lewis's book examines the lives and careers of various baseball personalities and explains the art of sabermetrics. bill james, who coined the term sabermetrics for the society for american baseball research (sabr), is also a major focus. james published "the bill james baseball abstract" from 1977 to 1988 and wrote several sabermetrics books. beane and depodesta had studied james's work and were inspired by his knowledge of baseball analysis.