Want To Record Baseball Betting Info?
By Howard Schwartz

Robert Ross, James Plataniotis and Chris White each have a a record-keeper-schedule combination book for the baseball handicapper in need of products that are setup to include important data.

Ross' book is called The Baseball Bettors' Record Keeper (186 pages, 11x8 plastic spiralbound, $29.95). Ross presents his information via the index, which begins with Atlanta and ends with San Francisco in the National League, then goes from Anaheim to Toronto in the American League. (For the Braves as an example, we see their first game is April 1 at home versus the Phillies. There's room to record the money line; total; final score, the names of the two starting pitchers for each team; the over-under result; and there is room for notes on walks, strikeouts, number of pitches made, who the umpire was, etc. You can see if a team is home (H) or away (A) and each team has a page for each month of the season.)

The book is perfect for that disorganized bettor who wants to see how often a team goes over or under a total number or how often a team winw against lefthanders or at night. You'll be able to customize what statistics or data you believe are important, such earned runs allowed or bullpen support or if a team won as a dog or favorite. Overall, Ross has come up with a tremendous time-saver and reference resource not only for use this season, but also for reference in future years.

Plataniotis has produced his Workbook for the Baseball Handicapper (180 pages, 11x8 plastic spiralbound, $29.95) that allows you to see home games easily by a form of shading that listing each time it occurs. He has room to record the money line; total; starters for both teams and how many innings they pitched, hits allowed, earned runs allowed, walks and strikeouts; for the home starter, there's room to list number of pitches made and number of strikeouts. You find room here to list number of hits for the home team, then number of men left on base. It's similar to Ross' book, but some slight variations.

The book by White is titled Pro Baseball Workbook 2002 (63 pages, 11x8 plastic spiralbound, $19.95). It too lists all 32 baseball team, but in a more compact format. There's the date and location of where each game will be played; the starter for the home team only; the line and total; final score and whether the home team is won or lost. White compresses his book by having one team's entire season on two pages (April to June on one page, from July to September on another).

None of the three record-keepers tell you if a game is on a Saturday, Sunday or what day of the week and none tells you if the game is on grass or artificial turf.

However, you can easily figure out a way to include that with some kind of symbol in the margins. Open dates are listed and you'll be able to see the All Star Game break (July 9) in each book.

Overall, there's something for everyone who is serious about keeping records in baseball.

These books are available from Gambler's Book Club (Gambler's Book Shop) by calling the store at 1-800-522-1777 from 9 to 5 Pacific time Monday through Saturday. Use MasterCard, VISA or Discover cards (no American Express accepted) or go to the store web site at gamblersbookclub.com where you may also order using a credit card. Orders usually shipped the next working day. If you wish to order by mail, add $6.50 for postage and handling in your check or money order. The store is now in its 38th year of business. The web site has the store's complete 80-page catalog on it (which includes 1,000 books in 30 areas of gambling, plus videos and computer software). You can ask for a hard copy of the catalog by phone or internet. The store is located at 630 South 11th St., Las Vegas, NV 89101, a mile from Downtown, two miles from where The Strip begins, a block off Charleston Boulevard, a block west of Maryland Parkway.