BBM 2004 Baseball Record Book Released

What a joyous Christmas present.

Merry Christmas all - Shalom.

I was filling out the questionnaire card that came with my 2004 Record Book when I turned it over and, what did I see? A reservation request form for The Official Baseball Encyclopedia 2004! Yes, this confirms rumors that it will be published again this coming year. It states that it's the fourth printing, the first in 6 years. The reservation form further states that it will be 16,000 yen plus tax and will be released at the end of May, 2004.

2004 looks to be a year of data entry.

Michael, is there any way you can scan that reservation form for the encyclopedia and email it to me as a jpg or pdf file? That's one book I really want to get my hands on!

Jim Albright

OK. Here is the image with my information blotted out. (Sorry, I already filled it in. You're lucky it started raining last night, preventing me from dropping it in the post.) While it says that postage will be paid by them, I think that that only applies to original cards and only within Japan. The word "JAPAN" should be added to the addressee on the top half to help out the USPO.

I don't know how they'll react to a request from over-seas, but I imagine that it'll be more than 210 yen postage (as the postcard states). I've heard from Japanese in the U.S. who have had trouble getting subscriptions to Shukan Baseball in the past as Baseball Magazine Sha (aka BBM) didn't seem to understand why anyone in another country would order their magazine. A global market does not appear to be on their minds.

Hope this works out.

I have the feeling from your comments and the way the postcard is done (i.e. no payment info sought) that this way probably won't work. But, keep us posted on when the book actually comes in -- there are Japanese bookstores which will send it overseas, as my copy of the 1998 encyclopedia proves.

Jim Albright

I am a big baseball fan and have been looking for this type of encyclopedia for 3 years or so. Does anyone know where I can order this Encyclopedia.

You can probably get a copy of the 1998 Encyclopedia from Amazon Japan right now, but I'd suggest if you've waited this long, you wait for the 2004 version in May. Use the search term "official baseball encyclopedia." I don't know how much you'll have to battle through the Japanese in ordering, but there is a web page that discussed ordering from them that I can point you to if you need it.

More to the point is, if the 2004 encyclopedia is like the most recent edition from 1998, unless you can read Japanese names, you're going to need a way to figure out what they are. I did it through the 1997 season with Dan Johnson's Statistical Handbook of Japanese Baseball, which lists most of the basic hitting stats for every player who qualified for a batting title in every season from 1936 fall through 1997. I can give you more hints as to how I managed it if you are truly interested. I've compiled my own list of which page various players appear on in the 1998 edition, and will eventually get it updated to the 2004 version. But I wouldn't count on my getting that project done until the end of 2004 at the earliest. Michael's data on players on this site can be used to ID players playing from 1996 on.

Note that the book will set you back $125 or so, plus international postage, and if you have to supplement it with Johnson's book, there's another $50 plus. If having the book is worth that much to you (it is to me), and you have the Japanese language skills or determination to figure out how to use the book, go for it. If not, I'd suggest saving your money.

If the Japanese encyclopedia is too daunting, Carlos Bauer's Historical Register of Japanese Baseball (I know I've got the title wrong) probably still can be ordered directly from its publisher. It has data in English through the 1999 season, though there are a few errors in it, mostly in team names and the like. That book will only set you back $25-30, but is far from comprehensive. Only players who won batting or ERA titles or met other career marks (a .270 avg in a minimum # of games, for example) are listed. I can provide more data on how to acquire that book if you wish.

Jim Albright

Jim and all,

Unless something has changed within the week, you cannot get the '98 Japanese Encyclopedia from Amazon-Japan or anywhere else on the net. I've been trying to get it for 3 years. You can, however get the '86 edition for 200,000 yen.

[From westbaystars: 20-man yen? Is there one too many digits there? Or is it considered a collector's item?]

I didn't try to buy it, but I believe it was listed (I didn't check it further) when I was looking to see if 2004 was listed.

Jim Albright

Believe it or not, the book being discussed actually does cost 200,000 yen. The title is "Nihon Pro Yakyu Kiroku Daizenshu: 1 Rigu Jidai (1936-1949)," and it contains the box scores of all Japanese Professional Baseball League games played from 1936 to 1949. It contains plenty of errors, and no information about seasons past 1949. But needless to say, it required a monumental effort, and is very useful. The book's ISBN is 4-583-02533-5, and it was published by Baseball Magazine Sha.

