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ultimatekate's review against another edition
4.0
This book was awesome! It followed the 2002 Oakland As, who ended up winning over 100 regular season games and set a record for 20 consecutive wins, despite having a payroll of about $42 million. (By comparison, the Rangers, who ended up finishing last, had a payroll of well over $100 million.) It also tells you how the field of baseball statistics developed (the dude who came up with the original box score? A cricket player who didn't really understand the rules of baseball.) and how it continues to develop, what GMs look for when drafting and trading players, and which statistics *really* matter when it comes to how successful a baseball player is. (Hint: it's not RBIs and batting average.)
Of course, the other fun part of reading this book now was seeing how things worked out. For instance, I knew Billy Beane wouldn't live the As to manage another team, and that Joe Blanton would end up being drafted by the As, and Kevin Youklis would be drafted by the Red Sox. And as great as Billy Beane is, I can't help but think that maybe steroids (I'm looking at you, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi) played a part in the team's success. Either way, the book was really interesting and I learned A LOT about baseball.
Of course, the other fun part of reading this book now was seeing how things worked out. For instance, I knew Billy Beane wouldn't live the As to manage another team, and that Joe Blanton would end up being drafted by the As, and Kevin Youklis would be drafted by the Red Sox. And as great as Billy Beane is, I can't help but think that maybe steroids (I'm looking at you, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi) played a part in the team's success. Either way, the book was really interesting and I learned A LOT about baseball.
fleur_de_lisa's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.0
I feel like it would have been better as a shorter book, almost like a long form essay? After the first 30% or so of the book, it seems like the important part of the story had already been told and I found myself wondering what exactly was going to take up the rest of it. And it turns out it just went on a few different tangents and short stories almost of different scenarios of trying to sign different players or how they picked and trained new recruits. I do think it’s an interesting concept, how they were able to turn conventional baseball on its head, but overall it feels a bit unfinished. The storytelling otherwise in each different episode they visit is captivating and well told.
aligrint's review against another edition
3.0
Had to give up on this one: disregard this review if you are interested in baseball.
This just doesn't feel like it has enough content to make up a whole book. On the way to the thing that makes it different than other sports books, it does the classic 'here's what they all looked like and their relationships with parents and hometown' thing. It finally gets to the bits that are somewhat interesting, the reforms of the hiring system are mostly seen as revolutionary since they were pretty off-the-hinges in the past.
This just doesn't feel like it has enough content to make up a whole book. On the way to the thing that makes it different than other sports books, it does the classic 'here's what they all looked like and their relationships with parents and hometown' thing. It finally gets to the bits that are somewhat interesting, the reforms of the hiring system are mostly seen as revolutionary since they were pretty off-the-hinges in the past.
janavi's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
for you if you are annoying about sports or annoying about statistics or perhaps you’re a general fan of the scientific method. hypothesizing and drawing conclusions and all that. The book is better than the movie but the movie is also better than the book. Why pit two pretty girls against each other yada yada the book gets a bit tedious and repetitive towards the end but the movie has br*d p*tt, so.
robfarren's review against another edition
5.0
Great, even if you have only a marginal interest in baseball.