Scouting Books

Among historians in Kentucky the name Thomas D. Clark is almost as important as Simon Kenton. Clark has had a remarkably long and fruitful career as a historian in Kentucky. Too many historians after a long career of teaching and writing history will retire into anonymity, but not Thomas Clark. Many years after the age when most people retire, Clark wrote a book about a frontiersman who first came into Kentucky when it was known as the Hostile West. This story of Kenton will not only come alive for adults, but could also be enjoyed by younger readers due to the audience that Clark had in mind when putting this history together. When first learning about the history of our nation, Kentucky students learn about the great military leaders of Virginia, and the men of the North East who dared to dream of being great political leaders, etc; It is hard to find a book that a young reader can sit down with and read about a person who will forever be known as a great Kentuckian. The life of Simon Kenton was not polished up by Clark and made into a politically correct story that will fit perfectly into our historical revisionistic modern textbooks. Clark doesn't cover up the fact that Kenton killed Indians, stole horses and guns, and took land away from people who certainly had rights to this beautiful hunting ground; this is REAL history, and it is written for an audience that may not otherwise hear this story. All young people, not only those who live in Kentucky, should learn about the life of Simon Kenton. Like Simon Kenton, Thomas D. Clark will forever be known as a great Kentuckian.

Being an avid Simon Kenton fan, I was really looking forward to this book but found it quite boring. I suppose after reading Allan Eckert's "Frontiersman", any accounting of the life of Simon Kenton pales in comparison.

just like money ball this books will keep you around the scouting process for a major league team, too useful for people connected with this world.

This guy is an embarrassment to middle Georgia.
You think Shanks is bad on paper? He's even worse on the air. Just listen to his afternoon broadcats on the Macon, GA station 105.5. Dead air, "dadgum," "uhhh," and "you know" are only a hint of the brilliant insight and southern charm (?!) Shanks provides.
Just yesterday he told his listeners how he hates gum smackers and old people who exercise outside! How relevant; glad you got that off your chest, Bill.
Clearly, Peter Gammons and Dan Patrick are in awe.

The author thinks that he's making a grand argument for why one method of scouting is better than another. In reality, he's listing a set of unoriginal anecdotes with little to tie them all together, largely composed to stat lines from a player's time at a certain level. I was expecting Scouts Honor to be interesting and intriguing - an inside look at how scouts determine who is good and who is bad. Besides a few quotes from scouts saying, "You could just tell this guy [who happens to now be a failed mlb prospect] was going to be a major leaguer", the book gives none of that.

It's a failed attempt by a bad beat writer to understand a subject that he clearly has little understanding of. If Scouts Honor proves anything, it is that association with the game of major league baseball does not instill the requisite knowledge of the minor leagues required in order to analyze them. In fact, I'm using the word analysis too liberally: Scout's Honor might as well be a book report by a college student with a little bit more access than the common person.

This book was a waste of money. Nothing insightful at all. Shanks sounds like he is nothing more then a wannabe General Manager, that never amounted to anything other than a small time journalist. Scouts Honor was not only a waste of money, but a waste of time.

I read this book and assumed it would be an answer to Moneyball, and in some ways it was. But the best description I saw was in an earlier review. If you read the first 4-7 chapters to get a history and an overview of the scouting program, as well as 1 or 2 of the scouting stories on prospects, you get the idea. Then skip to the end and read the last 2 chapters. If that was all the book was, then it would been a fascinating read. But as a competitor to moneyball, it doesnt hold a candle to the book in general.

First, moneyball was well written. This book could've been a compilation of a home schooled sophmore in high school research and writing course. Moneyball actucally has flow, and tells stories differently. Scout's honor tells the same story over and over.

Here's my suggestion. Buy the book, read the first 10 chapters and the last 2, and then return it.

