Koppett: Allan Roth is the new Bill James

"Self-starters like Bill James expanded the scope of [statistical] activity. But Allan Roth, hired by Branch Rickey for Brooklyn in the 1940s, is the real developer of detailed, beyond-standard stats ... the Bill James approach, of cloaking totally subjective views … in some sort of asserted 'statistical evidence,' is divorced from reality."

-- Leonard Koppett, "The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball," 2001, pp. 206-207.

See also Dan Fox on this topic.