George William “Bill” James (born October 5, 1949, in Holton, Kansas) is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Holton is a city in and the County seat of Jackson County, Kansas, United States. Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he termed sabermetrics in reference to 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. Sabermetrics is the analysis of Baseball through objective evidence especially Baseball statistics. The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown New York, in August 1971 In 2006, Time named him in the Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time. ^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 The Bill James Baseball Abstracts 1.2 Innovations 1.3 STATS, Inc. 1.4 Acceptance in mainstream baseball 1.5 Dowd Report controversy 2 Bibliography 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

Biography

After four years at the University of Kansas residing at Stephenson Scholarship hall, and one course short of graduating, James joined the Army in 1971. The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. James was the last person in Kansas to be drafted for the Vietnam war, although he never saw action there. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Instead, he spent two years stationed in South Korea, during which time he wrote to KU about taking his final class. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː He was told he actually had met all his graduation requirements, so he returned to Lawrence in 1973 with degrees in English and economics. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. He also finished an Education degree in 1975, likewise from the University of Kansas. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The Bill James Baseball Abstracts

An aspiring writer and obsessive fan, James began writing baseball articles after leaving the United States Army in his mid-twenties. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Many of his first baseball writings came while he was doing night shifts as a security guard at the Stokely Van Camp pork and beans factory. 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 a question (e. g. , "Which pitchers and catchers allow runners to steal the most bases?"), and then presented data and analysis written in a lively, insightful, and witty style, that answered the question.

Editors considered James' pieces so unusual that few believed them suitable for their readers. In an effort to reach a wider audience, James self-published an annual book titled The Bill James Baseball Abstract beginning in 1977. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays The first edition of the book presented 80 pages of in-depth statistics compiled from James' study of box scores from the preceding season. In competitive Sports, games or matches are often summarized in a box score

Over the next three years James' work won respect, including a very favorable review by Daniel Okrent in Sports Illustrated. Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American Writer and editor. Sports Illustrated is an American Sports Magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. 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. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar)

While writers had published books about baseball statistics before (most notably Earnshaw Cook's Percentage Baseball, in the 1960s), few had ever reached a mass audience. Earnshaw Cook (born March 28, 1900 in Reisterstown Maryland - died November 11, 1987 in Baltimore Maryland) was an early The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Attempts to imitate James' work spawned a flood of books and articles that continue to this day.

In 1988, James ceased writing the Abstract, citing workload-related burnout and concern about the volume of statistics on the market. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) He has continued to publish hardcover books about baseball history, which have sold well and received admiring reviews; these books include two editions of The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

During the years after the annual Abstract ceased publication, James has published several series of new annuals:

• The Baseball Book (1990–1992) was a loosely-organized collection of commentary, profiles, historical articles, and occasional pieces of research.
• The Player Ratings Book (1993–95) offered statistics and 50-word profiles aimed at the fantasy baseball enthusiast. Fantasy baseball is a game whereby players manage imaginary Baseball teams based on the real-life performance of baseball players and compete against one another using those
• The Bill James Handbook (2003-present) provides past-season statistics and next-season projections for Major League players and teams, and career data for all current Major League players.
• The Bill James Gold Mine (2008-present) is a collection of new essays and never-before-seen statistics, as well as profiles of players and teams.

In 2008, James launched Bill James Online. Subscribers can read James’ new, original writing and interact with one another—as well as with James—in a question-and-answer format. The web site also offers new “profiles” of teams and players full of facts and statistics that hope to one day map what James has termed “the lost island of baseball statistics. ”

Innovations

Among the statistical innovations attributable to James are:

