Statistics are to baseball as nails are to carpentry: they define, inform, and hold the game together. When the teams fly south for spring training, fans, eager to sort through and argue over the numbers, flock to the sports shelves for the statistics. The Sports Encyclopedia has what baseball aficionados want. From 1901 through 1997, the reference supplies updated and revised lifetime numbers for every player, plus seasonal summaries of each team's performance. In addition, there are details of every playoff and World Series game ever played, profiles of every no-hitter since 1901, updated stats on RBIs, on-base percentages, and fielding, plus classic baseball legends and intriguing trivia. As salaries and sports politics get murky, it's refreshing to surround yourself with pages and pages of solid, quantitative information.

The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2004 covers the history of every player, every team, and every season from 1902 through 2003, with detailed statistics and text summaries, as well as full coverage of this year’s exciting pennant race.

• Which team became the first in history to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win the World Series?
  
  
• Who was the only player to pinch-hit a World Series homerun?
  
  
• Who became the first to manage five straight pennant winners, and in what years did he do it?
  
  

The absolute latest stats, history, and trivia -- from 1901 through the 2003 seasons -- are all included in the latest edition of this popular, low-priced annual reference book.

The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2004 is packed with statistics and history. Organized year by year, it follows each team's ups and downs with seasonal summaries and every player's totals. Its features include:

• All-time batting and pitching leaders
• Every player's season and lifetime stats
• Every World Series game
• MVPs, Triple Crown Winners, and Hall of Fame members
• Every no-hitter since 1901
• Exciting text about each season's pennant race
• All the classic stories and famous legends
• Every award winner from the MVP to the Cy Young

David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen are noted sports historians and co-authors of The Sports Encyclopedia series. David S. Neft was a statistician and vice president of research for the Gannett Company before retiring. He lives in New York City. Michael L. Neft, the son of David Neft, is the director of MegaSports for the Associated Press.

"A must for every baseball fan... A superb reference book." -- The Sporting News

"It wouldn't be a baseball season without an updated version of The Sports Encyclopedia." -- Tampa Tribune & Times

"The only encyclopedia with complete, annual updated editions featuring yearly reviews...plus playoffs and World Series recaps." -- USA Today

"Year in and year out, The indispensable reference." -- Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer

"A must-have for serious baseball fans." -- Entertainment Weekly