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Bill James
William Lawrence James (Seattle Bill)
Bats: Right , Throws: Right
Height: 6' 3" , Weight: 196 lb.

Born: March 12, 1892 in Iowa Hill, CA
High School: Union (Oroville, CA)
School: Saint Mary's College of California (All Transactions)
Debut: April 17, 1913
Final Game: June 4, 1919
Died: March 10, 1971 in Oroville, CA
    About biographical information

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Click rows to sum (Clear)
Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards
1913 21 BSN NL 6 10 .375 2.79 24 14 7 10 1 0 135.2 134 75 42 4 57 73 7 1 8 590 117 1.408 8.9 0.3 3.8 4.8 1.28
1914 22 BSN NL 26 7 .788 1.90 46 37 9 30 4 2 332.1 261 91 70 7 118 156 13 1 6 1316 150 1.140 7.1 0.2 3.2 4.2 1.32 MVP-3
1915 23 BSN NL 5 4 .556 3.03 13 10 3 4 0 0 68.1 68 28 23 3 22 23 2 0 3 287 88 1.317 9.0 0.4 2.9 3.0 1.05
1919 27 BSN NL 0 0 3.38 1 0 1 0 0 0 5.1 6 2 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 24 84 1.500 10.1 0.0 3.4 1.7 0.50
4 Seasons 37 21 .638 2.28 84 61 20 44 5 2 541.2 469 196 137 14 199 253 22 2 17 2217 128 1.233 7.8 0.2 3.3 4.2 1.27
162 Game Avg. 17 10 .638 2.28 39 29 9 21 2 1 254 220 92 64 7 93 119 10 1 8 1040 128 1.233 7.8 0.2 3.3 4.2 1.27

Postseason Pitching

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
1914 22 BSN NL WS W PHA 2 0 1.000 0.00 2 1 1 1 1 0 11.0 2 0 0 0 6 1 9 0 0 0 37 0.727 1.6 0.0 4.9 7.4 1.50
1 WS 2 0 1.000 0.00 2 1 1 1 1 0 11.0 2 0 0 0 6 1 9 0 0 0 37 0.727 1.6 0.0 4.9 7.4 1.50

Standard Batting

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Click rows to sum (Clear)
Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1913 21 BSN NL 24 50 47 5 12 2 0 0 0 2 1 12 .255 .271 .298 .569 62 14 0 2 1
1914 22 BSN NL 49 135 129 9 33 3 0 0 9 0 0 20 .256 .262 .279 .541 58 36 1 5 1 MVP-3
1915 23 BSN NL 14 23 21 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 11 .048 .091 .048 .139 -57 1 0 1 1
1919 27 BSN NL 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 /1
4 Seasons 88 210 199 18 46 5 0 0 9 2 2 44 .231 .243 .256 .499 46 51 1 8
162 Game Avg. 162 387 366 33 85 9 0 0 17 4 4 81 .231 .243 .256 .499 46 94 2 15

Postseason Batting

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
1914 22 BSN NL WS PHA W 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 WS 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK
Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1913 BSN NL 21 P 24 49 7 35 7 2 .857 1.75 .959 1.57
1914 BSN NL 22 P 46 99 4 85 10 7 .899 1.93 .945 1.65 MVP-3
1915 BSN NL 23 P 13 27 2 25 0 0 1.000 2.08 .948 1.68
1919 BSN NL 27 P 1 3 0 3 0 0 1.000 3.00 .967 1.90
4 Seasons P 84 178 13 148 17 9 .904 1.92 .950 1.63
4 Seasons TOT 84 178 13 148 17 9 .904 1.92 .854 1.63

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank, Glossary

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1914 NL (3, 52%)
0.52 Career Shares (417th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1914 NL  1.896 (2nd)

Wins s c a p y
1914 NL  26 (2nd)

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1914 NL  .788 (1st)

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1914 NL  1.140 (8th)

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1914 NL  7.068 (5th)

Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y
1914 NL  4.225 (10th)

Games Played s c a p y
1914 NL  46 (4th)

Saves s c a p y
1914 NL  2 (10th)

Innings Pitched s c a p y
1914 NL  332.3 (3rd)

Strikeouts s c a p y
1914 NL  156 (5th)

Games Started s c a p y
1914 NL  37 (5th)

Complete Games s c a p y
1914 NL  30 (3rd)

Shutouts s c a p y
1914 NL  4 (9th)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1914 NL  118 (3rd)

Hits s c a p y
1914 NL  261 (7th)

Wild Pitches s c a p y
1913 NL  8 (5th)

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1914 NL  13 (3rd)

Batters Faced s c a p y
1914 NL  1316 (3rd)

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1914 NL  150 (2nd)

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 3 (551), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 28 (830), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 24 (522), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 27 (172), Average HOFer ≈ 50

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* - Signifies Hall of Famer

June 24, 1912: Purchased by the Boston Braves from Seattle (Northwestern).

July 2, 1919: Purchased by Oakland (PCL) from the Boston Braves.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2009.

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Viewed 31,437 times through December 20, 2009.
Name and misspellings: William Seattle Bill Will Lawrence William billy jimmie jim James jimmy


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