I've used this book to the letter the past 5 years in my league and have never finished below 2'nd place. The salary guidelines listed are excellent, and the book is well organized. It is easy to find a player immediatly during the draft, and view his statistics. The synopsis on each player is helpful, and funny. The minor league reviews are good for names, but aren't always timely. The book also fails to capture the correct team of late free agent signees, but assesses the players based on statistics. Waggoner does not project stats as a means of his rankings, rather he ranks players based on achievement. Other books try to rank the value of players based on the author's projected stats for the upcoming year. Waggoner's ratings place high value on closers. If you use his salary guidelines on draft day, and don't overpay, you are guaranteed a very competitve team.

I have bought this book for years and every year it comes in handy. A must for any commissioner who is starting their league. Rules are from the founding fathers (of Rotisseire) and probably the best available. The author adds wit to the evaluations which make it easy to read. I couldn't recommend a better book on Roto. Michael Sinco, Commisioner, Willow Creek Rotisserie League

If your a first or second year player, or you've recently started your own league, this book is a perfect rules reference guide. It's easy to read, and provides rules for drafting, and conducting business throughout the season. Glen Waggoner also gives his predictions (player value) for the upcoming season. These are fair, at best. Prior year stats are given, but there's little information given about the intangibles.

Where to begin to critique this effort of the Diamond Library (John Benson's boutique) to separate you from your money.

There is a tremendous difference between publishing statistics soon after the end of the season, as STATS does with some of their books, and publishing analysis soon after the end of the season. Because this book was published in November, the player comments apparently were written before the season ended. For instance Tyler Houston's blurb mentions his Wrigley Field advantage, even though he was traded to Cleveland late in the season. None of the early off season transactions are addressed. The player comments also suffer from terminal cuteness, as the authors try to emulate the light tone of earlier editions by Waggoner et al. The current editors are just not as consistently clever, although they occasionally get off a good one-liner or pun.

Nor are they as attentive. There are numerous typos in the book. These range from simply annoying misspellings, to transposing entire stat lines between players (Dave Veres for Billy Wagner, Chuck Knoblach for Jeff Kent to name two). This really limits the book's utility as a reference.

If you buy the book intent on using its prices for your draft you will certainly lose. Most are unrealistic, perhaps partly due to the early publishing date.

The section on minor league prospects is the most informative section of the book, and is probably a part that many readers will skim over.

Essentially all of the information in this book is also in earlier editions of the same book (the rules) or appears with minimal modification in other books written or co-written by John Benson. If you have never before played rotisserie baseball, you should buy the book once, for the rules. If you are an experienced player you should look elsewhere for helpful analysis.

Okrent and Waggoner can take credit for basically inventing Rotisserie baseball; however, their analysis of the game hasn't progressed at all since the early 80s. If you've just started a league, you could do worse than to use their rules and game structure; it's been tested by time and it works.

However, their player analysis is guaranteed to be months out of date, and their suggested prices do not -- repeat, do not -- work in any league that pays attention. It's fun to read, and a good governance guide, but look elsewhere for strategy, tactics, and pricing.

This book was not what I expected when I ordered it.

I was hoping for something akin to the book "Moneyball" where Razzano would discuss how he ACTUALLY evaluated college football players.

Razzano does not discuss how one player is "better" than another.

Razzano provides a "1 to 10" chart, but anybody can do that? How do you justify calling one player a 5 and another an 8?

Razzano spends a lot of time saying that scouting is not a science, but an art. I don't believe that at all.

I know his book was written before the salary cap, but I'm still not giving a rookie $30 million and ruining my salary cap because "I've got a hunch he'll be good."

There are about 30 or 40 pages in the book of his old evaluations, which provide an aspiring NFL Scout with zero information. These pages don't provide anything to the average football fan either. It's actually a bunch of filler material.

There is no mention of film review, statistics, game situation performance, or anything quantitive in this book.

If you're looking to learn something about the "art" of scouting NFL players, then I would suggest you look elsewhere. I didn't find anything that would help me evaluate a college prospect.

