Where it all began: Bill James’ original “abstracts”

November 10, 2011

Before he began working with an actual publisher, James used to type out The  Baseball Analyst on a bi-monthly basis and make copies as needed for distribution. How times have changed.

Like SABR’s annual publications, The National Pastime and Baseball Research Journal, the Analysts were contributor-driven. The first issue contains articles such as “Ballpark Effects on the Production of Infield Errors and Double Plays,”  “The Distribution of Runs Scored,” “Wins and Losses for All Players,” and Home Runs: A Matter of Attitude.”

The form is very raw; James basically took the original manuscripts in their individual formats and just packed them together, given the material an unfinished look. Modern sabermetricians would have to go through each essay to judge whether the theses are still valid or if they’ve been superceded in their conclusions.

But it’s still kidn of neat to go through them to see how relatively primitive the production process was “way back when.”

The 40 issues are available via the SABR website.

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