• Runs Created. Runs created (RC is a baseball statistic invented by Bill James to estimate the number of runs a hitter contributes to his team A statistic intended to quantify a player's contribution to runs scored, as well as a team's expected number of runs scored. Runs created is calculated from other offensive statistics. James' first version of it: Runs Created = (Total Bases * (Hits + Walks))/(Plate Appearances). In Baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i In Baseball statistics, a hit (denoted by H) sometimes called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches A base on balls ( BB) is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in Baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire Applied to an entire team or league, the statistic correlates closely to that team's or league's actual runs scored. Since James first created the statistic, sabermetricians have refined it to make it more accurate, and it is now used in many different variations.
• Range Factor. Range Factor (commonly abbreviated RF) is a baseball statistic developed by Bill James. A statistic that quantifies the defensive contribution of a player, calculated in its simplest form as RF = (Assists + Put Outs)/(Games Played). In Baseball, an assist (denoted by A) is a defensive statistic baseball being the rare sport in which the In Baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by PO or fly ball when appropriate is given to a defensive player who records an out by one of the The statistic is premised on the notion that the total number of outs that a player participates in is more relevant in evaluating his defensive play than the percentage of cleanly handled chances as calculated by the conventional statistic Fielding Percentage. In Baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly
• Defensive Efficiency Record. A statistic that shows the percentage of balls in play a defense turns into an out. It is used to help determine a team's defensive ability.
• Win Shares. Win Shares can refer to a book by Bill James or the statistic explained in the book A unifying statistic intended to allow the comparison of players at different positions, as well as players of different eras. Win Shares incorporates a variety of pitching, hitting and fielding statistics. One drawback of Win Shares is the difficulty of computing it. ^[2]
• Pythagorean Winning Percentage. Pythagorean expectation is a formula invented by Bill James to estimate how many games a Baseball team "should" have won based on the number of runs A statistic explaining the relationship of wins and losses to runs scored and runs allowed. In its simplest form: Winning Percentage equals Runs squared divided by the square of Runs plus the square of Runs Allowed. The statistic correlates closely to a team's actual winning percentage.
• Major League Equivalency. A metric that uses minor league statistics to predict how a player is likely to perform at the major league level. Part of the History of baseball series Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of Professional baseball leagues in North
• The Brock2 System. A system for projecting a player's performance over the remainder of his career based on past performance and the aging process.
• Similarity scores. In Sabermetrics and APBRmetrics, similarity scores are a method of comparing Baseball and Basketball players (usually in MLB or the Scoring a player's statistical similarity to other players, providing a frame of reference for players of the distant past. Examples: Lou Gehrig comparable to Don Mattingly; Joe Jackson to Tony Oliva. Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig ( June 19 1903  – June 2 1941) born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American Donald Arthur Mattingly (nicknamed " Donnie Baseball " and " The Hit Man " (born April 20, 1961) is the Los Angeles Dodgers Joseph Jefferson Jackson ( July 16, 1888 &ndash December 5, 1951) nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American Tony Pedro Oliva (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique on July 20, 1938 in Pinar del Río, Cuba) is a former Major League
• Secondary Average. Secondary average, or SecA, is a baseball statistic - more precisely a sabermetric measurement of hitting performance A statistic that attempts to measure a player's contribution to an offense in ways not reflected in batting average. The formula is (Extra bases on hits+Walks+Stolen Bases)/At bats. Secondary averages tend to be similar to batting averages, but can vary widely, from less than . 100 to more than . 500 in extreme cases. Extra bases on hits is calculated with the formula (Doubles)+(Triplesx2)+(Homerunsx3).
• Power/Speed Number. A statistic that attempts to consolidate the various "clubs" of players with impressive numbers of both home runs and stolen bases (e. g. , the "30/30" club (Bobby Bonds was well known for being a member), the "40/40" club (Jose Canseco was the first to perform this feat), and even the "25/65" club (Joe Morgan in the '70s)). The formula: (2x(Home Runs)x(Stolen Bases))/(Home Runs + Stolen Bases).
• Approximate Value. A system of cutoffs designed to estimate the value a player contributed to various category groups (including his team) to study broad questions such as "how do players age over time".

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 amidst other kinds of information about baseball. To James, context 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 won-loss record. Batting Park Factor, also simply called Park Factor or BPF, is a baseball statistic that indicates the difference between runs scored in a team's 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 a fraction of a player's offensive contribution. Secondary average, or SecA, is a baseball statistic - more precisely a sabermetric measurement of hitting performance Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively (The runs-created statistic plays a similar role vis-à-vis the traditional RBI. Runs created (RC is a baseball statistic invented by Bill James to estimate the number of runs a hitter contributes to his team ) Some of his contributions to the language of baseball, like the idea of the "defensive spectrum," border on being entirely non-statistical. In Sabermetrics, the defensive spectrum is the graphical representation of the positions on a Baseball field arranged from top (the easiest defensive positions to

STATS, Inc.

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. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) James proposed the creation of Project Scoresheet, a network of fans that would work together to collect and distribute this information.

