Back to the Works of Bill James
Second Edition - Paperback (with new Postscript)
Acknowledgments, vii
Introduction, 1
Introduction, 3
- The 1870s, 8
- The 1880s, 35
- The 1890s, 52
- The 1900s, 71
- The 1910s, 94
- The 1920s, 120
- The 1930s, 145
- The Negro Leagues, 166
- The 1940s, 197
- The 1950s, 220
- The 1960s, 249
- The 1970s, 276
- The 1980s, 296
- The 1990s, 306
- Some of the player comments have non-statistical biographical information. Those players, and those that have comments which extend beyond the information of the player are listed here.
- After each position section, there is a list of the next 25 players and a chart with each of the 100 players, listing career win shares, top three seasons, best five year total and win shares per 162 games.
- Introduction, 329
- Catcher, 370
- Yogi Berra, 370
- Hack Wilson body type
- Carlton Fisk, 372-3
- Fisk compared to Campanella
- Gabby Hartnett, 374-5
- Roger Bresnahan, 377-9
- Ernie Lombardi, 380-90
- Gene Tenace, 390-1
- Run value of high secondary average
- Ed Bailey, 396-8
- Manny Sanguillen, 399
- Comparison of Sanguillen with Darren Daulton
- Jim Hegan, 399-400
- Bob O'Farrell, 401-2
- Charlie Bennett, 402-3
- Muddy Ruel, 404-5
- Steve O'Neill, 406
- Luke Sewell, 408-9
- Home/road platton with Glenn Myatt and Sewell
- Chief Zimmer, 410-11
- Jimmie Wilson, 411-3
- Birdie Tebbetts, 413-4
- Hank Gowdy, 418-9
- Ivy Wingo, 420
- Catchers with siblings who played in the majors
- Fred Carroll, 421-2
- Best catchers by age grouping (young, prime, post-prime, old)
- Wilbert Robinson, 423-4
- Earl Smith, 428-9
- First Base, 433
- Jimmie Foxx, 433-4
- About the story that Home Run Baker scouted and signed Jimmie Foxx
- Cap Anson, 436-7
- Cap Anson saves baseball in 1879
- Will Clark, 437-8
- Comparing Will Clark to Rafael Palmeiro
- Keith Hernandez, 438
- Most comparable players to Hernandez by decade (1880s to 1990s)
- Rafael Palmeiro, 439-40
- Gold Glove voting structure
- Roger Conner, 440-1
- Dolf Camilli, 442-3
- Bob Watson, 445
- Bob Watson compared to George Kelly
- Hal Trosky, 446-7
- Bill White, 447
- White last name all-star team
- Kent Hrbek, 447-8
- Most similar players to Hrbek by decade (1880s-1990s)
- Lee May, 449-50
- Siblings in the majors. Desire vs ability
- Phil Cavarretta, 453
- Invention of the batter's eye
- Ferris Fain, 454-5
- George Kelly, 455-6
- The case against Kelly as a hall-of-famer.
- Bill Buckner, 457-60
- Rating firstbasemen's defense
- Stuffy McInnis, 460-1
- Stretching to catch the throw at first
- Fred Tenney, 461
- Tenney/Mathewson trick play which is now a balk
- Hal Chase, 462-468
- George Burns, 468
- Vic Power, 469
- Jim Gentile, 473-4
- Second Base, 479
- Joe Morgan, 479-81
- Percentage Player Index
- Eddie Collins, 481-5
- Nap Lajoie, 487-90
- Evolution of the second base position
- Frankie Frisch, 491-493
- Buddy Myer, 498-9
- Bill Mazeroski, 501-3
- Top all-time win shares per 1000 defensive innings - Jackie Robinson's defense
- Gil McDougald, 505-6
- Eddie Stanky, 506-7
- Two rule changes caused by Stanky
- Bobby Avila, 507-10
- Miller Huggins, 510
- Most similar players to Huggins by decade, 1890s-1990s
- Phil Garner, 512
- Players who had hot streaks due to injury
- Steve Sax, 513
- Personalities of superstars
- Manny Trillo, 515-6
- Top secondbasemen who were basically given away
- Johnny Temple, 517-8
- Tony Cuccinello, 518-9
- George Grantham, 522
- Players who are above average in every basic offensive category
- Fred Pfeffer, 523
- Secondbasemen most helped and hurt by home park (homers)
- Jorge Orta, 529
- Increased reporting of umpire errors
- Third Base, 538
- Mike Schmidt, 538
- Worst rookie seasons with HOF careers, First ten picks in Schmidt/Brett draft
- George Brett, 538
- Players with most "balanced" offensive skills (Hits, extra bases, R+RBI)
- Eddie Mathews, 539
- Best youngest players by position
- Wade Boggs, 539
- Ten most similar players
- Home Run Baker, 540
- The possible effect of two skipped seasons on Baker's career
- Ron Santo, 541
- Santo's Hall of Fame case
- Brooks Robinson, 542
- Distribution of nice players by position, and within position
- Paul Molitor, 544
- Lifetime leaders in many categories of all players rated as third basemen
- Stan Hack, 544
- Stan Hack compared with Pie Traynor
- Darrell Evans, 546
- Characteristics of an underrated player, and Evans compared to Tony Perez
- Ken Boyer, 548
- Examining the best infields of all time
- Graig Nettles, 553
- Al Rosen, 554
- Best seasons by a third baseman
- Pie Traynor, 554
- Ron Cey, 554
- The Dodger infield from 1973-82
- Jimmy Collins, 555
- Robin Ventura, 556
- Teams that couldn't find a third baseman for a long time
- Ken Caminiti, 559
- Biggest fluke seasons of all time according to win shares.
- Harlond Clift, 563
- Buddy Lewis, 564
- Red Rolfe, 565
- Ed Williamson, 566
- Howard Johnson, 567
- Top power/speed combinations among third basemen, players with commercial trademarks for names
- Heinie Zimmerman, 568
- Arlie Latham, 570
- Don Money, 572
- Players who hold (or held) the same record in both leagues
- Harry Steinfeldt, 572
- Art Devlin, 573
- Pinky Higgins, 574
- Willie Kamm, 574
- Doug Rader, 575
- Willie Jones, 576
- Most similar players to Gary Gaetti by decade, all "Willie" team
- Ossie Bluege, 576
- Deacon White, 579
- Lowest secondary averages of listed third basemen
- Kevin Seitzer, 579
- Top ten rookie seasons by third basemen
- Billy Werber, 579
- Shortstop, 591
- Left Field, 652
- Center Field, 720
- Right Field, 784
- Pitcher, 846
- Last Minute Notes, 922
- Win Shares of Individuals, 927
- Win Shares of Selected Teams, 945
- Win Share Team Comparison, 970