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"Abstracts from the Abstracts" synopsis and review by Rich Lederer at baseballanalysts.com

1982 Bill James Baseball Abstract

The first commercial publication of the Abstract.

Divided into five parts:

Part I: The Baseball Abstract and Sabermetrics

PartII: Team Comments

Part III: Player Ratings and Comments

Part IV: The Game

Part V: Not of Any General Interest

Part I : The Baseball Abstract and Sabermetrics

Introduction, p 3

1.Pesky/Stuart: Understanding Offensive Statistics, p5

Discussion of Runs Created and derivation

League numbers 1977-1981, team numbers 1981, p6

Individuals in Phi, NYY, p.6 LA, p7

Top individuals, 1980,1981. Top 10 of 20th century. p7

Offensive Value rectangle OBA x SLG, p8

Compare Pesky/Stuart, 8-10, Kuiper/Tenace, 8-9

Buckner/Tenace, Schmidt/McBride, DeCinces/Cromartie/Harrah p 9

2.Tool Shack, p11

A. Opposition Stolen Bases, p12

OSB - Gary Carter (1975-1981), p 12

John Candelaria (1976-1981), Jim Bibby (1976-1981), p13

League leaders, fewest opposition stolen bases by pitcher, 1976-1981, p14

League Leaders, most opposition stolen bases by pitcher, 1976-1981, p14

B.Double Play Support, 14

C.Other Counts of Things,15

Pitcher run support

Average game time by starting pitchers -table pp15-16

Average Attendance per start by pitcher w/table pp16-18

D.Easy Access, 18

Range factor defined

Isolated power defined - compared to SLG/BA, p 18

E.The Pythagorean Method, 18

Pythagorean Method discussion and chart of 1981 results 18-19

Chart of teams finishing 10 games over .500 since 1943, with run differential , p 20

F. Offensive Wins and Losses

G. The Value Approximation Method

chart Brock/Broglio, page 21; Calrton/Wise/RSmith, p 21

H. The Favorite Toy

Al Oliver chance for 3000 hits

3. Making Sense of Foreign Numbers, p24

A.The Native Tongue

A discussion of the ability of a statistical line to generate an image

B. Fielding Statistics, 25

A discussion of what fielding percentage is good (and not good) for

C. Defensive Efficiency Record

D. The Defensive Spectrum

Part II : Team Comments

For Divisions:

For all teams in the division: W-L before and after strike, Home & Road, Day & Night, and total.

Number of come from behind victories, for each amount, 1-6 runs.

Blown leads of same magnitude.

Chart for all teams, listing opponent stolen bases and caught stealing, DP, outfield assists/sacrifice flies, fielding average, DER and opposition runs.

And a chart of opposition errors by position.

For each team:

Park Effects Chart runs per game home/road for four years.

% of talent produced by system, acquired by trade, purchased or signed as free agent

Pitcher data in the box: Run support, DP support, Opponents stolen bases. Some for 6 years, Home/Road

Hitter data in the box: RC, Before and after strike stats home/road splits, platoon splits when available from the teams. Career record in seasonal notation.

American League East, p33

New York Yankees, p34

Record of all AL teams when ahead after 7, behind or tied, page 35

History of Yankees "trade value" for regulars in 1975, 77, 79, 81 p35-6

Milwaukee Brewers, p38

Harry Dalton/George Bamberger

Moving Paul Molitor around

Missing the pythagorean projection and strength of bullpen

Baltimore Orioles, p41

Earl Weaver's complex platooning - record in double-headers, p41-42

Detroit Tigers, p44

Trade value of Tiger regulars, p44, comparison, Cerone/Parrish

Quality of left-handers faced due to a left-handed hitting lineup, p44-45

Boston Red Sox, p 46

Home/Road splits for Lynn & Fisk, 1977-80.p47

Quality of left-handers faced due to the green monster, p47

Red Sox's league-leading 11 win from behind after 7th, p47-8

Cleveland Indians, p50

History of the Cleveland organization since the Colavito/Kuenn trade.

Toronto Blue Jays, p53

Peter Bavasi, p53

Table of records of all expansion teams for first 10 years, p54

American League West, p57

Oakland A's, p58

Billy Martin, pp58-60

Table of Martin's teams two years before, first year and next four, p59

Table of Martin's overused starting pitchers for most used year and 3 following, p60

Plexiglass principle (with table - all teams W-L 78-81), p60-61

Kansas CIty Royals, p63

Clutch hitting, pythagorean projections on a single game, p63-65.

Table of Royals 14 games they "should have" won, p64

Texas Rangers, p67

Brad Corbett's dismantling of the Rangers after 1978, p67

Chart of franchise moves with discussion, p67-8

Chicago White Sox, p70

Comments about the 1981 split schedule and the White Sox possible forfeit to win, p70

California Angels, p72

Comments on Angels' lack of direction

Chart of Angels Dp combo (new one each year, 1971-1981), p73

Seattle Mariners, p75

Comparison on 1977 regulars with 1981 regulars

Minnesota Twins, p78

National League East, p81

Montreal Expos, p82

Cubs late season collapses

Expos late season successes

Expos managerial history, 1969-1981 with records, p83

Philadelphia Phillies, p85

Methodology for determining % from system, trade, free agency

Raw AV numbers for NLE farm/trade/freeagency % chart, p85

Chart of AV numbers for individuals, grouped by farm/trade/freeagency, p85

Chart of RC per position for Phils vs league average, p86

St.Louis Cardinals, p87

Commentary about split season and how it hsould have been done, 87-89

Pittsburgh Pirates, p90

List of all players (with AV) which are products of the Pirate farm system as of 1981

Chart of 1981 AV generated from farm system for each major league team p91

New York Mets, p93

George Bamberger managerial style

Chicago Cubs, p96

Cubs recent trading history

Chart of Monday/Garman for Buckner/DeJesus trade, p96

National League West, p99

Los Angeles Dodgers, p100

Player movement team-to-team movement across eras.

