(Excerpt from Fantasy Expert, Chapter 5)

I was not a very good fantasy player in the early going, but I was convinced there had to be a way to win this game. Did I have to get a better handle on the player pool? Did I need to be willing to spend more for players? Or did I need to make better trades?

There were three books that had captured my attention… the Bill James Abstract, The Hidden Game of Baseball and How Life Imitates the World Series. I was convinced that the answer to winning this Rotisserie thing was hidden somewhere inside those three books. But Bill James, Pete Palmer and Thomas Boswell all used different metrics to evaluate talent. Which one was best – runs created, linear weights or total average? I thought it would be valuable to see all the players listed with those three “new statistics” presented side-by-side-by-side. I could put together a spreadsheet like that. Hmm.

I figured that if I spent the time to do that, maybe others would find it of value as well. What the heck, I’ll just write a book. How hard could it be? I had worked for several publishing companies. I had learned how to do direct marketing. I was a good writer and a magician with LOTUS 1-2-3. And I was a control freak.

Piece of cake.

Nearly four decades later…