Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight.

On Mar 31, 1:49�pm, Seapig <sea....DeleteThis@altavista.com> wrote:
> On Mar 30, 1:15�pm, grossman <Savo....DeleteThis@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > Check it out
>
> If I heard correctly, at one point Morley Safer said something along
> the lines of "conventional wisdom said that pitchers were most
> responsible for preventing stolen bases, but James showed that it was
> actually catchers." �If that is what I heard, didn't he have it
> backwards?

Must be.
 >> Stay informed about: Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight. 

"Seapig" <seapig.RemoveThis@altavista.com> wrote:

> If I heard correctly, at one point Morley Safer said something along
> the lines of "conventional wisdom said that pitchers were most
> responsible for preventing stolen bases, but James showed that
> it was actually catchers." If that is what I heard, didn't he have
> it backwards?

I thought the same thing. Bill James wrote about Bob Boone's great
defensive statistics having more to do with Gene Mauch's insistence
that his pitchers hold runners closely than to Boone's considerable
defensive abilities. James pointed to good base-running defense
following Mauch from club to club.

James did publish "catcher defensive stats" which may have misled
someone perusing the last few "Abstracts"

--
Don

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are much more pliable.
~ Mark Twain
 >> Stay informed about: Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight. 

On Mar 31, 1:49 pm, Seapig <sea....RemoveThis@altavista.com> wrote:
> On Mar 30, 1:15 pm, grossman <Savo....RemoveThis@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > Check it out
>
> If I heard correctly, at one point Morley Safer said something along
> the lines of "conventional wisdom said that pitchers were most
> responsible for preventing stolen bases, but James showed that it was
> actually catchers."  If that is what I heard, didn't he have it
> backwards?


Ah, my man Bill. He actually "showed" that catchers are more
responsible than pitchers for preventing stolen bases? How? Did he
really go out on the field and demonstrate this???


Tell you what. Get any type of baseball team you want on the field.
Let the pitcher NOT hold the runner as well as he should and see how
many times the catcher throws them out as opposed to when the pitcher
pays attention to the runner and keeps his lead to a minimum.


Don't bring Sabermaths, bring actual players.



Now, granted, when everything else is equal, the same runner is held
the same way by different pitchers, then, yes, the catcher with the
better defensive skills has a better chance at throwing him out than a
catcher with less skills.


I guess what I am trying to say is that if the pitcher does his job,
the catcher has a chance to throw the runner out, the better the
catcher, the better his chances are.


Of course, that has been known for about 70 years before Bill James
was born.



Just ain't no stats to prove it, nor or none needed, for those of us
who actually bother to watch the game.
 >> Stay informed about: Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight. 

On Apr 2, 9:34 pm, coachros....TakeThisOut@hotmail.com wrote:
> On Mar 31, 1:49 pm, Seapig <sea....TakeThisOut@altavista.com> wrote:
>
> > On Mar 30, 1:15 pm, grossman <Savo....TakeThisOut@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > > Check it out
>
> > If I heard correctly, at one point Morley Safer said something along
> > the lines of "conventional wisdom said that pitchers were most
> > responsible for preventing stolen bases, but James showed that it was
> > actually catchers."  If that is what I heard, didn't he have it
> > backwards?
>
> Ah, my man Bill. He actually "showed" that catchers are more
> responsible than pitchers for preventing stolen bases?

No, he didn't. Take it up with Morley Safer.
 >> Stay informed about: Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight. 

In article
<87ac2453-b522-4abe-b497-16587bfe1a4b.DeleteThis@s50g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
Seapig <seapig.DeleteThis@altavista.com> wrote:

> On Apr 2, 9:34 pm, coachros....DeleteThis@hotmail.com wrote:
> > On Mar 31, 1:49 pm, Seapig <sea....DeleteThis@altavista.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Mar 30, 1:15 pm, grossman <Savo....DeleteThis@aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > > > Check it out
> >
> > > If I heard correctly, at one point Morley Safer said something along
> > > the lines of "conventional wisdom said that pitchers were most
> > > responsible for preventing stolen bases, but James showed that it was
> > > actually catchers."  If that is what I heard, didn't he have it
> > > backwards?
> >
> > Ah, my man Bill. He actually "showed" that catchers are more
> > responsible than pitchers for preventing stolen bases?
>
> No, he didn't. Take it up with Morley Safer.

Ah geez... And he spent all that time composing that rant...
 >> Stay informed about: Bill James On 60 Minutes tonight.