Since I thought it might be helpful to many readers, I have provided ISBNs of books being discussed in this thread:

• 1991 Official Baseball Encyclopedia (first edition, in Japanese)--4-9900152-0-7
• 1994 Official Baseball Encyclopedia (second edition, in Japanese)--4-9900152-1-5
• 1998 Official Baseball Encyclopedia (third edition, in Japanese)--4-583-034822
• Carlos Bauer's The All-Time Japanese Baseball Register (in English)--1-893392-04X
• My book, Japanese Baseball: A Statistical Handbook (in English)--0-7864-0678-X

Upcoming books:

• Robert Whiting's new book, "The Meaning of Ichiro: the New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime" (ISBN 0446531928), is due out in March, according to Barnes & Noble.
• Jerry Beach's "Godzilla Takes the Bronx: The Inside Story of Hideki Matsui" (ISBN 1589791134) is due out in April, says Barnes & Noble.

Also, every 10 years, Baseball Magazine Sha has been issuing a large volume with plenty of photographs and statistics from each year of Japanese baseball history. If the publisher stays true to form, an edition will appear in 2004, commemorating the upcoming 70th year of Japanese professional baseball.

- Upcoming books: Robert Whiting's new book, "The Meaning of Ichiro: the New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime," is due out in March, according to Barnes & Noble.

That's great news. Can hardly wait to read it.

I found a Japanese book store based in New England on the web which is willing to order the book. [Link - e-mail: sasuga at sasugabooks d0t com] I'd recommend inquiring about the "Official Baseball Encyclopedia 2004" and let them know a customer of theirs suggested you contact them for the book. You will pay their profit and the costs of getting it to you, but if you don't want to struggle with Amazon Japan, it may be worth it to you.

Jim Albright

I second Jim's recommendation. I have purchased the yearly record book through them for each of the last five years (thanks Garland-san for the original heads-up). They have been completely reliable and very helpful with many requests I have made to them.

For those who are interesting in The Offical Baseball Encyclopedia 2004, Baseball Magazine Sha has it listed on its web site (link is in Japanese) [Link].

Amazon Japan also has it listed (again, the link is in Japanese, and the title has a typo "Offical Baseball..." [Link].

The encyclopedia has a listed price of 16,800 yen, so it's pretty pricy. Hopefully Amazon Japan will have a discounted price when the publication date nears.

BTW, I used Amazon Japan to order some Pro Yakyu books last month and I highly recommend it. The express shipping to the U.S. was high (2,700 yen, 1,500 yen more than the standard shipping), but I got the books within 2 days after they were shipped; so if you're ordering a lot of books, definitely go with express shipping. The final price per book is about the same as the listing prices at Sasuga.

For those of you who have the previous editions of this encyclopedia, is it similar to the BBM Record Book? Does it provide the individual game stats too?

- For those of you who have the previous editions of this encyclopedia, is it similar to the BBM Record Book? Does it provide the individual game stats too?

I don't have the Record Book, so I cannot answer that part. It is really very much like the old MacMillan encyclopedias, to get the best analogy I can manage. Individual games stats are not included to my knowledge, though maybe some of that is after the Japan Series material -- my Japanese isn't good enough, and I can find what I do want without poking around in those areas, so I don't.

Jim Albright

I ordered the 2004 Encyclopedia from a bookstore here in Yokosuka. They said it would be out on/about June 30th.

I picked up my copy July 7th from our local bookstore!

Did the 1998 Official Baseball Encyclopedia contain any info WRT sayonara hits? I'm looking for year-by-year details, and/or career totals by player. If not, can anyone point me to another source for 1936-to-date?

My 2003 BBM Baseball Record Book has the '02 details; not sure how many years BBM has published those, or if they had the sayonara hits detail each year. Appreciate any info on this.

Thanks, and happy new year to all!

- I'll start working on double checking the data I've entered from other sources for 2003 and get the 2003 fielding data entered.

When you have time, can I please get caught stealing numbers for the following players?

Abe [Giants, Buffaloes]
Fukudome
Iguchi
Imaoka
Iwamura
Johjima
Matsui
Matsunaka
Ogasawara
Takahashi [Giants]

I'd like to fine tune my runs created numbers. I can post the results if you'd like.

