If you’ve never heard of Bill James, don’t feel bad. Until recently, his name was only reverently whispered among circles of “statheads” — a small but growing community of baseball fans who sought to more accurately quantify the performance of players beyond traditional measurements. After leaving the Army, James earned degrees in English, economics and education from the University of Kansas. He got his start writing about baseball in the 1970s while working the nightshift as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp pork and beans cannery. But rather than following the traditional sports writing narrative, James’ curiosity led him… Read More
If you’ve never heard of Bill James, don’t feel bad. Until recently, his name was only reverently whispered among circles of “statheads” — a small but growing community of baseball fans who sought to more accurately quantify the performance of players beyond traditional measurements. After leaving the Army, James earned degrees in English, economics and education from the University of Kansas. He got his start writing about baseball in the 1970s while working the nightshift as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp pork and beans cannery. But rather than following the traditional sports writing narrative, James’ curiosity led him to question the way baseball statistics informed the decisions teams made about everything from game strategy to building a team. At first, his work was dismissed and considered “unreadable” by major publishers. So James self-published his writings, often accompanied by pages and pages of statistical information. As the years went by, James’ work slowly gained respect, and his research helped pioneer a field known as “sabermetrics” — or more popularly known today as “moneyball.” —Recommended Link— The Ultimate “Sticky” Revenue Stream Every company is doing it… From Comcast to Spotify… Even your local gym. I’m talking about auto… Read More