Bill James on ...

(CNN) -- Bill James has something interesting to say on just about anything baseball. Here are a few of his choice thoughts.

CONTRACTION: "I'm appalled. College basketball has 320 Division I programs, all of which appear to make enough money ... and I haven't heard anyone say there are too many teams. The weaker teams can compete because the structure works. In baseball, the structure doesn't work. ... Shooting the weaker teams doesn't solve anything." (interview)

CRAIG BIGGIO: "Craig Biggio is the best player in major league baseball today. If you compare Craig Biggio very carefully to Ken Griffey Jr. in almost any season, you will find that Biggio has contributed more to his team than Griffey has. ... (A)part from home runs, (Biggio) did everything better than Griffey (in 1998)." (New Baseball Abstract)

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DIZZY DEAN: "(Jimmie) Wilson was the Cardinals catcher when Dizzy Dean came up. He tried to take Dean under his wing, which was kind of like trying to keep a rhinoceros in your bathroom; Dizzy Dean would make Nuke LaLoosh look like a Republican senator." (New Baseball Abstract)

ALAN ASHBY: "(Ray Fosse) got hurt after a year or two, but the Indians came up simultaneously with Ashby and Rick Cerone. The Indians couldn't decide between them, so they shipped both to Toronto and imported a couple loser has-beens to handle the catching chores. This made Alan Ashby the only man to compete for playing time with Rick Cerone in two different cities." (New Baseball Abstract)

COMMISSIONER KENESAW MOUNTAIN LANDIS: "Commissioner Landis saved baseball. ... Now, if anything, nobody writes well about Landis. Authority figures get a bad rap in the press." (interview)

COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: "I give Selig a lot of points for effort. While I despise the idea of contraction the way it was handled, I'm not down on him." (interview)

HIS FAVORITE BASEBALL BOOKS: "'The Ultimate Baseball Book' by Dan Okrent, 'The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant' by Douglas Wallop, Ed Linn's biographies ('Veeck: As in Wreck,' with Bill Veeck; 'Nice Guys Finish Last,' with Leo Durocher), Fred Lieb's books. If 50 people remember me the way I think of Fred Lieb, I'll be doing all right." (interview)