Scouting Books

The bottom line on this book is that it's Tom Lemming's story, that is, it isn't as much about college football recruiting as it is about Lemming. Through it he describes who he is and how he came to be in college recruiting.

Lemming felt that he needed to set the record straight about himself, and what he does that's different than [...] - the other big-name recruiting services.

It's interesting in that Lemming has a decent story about himself to tell, but you shouldn't read this book believing that you're going to learn about player evaluations, how to find a good college athlete or any of that.

It might be helpful if you are a recruit, a coach, or the parent of a recruit as Lemming does provides tips about what to do (and what not to do).

I am bit shocked that any serious journalist could be ignorant enough to write a book with Lemming. Lemming has been a joke in the recruiting world for about a decade now. That is when it started becoming apparent that Lemming has no ability to evaluate talent (he gets his evaluations from others for the most part) and he is unethical to say the least. He has no background in college admissions or administration yet he thinks giving advice to high school kids on admissions and academics is right up his alley of expertise. Choosing a college for a high school student is one of the major life decisions. Throw in football etc. and it can get complicated and confusing. Any worthwhile advisor would tell a student to find a good fit and to try and envision if they would feel comfortable away from home for 4 or 5 years. It has come out over and over through the years that Lemming has tried to push kids to one school over another and he uses skewed, fraudulent information to do so. Notre Dame isn't for every kid, Tom.

Oh and I find it comical that anyone would try to convince you that driving across the country every year interviewing players and coaches helps you to evaluate prep talent. If that technique worked I think college coaches may have tried it. Instead they watch film, lots of it for many long hours. Most of the players they offer scholarships to have yet to see the coaches in person and the ones that do usually attended a football camp where they could display their athletic ability.

That's okay Tom, enjoy that cuppa joe with those high school coaches! Amazing evaluation!

In closing, know that I am a college administrator with past experience in scouting high school players for a major BCS school. One national title ring in my safety deposit box.

A neat account of Lemming's life on the road prospecting players... but I was let down with the lack of detail on the evaluation methodologies themselves. Perhaps that's his secret sauce, and I respect that, but I hoped to come away with more of an ability to myself recognize or at least describe, the critical talents of players at each position on the gridiron.

If you believe everything in baseball can be reduced to a statistic, this isn't the book for you. If, however, you're interested in true scouting reports about players' strengths and weaknesses, this book is a must. It's the first source I go to when my team makes a player acquisition, and most of the time the scouting report is quite accurate. I've been reading the annual editions of the Scounting Notebook for years, and it's the first - and often only - major league baseball book I buy each season(there also is a Minor League Scouting Notebook for those of us who follow the minors closely). The only improvement I would make is to increase the number of in-depth scouting reports included.

Does not supply the type of information that any serious fan wants. Almost like reading the back of a baseball card. The
authors do not reach for the type of info the serious seamhead wants. Typical comments such as "has a good glove" abound. Don't
waste your time.

I thought this was going to be up to date and have the kind of detailed scouting insights one does not normally hear or interesting projections. Instead, it was woefully behind the times: the section on the Red Sox had at least seven players who have not been on the team for half a year. And the analysis of each player was very thin: the sort of stuff any serious fan already knows and not even as informative as you can get for free on espn.com.

A to Z Thumbnail Sketches of all MLB players is a more appropriate title. This book falls well short of the other John Benson books and frankly I'm surprised he has his name on it. The comments written regarding each player could have easily come from a casual observer and surely there were no scouts involved in the making of this book. Its great for the beginner fan just getting involved but most of the bios and forecast seem like something right out of the team's annual player guide. A far better guide of all players is Sheehan's annual Baseball Prospectus and sells for less. It's published about a month later than Benson's book and includes comments regarding most of the off season trades and free agent signings. For the advanced fan my advice is wait for Sheehan's book.

This book has promise: bios on a wide variety of players, from the Majors to even a few guys in college or indy ball. But, the assessments occasionally contain inaccuracies or outdated information that makes this book a secondary source, at best. The Baseball Prospectus offers a better (albeit more sabremetrically oriented - which isn't everyone's cup of tea) look at a player's talent level - the STATS books are better at describing their tools. Still, worthwhile if you buy multiple books of this nature per year (as I do).

Not many people can get more complete, concise, and detailed scouting reports than those contained in this book. Every year, this relates (almost) all useable info about every player who's got a chance to play in the big leagues, plus big prospects still in the works. Any baseball fan would like this.

The scouting reports for all the players can be found on ESPN.com for free. Don't waste your money on this.

