Of the many talents Bill James has a baseball writer and analyst, his ability to inform and entertain in a light-hearted, insightful way has to rank near the top of the list. In his 1987 Baseball Abstract, James introduced one of his most memorable concepts, the "Ken Phelps All-Star Team." For those of you too…
Tell me again about hope and faith. Before the season–heck, before every season–the irresponsible among the baseball media like to tell us that half to three-quarters of the teams in baseball have no hope of contending or reaching the playoffs. Most readers of Baseball Prospectus know that this isn’t true, regardless of their opinions on…
2001 NL MVP "Guys work out all year round now. We have personal trainers–we all do. Guys don’t want to go on breaks. The game has changed…. When we came in the game, a second baseman was a 4-foot-2 slap-hitter. Now you have second basemen that hit 40 home runs. I don’t know what they’re…