Win Shares by Bill JamesAnother Bill James classic. In this one, Bill rethinks the numbers to assess a team / standings / stadium / era free measure of the good a player has done for his team, offensively and defensively. The beginning of the book rolls out the statistic and its creation, and it is quite complex and has a number of stand-alone rules to make it all work. It's understandable why he had the complexity given the task, and he compares his method to other methods in existence that tend to be less complex or rigorous. The second part of the book is taking the numbers he generated and writing those analysis papers that you expect from James, and he adds some good ones now, given he believes he has a better handle on the numbers to answer questions like who was the best second baseman by season. The final half or so of the book are the generated winshares for players and teams over time. I found it another enjoyable romp into the says who type of arguments you get into about baseball, and provides a well thought out, and often pithy answer.
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