The Baseball Encyclopedia; The Complete and Official Record of Major League Baseball

New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc, 1979. Fourth Edition, Revised and Expanded [stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good/No dust jacket present. Format is approximately 6.75 inches by 9.5 inches by 3.5 inches. [8], 2245, [3] pages. Tabular data. This is a very large and heavy book and would require additional shipping charges if sent outside of the United States. Somewhat shaken. Includes an Introduction which discusses the Development of Baseball and has sections on Special Achievements, Records and Awards; Lifetime Major League Team Rosters, All-Time Leaders. The Teams and Their Players, National Association Register; Manager Register, Player Register, Pitcher Register, The World Series and Championship Playoffs, All-Star Games, and Appendices which includes Sources, Decisions of the Special Baseball Records Committee, and Major Changes in Playing Rules and Scoring Rules. The Baseball Encyclopedia is a baseball reference book first published by Macmillan in 1969. Nine further editions of the book were released between 1974 and 1996. The Baseball Encyclopedia features statistical summaries for Major League Baseball (MLB) players. Baseball reference books that predate The Baseball Encyclopedia include the Baseball Cyclopedia, which was first released in 1922, and The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball, which was published during the 1950s and 1960s. Statistician David Neft first proposed a new baseball encyclopedia in 1965. Two years later, he pitched the idea to Bob Markel, Macmillan's executive editor. Markel liked the concept and eventually Macmillan bought rights to The Baseball Encyclopedia, despite concerns about the proposed $25 price of the book. Starting in 1976, new editions of the Baseball Encyclopedia were released every three years for the next several versions. The final version of The Baseball Encyclopedia, the 10th, came out in 1996. Joseph Lawrence Reichler (January 1, 1915 - December 12, 1988) was an American sports writer who worked for the Associated Press from 1943 to 1966. He mostly covered the New York City based baseball teams. Reichler also wrote many baseball books, and worked for the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. He was awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1980.