Bill James Popular Books
Bill James Biography & Facts
George William James (born 1949) 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 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. Early life 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 a degree in education. Career 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. 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 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 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 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 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. Post-Abstracts work 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, the last entitled The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract). James has also written 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. James's assistant Rob Neyer was responsible for much of the research, and wrote several short pieces. Neyer went on to become a featured baseball columnist at ESPN and SB Nation. The Player Ratings Book (1993–95) offered statistics and 50-word profiles aimed at the fantasy baseball enthusiast. 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. Results for the Fielding Bible Awards, an alternative to the Gold Glove Awards voted on by a 10-person panel that includes James, are also included. The Bill James Gold Mine (2008–2010) was a collection of new essays and never-before-seen statistics, as well as profiles of players and teams. Playing off the name of the earlier series, Solid Fool's Gold: Detours on the Way to Conventional Wisdom (2011) was a mixed collection of both baseball-related and miscellaneous pieces, culled from the Bill James Online archives (see below). 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 the site announcing that it would soon be closed in order for James to "focus on other projects". 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. 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. 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., the company James joined, provided data and analysis to every major media outlet before being acquired by Fox Sports in 2001. Innovations Among the statistical innovations attributable to James are: Runs created. 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's first version of it was: Applied to an entire team or league, the statistic correlates closely (usually within 5%) 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. A statistic that quantifies the defensive contribution of a player, calculated in its simplest form as (A is an assist, PO is a putout): The statistic is premised on the notion that the total number of outs th.... Discover the Bill James popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Bill James books.
Best Seller Bill James Books of 2024
-
Shoe Dog
Phil KnightIn this instant and tenacious New York Times bestseller, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight “offers a rare and revealing look at the notoriously mediashy man behind the sw...
-
Sex with Presidents
Eleanor HermanIn this fascinating work of popular history, the New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings and The Royal Art of Poison uncovers the bedroom secrets of American presidents...
-
The World According to Clarkson
Jeremy ClarksonJeremy Clarkson, shares his opinions on just about everything in The World According to Clarkson. Jeremy Clarkson has seen rather more of the world than most. He has, as they say, ...
-
How to Lead
David M. RubensteinThe New York Times Bestseller #1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerThe essential leadership playbook. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bade...
-
The Woodward Trilogy
Bob Woodward & Robert CostaDiscover the inside story of life inside President Trump’s White House as only #1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward can tell it with this collection of Woodward’s mos...
-
The Dynasty
Jeff BenedictNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Now a 10part docuseries on Apple TV+ From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England ...
-
The Room Where It Happened
John BoltonAs President Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton spent many of his 453 days in the room where it happened, and the facts speak for themselves. The result is a White Hous...
-
Peril
Bob Woodward & Robert CostaThe transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history.But as #1 internationally bestselling...
-
James Madison and the Making of America
Kevin R. C. GutzmanIn James Madison and the Making of America, historian Kevin Gutzman looks beyond the way James Madison is traditionally seen as "The Father of the Constitution" to find a more co...
-
Betrayal in Berlin
Steve Vogel"A riveting and vivid account. ... A remarkable story. ... It reads like a Hollywood screenplay." Foreign AffairsThe astonishing true story of the Berlin Tunnel, one of the We...
-
The Three Lives of James Madison
Noah FeldmanA sweeping reexamination of the Founding Father who transformed the United States in each of his political “lives”as a revolutionary thinker, partisan political strategist, and pre...
-
Wild Bill
Tom ClavinThe definitive true story of Wild Bill, the first lawman of the Wild West, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dodge City.In July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and kille...
-
Crisis Tales
Lanny J. DavisTELL IT ALL, TELL IT EARLY, TELL IT YOURSELF Nobody ever calls Lanny Davis to give him good news. As a legal crisis manager, he’s the man public figures such as Bill Clinton, Marth...
-
The Bill of Rights
Linda R. Monk & Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgWith a foreword by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. An Engaging, Accessible Guide to the Bill of Rights for Everyday Citizens. In The Bill of Rights: A User's...
-
The Last Enforcer
Charles OakleyIn this “incredible read on some incredible days and nights in the old association” (Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN senior NBA insider) Charles Oakleyone of the toughest and most loyal p...
-
Bill James Handbook 2016
Bill JamesHere is the firsttomarket, most comprehensive, and most fun annual reference guide to the complete lifetime stats on every player in the majors in 2015. New sections include “On th...