Houston Astros, p102

Astro trading history and learning the requirements of the Astrodome, p102-3

Cincinnati Reds, p105

Comparison of the Reds of the 70s to the Dodgers of the 50s (identical pennant pattern), p105

John McNamara managerial style, p105-6

Chart of starts given to pitchers with ERAs over 5 by NLW teams. p106

San Francisco Giants, p108

Giants trading record. Largest trading defecit from 1963-1972, p108

Atlanta Braves, p111

Ted Turner compared to Charlie Finley and George Steinbrenner. 111-2

San Diego PAdres, p114

Jack McKeon managing style

Part III : Player Ratings and Comments

For each player:

Offensive WIns and losses (using park adjusted RC)

Defensive Wins and Losses

Playing time (percentage of full time based on 100 games)

For catchers, Opposition Stolen Bases:

For each pitcher:

A rating, based on the number of runs the pitcher has saved the team compared to a replcement level pitcher (park adjusted, as well as adjusted for W-L and support). Also a letter grade for holding baserunners and a rating for double play support.

 

Players with comment of exceptional interest:

Larry Parrish, p121

Selected club records with backup catchers

Carlton Fisk, p121

staff ERA with and without Fisk

Opposition Stolen Bases, all catchers, 1975-1981, pp124-129

Rod Carew,p131

Unconventional batting stances

Steve Garvey, p132

Qualities of an overrated player

Roy Howell, p140

Tim Foli effect - moving to a better hitting team

Butch Hobson, p141

Essay on level of violence due to playing every day (vs football)

Rick Burleson, p143

Examination of differences between types of players who win MVP(writers) and TSN Player of the Year (players), p143-4

Dave Concepcion, p144

Chart of ages of shortstops on pennant winning teams and all teams.

"34-year-old shortstop rule"

Bill Almon, p144

Defensive spectrum and adequate performance level discussion, p144-5

Rickey Henderson, p147

Chart of Billy Martin's changes to the #1&#2 slots in the order at each job.

Gene Richards, p149

April and September stats 1977-81 for Richards

Andre Dawson, p151

Chart responding to people comparing Dawson to young Mays(stats by age)

Gorman Thomas, p152

List of surnames with the most homeruns

Amos Otis, p152

Amos Otis compared to Al Oliver

Bobby Bonds, p155

Chart showing that most teams have gotten worse when acquiring Bonds and better when he leaves

Tony Armas, p156

Essay about Billy Martin's success at getting more productivity out of power hitters

Leon Durham, p157

List of 15 players "likely" to win 4-7 batting titles in 1982-86 and discussion of criteria.

Reggie Jackson, p158

Charts of Jackson's batting record by crowd size, 1976-81

Bake McBride, p159

Comparison of writer's picks for ROY with players pick

Don Baylor, p161

History of MVP voting patterns

Hal McRae, p162

Comment on evolution of the DH strategy

Fernando Valenzuela, p163

Cy Young award formula 4W+3Sho-2L

Steve McCatty, p163

History of disputed batting (1938&1954) and ERA(1940&1981) titles

Dennis Leonard, p164

Career won-lost records by month

Matt Keough, p168

Another comment on Billy Martin managerial style

Gaylord Perry, p170

About the sudden burst of 300 game winners coming in the mid 80s

Juan Eichelberger, p171

Dick William's history of having a young hard-throwing kid breakout on his staff

Discussion of the save rule, p173-174

Discussion of the evolution of ace relief pitcher usage strategy, p174

Part IV : The Game

1. In Defense of Range Factors, 177-181

Table of TC/G by shortstops by TC/G of their thirdbaseman, p181

2. Offensive Wins and Losses:Limitations and Uses, 182-185

Problems with RC before 1930, p183-4

3. Power/Speed Number, 186

Joint Project, 186-189

A request to gather codified information on pitcher deliveries

5. Looking for the Prime, p191-206

Chart of teams by average age, showing what the team did the next year, p191

Charts of 1981 teams showing age by position and average, p192

Chart of ages of batting champions, p192

Chart of ages of 100-RBI seasons, p193

Chart of ages of 20-game winners, p193

Value Approximation Method(VAM),193-195

Chart of Approx Value by age of players born in '30s, p195

A. Theories of Aging, Part I, 196

Discussion of methodology problems with this study and a study by PetePalmer which charts "perfromances by age for all players by position",196-7

Theories of Aging, 196

B. Constructing Meaningful Lines, 197

Chart of approximate value by age by groups divided by peak value, p198

C. Superstars and Aging, 198

Chart of approximate value by age of the "superstars" in the study, p199

D. Pitchers and Aging, p199-201

Chart of remaining career wins based on age and number of wins, p200

E. Theories of Aging, Part II, 202

Power pitchers vs Finesse Pitchers and aging 201-203

F. Other Types

Chart of aging of slow moving sluggers p204

G. Theories of Aging, Part III

V: Not of Any General Interest

Runs Created Formula

Isolated Power

Defensive Efficiency Record

Value Approximation Method

List of VA for all 1981 players pp210-211

How the Defensive ratings are derived, p211