Having known Mr. Razzano for over 40 years it was with some enthusiasm that I read this book. Since each have a unique process of analyzing information I was very interested to see the nuts and bolts of one of the first and one of the best NFL Scouts. In looking back at some of the college scouting reports it is interesting to see how successful the judgements were. Everything about a player taken into account including character, intelligence, besides the size speed factor which is sometimes overated in my opinion. This was an excellent look inside one of the most successful NFL operations in recent memory, one that won 4 and contributed heavily to a fifth super bowl. I highly recommend this book if you want the facts.

This book started it all and I've always liked the witty writing. Even if you don't play Rotisserie baseball this is a book you'll enjoy while waiting for opening day. I've played Rotisserie for years. If you do play Rotisserie -- wow! It's all here and then some. What more do we need? This year's book is their best in years. It's very entertaining and informative. The player profiles are a combination of original analysis, and wit. A great surprise is the book also has a meaty piece by Bill James himself. James leads off the whole thing with his own perspective on Rotisserie Baseball and as ususal, James gives us something to ponder. Read James on Gary Templeton, the Alex Rodriguez of the 1980s who never reached his potential. James' comments are something to think about. Bill James, John Benson and Glen Waggoner and friends in one book is a summit. Pretty impressive. If you want to know the deep thinking in the game, Benson's stuff on how to play and win, is great. And, thankfully, they've put the player prices back where they belong, right next to the players. There's good stuff on minor leaguers and they even have bid results from early 1999 auctions so I don't have to wait for Baseball Weekly to print the LABR auction results to see what the bids are. I stayed up half the night reading it cover to cover. it. This is the best Rotisserie League Baseball book in years. The King is back! I can't wait for opening day.

This book was never the best book for rotisserie veterans, especially because it went to press so early. But going to press early meant hitting the book stores before other roto books and baseball-starved rotisserians gobbled it up even though it had all the substance of cotton-candy.

The saving grace was that the writing was often fun and the player comments could be downright irreverant. Unfortunately once John Benson took control, the book lost all its fun but still retained its deficiencies. The numbers are meaningless, the analysis non-existent and the text mostly a warmed up serving of material that Benson publishes (and has published) elsewhere.

Unless you really need the official constitution of the Rotisserie Baseball League, leave this book on the shelf. If you want real analysis, good numbers and pithy comments, check out Alex Patton online!

This book is a fun and quick read. As it was written by Cody's adoring little sister, it goes a bit overboard praising his bravery, loyalty, ingenuity, and other attributes. A 19th century work, it is not totally "politically correct." Yet sometimes, Mrs. Wetmore is touchingly sympathetic to Native Americans and Blacks. After this book, I am curious to read a more critical evaluation of Cody's life. He must have been a very brave and intelligent man, but I'd like to know how young he really was when he rode for the pony express, if he actually spied on General Forrest and just how impertinently he spoke to the Prince of Wales.

I liked this book. I have read three pee wee books and this was my second faviort I think. Molly has this club and they have meetings. You have to do different things to get a badge. It's very intresting. If you like this book, then you'll like planet pee wee also.

Peter Bowen has taken stories about Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly and made them his. Follow Yellowstone Kelly as he hunts bears and Indians, takes a hapless band of English nobles on a buffalo hunting trip and fights with the British in the Zulu war. How Yellowstone Kelly came out of all his travails without more than scratches is beyond me, but I guess that is why they are called "tall tales".

This is a good book with some interesting stories but it is a very slow read.

They listened to the critics. The 2003 version of this Baseball annual dedicates more then half the book to detailed analysis on every players, and more in depth review on prospects then they had in the past 2 years. Much less space is wasted on jokes and theory, and much more space is used to provide in depth reviews of every player. If you are looking for a good place to get started for your 2003 roto season, buy the book.

