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47-474: The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is a reference book written by Bill James featuring an overview of professional baseball decade by decade, along with rankings of the top 100 players at each position. The original edition was published in 1985 by Villard Books , updated in paperback in 1988, then followed by The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001. In the 2001 edition, James introduced his win shares system, an attempt to quantify

94-494: A balanced and fair take on this complicated and important issue." In 2004, Rose admitted publicly that he had bet on baseball and confirmed the Dowd Report was correct. James remained steadfast, continuing to insist that the evidence available to Dowd at the time was insufficient to reach the conclusion that it did. On November 4, 2011, Jerry Sandusky was indicted for committing sex crimes against young boys, which brought

141-595: A degree in education. An aspiring writer and obsessive fan, James began writing baseball articles after leaving the United States Army in his mid-twenties. Many of his first baseball writings came while he was doing night shifts as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery. Unlike most writers, his pieces did not recount games in epic terms or offer insights gleaned from interviews with players. A typical James piece posed

188-609: A formula for what he calls a "safe lead" in the sport. Michael Lewis , in his 2003 book Moneyball , dedicates a chapter to James's career and sabermetrics as background for his portrayal of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics' unlikely success. James was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary 's Shrine of the Eternals in 2007. James was profiled on 60 Minutes on March 30, 2008, in his role as

235-399: A fraction of a player's offensive contribution. (The runs-created statistic plays a similar role vis-à-vis the traditional RBI .) Some of his contributions to the language of baseball, like the idea of the " defensive spectrum ", border on being entirely non-statistical. Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane began applying sabermetric principles to running his low-budget team in

282-429: A player's overall contributions to his team, which he used as part of his player ranking system. A revised edition was published in paperback in 2003. This baseball -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a non-fiction book related to sports is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949)

329-629: A question ( e.g., "Which pitchers and catchers allow runners to steal the most bases?"), and then presented data and analysis that offered an answer. Editors considered James's pieces so unusual that few believed them suitable for their readers. In an effort to reach a wider audience, James began self-publishing an annual book titled The Bill James Baseball Abstract , beginning in 1977. The first edition, titled 1977 Baseball Abstract: Featuring 18 categories of statistical information that you just can't find anywhere else , presented 68 pages of in-depth statistics compiled from James's study of box scores from

376-482: A sabermetric pioneer and Red Sox advisor. In 2010, he was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. James made a guest appearance on The Simpsons 2010 episode " MoneyBART ". He claimed "I've made baseball as fun as doing your taxes." Steven Soderbergh 's planned film adaptation of Moneyball would have featured an animated version of James as a "host". This script

423-575: A team could gain up to 250 runs a season, a number which modern methods indicate is an extreme overestimate. Years later, sabermetrician Pete Palmer and sports historian John Thorn asserted that their computer simulations using Cook's lineup modifications actually slightly reduce the number of runs a team scored. Bill James would later write in his 1981 Baseball Abstract that "Cook knew everything about statistics and nothing at all about baseball—and for that reasons, all of his answers are wrong, all of his methods useless." Earnshaw Cook also dismissed

470-559: A very, very minimum, 200 major league teams. Nonetheless, in the context of James's association with the Red Sox front office and baseball's checkered labor history (including alleged collusion amongst the owners in the previous offseason to curb free agent salaries ), the tweets were taken by many as inflammatory. Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark called James's comments "reckless and insulting". Other active or former players also objected. James told

517-528: Is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he named sabermetrics after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), scientifically analyzes and studies baseball, often through the use of statistical data, in an attempt to determine why teams win and lose. In 2006, Time named him in

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564-425: Is paramount: he was among the first to emphasize the importance of adjusting traditional statistics for park factors and to stress the role of luck in a pitcher's win–loss record. Many of his statistical innovations are arguably less important than the underlying ideas. When he introduced the notion of secondary average , it was as a vehicle for the then-counterintuitive concept that batting average represents only

611-741: The Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. In 2003, James was hired as senior advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox and worked for the team for 17 years during which they won four World Series championships. James was born in Holton, Kansas . He joined the United States Army in 1971. After his service, he graduated from the University of Kansas in 1973 with degrees in English and economics, and in 1975 with

