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

1985 Bill James Baseball Abstract

308 pages

Divided into five parts:
Section I: Introduction and Methods
Section II: The Teams
Section III: Player Comments
Section IV: Essays
Section V: Technical Stuff

Section I : Introduction and Methods, 1

Introduction for New Readers, 3

Introduction for Old Readers, 5

Making Sense of Minor League Batting Statistics, 6

Adjusting for the Run Environment, 7

Adjusting for the Calibre of Competition, 7

Adjusting the Minor League Statistics to the Major League Levels of Productivity, 7

Making Park Adjustements, 8

Completing the Process, 9

How Often Does the System Work?, 10

Conclusion, 12

The Brock2 System, 16 A General Introduction, 16 How the System Works, 16 How Well Does the System Work?, 17 What Must Be Done to Make the System Work Better?, 20

Section II : The Teams, 23

For all teams in the division: W-L before and after All-Star break, vs RHP & LHP, Grass & Turf, Day & Night, and total.
Number of come from behind victories, for each amount, 1-7 runs.
Blown leads of same magnitude.
The record of each team when ahead, behind or tied after 7, and net change.

Complete Club Batting Records

Opposition Batting Record

Complete Pitching Record

Opposition Pitching Record
Complete defensive record, including OSB, OCS, OA/SFA,DER.

For each team:

Complete batting (including RC), pitching and defensive records for ALL players.

Hitter data in the box (10 players with most AB): Career record in seasonal notation.

Record before and after All-Star break

vs RHP/LHP, Home/Road, Grass/Turf

Pitcher data in the box (20 or more starts)

W-L, Run support, DP support, Opponents stolen bases for 83, 84 and career

Home/Road, grass/turf for 83 and 84

Explanation of Division Sheets, 24

Explanation of Player Boxes, 25

American League East, 27 Detroit Tigers, 29 Toronto Blue Jays, 42 New York Yankees, 50 Boston Red Sox, 56 Baltimore Orioles, 62 Cleveland Indians, 69 Milwaukee Brewers, 76

American League West. 83 Kansas City Royals, 85 California Angels, 92 Minnesota, Twins, 98 Oakland A's, 105 Chicago White Sox, 110 Seattle, Mariners, 116 Texas Rangers, 123

National League West, 129

A History of the Beanball, 131
San Diego Padres, 141
Atlanta Braves, 147
Houston Astros, 152
Los Angeles Dodgers, 160
Cincinnati Reds, 168
San Francisco Giants, 174

National League East, 181 Chicago Cubs, 183 New York Mets, 189 St. Louis Cardinals, 197 Philadelphia Phillies, 202 Montreal Expos, 210 Pittsburgh Pirates, 219

Section III : Player Comments, 227

Section IV : Essays and Articles, 275

Paul Johnson's Estimated Runs Produced, 276 - available on-line here

Estimated Runs Produced, 277

Range Factor, Revisited, 282

Other Efforts, 285

Project Scoresheet; The Society for American Baseball Research; The Newsletter; The Historical Abstract; The Baseball Analyst

Records with Different Starting Catchers, 286

Leading Hitters on Artificial Turf, 293

Leading Hitters on Natural Grass, 293
Least Double Play Support, 294
Highest Double Play Support, 294
Starting Pitchers Receiving Worst Offensive Support, 294
Starting Pitchers Receiving Best Offensive Support, 294
Toughest Starting Pithcers to Run On, 295
Easiest Starting Pitchers to Run On, 295
Leading Hitters Against Right-Handed Pitching, 295
Leading Hitters Against Left-Handed Pitching, 295

Section V: Technical Stuff, 297

A Glossary of Terms in Use in Sabermetrics, 299
The Brock2 System: A Complete Explanation, 301
Appendix, 306