Hard to believe John Benson is the man who once revolutionized a parlor game into a pseudo-science. But he's been phoning it in for years, not even bothering to make minor improvements (like an index) in his player ratings, or including a list of games played by position. Oh, those ratings. He adds a line each year, and the comments have all the precision of the magic-eight ball "if he stays healthy, could be poised for a break out year" and the like. This latest edition of the once useful A-Z guide, combined with the remnants of the classic Glenn Waggoner book, has fewer player comments, fewer useful sections, than any book Benson's ever put out. (Fans of the waggish Waggoner commentary will find it 100% gone -- there's nothing left, nothing, other than a rehash of the rules.)

I do not come to praise JB, I come to bury him. I bought his books for many years out of loyalty to his original insights and methods, even tried his useless web service one year, but this is utterly the last time I will give him money.

There is a voluminous amount of sources for information on fantasy league baseball available to fans, especially with the advent of the Internet. What used to set Rotisserie League Baseball apart from the rest was the irreverent, witty bios on the players. It was the closest thing to laugh-out-loud literature one could find on the National Pastime.

Alas, someone must have approached the authors and told them that the book needed to be more serious in light of previously said sources. The result is a bland concoction of stale statistics and rookie projections. Given the fact that a book needs more time to publish than does a magazine, it is rendered irrelevant.

Said to say, I believe I've purchased my last edition of Rotisserie League Baseball.

If you grab this book expecting to get the latest news on player movement, position battles, and up-to-date player values, you will be disappointed. If you are a person who thinks you know it all about rotisserie baseball strategy, you, too, will be disappointed as this book spends a great deal of time talking strategy for off-season, draft day, and in-season. I personally enjoyed the read on strategy and am constantly reminded of areas I must stay focussed upon. The player profiles are thin and the player dollar values can be debated, but this book is written in the 4th quarter of 2002. We are a long way from Spring Training, so I use this as a starting point in the 2003 season and will use my favorite web-sites and projections for draft preparations. I do recommend this book for the average rotisserie baseball player, as its strategy discussions are valuable, and its player discussions are a good start. For the fanatic, don't buy this book and get disappointed. Instead, look to Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster 2003 Annual or Baseball Prospectus for all the analytical player information you can shake a bat at.

Don't be deceived. This is not the Benson's A TO Z GUIDE of years past, which featured thousands of players (including virtually all minor leaguers with a shot at the majors), along with detailed scouting reports and statistics. Instead, this previously indispensable Roto-resource has been restructured and merged with Glen Waggoner's Roto rulebook. To make room, hundreds of players have been cut and the information pared back. Now, it features only major leaguers and high profile prospects with much briefer scouting reports.

If you'd like to see this book published in the old format next year, make sure you complain to John Benson and Diamond Library Publishers as I have .... In the meantime, you can try Ron Shandler's BASEBALL FORECASTER 2002 ANNUAL REVIEW, or John Sickle's STATS MINOR LEAGUE SCOUTING NOTEBOOK 2002 if you want something that focuses on prospects only. Shandler's analytical tools have probably surpassed those used by Benson's people anyway. Benson seems to be treading water while Shandler's projections and strategy recommendations have been growing more sophisticated.

An exellent book for the real military enthusiast. The book shows what the roll of Force Recon is in todays CORPS and what its future missons will be. There are tons of photos of weapons and equipment to use as reference.

This book is possibly the worst I have ever read. It is written at about a fourth grade level and takes a whole 5 minutes to read cover to cover. I got more info on Marine Force Recon surfing the net then I did by reading this book. Do not buy this book unless your 9-year-old child is interested in becoming a Recon Marine.

This book is a rip off with no more then maybe 50 pages it isnt worth 16bucks! The pics are great but still not enought! dONT BUY IT!

This book is really terrible. You'll get less than 50 pages of nothing for your 23 dollars. The writing level is so low that one might ask if it went through any editing process. My advice is to avoid this book at any cost. I gave it a "1" star for the rating only because I didn't have any choice to give it an even lower rating.