Over at the Baseball Analysts, Rich Lederer takes a look at the new Bill James Handbook:
Whereas The Bill James Abstracts from 1977-1988, the Bill James Baseball Books from 1990-1992, and The Bill James Player Ratings Books from 1993-1995 were full of commentary from James himself, the Handbook is devoted more to the presentation of stats. However, I’m happy to say that the number of pages penned by James has grown from five six years ago to over 30 this year.
Check it out.
There's Cano taking his spot amongst the worst base runners in the game. Man, Robbie can fill up both sides of pro/con list faster than any player I've ever seen.
If I had 2 buttons in front of me while watching him play and one was labeled "keep forever" and the other said "cut immediately" I can imagine pounding them both repeatedly in the same game.
Bill James (and Marvin Miller) for Baseball HOF ...
I wonder how Posada ranks among baserunning catchers. He's scary sometimes.
Cano's lack of maturity in his approach towards batting, fielding and baserunning can be frustrating at times. He shows lapses in concentration, no doubt about it. I still see him as an asset in the long run. He has a great arm. When on his game, he's a great play maker and when he isn't hitting into dps (and draining the energy out of the stadium), he can put the ball in play.
Marvin Miller, I can see, but Bill James? I don't get that one. Obviously, a hugely influencial writer and critic. And you can argue that as a thinker he had a bigger impact than Roger Angell or Roger Kahn--he's not nearly as good a writer as them or many other guys but he didn't really write the same kind of prose did he? Maybe in terms of the impact he had on the game, maybe...
[3] po should be claiming his rightful place from yadier immediately
[4] That's a god comparison.
Thanks for the link, Alex. As for whether Bill James belongs in the Hall of Fame, the short answer is "yes." His candidacy has little to do with his writing prowess or ability and everything to do with the fact that he has been the most influential person with respect to how we think about baseball since Branch Rickey.
James developed statistical innovations (Runs Created, a much better stat than either RBI or runs scored; Secondary Average, which looked beyond batting average as a metric to evaluate hitters; Range Factor and Defensive Efficiency Rating as better tools to measure fielding than the traditional assists, putouts, errors, and fielding percentage; and Win Shares, an uber stat designed to evaluate players by their overall contributions to winning games) and concepts (Defensive Spectrum, an ingenious way to think about players, defensive positions, talent, and the aging process).
If Henry Chadwick is in the Hall of Fame, I don't see why James shouldn't be enshrined as well. In fact, I believe he is a "no brainer" candidate.
For those looking for more of Bill James the essayist, the Bill James Gold Mine is more like the original abstracts:
http://tiny.cc/4vces