Bill James revolutionized the game of baseball without once stepping on
to a professional baseball diamond as a player, coach, manager or
executive. A baseball writer and historian, James was the developer of
"sabermetrics", the statistical analysis of baseball, that led to the
development of Die Kunst zu gewinnen - Moneyball (2011).
Born George William James on October 5, 1949 in Holton, Kansas), James
was a Kansas City Royals fan when he began developing his theories of
sabermetrics. His most profound early insight was that batting average
was overrated and that a player's on-base percentage (which factored in
their walks as well as their hits) was a much more accurate barometer
of a player's worth. This insight later developed into the new Holy
Grail of baseball statistics, on-base percentage plus slugging
percentage, as James recognized that a good-fielding player with a lot
of power like third-baseman Darrell Evans
was a better player, despite a low batting average, than many players
with gaudier batting averages.
From humble beginnings, James' annual "Baseball Abstract" books become
a phenomenon in the 1980s as they gave an accurate gauge to predicting
a team's won-loss record. He was so successful, Time Magazine named him
to the Time 100 most influential people in the world in 2006.
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry,
a fan, hired him in 2003. He is the Senior Adviser on Baseball
Operations for the Red Sox, who maintain a proprietary software system
called "Carmine" he helped develop that is used to evaluate players and
trades.
