyclopedia included several major sections, including year-to-year standings, a Player Register with complete statistics for every player that had ever set foot on a major league diamond, a Pitcher Register, and a Manager Register. My favorite section was The World Series, which included the game-by-game record and statistics for every World Series played up to that point, along with the highlights of each game. So, for 1954 Game 1, you would read:
With the score tied 2-2, Mays makes a back-to-the-plate catch of Wertz's 440-foot fly with two men on to send the game into the tenth inning, when Rhodes delivers a pinch-hit homer with two on to end the game.
I used to read these and walk around the house imagining the games, much to my dad's annoyance, who was always wondering what the hell I was doing (thinking, I would reply). It also allowed me to memorize details of Series that I'm still able to scare people with today, which can be a fun thing.
Even though it was "just" an encyclopedia, it was an important book - in his Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James credits it for being one of the reasons that baseball's popularity exploded in the 1970s. For the first time, there was one source of pure, unadulterated statistical data for baseball fans around the world to obsess about.
New editions were published every few years, but none of them ever topped the first, which still sits on my bookshelf at work today.
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