Alas, Bill James is depressingly... off about a lot of things. (In terms of Old School Stalwarts revealing themselves after going online in a way that almost stains their previous contributions/importance, he's low-key been Murray Chass-class of late.) Yeah, but that's just one version of a lot of praise — character praise — the guy seemed to get at the time of his hire. At another time, Bill James once wrote the following: When a young player comes to the major leagues and has success right away, writers will almost always write about what a fine young man he is as well as a supreme talent. Never pay any attention to those articles or those descriptions. Albert Pujols is going through this now... people who didn't know Albert Pujols from Jack the Ripper six months ago and have never talked to him more than six feet from his locker are writing very sincerely about what an exceptional young man he is. Doc Gooden, his first three years in baseball, was supposed to be mature beyond his years, polite to everybody, and kind to stray kittens. Rickey Henderson was routinely described, from 1980 through 1982, as "a Jack Armstrong type kid." Sportswriters, despite thier cynicism or because of it, desperately want to believe in athletes as heroes, and will project their hopes onto anyone who offers a blank slate. The problem with this is that, when the players turns out to be human and fallible, people feel betrayed. It is a disservice to athletes to try to make them more than they really are. It's interesting that James himself fell into the trap, but not with an exciting young athlete, but rather an exciting (to inside-baseball geeks) young front office executive. But there are plenty of similar tweets out there from a little over a month ago, so James ain't alone.