658-568: The Baseball Abstract garnered respect for James's work, including a very favorable review by Daniel Okrent in Sports Illustrated . New annual editions added essays on teams and players. By 1982 sales had increased tenfold, and a media conglomerate agreed to publish and distribute future editions. While writers had published books about baseball statistics before (most notably Earnshaw Cook 's Percentage Baseball , in

705-472: The Dowd Report , which was an investigation (commissioned by baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti ) on the gambling activities of Pete Rose . James reproached commissioner Giamatti and his successor, Fay Vincent , for their acceptance of the Dowd Report as the final word on Rose's gambling. (James's attitude on the matter surprised many fans, especially after the writer had been deeply critical of Rose in

752-565: The Freeh report was released, charging Paterno and three other University officials with covering up reports of sexual assaults and enabling the attacker to prey on other children for more than a decade, often in Penn State facilities. Soon afterwards, during an interview on ESPN radio, James claimed that the Freeh report's characterizations of Paterno as a powerful figure were wrong, and that it

799-489: The New York Times : I don't know that the idea that the game endures and we're all just passing through it is inherently an offensive idea. But if I phrased it in an offensive way, that was not my intention. The Red Sox responded by issuing a statement saying: Bill James is a consultant to the Red Sox. He is not an employee, nor does he speak for the club. His comments on Twitter were inappropriate and do not reflect

846-482: The Penn State child sex abuse scandal to national attention. On December 11, 2011, James published an article called "The Trial of Penn State", depicting an imaginary trial in which Penn State defended itself against charges of "acting rashly and irresponsibly in the matter of Joe Paterno , in such a manner that [they] defamed, libeled and slandered Paterno, unfairly demolishing his reputation." On July 12, 2012,

893-566: The 1960s), few had ever reached a mass audience. Attempts to imitate James's work spawned a flood of books and articles that continues to this day. In 1988, James ceased writing the Abstract , citing workload-related burnout and concern about the volume of statistics on the market. He has continued to publish hardcover books about baseball history, which have sold well and received admiring reviews. These books include three editions of The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (1985, 1988, 2001,

940-415: The 2004 postseason. During his tenure with the Red Sox, James published several new sabermetric books (see #Bibliography below). Indeed, although James was typically tight-lipped about his activities on behalf of the Red Sox, he is credited with advocating some of the moves that led to the team's first World Series championship in 86 years, including the signing of non-tendered free agent David Ortiz ,

987-606: The Computer , in which Cook describes many pieces of strategy his computer simulations suggest. Cook never worked for a Major League baseball team; he described the relationship between himself and baseball franchises in the forward to Percentage Baseball : "I would be willing to go as far as pretending to understand why none of four competent and successful executives of second-division ball clubs were most reluctant to employ probabilistic methods of any description... but they did not even want to hear about them!" Though Cook himself

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1034-553: The Red Sox, saying that he had "fallen out of step with the organization" and added that he hadn't earned his paycheck with the Red Sox for the last couple of years. During his time with the team, Bill James received four World Series rings for the team's 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 World Series titles. James has written two true crime books, Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence (2011) and - together with his daughter Rachel McCarthy James - The Man from

1081-546: The Train (2017). The latter is an attempt to link scores of murders of entire families in the early 20th century United States to a single perpetrator. Those murders include the Villisca axe murders . The Jameses propose a solution to the murders based on the signature elements these killings share with each other. James is a fan of the University of Kansas men's basketball team and has written about basketball. He has created

1128-402: The abilities of that individual and used him in suboptimal circumstances. He wrote that it is "far better to use your relief ace when the score is tied, even if that is the seventh inning, than in the ninth inning with a lead of two or more runs." The Red Sox in 2003 staffed their bullpen with several marginally talented relievers. Red Sox manager Grady Little was never fully comfortable with

1175-426: The company James joined, provided data and analysis to every major media outlet before being acquired by Fox Sports in 2001. Among the statistical innovations attributable to James are: Although James may be best known as an inventor of statistical tools, he has often written on the limitations of statistics and urged humility concerning their place amid other kinds of information about baseball. To James, context