While the resulting non-profit organization never functioned smoothly, it worked well enough to collect accounts of every game from 1984 through 1991. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. James' 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). Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Bill James Presents The Great American Baseball Statbook is a book written by baseball stat guru Bill James from 1988

The organization was eventually disbanded, but many of its members went on to form for-profit companies with similar goals and structure. STATS, Inc., the company James joined, provided data and analysis to every major media outlet before being acquired by Fox Sports in 2001. STATS Inc (the company name is technically an acronym for "Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems" is a global sports statistics and information company Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar.

Acceptance in mainstream baseball

For most of his career, James' ideas have either been ignored or rejected by professional baseball teams. James' sabermetrics rejects much of the conventional wisdom that has been passed down by players, executives, and writers over decades. Conventional wisdom (CW is a term used to describe ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field Most teams, managers, and players prefer to continue to follow maxims that were developed decades ago, as well as their gut instincts.

In recent years, James' ideas have gained official acceptance with some clubs. Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane began applying sabermetric principles to running his low-budget team in the late 1990s, to notable effect (as chronicled in Michael Lewis' book Moneyball), and sabermetricians have penetrated other organizations since then. The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. There is another former major league player named Billy Bean. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 Michael Lewis (born October 15, 1960, New Orleans Louisiana) is an American contemporary Non-fiction author Moneyball The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (ISBN 0-393-05765-8 is a book by Michael M

In 2003, James was hired by a former reader, John Henry, the new owner of the Boston Red Sox. Artistic gymnastics World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Men's all-around champions Paul Hamm, USA, Early life Henry's parents were farmers and he split his time growing up between Illinois and Arkansas. The Boston Red Sox are a Professional baseball team based in Boston Massachusetts, and are the reigning (2007 World Series Champions. The move generated some controversy, but after 25 years James had finally gained an official position within Major League Baseball. Current Red Sox GM Theo Epstein also turned out to have a sabermetric bent. Theo Nathan Epstein (born December 29, 1973 in New York City) is the Executive Vice President / General Manager of the Boston Red And unlike Oakland's built-in handicap of a money shortage, Boston was willing to spend, with history-making results.

One point of controversy was in handling the Red Sox' relief pitching. James had previously published several analyses of the use of the closer in baseball, and had concluded that the traditional use of the closer both overrated the abilities of that individual, and used him in suboptimal circumstances. In Baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL) is a Relief pitcher who specializes in closing out Reportedly, James influenced a reorganization of the Boston bullpen, with several moderately talented relievers and no clear closer. When Boston lost a number of games due to bullpen failures, they were forced to acquire a traditional closer (Byung-Hyun Kim) in order to address the issue. Byung-Hyun Kim (born January 19, 1979 in Kwangsan-Ku Songjungdong South Korea) a Many writers considered this to be a rejection of James' ideas, and the signing of ace reliever Keith Foulke following the season further suggests this. Keith Charles Foulke (pronounced as "folk" foʊk (born October 19, 1972 in Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota) is a Others, however, argue that the Boston pen was simply not very talented and that the outcome doesn't necessarily undermine James' arguments.

It should be noted that Boston did not implement James' idea of the "relief ace". James did not suggest a "bullpen by committee"; rather, his studies showed that the relief ace should be used in close or tie games as early as the 7th inning, when the outcome of a ballgame is often decided. Boston had no relief ace in 2003. During the 2004 regular season Foulke was used primarily as a closer in the Tony La Russa 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. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Anthony "Tony" La Russa Jr (ləˈɹuːsə born October 4 1944, in Tampa, Florida) is a manager in Major League Houston Astros manager Phil Garner also employed a relief ace model, perhaps unwittingly, with his use of Brad Lidge in the 2004 postseason, further demonstrating the efficacy of James's relief ace concept. The Houston Astros are a Professional baseball team based in Houston Texas. Philip Mason Garner (born April 30, 1949, in Jefferson City, Tennessee) is a former Infielder in Major League Baseball Bradley Thomas Lidge (born December 23, 1976 in Sacramento California) is a Relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of

