Bill James

Bill James revolutionized the game of baseball without once stepping on to a professional baseball diamond as a player, coach, manager or executive. A baseball writer and historian, James was the developer of "sabermetrics", the statistical analysis of baseball, that led to the development of Moneyball (2011). Born George William James on October 5, 1949 in Holton, Kansas), James was a Kansas City Royals fan when he began developing his theories of sabermetrics. His most profound early insight was that batting average was overrated and that a player's on-base percentage (which factored in their walks as well as their hits) was a much more accurate barometer of a player's worth. This insight later developed into the new Holy Grail of baseball statistics, on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, as James recognized that a good-fielding player with a lot of power like third-baseman Darrell Evans was a better player, despite a low batting average, than many players with gaudier batting averages. From humble beginnings, James' annual "Baseball Abstract" books become a phenomenon in the 1980s as they gave an accurate gauge to predicting a team's won-loss record. He was so successful, Time Magazine named him to the Time 100 most influential people in the world in 2006. Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, a fan, hired him in 2003. He is the Senior Adviser on Baseball Operations for the Red Sox, who maintain a proprietary software system called "Carmine" he helped develop that is used to evaluate players and trades.