1222-483: The early 2000s, to notable effect, as chronicled in Michael Lewis ' book Moneyball . In 2003, James was hired by a former reader, John Henry , the new owner of the Boston Red Sox . One point of controversy was in handling the relief pitching of the Red Sox. James had previously published analysis of the use of the closer in baseball, and had concluded that the traditional use of the closer both overrated

1269-586: The effects of player handedness (thus, condemning the use of the platoon system ), which even contemporary studies pointed out to be erroneous. Cook did, however, uncover several important pieces of information which are now accepted as common knowledge in modern sabermetrics, such as the inefficiency of the sacrifice bunt . More importantly, the material generated discussion on statistical analysis in baseball and introduced many baseball fans to objective research. In 1971, Waverly Press published Cook's follow-up to Percentage Baseball titled Percentage Baseball and

1316-442: The goal of proving that Ty Cobb , holder of the highest career batting average at .366, was better than Babe Ruth , the premier power hitter of the first half of the 20th century. Additionally Cook sought to understand strategical issues such as batting order and relief pitching , rather than accept the traditional strategies of baseball. Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford learned of Cook's work and interviewed him for

1363-527: The last entitled The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ). James has also written several series of new annuals: In 2008, James launched Bill James Online . Subscribers could read James's new, original writing and interact with one another—as well as with James—in a question-and-answer format. The web site also offered new "profiles" of teams and players full of facts and statistics that hoped to map what James has termed "the lost island of baseball statistics". On June 9, 2023, James wrote an article for

1410-608: The lead story of a 1964 issue with the title "Baseball is Played All Wrong". Using tools of the time, such as a slide rule and a Friden STW mechanical calculator, Earnshaw Cook published the culmination of his work, Percentage Baseball ( MIT Press ), in 1964. Percentage Baseball was the first book of baseball statistics studies to gain national media attention. Though Cook received some support from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston and Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck , most baseball executives and managers rejected Cook's mathematical approach and academic language. He

1457-452: The opinions of the Red Sox front office or its ownership group. Our Championships would not have been possible without our incredibly talented players — they are the backbone of our franchise and our industry. To insinuate otherwise is absurd. James married Susan McCarthy in 1978. They have three children. In January 2024, James announced that he had suffered a stroke , which hampered the use of his right hand. Earnshaw Cook Cook

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1504-433: The past, especially what James considered to be Rose's selfish pursuit of Ty Cobb 's all-time record for base hits.) James expanded his defense of Rose in his 2001 book The New Historical Baseball Abstract , with a detailed explanation of why he found the case against Rose flimsy. James wrote "I would characterize the evidence that Rose bet on baseball as...well, not quite non-existent. It is extremely weak." This countered

1551-424: The plan could have worked if the bullpen had not suffered injuries. During the 2004 regular season Keith Foulke was used primarily as a closer in the conventional model; however, Foulke's usage in the 2004 postseason was along the lines of a relief ace with multiple inning appearances at pivotal times of the game. Houston Astros manager Phil Garner also employed a relief ace model with his use of Brad Lidge in

1598-515: The players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them, the game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever. The players are NOT the game, any more than the beer vendors are. This was arguably consistent with thoughts James had publicly expressed prior to his affiliation with the Red Sox. In an article in The 1988 Bill James Baseball Abstract , he had written: This nation could support, without any detectable loss of player quality, at

1645-428: The popular opinion that the case against Rose was a slam dunk, and several critics claimed that James misstated some of the evidence in his defense of Rose. Derek Zumsteg of Baseball Prospectus wrote an exhaustive review of the case James made and concluded: "James' defense of Rose is filled with oversights, errors in judgment, failures in research, and is a great disservice to the many people who have looked to him for

1692-494: The preceding season and was offered for sale through a small advertisement in The Sporting News . Seventy-five people purchased the booklet. The 1978 edition, subtitled The 2nd annual edition of baseball's most informative and imaginative review , sold 250 copies. Beginning in 1979, James wrote an annual preview of the baseball season for Esquire , and continued to do so through 1984. The first three editions of

