More pure Bill | The Bill James Gold Mine 2009

Don Drysdale Deserves to be in the Hall-of-Fame! | The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 | Bill James

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	• The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 Bill James ACTA Publications, 2009 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A lot of fun

I enjoy reading the array of Bill James books that come out. "Gold Mine" is one of those annual works that brings a smile to my face. I do wish that there were more statistics per team, but the quirky little essays that are scattered throughout the book provide value added material for the reader.

The first quirky essay is "The 96 families of hitters," in which James creates families of hitters, based on similar statistics (the ratio of doubles to triples to homers). He analyzes all major league hitters with an OPS (a function of on base percentage and slugging percentage) of .800 or more. Let's take a look at Family 415A: Members include Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Alex Rodriguez. Or Family 415C: Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Dale Murphy, Luke Easter,, Joe Adcock, and Bobby Bonds. And on it goes. It's most enjoyable to run through the families.

There are brief (too brief, in my view) snippets of statistics for each major league team. Let's take the Chicago Cubs. Some basic statistics. The highest OPS for 2008 was captured by center fielder Jim Edmonds (I never would have guessed that!) with .937. One more statistic to give a sense of what's included in this book: Alfonso Soriano's pitch analysis--pitches seen, pitches taken, and pitches swung at. If swung at, was the swing a miss (27% of the time), 36% were fouled off, and 36% were put into play. What about the Southsiders, the White Sox? Highest OPS was Carlos Quentin at .965. And there is a fascinating breakdown of balls hit on the fly or on the ground or line drives to left, center, and right fields. Cool factoid: of 46 fly balls to left field, half went over the fence for a home run.

Other interesting sidebars--what pitchers threw the most gems over the past few years (defined as a sterling start); what the value of a stolen base is to each major league team; top Triple Crown seasons of all time.

In short, another solid hit from the Bill James Empire. Baseball enthusiasts who love statistics and are confirmed supporters of sabermetrics will have fun with this volume.

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More pure Bill

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).

Don Drysdale Deserves to be in the Hall-of-Fame!

This guy wrote that Don Drysdale didn't belong in the Hall-of-Fame. Don Drysdale not only set the record for homeruns by a pitcher for a season, seven, but did it twice. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series, twice. These Dodger teams had little offense. He beat the Yankees when they had Mantle batting cleanup. [...], a more sophisticated mathematical model, rates Drysdale the top National League pitcher for 3 seasons. He was a beloved baseball announcer at the major-league level. He won the Cy Young award in 1962, when he won 25 games. He pitched over 300 innings a year four times. He, and Sandy Koufax, held out for [...] a year, back when that was out-of-the-question, and got it. He hit more batters with pitches than any other pitcher. He cursed and cussed out umpires louder than anyone else that ever played the game. Nobody dared charge the mound when the Big "D" hit them. Bob Gibson stood on Drysdale's shoulders, using his pitch inside approach, the "I own the inside of the plate" approach, and had a fantastic season.
Bill James may have some interesting statistical analysis, but his interpretation of those facts is definitely suspect. James must have felt slighted by Drysdale at some point because rational analysis of the facts doesn't support his petty and boorish assertion Drysdale doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame.

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A "must-have" for any truly dedicated baseball fan

The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 is a massive compendium of statistical information about 2009's baseball teams, enhanced with comments, clarifications, and musings by expert baseball analyst Bill James. The data collected includes pitch type analysis, baserunning analysis, pitcher's record of opposing batters, performance by starting pitcher, productivity by batting order position, and fielding bible plus/minus data. James' additional essays and inquiries include "A What-If Fantasy", "Whoppers", "Triple Crowns", "96 Families of Hitters" and much more. A "must-have" for any truly dedicated baseball fan, and the perfect resource for fantasy baseball leagues!

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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.

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