Bill James

James also published three series of paperback books that were released prior to every baseball season between 1982 and 1996. These books were the Baseball Abstract (1982-88), the Baseball Book (1990-92) and the Player Ratings Book (1993-96). James is one of the most influential of all baseball statisticians.

James brought his influence to the Boston Red Sox in 2003 as a consultant. He became known for inspiring the team's "Bullpen by committee", where multiple relief pitchers saving baseball games instead of one true "closer", as most teams use. However, the bullpen struggled to finish games and it was forced to acquire Byung-Hyun Kim[?], ending the experiment. However, it did become a better hitting team, and it's remained competitive.

Two 1910's pitchers also shared the Bill James name, and both were part of famous World Series teams. As they pitched at around the same time, both required nicknames to be told apart:

Big Bill James was an American League pitcher for several second division teams and was one of the clean members on the 1919 Chicago White Sox which was made famous by the Black Sox scandal, as several members of the team allegedly threw the World Series.

Seattle Bill James pitched mostly in the National League, and in his only full season, went 26-7 on the 1914 Boston Braves championship team. This team is known as the "Miracle Braves" because they made a dramatic comeback from last place in midseason to win the pennant. James was 2-0 in the World Series as the Braves recorded the first sweep in Series history.