Bill James - The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

THE NEW BILL JAMES HISTORICAL BASEBALL ABSTRACTAN AMERICAN CLASSIC

Better than its predecessor and, thanks to the authors self-doubting, substantially different.

The New York Times

The best baseball book published in 2001.

ESPN.com

The baseball authority from Kansas City hits a grand slam for this year and for many years to come.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The most provocative book ever written on baseball history.

The Sacramento Bee

James 1000-page behemoth is the holy book of baseball.

The Chicago Tribune

A book that will carry you through until spring training wildly readable.

The Boston Globe

If you add just one book to your baseball collection this year, make it this one.

Booklist

The Abstract is that rare baseball book that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you come back for more. Its the next best thing to finding a Mickey Mantle rookie card in Moms basement.

The Washington Post

You can flip it open to nearly any page and find out something you didnt know before, or a fresh look at ideas that could tweak the game for the better.

The Charleston Gazette

ALSO BY BILL JAMES

The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers

The Politics of Glory

The Baseball Book

This Time Lets Not Eat the Bones

All photographs and illustrations courtesy of The Sporting News.

FREE PRESS
A division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2001 by Bill James

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

First Free Press trade paperback edition 2003

FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Helene Berinsky

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

James, Bill, 1949

The new Bill James historical baseball abstract / Bill James.

p. cm.

Rev. ed. of: The Bill James historical baseball abstract. Rev. ed. 1988.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. BaseballUnited StatesHistory. 2. BaseballRecordsUnited States. I. James, Bill, 1949- Bill James historical baseball abstract. II. Title.

GV863.A1 J36 2001

796.3570973dc21

2001040062

ISBN013: 978-0-684-80697-6
ISBN-10: 0-684-80697-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-2722-3 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 0-7432-2722-0 (Pbk)

eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0693-8

This book is for Isaac James whose love of life renews me every morning.

This volume is a major revision of a book which was originally published fifteen years ago. Many people contributed to that book in its first form, including;

Jim Baker, who worked with me while I was writing the first edition of this book, and provided invaluable assistance in helping to develop the library necessary to research it, helping to research it, helping to write it, writing some parts of it, and taking care of other duties.

Pete Palmer, David Frank, Gordon Herman, Randy Lakeman, and Chuck Waseleski, who also provided information and data.

Jim Carothers, who contributed time and intelligence to his own project within these pages.

Tom Heitz, Jeff Kernin, and Donna Cornell of the Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown (at that time), who were invaluable in certain parts of the research.

Peter Gethers, who edited the original book.

Liz Darhansoff, who represented my interests in the publishing business fifteen years ago, and still does.

In the revision:

Rob Neyer contributed very heavily, doing most of the work on the pitch selection files in Part 3, and many other things.

John Sickels worked with me for several years, remains a good friend, and also made important contributions to the book.

Mike Webber has the job now.

Bill Rosen edited this version of the book, and has been extraordinarily patient with me while I struggled to re-write it. This book was supposed to come out years ago, sometime in the last millennium.

Andrea Au works with Bill, and with me when I work with Bill, and has been, at times, the major engine driving the project.

My good friend Mike Kopf has worked with me at various times over the last 15 years, and some articles that he wrote have gotten dragged into this book in edited versions. Mike also proofed and copy edited this manuscript before it was sent to the publisher.

Steve Getschier and James R. Meier, the archivist and librarian of The Sporting News, assisted me in doing other research by use of the The Sporting News morgue.

Lloyd Johnson also provided me with some research materials.

Jill Rosen is running the public relations effort for the book.

Numerous other people provided ideas, made suggestions, helped me to solve problems, or wrote articles that were used as background research. As the book has been revised, this list has no doubt grown. I have tried to acknowledge these throughout the book, as appropriate, and not to appear to take credit for the work that other people have done. To anyone that I have failed to credit for their research, I send my apologies, and I would ask that if you feel that I borrowed your research and didnt properly credit it, you might contact me and let me know.

The people who form that maligned franchise known as the media have been kind to me, most of the time on purpose, but failing that by accident. Thanks to all.

Behind every great man there is a great woman, and some of us ordinary Joes get lucky, too. Susan McCarthy would do credit to a man of far greater accomplishments than mine. She also wrote some bits of the book, articles about baseball uniforms and how they have changed over time. She has her own work to do (she is an artist), but this has never stopped her from carrying a good bit of my load, too, particularly as book deadlines draw near. When the first edition of this book was produced in the mid-1980s she pitched in as a typist, secretary, statistician, office manager, bookkeeper, proofreader, schedule-maker, and editor. Since we now have three children her role in producing the book is different, but she remains patient of husbands who work until 4 oclock in the morning, neglect their share of the household duties, grow irritable when their work does not go well, and make unreasonable demands on those around them. Without her help, this book would not be what it is.

To write a book is awfully hard on your family; this one, in particular, has been a killer. My children are Rachel, now 15, Isaac, 12, and Reuben, 8. When I undertook to revise this book they were Rachel, 10, Isaac, 7, and Reuben, 3. They have given up an awful lot of me to let me re-write this book, and while that might be a welcome sacrifice to many people, they seem to miss me. I miss them, and I appreciate what they have given. I love you guys.

Thanks to all.

Bill James

Hi. My name is Bill James. Through most of the 1980s I wrote an annual book called The Baseball Abstract. It was a kind of a technical book, at times, and there were essays in it that were not real easy to understand. I was very happy to spend eight pages discussing how many camels could rest in the on-deck circle of a theoretical ballpark. Some people liked it, some people didnt. I was once described by a now defunct publication as the guru of baseball statistics, and by Sparky Anderson as a little fat guy with a beard who knows nothing about nothing. Actually, Im seven inches taller than Sparky is, but what the heck, three out of four aint bad, and it sure beats being described as the guru of baseball statistics.