By Michael N

Editor’s note - This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on November 27, 2001.
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Bill James became famous exposing readers to a world of new statistics in his Baseball Abstracts of the ’70s and ’80s. Although his name remains synonymous with sabermetrics — “the study and mathematical analysis of baseball statistics and records,” according to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary — James’ latest work, the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, has much to offer the statistically disinclined.

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Editor’s note - This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.

Of Gonzos Past?

I’m not much of a crier or a weeper.  As a bit of a throwback in the sensitivity area, there isn’t much in sports that moves me to the point of tears anymore.  The Astros haven’t won anything of significance in well, forever, so I can honestly say, baseball wise, the last time I got visibly emotional about the game was either the Astros/Mets playoff series or Cal Ripken setting the perfect attendance mark to end all perfect attendance marks.  Probably the latter. (more…)

In the midst of a World Series that would become a seven-game classic, baseball’s steward, Commissioner Bud Selig, raised the white flag of surrender incuring the sport’s economic disparity: “As the problems have exacerbated, it has become clearer to me that everything should be on the table, including contraction. Can it be worked out for 2002? Time will tell. But I wouldn’t rule it out.”

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