Page "Bill James" Paragraph 3

An aspiring writer and obsessive fan, James began writing baseball articles after leaving the United States Army in his mid-twenties.

Many of his first baseball writings came while he was doing night shifts as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery.

Unlike most writers, his pieces did not recount games in epic terms or offer insights gleaned from interviews with players.

A typical James piece posed a question ( e. g., " Which pitchers and catchers allow runners to steal the most bases?

"), and then presented data and analysis written in a lively, insightful, and witty style that offered an answer.