James is still (2007) employed by the Red Sox, having published several new sabermetric books during his tenure (see Bibliography, below). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Indeed, although James is 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, the trade for Mark Bellhorn, and the team's increased emphasis on on-base percentage. For other events named "World Series" see World Series (disambiguation. David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball Designated Mark Christian Bellhorn (born August 23, 1974 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a Major League Baseball Third baseman. In Baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP (sometimes referred to as on-base average ', as the statistic is rarely presented as a true Percentage) During his time with the Red Sox, Bill James has received two World Series rings for the team's 2004 and 2007 victories. ^[2]

The Mind of Bill James, a biography-cum-chronicle of James' works was published in the spring of 2006. The Mind Of Bill James How A Complete Outsider Changed Baseball is a 2006 biography of sabermetrician Bill James by Scott Grey How Bill James Changed Our View of the Game of Baseball was published in February 2007. He was profiled on 60 Minutes on March 30th, 2008, in his role as a sabermetric pioneer and Red Sox advisor. Not to be confused with the BBC news magazine program Sixty Minutes (TV series. Events 240 BC - 1st recorded Perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common

Dowd Report controversy

James was a strong critic of the Dowd Report, which was the most thorough investigation (commissioned by baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti) on the gambling activities of Pete Rose. The Dowd Report is the Document describing the alleged transgressions of baseball player Pete Rose in betting on Baseball, which precipitated Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti ( April 4, 1938 &ndash September 1, 1989) was the President of Yale University, and James, in his Baseball Book 1990, dismissed Dowd's conclusion that the former Cincinnati Reds manager bet on baseball games, for lack of evidence. The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA James reproached commissioner Giamatti and his successor, Fay Vincent, for their acceptance of the Dowd Report as the final word on Rose's gambling. ^[3]

In 2004, Rose admitted he had bet on baseball and confirmed the Dowd Report was correct. James' argument was that the evidence available to Dowd at the time was insufficient to reach the coincidentally correct conclusion.

Bibliography

• Bill James Baseball Abstract (annual editions published 1977-1988)
• The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (1985)

• This Time Let's Not Eat the Bones (1989)
• The Bill James Baseball Book (annual editions published 1990-1992)
• The Politics of Glory (1994) (revised as Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?)
• The Bill James Player Ratings Book (annual editions published 1993-1996)
• The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers (1997)
• The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (2001)
• Win Shares (2002)
• The Bill James Handbook (annual editions published 2003-present)
• The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (2004, with co-author Rob Neyer)
• How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball: by Colleagues, Critics, Competitors and Just Plain Fans (2007)
• The Bill James Gold Mine (annual editions published 2008-present)

References

• http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/25thanniversary/261957.html#bjames
• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187260,00.html
• http://www.slate.com/id/2084193/
• Lewis, Michael (2003-04-10). Michael Lewis (born October 15, 1960, New Orleans Louisiana) is an American contemporary Non-fiction author Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Moneyball The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (ISBN 0-393-05765-8 is a book by Michael M New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 45-47. W W Norton & Company is an American book publishing company that has remained independent since its founding ISBN 0393057658.  
• http://www.athomeplate.com/jamesinterview.shtml
• http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2005/02/breakfast_with.php

See also

• Baseball Prospectus
• Defensive spectrum
• Win Shares
• Similarity Scores
• Keltner list
• Rain Delay (essay)
• Evolution of baseball player evaluation

External links

• Bill James Online (Interactions with Bill James through statistics, articles, conversations and more)
• Works of Bill James
• Audio interview with James on public radio program The Sound of Young America
• Lawrence Journal-World article
• Bill James Interview at Baseball Digest Daily - Part I
• Bill James Interview at Baseball Digest Daily - Part II
• Bill James Interview at Baseball Digest Daily - Part III
• New Yorker Article about Bill James
• WSJ profile

Baseball Prospectus, sometimes abbreviated as BP, is a Think tank focusing on Sabermetrics, the statistical analysis of In Sabermetrics, the defensive spectrum is the graphical representation of the positions on a Baseball field arranged from top (the easiest defensive positions to Win Shares can refer to a book by Bill James or the statistic explained in the book In Sabermetrics and APBRmetrics, similarity scores are a method of comparing Baseball and Basketball players (usually in MLB or the The Keltner list is a systematic but non-numerical method for determining whether a Baseball player is deserving of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Rain Delay is an essay by Bill James included in his 1988 Baseball Abstract. Evolution of baseball player evaluation has taken place over many years The Sound of Young America is a Public radio program and Podcast based in Los Angeles, California and distributed nationally by

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