[Note by Admin: They've all been entered.]

Wow, quick work, Mr. Westbay! All the fielding stats already seem to be on the site. Will the remaining Caught Stealing data follow shortly? Nice work, as always.

Current status on 2003 data entry:

• Completed fielding and catching for all 12 teams.
• Completed batting (adding caught stealing, intentional BB, and LOB) for Daiei, Seibu, and Kintetsu.
• Activated batting record display for all new 2003 players on Daiei.

As you can see, I still have a long way to go.

Considering that you've only had the source material for the new data for 10 days, I'd say you've certainly come a long way already. I know I wouldn't have been able to copy all that in so quickly.

A few requests for 2003 stats:

• Fielding and CS stats for Ken Yamada
• CS stats for Alex Ochoa, Ivan Cruz, Andy Sheets, Jimmy Hurst, Masakazu Fukukawa, Todd Betts, Tyrone Woods, Shunsuke Hara, Steve Cox, Shuichi Murata, Chris Latham, Shogo Kimura

I should have the 2003 Japanese season ready for a freeware simulator by this weekend in case anyone would be interested in replaying the past year.

As a reminder to everyone, on April 1st, I will be publishing a new web site with stats for every retired offensive player from 1936 on. In addition, I will have daily historical data (in fact, I was just working on that this morning). I'm inputting stuff like a man possessed, so by the end of the year I hope to have all retired pitcher stats up, too, along with records. That's why I haven't been writing articles much lately. The daily articles will resume very soon, hopefully by the end of next week if I make the progress I anticipate on the other material.

And the encyclopedia coming out again is wonderful news. I really need that, so I will be ordering one.

Mine arrived today as well. And all I can say is, Wow!

Features I wanted: Furigana for all the names and an index.

Features included: Furigana for all the names and an index.

On top of that, there's Nihon Series stats for each year a player went, and career all star stats for those players. There's a huge section of Top 50 categories with some career stats for all players over a certain number (800 or more hits, 70 or more home runs, etc.).

In short, this book will give me years of data entry enjoyment.

I got mine in my East Coast USA home this week. It looks good. It would really be great if someone could translate the names in the index into English and post the file, because then I'd have access to every player, not just those who qualified for batting titles.

Jim Albright

How much value does the new Encyclopedia have for someone who doesn't read Japanese? Is it easy to decipher the names? I assume the numbering system is the same as in English and most other languages? Also, does it include fielding statistics?

- Is it easy to decipher the names?

Can you read Hiragana and Katakana? These are the two pronuciation alphabets (52 characters apiece). If you can read them, you'll have no problem finding players.

Where it will get more difficult is in knowing what the columns stand for. But you can compare a known player in the Encyclopedia with his player profile here on this site and "decipher" the headers that way. Make a strip of paper with the translated headers from this site, then hold it over the pitching and/or batting page headers.

- I assume the numbering system is the same as in English and most other languages?

Correct, to an extent. The numbers of games played, at bats, etc. are all Aribic numbers (same as used in North America and most of the world). Games played at first, second, and third base positions are listed in the Kanji form of the numbers 1, 2, and 3 (with a circle around the number).

- Also, does it include fielding statistics?

Not beyond total errors for a year and number of appearances at each position by year. Fielding chances and/or errors per position are not included. This is probably the biggest deficiency of the book.

- Can you read Hiragana and Katakana?

Nope. I imagine that guides are available online. I guess I'll have to learn the basics of those alphabets.

- Make a strip of paper with the translated headers from this site, then hold it over the pitching and/or batting page headers.

Sounds like a good plan.

- [It does not have fielding stats] beyond total errors for a year and number of appearances at each position by year.

That would actually be sufficient for my purposes. In addition to getting to learn more about Japanese baseball history, I'd love to input some older seasons into a baseball simulator and the fielding statistics used are rather rudimentary (either errors or fielding percentage, plus games by position).

I think I'll wind up ordering the book later this week.

I know it's a bit late, and everyone's interested in the Series, but I got my 2004 Encyclopedia today, and I was highly impressed. In addition to all the great information, it's just a really nicely put together book, a pleasure to hold and peruse.

At $160, it seems a bit steep. And yet I know that if I was still in Japan I would have shelled out the ichi-man go-sen en with hardly a second thought.