-
Fear
Bob WoodwardOVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD RUNAWAY #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SENSATIONAL #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “Explosive.”The Washington Post “Devastating.”The New Yorker “Unprecedented....
-
The Code Breaker
Walter IsaacsonA Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Time, and The Washington PostThe bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington P...
-
The Summer of 1876
Chris WimmerFrom the creator of the "Legends of the Old West" podcast, a book exploring the overlapping narratives of the biggest legends in frontier mythology.The summer of 1876 was a key tim...
-
The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine Third Edition
Michael T. Murray & Joseph PizzornoThe most comprehensive and practical guide available to the extraordinary healing powers of natural medicine.From the worldrenowned naturopathic doctors and bestselling authors of ...
-
One Nation Under Sex
Larry Flynt & David Eisenbach, Ph.D.“Americans often like to think that extramarital sexor even a strong libidois somehow a sign of poor character in our presidents. One Nation Under Sex explodes that myth...You don’...
-
A New Ireland
Niall O'DowdIt’s not your father’s Ireland. Not anymore. A story of modern revolution in Ireland told by the founder of IrishCentral, Irish America magazine, and the Irish Voice newspaper...
-
How The Secret Changed My Life
Rhonda ByrneAn aweinspiring compilation of the most uplifting and powerful reallife stories from readers of the worldwide bestseller The Secret. Discover how everyday people completely transfo...
-
The Bill James Handbook 2020
Bill James & Baseball Info SolutionsThe firsttomarket, most comprehensive, insightful, and groundbreaking annual baseball book on the market. A musthave book or gift for every true fan, with lifetime statistics and l...
-
Coup in Dallas
H. P. Albarelli & Dick RussellThe CIA, Dallas, and the Hard Details of the JFK AssassinationCoup in Dallas leaves speculation and theory aside to give the hard details of who killed President John F. Kennedy an...
-
Enemies
Tim WeinerThe hidden history of the FBI and its hundredyear war against terrorists, spies, and anyone it deemed subversiveincluding even American presidents. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSEL...
-
Iron Man
Tony IommiBlack Sabbath is currently on “The End Tour,” which they have proclaimed as their final concert tour. Iron Man chronicles the story of both pioneering guitarist Tony Iommi and lege...
-
The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy
John BrehmOver 125 poetic companions, from Basho to Billy Collins, Saigyo to Shakespeare.The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy received the Spirituality & Practice Book A...
-
The Bill of Rights
Carol Berkin“Narrative, celebratory history at its purest” (Publishers Weekly)the real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a vivid account of political strategy, big egos, and the part...
-
Counting the Cost
Jill DuggarINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFor the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC’s hit show 19...
-
Orchestrated Death
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMESA Bill Slider Mystery Detective Inspector Bill Slider middleclass, middleaged, and middleoftheroad is never going to make it to Scotland Yar...
-
This Book Has Balls
Michael RapaportThe sports world according to Michael Rapaportactor, Top 50 podcaster, awardwinning film maker, and sports fanaticfrom the greatest and downright worst athletes, players, teams, an...
-
The Secret to Love, Health, and Money
Rhonda ByrneThis indepth masterclass from the author of the groundbreaking bestseller The Secret illustrates how to apply the law of attraction to three of life’s most important areas: relatio...
-
The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton
Allan Mclane Hamilton & Willard Sterne RandallThe life of Alexander Hamilton is certainly one of great complexity and controversy and, as a result, has been of great interest to the general public for centuries. In the past tw...
-
Freedom for the Thought That We Hate
Anthony LewisMore than any other people on earth, Americans are free to say and write what they think. The media can air the secrets of the White House, the boardroom, or the bedroom with littl...
-
Bourdain
Laurie WooleverNew York Times bestseller An unprecedented behindthescenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fa...
-
So Help Me God
Mike PenceThe New York Times bestselling autobiography of former Vice President Mike Pence.Loyalty is a Vice President’s first duty; but there is a greater oneto God and the Constitution.Mik...
-
Ratification
Pauline MaierThe defining book of the American Revolution era and a winner of the George Washington Book Award, Ratification chronicles the pivotal moments and key figures in transforming the U...
-
Walking to Samarkand
Bernard Ollivier & Dan GolembeskiAcclaimed journalist Bernard Ollivier continues his epic journey across Persia and Central Asia as he walks the length of the Great Silk Road. Walking to Samarkand ...
-
The Last Castle
Denise KiernanA New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story...