This won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be your typical book review.\u00c2\u00a0 First, this book, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Eastern Colored League\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by David Lawrence and Dom Denaro, is not a new release \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was published in 2003.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the standard hardcover book.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more appropriately, per David Lawrence, a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmonograph\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, with soft cover, totaling 72 pages.<\/p>\n
So why review this short, out-of-date monograph?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an undiscovered treasure of information about the Negro Leagues, about Major League Equivalents (MLE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s), about baseball simulation gaming, and most of all, about answering the question: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How good were the Negro Leagues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a rational, systematic fashion.<\/p>\n
The monograph project started with the authors wanting to improve upon the APBA set of 20 Greatest Negro League Teams by finding a methodology that would allow the Negro League compiled statistics, at least the fragment that has been compiled, to be converted into statistics that would have the Negro League APBA player cards play \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcrealistically\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with MLB APBA cards.<\/p>\n
To get there, the authors present the road map they used.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 They discuss the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Encyclopedia Distortion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that results from absolute comprehensiveness of MLB statistics vs. Negro League statistics.\u00c2\u00a0 The authors lay out some statistical modeling, in very understandable language, along with the assumptions that they make about MLB vs. Negro League baseball, and how they \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfilled in the blanks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for missing data.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a section on why the Eastern Colored League was chosen, and why five years of data was used for the MLE calculations.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 While on the journey to statistical realism, the authors discuss what the Negro Leagues were like \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the 70-game seasons, the short rosters, the thin pitching staffs and the pitching staff usage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and how that all\u00c2\u00a0 impacted their simulation league design.\u00c2\u00a0 Cultural differences that impacted both the play and team construction of the Negro Leagues are also thoroughly discussed.<\/p>\n
After all of the statistical discussion, there are individual chapters on each of the eight major ECL franchises.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Each chapter gives the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s historical W\/L record, information on the home ballpark, a history of the franchise, plus a scouting report of the team roster as designed for the simulation.<\/p>\n
One of the real gems in this treasure chest is the player biography chapter.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition to paragraphs on well-known players such as John Beckwith, Oscar Charleston, and John Henry Lloyd, there are bios on many lesser known players such as Otto Briggs, Richard Gee, and John Harper.<\/p>\n
The book concludes with an Appendix section that contains all of the specific batting statistics, pitching stats, and fielding ratings that were used to build the APBA card set.<\/p>\n
If you have any interest in the Negro Leagues, in statistical player analysis, and\/or in baseball simulation games, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll want to purchase this little \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmonograph\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n
The Eastern Colored League by David Lawrence and Dom Denaro is published by AJ Publishing.\u00c2\u00a0 Copies may be purchased for $9.00 plus shipping by contacting:<\/p>\n
AJ Publishing
\nPO Box 5405
\nSouth San Francisco, CA 94083
\nPhone Toll Free: 1-877-313-7370<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be your typical book review.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4318,4314,4306,4321,4305,4310,4319,4312,4320,4316,4303,4304,1058,4315,4308,4307,4309,4313,4317,4311],"class_list":["post-763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","tag-answering-the-question","tag-apba","tag-baseball-simulation","tag-cultural-differences","tag-eastern-colored-league","tag-game-seasons","tag-hardcover-book","tag-league-statistics","tag-missing-data","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-negro-league-baseball","tag-negro-league-teams","tag-negro-leagues","tag-player-cards","tag-simulation-gaming","tag-simulation-league","tag-staff-usage","tag-systematic-fashion","tag-understandable-language","tag-undiscovered-treasure"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t