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I enjoyed this book very much. Neyer, Bill James' protege, isn't as good a writer as James, but he's still better than most baseball writers. The Big Book is highly enjoyable. Neyer's selections, for the most part, are pretty reasonable. I certainly don't agree with all his choices, but this is an excellent book most baseball fans will find informative and interesting.
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At the risk of being slightly indelicate, this is the perfect "smallest-room-in-the-house" book for the inveterate baseball fan. Whether it's memories from your childhood, thought-provoking fodder for argument or hilarious nicknames (and their provenance) you're looking for, this book has it all and much more. An easier read (and a more manageable size) than some other weightier baseball tomes, it is both a pleasure and an education to read.
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This book, like nearly all of Neyer's writing, was an extremely enjoyable read for the money. (Note: I purchased the book at a discounted price of $11.95.) It can be read in one burst, as I read it, or over a long period of time.
This is an excellent book for the knowledgeable baseball fan who is not statistically inclined. While Neyer uses statistical analysis such as Bill James' Win Shares to create his lineups, he does this in the background. This gives the casual fan the pleasure of reading the book without being concerned about the methodology.
At the same time, however, using Win Shares results in some lineup positioning that might be controversial to the casual fan. For example, the exclusion of Larry Bowa from both of the Phillies very first and second shortstop positions forces the curious reader to question his exclusion. (The answer, given by Neyer, is that Bowa walked infrequently and had few extra-base hits, leading to a lower value to his team than mere batting average would suggest.)
In sum, this is a fun little book that can - but doesn't have to - make you think.
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Anyone who has a knowledge of baseball can easily pick the best very first baseman in New York Yankee history: Lou Gehrig. But how about the best centerfielder? Mantle, or DiMaggio? In my lifetime, I've been a fan of both, so either one might qualify... and yet, whichever you leave out, you're leaving out one of the Yankees' greatest players. By restricting your all-time best Yankee team to one at each position, you're forced to choose, and yet, at other positions (like left field or third base), the best one you can find is nowhere near the SECOND-best centerfielder. (I'm assuming, when I talk of left fielders, you consider Babe Ruth a RIGHT fielder, as Neyer does: he played left on the road and right in Yankee Stadium!)
I'm sure there are similar problems with other teams; I know the Yankees best, so I gave Yankee examples. But this is the problem with any book of this type.
Still, it's fun to look at the lists in this book. I'm not sorry I bought it. 4 stars, yes... but certainly not 5.
Rated by buyers 
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I just bought Rob Neyer's new book called Big Book of Baseball Lineups. I haven't read it all, and I might never do so. I am disapointed with it. In fact I think the name is a misnomer. It should be called the Big Book of Baseball Rosters. Part of my beef with the book is that I feel misled somewhat. I thought the book was going to be a resource type book in which Neyer actually lists batting lineups and does analysis on them. I would have enjoyed that. For starters almost nothing is out there on batting lineups. In terms of historical facts and stats that is probably one of the last frontiers to conquered.
Anyway back to the book. The book is actually a team by team ranking of players by position. Unfortunately though he doesn't show us his formulas or any hard stat type analysis as to why he made his choices. Personally I think Neyer is at his best when he is doing just that. Nor does he do an in-depth list, he only lists the top two players for each position. So you are left wondering many times where he ranks one of your favorite players. Nor does Neyer look at players from the 19th century. That one is not a huge deal but for some teams you are eliminating some great players and history. Neyer also has some other lists. Such as all-rookie, single season, best defensive, worst defensive, homegrown, traded away, flops, washed up, and nickname. Reading that you might think that he has a lot of informative pieces of info to share about a wide variety of players. Again, unfortunately he does not. His analysis for each selection is about one sentence without much detail. In otherwords a "blurb". Again no real analysis, no numbers or history to go with his selections. No real info on other players who did not rank at the top of the list.
In the back of the book he has a huge list of all-time rosters year by year for each team based on primary position. Unfortunately (I'm saying that a lot for this book, which I guess goes to show you how disappointed I am with it) this is not new info nor hard to find. It is done in almost the exact same manner as the one widely available and tons more informative at Baseball-Reference.com. To make up for the somewhat dry content that is the heart of this book Neyer adds extremely short little essays (about 2 paragraphs worth) on each page and a larger essay and the end of each teams section. For the short essay's Neyer has informed the reader that he tried for baseball items that were not column knowledge. So for instance in the Yankee section there is no essay about Ruth. There is an essay about Dimaggio and Mantle but (and this is the problem with almost all of the short essay's) there is very little analysis and his findings are very general and bland. In the Dimaggio&Mantle essay he talks about how in the 50's Dimaggio was ranked as the 4th greatest OF (Mantle wasn't ranked because he had only played 2 seasons), then 25 years later Dimaggio is still ranked as one of the best OF and Mantle is again not mentioned. His analysis is that yesterday we have a better understanding of these players and we know better now. To prove this point he shows there OPS and picks a few categories and tells you how many times the led their league in it. That's all well and good but the problem is he does all that in three sentences. Nor does he look deeper. Why? Because he can't, becuase these essays must fit the small section they are provided with. So for me I felt cheated a little bit by these essays because there were some that left me wanting him to expand more upon but he didn't. For instance in the Cubs section Neyer has an essay about Palmeiro and Grace. In the end he says that it became apparent that there wasn't going to be enough room for both of them (which is probably true) and that the Cubs traded the wrong one away (again it is probably true). But it is the last sentence that leaves me wanting more. Neyer states that because the Cubs felt they needed a "closer" they ended up trading the wrong guy. It is true that Raffy was traded for a closer. But if it was apparent that one of them was going to leave town wouldn't it be more interesting to find out why the Cubs let Raffy go instead of Grace? Again though Neyer cannot elaborate. The essays at the end of each team section is probably the best part of the book because it is basically having 30 or so brand new Neyer articles at your fingertips. Though again Neyer leaves to statistical work on the cutting room floor. In fact to me it seems that Neyer was making a concerted effort to make this book appeal to the most general of baseball fans. He avoided almost completely "stathead" type stats and formulas nor did he every really get down and dirty with the stats. I guess in terms of marketing trying to appeal at the most basic level is good. But I think people like Bill James have proven that statistical type baseball books can sell. Though it is possible and probably true that Neyer doesn't have the credentials yet to write books in the style of James and get them published.
In the end if you haven't already guessed it I did not like this book. Which to me is a shame because I was looking forward to it and had liked his previous work, Baseball Dynasties. It seems to me that Neyer was trying provide a little something for everyone but in the end that only made a book that wasn't very interesting