This issue in Baseball Digest

About 30 years ago or so, I really used to look forward to the March and April issues of Baseball Digest. The former was the annual issue devoted to the new crop of rookies, the later the yearly “data” issue, containing rosters, predictions, statistics, etc. Of course, “back in the day,” i.e., before the Internet, this was pretty state of the art. Nowadays, it’s old news before it arrives in your mailbox.

This year, BD combines the two months into a single issue, eliminating the rookie roundup, alas. As for the rest, similar to my remarks about Athlon’s baseball annual, a fair amount of the information is already outdated.

The feature stories include:

An opinion piece by William Kuenster, long time editor of the magazine, on “Major Leaguer Player records Dishonored by Steroid Users.” Not to cast any aspersions — one can kind of get a feeling by the picture that accompanies the piece — but you can tell that Mr. Kuesnter is of a certain age simply by the use of the word “dishonor”; it’s not a word younger writers might employ in a case like this.
League previews, including predictions. In the American League, Paul Hoynes picks Boston, Cleveland and Los Angeles/Aneheim as division winners, with Detroit as the wild card. Joe Rutter writes the National League preview, choosing Philadelphia, Chicago, and Arizona for division crowns, with San Diego as the wild card. Of course, this all came out before Johan Santana joined the Mets. I wonder what, if any, difference that would make to Mr. Rutter.
a story on promising rookies with a sidebar on those expected to make an impact this season, including Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox, who already has a no-hitter to his credit; teammate Jacoby Ellsbury; Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain; Cubs import Kosuke Fukudome; and Reds hurler Homer Bailey, who has a great name if nothing else.
A profile of Hall of Fame inductee Goose Gossage
A piece on players who fell just short of major career milestones
A necrology of baseball personnel who died during 2007
Hitters who gained and lost the most on their batting average from 2006 to 2007
A list of transactions from the end of the 2007 season through Jan. 25, 2008
Team rosters, schedules, and key historical stats

Of course, one of the best recurring features is the letter section. Those of you “of a certain age” might recall the movie Desk Set, a Spencer Tracy-Katherine Hepburn classic in which Hepburn plays the head of research department whose staff will be replaced by a computer! Imagine. Of course, she and her crew can lay their hands on any bit of information requested, while the computer blows its circuits. Well, the staff of BD is kind of like that, able to answer the most arcane queries. Kudos.