1739-520: The resulting non-profit organization never functioned smoothly, it worked well enough to collect accounts of every game from 1984 through 1991. James's publisher agreed to distribute two annuals of essays and data—the 1987 and 1988 editions of Bill James Presents The Great American Baseball Statbook (though only the first of these featured writing by James). The organization was eventually disbanded, but many of its members went on to form for-profit companies with similar goals and structure. STATS, Inc. ,

1786-461: The setup, and designated unofficial closers and reshuffled roles after a bad outing. When Boston lost a number of games due to bullpen failures, Little reverted to a traditional closer approach and moved Byung-hyun Kim from being a starting pitcher to a closer. The Red Sox did not follow James's idea of a bullpen with no closer, but with consistent overall talent that would allow the responsibilities to be shared. Red Sox reliever Alan Embree thought

1833-410: The site announcing that it would soon be closed in order for James to "focus on other projects". In an essay published in the 1984 Abstract , James vented his frustration about Major League Baseball 's refusal to publish play-by-play accounts of every game. James proposed the creation of Project Scoresheet, a network of fans that would work together to collect and distribute this information. While

1880-440: The trade for Mark Bellhorn , and the team's increased emphasis on on-base percentage . After the Red Sox suffered through a disastrous 2012 season , Henry stated that James had fallen "out of favor [in the front office] over the last few years for reasons I really don't understand. We've gotten him more involved recently in the central process and that will help greatly." On October 24, 2019, James announced his retirement from

1927-432: Was also criticized for lax mathematical models and inadequate numerical evidence by statisticians, such as George Lindsey (himself a baseball statistician), who advised that it be "kept out of the sight of students of the theory of probability." Modern author Michael Lewis describes Cook's prose as "crafted to alienate [baseball statistics] converts." Among Cook's most bold assertions was that, utilizing his strategies,

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1974-865: Was born in Reisterstown, Maryland in 1900. A member of the Princeton University class of 1921, he was an engineer specializing in metallurgy . He spent most of his working life at the American Brake Shoe Co. in Mahwah, New Jersey , later consulting on the Manhattan Project before retiring from the industry in 1945. In the 1950s and 1960s, Cook worked as a mechanical engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University , where he published several academic papers. Cook first set about his statistical baseball studies with

2021-415: Was discarded when director Bennett Miller and writer Aaron Sorkin succeeded Soderbergh on the project. Ultimately, the 2011 film mentions James several times. His bio is briefly recapped, and Billy Beane is depicted telling John Henry that Henry's hiring of James is the reason Beane is interested in the Red Sox general manager job. In his Baseball Book 1990 , James heavily criticized the methodology of

2068-478: Was donated upon request to the Baseball Hall of Fame . Prior to his death he had diminished eyesight and he and wife Elizabeth Cook collaborated with Johns Hopkins on engineering illuminated magnification glasses for reading and research. His signature tie was a bow tie. He engineered a unique golf putter for himself and applied his statistical and rare metal analysis to golf as well. He had experience in

2115-489: Was never hired by a Major League team, his work influenced Major League Baseball personnel such as Tal Smith , Ewing Kauffman and Davey Johnson , as well as future sabermetricians like Palmer. Percentage Baseball also influenced Eric Walker, who worked for the San Francisco Giants and Sandy Alderson 's Oakland Athletics . Cook's slide rule, which he used during his research for Percentage Baseball ,

2162-417: Was not Paterno's responsibility to report allegations of child molestation to the police. "[Paterno] had very few allies. He was isolated and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been." When asked if he knew anyone who had showered with a boy they were not related to, James said it was a common practice when he was growing up. "That was actually quite common in the town I grew up in. That

2209-606: Was quite common in America 40 years ago." The July 2012 interview comments were widely criticized. Rob Neyer wrote in defense of James. James's employer, the Boston Red Sox, issued a statement disavowing the comments James made and saying that he had been asked not to make further public comments on the matter. On November 7, 2018, James participated in a Twitter conversation regarding comments made by agent Scott Boras about teams " tanking ". James wrote: If

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