The Importance of Bill James

I was doing a research project in the main reading room of the New York Public Library. That meant waiting for long periods of time for my requested books to be found and their numbers to appear on the little screen by the window, and that meant that to entertain myself I had to make do with the reference books lining the shelves, most of which were of stupefying boredom but also included The Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James, which I beelined for anytime I was there and continued reading often long after my number was flashing.