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University Daily Kansan, October 29, 1980
Page 5
Spencer
From page 1
Two years ago the books in the Linda Hall library at UMKC were stored in crates and box
---
"Let's build one." she had replied.
"We need another room," the director had said.
She, so she pull an envelope out of her purse,
a plan to put a hose in the wall, gave it to her,
and she stitched it on.
She showed me the vault for valuable books, the room, the mahogany elephant book cases that she had specially copied from designs in New York City.
THE MOVED AN Sihrayt to the center of one of the tables in the room. She thought it looked,
She's a stickler for details. Everything has to be right.
Todd Seymour, director of the Kansas University Endowment Association, said that during the building of the museum, Spencer would paint every color, accessory and piece of furniture.
One weekend, he said, she came into the museum, went into the kitchen with a paper towel rack she had found in Kansas City and paper towels that matched the decor perfectly.
"She looked all over Kansas City for this one roll of paper towels," he said. "There was only one roll in the whole city. I don't know what she was going to do when it ran out."
"There's nothing too small. Everything is as
she thinks it."
She uses her own furniture to furnish many of her rooms, additions and buildings.
The Spencer Library has a room dedicated to Spencer's husband that is a replica of his den and desk.
"The library is all Kenneth," Seymour said, "but the museum is Helen."
Kenneth Aldred Spencer died in 1980, and Spencer took over the Spencer Chemical Co.
with little more financial experience than approving a check.
AFTER HER HUSBAND'S death, Spencer assumed the responsibility of the estate and spent the money in the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation that they had put aside.
And she had fun spending that money, as might be expected. She always has fun.
She's spent the money because she wanted to, not because someone would say what a job it is.
One look at the foot-high letters on the front of her buildings proves she's not an anonymous donor, because anonymity doesn't do any good, she believes.
By her example, she thinks, others will be inspired to give and everyone will benefit.
I had to get back to Lawrence, and we didn't have time to pass the house she and Kenneth built. Would I be there for Thanksgiving? I should call her at Thanksgiving. If she could do something, we'd go out, if not, she'd tell me. We could have lunch again.
She was sorry she couldn't let me quote her,
but so many people would be mad.
She told me to be and call. I had her number. We'd had a marvelous time, she
More than a week has passed since the Phillies beat the Royals in the World Series. The players are now home doing whatever baseball players do during the off-season while sports writers have turned their thoughts to football and basketball. Well, most sports writers.
I thought so too.
For Bill James, a Lawrence freelance baseball writer, the work is just starting.
Staff Reporter
By ARNEGREEN
Jarnes, 31, a former high school teacher who graduated from the University of Kansas with bachelor's degrees in education, English and economics, began writing in 1975.
avareness Status-of
Since 1977, at the beginning of each baseball season, James has published "Basket-Ball Abstract," a book of obscure statistics, some of which no one else ever thought to print.
Parson
Baseball enthusiast finds freak facts
HOW MANY PEOPLE, for example, knew that entering the 1890 season, Amsos Ofts of the Royals had all active major league players born in 1947 with 295 career stolen bases?
"When I started I wasn't writing just about baseball, I was writing about anything," he said. "But baseball was the one thing I knew well enough to write about."
From page 1
Parson said Reagan's worst moment during the debate was when he dramatized the number of unemployed people in America by saying that he would stretch his right to work wrestle from New York City to Los Angeles.
Parson's first experience in evaluating presidential debates was in 1960 when he
when he brought Amy into a questioning
with national defense. Parasneh was the almost
ultimate witness to his own part of his advent
published a critique of the debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
Parson said Carter looked better in his 1976 contest with Ford than he did last night.
He first scored a debate for the AP in 1976 during the Carter-Ford contest.
James has, over the years, introduced new statistics to his book. Some have been used by
"I had been counting how many bases were stolen when different pitchers started," he said. "I'd never heard of that being used before, but in the Series they used it on the TV coverage."
"It's easier to attack a position than defend your record," he said. "He was more articulate proposing a direction than defending the action he took."
"Numbers may not always be a superior form of information, but some are very meaningful,"
IN ADDITION to adding age-group statistics, teams' average ages and average attendance when different pitchers start to his book, James Cunningham's *Average in 1800—the Value Approximation Method*.
"Baseball magazines have such a restrictive idea of what they're after, a very restrictive mold," he said. "I decided I might as well not make any money doing things my own way."
He had written several articles for "Baseball Digest," but tired of that, he said. At the beginning of the 1977 baseball season, the first "Baseball Abstract" was published.
By assigning points to certain offensive and defensive categories, he can now rate a player's defense.
Since he was 11 years old, James has been a baseball fanatic.
Based on 1979 statistics, the 1980 Abstract listed Otis, the Royals' center field, as the team's most valuable player with a value approximation of 13.9. Dartrell Correnter, with 13 points, was second George Brett third at 2.4. He also played for 1979 was Boston's Bostick Lern with 14.7
"At some time, often around college age, baseball fans go through a period when they don't keep up with it as closely," he said. "I never went through that hiatus.
"in fact, anything I learned in economics or language I would apply to baseball."
would appear in the 1981 edition of "Baseball Abstract," but he said he was looking into Reggie Jackson's reputation for hitting better in games with a high attendance.
James said he did not know what new statistics
Although he kept careful score of all the World Series games this year, James said he did not see any specific reason for the Royals' loss.
"There was no real difference on paper," he said of the two teams. "The Royals had as many of the best shots in the division, biggest reason the Phillies won was that they grounded their offensive production together."
One thing that did hurt the Royals in the Series was their lack of right-handed pitchers, hitters.
"There isn't a right-handed hitter on the bench with any power at all," he said. "When they needed a 3-run homer there was no righthander to have it and I was confident to have to show a left-handed pitcher in that at the end."
IN THE PAST, James said, he no name to describe what he did. Now he calls it "Sabermant."
"The first part is to honor the acronym of the Society for American Baseball Research," he wrote in the 1980 Abstract. "The second part is to indicate measurement. Sabermetrics is the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball records."
James said that from a starting circulation of about 75 the first year to about 800 in 1980, "Baseball Abstract" has grown in popularity. Not many local people buy it, however, he said.
"Local people tend to assume because I'm a local writer I don't know what I'm doing," he said. "I sell more to people in Boston, where there are more baseball fans."
The 1864 edition of "Baseball Abstract" cost
up from $4 at the fiddle; it is also abso-
lately the most expensive piece.
Sales of the Abstract are handled directly by James. He said he expected the 1981 edition to sell out within two months.
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