BJOL articles, part 4 ("Hey Bill"s, late 2016)Hey Bill 15 Most Recent Questions So Mike Trout stole home today. The Yahoo box score lists the theft as "4th base, off D Floro / H Conger." "4th base" -- first time I've ever seen it as anything other than "home." Asked by: matt_okeefe Answered:… Oct 24 26October 24, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
BJOL Articles, part 3You and I Have Memories By Steven Goldleaf September 9, 2017 When I wrote last month (https://www.billjamesonline.com/articles/?AuthorId=23 ) about Roberto Clemente hitting the only walk-off grand-slam inside-the-park home run in major league… Oct 21 26October 21, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
BJOL articles, part 2These are articles published on BJOL between 2012 and 2015, best read from the bottom up. The Contacct Theory and the Power Theory By Bill James January 21, 2016 The Contact Theory and the Power Theory Let me point out to you something quite… Oct 20 26October 20, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
Why People Hate My GutsNo, I’m not a whining left-wing intellectual arrogant East Coast atheistic Jewish elitist liberal arts professor who’s about to explain to you why everyone who dislikes me is simply incorrect. I mean, I am all of those terrible things, and worse, and… Oct 20 26October 20, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
The final chapter of my collection of memoirs (a short story, but only partly fictional).THE DREAM LIFE It all began when Leonard, just past the age of 70, began to dream in color. He’d dreamt in bits and spatters of color for decades, of course (we all do), but now the colors were becoming quite vivid, red jackets and green-and-yellow… Oct 12 26October 12, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
OLD BJOL Columns, part 1I've been trying to archive various columns that were written for Bill James On Line, some by me (most of which are on Authory already) but most of them by Bill James. I've hit several snags, but I've gathered quite a few of them which I'll make… Oct 12 26October 12, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
A Lifetime of Unnecessary MemoriesAmong the myriad loads of garbage cluttering up my mind are baseball players’ birthdays, refusing to eject themselves, no matter how I try. I’ve given up trying. This load entered my mind without the least effort. As a boy, I read every fact,… Apr 16 26April 16, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
Two “What-if”sA question was raised on Quora recently that got me thinking. The question concerned why Elston Howard and Thurman Munson have not been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame, and the answer was the same for both, and so gobsmackingly obvious that it’s… Mar 29 26March 29, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
The Smithy of My Soul: Writers, Killers, and the Psychology of AttachmentThis story begins with a curious, almost morbid, coincidence. In the mid-twentieth century, two of America’s most prominent cultural arbiters, William F. Buckley Jr. and Truman Capote, each became deeply entangled with convicted murderers who shared… Mar 29 26March 29, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
The MidpointThe 1927 season had not started particularly well for Babe Ruth. Here it was, the fourth game of the season, and he hadn’t hit a single home run so far. It was April 15th, a cool, overcast afternoon reaching into the mid-50s, and so far, in the first… Jan 25 26January 25, 2026Article at Steven on Authory
Alonso threeduxI don’t want to seem too obsessive on the subject of the Mets signing/not signing Pete Alonso to a long-term contract, especially because my last two articles on that subject might appear to have been totally wrong-headed about Alonso’s future. Here… Jun 12 25June 12, 2025Article at Steven on Authory
Premature AnnouncementI’m working on a new baseball book, and it should be in print within a year, so get your wallets ready for this epochal event. It’s partly made up of the tracers I ran during my stint on Bill James On Line, but augmented by the tracers I’ve run here… Apr 17 25April 17, 2025Article at Steven on Authory
Goldman's Trick (or, the typo that started my career)Reversals. That is my entire essay on the writer William Goldman, in one word. Reversals. Also “in one paragraph.” Goldman had a peculiar prose style, charming in its way, deceptively so. He would write one-sentence paragraphs, which violates the… Apr 16 25April 16, 2025Article at Steven on Authory
A Very Late Book Review for the Late BJOLThis is ostensibly a review of The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players, a book that purports to depict every Jew who has ever played Major League Baseball, although I’m not really interested in… Apr 14 25April 14, 2025Article at Steven on Authory
Alonso Specifics and Predictions based on his "Similars"Let me ask the question in a more focused way: Following this season, how many more seasons of excellent baseball do you expect Pete Alonso to have? He’s averaged 3.9 WAR, an .861 OPS, a 136 OPS+, 44 HR, 115 RBI per 162 games throughout his MLB… Jul 05 24July 05, 2024Article at Steven on Authory
Pete Alonso's Projected FutureHate to say this about Pete Alonso, whom I admire, but I think the Mets might do themselves good if they avoid a bidding war for his services after this year. It’s agreed that Scott Boras will start the bidding at around six years, probably more like… Jun 30 24June 30, 2024Article at Steven on Authory
Koufax anomalies…and oddities. In my spare time, which is to say “all of it,” I sometimes look at BBREF’s “splits” breakdowns, mainly because I’m fascinated by randomness. Why did Willie Mays bat so well in the month of May (.982 OPS+, 131 HR) yet so relatively… Jun 10 24June 10, 2024Article at Steven on Authory
My Studies with John WilliamsI was one of John Williams’ graduate students in the doctoral program in creative writing at the University of Denver in the early 1980s, and he and I coincided in the sense that I took my Ph. D. in 1985, the year he retired from teaching. He was… Jun 06 24June 06, 2024Article at Steven on Authory
"I've traveled each and every by-way..."Valentine’s Way: My Adventurous Life and Times By Bobby Valentine and Peter Golenbock. 376 pages. Permuted Press ISBN-10: 1637580940 ISBN-13: 9781637580943 Bobby Valentine thrives on conflict, which is the heart of a strong narrative, so his new… Aug 23 23August 23, 2023Article at Steven on Authory