This still is a good source of information about the skills set of nearly every player who appeared in an ML uniform last season, in articles ranging from a full page to a paragraph in length. (Key players get longer articles, platoon types, middle relievers, and back-of-the-rotation starters get shorter articles, and roster fillers get the paragraphs.) Each team's top five to ten prospects also get a few words.

The formula has changed for the worse this year, however, in that the "Stars, Bums, and Sleepers" and Top 50 Prospects lists are gone. In the former, STATS rated players, by position, as up-and-coming, steady, and due-for-a-fall, which might be of value to someone drafting a rotisserie baseball team. In the latter, Baseball America's Jim Callis put together a nice ranking of farm players that always was a bit contrarian compared to some of the other sources most often used by fantasy baseball players. Without those sections, the scouting material just doesn't offer enough, by itself, to justify its hefty price, as some of the annuals appearing at newsstands each spring cover the same waterfront , if not quite in the same depth.

I wove this book and my parents are so happy that this is the way I found out tat Swanta Cwaus was weal.

What a shock to be listening to my second grader read this book aloud and realize the author is going to have one of her characters inform another character that Santa Claus is not real. Luckily I was able to distract her, get the book away from her and get it returned to the library. I would have much preferred to throw it in the trash to save other families from having their very young children find out from a book that Santa is not real.

If this is how you'd like your child to find out there is no such thing as Santa Claus, if you'd like to teach your child that it is ok to laugh at other kids for what they believe in, if referring to other kids as "dumb" or "stupid" is how you'd like them to treat people, then this book is for you. For me, I was appalled at the escalating references to there not being a Santa Claus. I was hoping as the book progressed that tone would change but it didn't. After reading a couple of chapters with my daughter I fast forworded to the end for the shocking conclusion. Needless to say, the book disappeared from her bookshelf without being finished. Shame on Judy Delton and the publisher. Now I have an eight year old daughter questioning Christmas and Santa Clause. A children's Christmas book should not be the way your child finds out there is no Santa Claus. This book should have been titled a "Pee Wee Christmas Dream Killer." At least we'd have some forwarning.

I am definitly not a fan of the PEE WEE SCOUTS series. I would bet that the author doesn't have children. These books are full of mean thoughts and actions that I certainly don't want my children exposed to. In Pee Wee Scouts Peanut Butter Pilgrims, all a character (Sonny) needs to do to take a live turkey home from the Turkey farm is to throw a temper tantrum until his mother gives in. In this particular book, children are told that there is not Santa Claus and made fun of if they DO believe in Santa Claus. THIS IS A 3rd GRADE READING LEVEL BOOK! What in the world was Judy Delton thinking when she wrote this? What was the publisher thinking when they published it? Horribly, this was a required reading for my 3rd grader. THANKFULLY, I was there reading with her and able to edit out the unveiling of the "truth". I would NEVER EVER reccommend Judy Delton's books to ANYONE, EVER!

This book is HORRIBLE. It very plainly states that "there isn't any real santa claus. Your mom gives you the things on your list". The author also has kids making fun of another child who still believes in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. The children in the book are seven, the same age as my daughter. I just can't believe that a book my first grader can read would flat out say there is no Santa Claus. Stay away from this book if you want your child to still believe in any childhood magic!

This book is not a very good bokk but it is ok. Basically what happens is Ned gets lost and the scout cubs find him when he really wasn't lost at all. He just went to the haunted housse and waited for thre scouts to get there.

This is apparently a photo copy of the original that is bound as a book. The copy is not enhanced so it looks like someone used a library copier and bound the results. It appears the original was in a 5 by 7 format and thus the copy has 2 to 3 inch margins. A good book produced in an inappropriate format.

When I used to go to hockey practices, this was one of my best friends. I used to study it like many other autograph hounds I knew, so as to avoid the embarrassment of not knowing who someone was! It was a great tool to have. Every year, Ross puts a revised edition out. The last two years I didn't buy it, but this year decided I should.

To my utter dismay, she still has pictures from 1995 and even earlier! The stats, etc are alright, but the book is worthless. I could just go by my 1995 book! I really wish Ross would get some new pictures in here. That's what most people I know use it for! Until she does, I really don't see the value of buying another "updated" copy. Very poor.

Soldier in Buckskin is a good portral of the life of Kit Carson. However i think there are many more entertaining westerns out there. But still a good story.

Too much attention is focused on quantity of players, and too little about the quality of information given. To call some of the players in the book marginal would be playing them a high compliment. Occasionally, the information is insightful (for instance, the person writing about the players in the Phillies organization), but too often the capsules are void of any useful info. We are informed that Matt Clement (Padres) is worth watching because he struck out a lot of batters. Oh. Thanks. How hard does he throw? What pitches does he throw? Maybe next year someone involved with this book can tell me. --David Macia