THT: Studeman: Be Jolly

No, no...Studes hasn’t fallen for the lame patchy work of Jolly Garogers. It’s his look at The Bill James Gold Mine 2008 and the new Bill James Online website.

In addition to the nuggets and tables, organized by team, there are the typical James essays. Some of my favorites were:

--"Hall of Famers Among Us,” in which James gives his opinion about the Hall of Fame chances of each current player. The percentages are okay, but I particularly enjoyed his comments about individual players.
--"Measuring Consistency,” which includes a typical Jamesian formula to determine which players had the most consistent (and inconsistent) careers. Most consistent? Hank Aaron.
--"Strength Up the Middle,” an investigation of whether pennant-winning teams really are stronger up the middle.
--"The Targeting Phenomenon,” in which he shows that players really do target certain numbers, such as 20 wins and 100 RBIs.

What’s more, there are several shorter (single page) essays scattered throughout the team comments. These were all enjoyable—a good example is “Howard’s Mark,” about the history of batting strikeout records. When it comes to capturing and writing about the statistical nuances of the game, no one is better than Bill James.