The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 [Paperback]

Bill James (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bill James Gold Mine | Publication Date: March 17, 2009

For decades, the name Bill James has been synonymous with cutting-edge baseball statistical analysis. In his latest work, James lives up to that reputation with the The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 a groundbreaking collection of original essays, statistical profiles, and hidden nuggets of information worth their weight in gold. In seventeen original essays and numerous new statistical measures, Bill James goes beyond the numbers and provides the witty, irreverent, and stingingly accurate analysis for which he has become (in-)famous.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Baseball's most celebrated scholar. --USA Today

Bill James is quite certainly the most influential baseball writer of the twentieth century; it's not even close. --Alan Schwarz, The New York Times

Mr. James, the statistical oracle. --The Wall Street Journal

Bill James is quite certainly the most influential baseball writer of the twentieth century; it's not even close. --Alan Schwarz, The New York Times

Baseball's most celebrated scholar. --USA Today

About the Author

Bill James made his mark in the 1970s and 1980s with his mind-blowing Baseball Abstracts. He has been tearing down preconceived notions about America's national pastime ever since. He is currently the Senior Baseball Operations Advisor for the Boston Red Sox.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: ACTA Publications (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879463694
• ISBN-13: 978-0879463694
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book is one a kind, March 19, 2009

By 

JagBag (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 (Paperback)

Reviewing the book for what it is and not what some people would prefer it to be (i.e., a revival of the Abstract): it's hand's-down a 5-star book.

Like last year's model, this year the book contains data from the Bill James Online site and nuggets of analysis provided by Bill and astute readers. The book also has an end-chapter of dialogue lifted from the Ask Bill section of the website:

- On why Bonds wasn't on a major league team: "He has one-dimensional skills and a poor reputation as a teammate."
- On why Bonds wasn't on a major league team even though he had the best OPS+ the previous year: "Somebody asked me why he wasn't in the majors and I gave an honest answer. It's not my fault the man can't run, field, throw, or get along with people."
- On giving baseball players a hard time for foot-in-mouth disease: "I am reluctant to place onto baseball players a burden that we do not place on ourselves. And yes, baseball players sometimes say stupid [stuff] because they don't realize the world didn't start the day they were born, but then, so do I, I suspect. I think everybody does."

The meat of the book, though, for most readers, will be the essays. What's special about the essays, and what makes the book a must-have, is that they are truly essays that you wouldn't find anywhere else -- not just because they have Bill's voice and clarity, but because they have Bill's unique perspective. Simply put, things often occur to him that don't occur to other analysts, and he has a talent for taking a slightly idiosyncratic perspective and crafting it until it applies to a broader sabermetric and historical appreciation (and application). For instance:

- His essay on stolen bases isn't just about when and if to steal, but how the stolen bases benefits each team, in light the team's make-up: do the teams that should steal most often actually do so?

- His "What If" essay is a fantasy about constructing an entirely new major league, with direct fan participation, GM elections, roster keeper rules, etc., following the observation that "almost everything that exists is an accident of history." It's a thought experiment that blends Bill's analytical talents and unique authorial voice. It has no bearing whatsoever on fantasy baseball, which is why you would never read something like this elsewhere, but it's an unforgettable essay.

- There is an essay called "Whoppers," that uses Tim Johnson's firing -- as a consequence of lying about military service -- as an opportunity to discuss human fallibility, rehabilitation, self-righteousness, and how rare genuine compassion is. In regards to Johnson and guys like Bonds, Rose, McGwire, Clemens: "I'm not saying it's right [...] I am saying it is self-righteous to pretend that I don't have the same human failings that these guys do, and further, if you are insisting that you don't have them, I don't believe you."

The reaction to last year's Gold Mine seemed to focus on whether the book was what people had expected it to be. For better or worse, the book is not the Abstract. It is, however, essential reading, and a book that could change the way you look at baseball, and life. That's worth 5 stars.

(For those who want more essays, there are plenty on the website.)

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad read, but it sure isn't like the old Baseball Abstracts, March 24, 2009

By 

Hal Jordan "A reader" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 (Paperback)

Nothing can duplicate the thrill of a baseball fan stumbling on the "Bill James Baseball Abstract" back in the early 1980s. Who knew that Steve Garvey wasn't really such a good hitter? That Larry Bowa's defense wasn't all that good? That Billy Martin had probably slagged some young arms with all those complete games? Reading the "Abstract" in those days made you feel that you knew things that most other fans - and sportswriters and broadcasters - didn't. Plus James wrote in a refreshingly irreverent style. Of course, these days with a very crowded field of sabermetricians covering every aspect of the game, it's way too much to ask James to come up with the same kind of fresh insights he made his reputation on almost 30 years ago. And with the dozens - hundreds? - of web sites out there filled with snarky commentary, his style is no longer fresh. So, although this book is a decent read, it has no chance of being as enjoyable or eye-opening as the old "Abstracts."

The book consists of entries on every major league team with about 15 essays interspersed among them. The essays appear to be reprinted from his web site (to which I don't subscribe). The team entries are not systematic appraisals of the past year or forecasts of the coming year, but consist of statistics - some standard, some not - and "nuggets" that provide facts about players on the team. The nuggets were apparently gathered by James's staff and edited by him. The nuggets are quite a mixed bag. It's not even clear if many of them are meant to be taken seriously. For instance, what are we to make of the fact that the A's Brad Ziegler "induced 20 ground-ball double plays in only 59.2 innings, for a rate of 3.0 per nine innings, a full 50% more than any other pitcher who threw at least 50 innings." Wasn't it James who first taught us not to rely on inferences from small sample sizes? The essays are also of uneven quality. Some are interesting, but I'm not sure what to make of his attempt to sort all hitters into 96 "families" on the basis of the ratio of their doubles to triples to homers. It was never clear what the point was.

There are also a regrettable number of typos. I spent a while trying to figure what was going on in the tables on p. 21 that purport to show the career records of John Smoltz and Tom Glavine against teams with various winning percentages. Since the tables give Smoltz only 50 career wins and Glavine only 81 career wins, I was baffled until I realized that the tables actually referred not to their career records, but to their records over the last seven years. There are other similar gaffes. Given that the book will have minimal value to fantasy players, I don't think it needed to be rushed into print. Taking another week or two to proofread to catch typos would have had a significant payoff.

If you are looking for one baseball book to read this spring, I would recommend the "Baseball Prospectus." But if you have the time and money, and are a Bill James fan, you will get some enjoyment out of this book, even though it is a pale shadow of the old "Abstracts."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More pure Bill, March 27, 2009

By 

Bob (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 (Paperback)

I've always found Bill's musings more provocative in terms of how I think about baseball than the innovative approach to crunching numbers that he revolutionized. I used to be a fan of Bill's annual publications (after the Abstract) in the early 90's primarily as it was so loose it felt like you were having a fireside chat (or "hot stove" conversation). The 2nd version of the Gold Mine is like that, with more organization and fascinating little tidbits (and yes, fresh takes on stats).