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"Abstracts from the Abstracts" synopsis and review by Rich Lederer at baseballanalysts.com

1978 Baseball Abstract

115 pages

  1. To The Reader, 1
  2. National League East, 2
  3. NLE Teams, 3
  4. Umpiring Statistics, 20
  5. Legend, 21
  6. National League West, 22
  7. NLW Teams, 23
  8. National League Monthly Leaders, 40
  9. Essay: On All These Numbers, 42
    1. Month by Month Breakdowns (Surprisingly Informative), 42
    2. Team Age Analysis (Intriguing), 43
    3. Defensive Efficiency Record (Excellent), 44
    4. Come From Behind Records (Surprising), 44
    5. Opposition Errors (Very Puzzling), 44
    6. Opposition Stolen Base Records (Satisfactory), 45
    7. Pitcher Run Support (It's There), 45
    8. Pitcher DP Support (Very Interesting), 45
    9. Attendance By Pitchers (Disappointing), 46
    10. Game Times (Significant), 48 (there is no page 47)
    11. Three Hit Games Record (echh!!), 48
    12. Umpiring Statistics (Very Tenuous), 49
    13. Isolated Power (Correct), 49
    14. Range Factors (Correct), 49
  10. American League East, 52
  11. ALE Teams, 53
  12. Stolen Bases Against Catchers, 73
  13. Recent Leaders and Age/Leaders Chart, 76
  14. American League West, 77
  15. ALW Teams, 78
  16. American League Monthly Leaders, 98
  17. American League Leaders/Lasters, 99
  18. Essay: On Ratings and Records, 100
  19. Career Records in Seasonal Notation, 104
  20. Range Factors, 112
  21. Isolated Power, 114

For Each Division:

Monthly W-L records for each team
Team Age Analysis
Fielding records (PM, POP, FA, OR, DER)
Come from behind records, behind by 1-6 runs
Opposition errors by position.

For each team:

Monthly batting line for each player
RHP/LHP splits for switch hitters
Home/Road splits for some batters, day/night, grass/turf
Runs, runs per game by month for the team
Game time and ability to hold runners rating for each starter
Run support, DP support, Opponent SB, game time and attendance for each starter
Stats for hitters compiled in 3-hit games

For the most part, the team articles are about the team and its players, with none of the hidden studies which show up in later editions of the Abstract.