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A review by tubegeek
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
5.0
Just read this in preparation for the (EXCELLENT!) movie.
This book, though probably a snooze for folks who don't care about economics, baseball, or math, is fascinating for those that do.
Background: starting in the 1980's, and using rigorous statistical analysis, a few obsessed fans proved that much of the accepted wisdom surrounding baseball strategy and player assessment was wrong.
In the early 2000's, Billy Beane, a former can't-miss prospect/just-missed, non-star ballplayer, became General Manager of the cash-strapped Oakland A's. He saw opportunity in the mismatch between what baseball greybeards THOUGHT was true and what had been PROVEN to the contrary. He reasoned that he could form a team much more cheaply than his competitors if he could find players with "winning" qualities that had remained unnoticed, in many cases obscured by meaningless attributes that the "conventional wisdom" took to be deal-breaking flaws.
This book is the story of what happened when Beane put this theory into practice, and found tremendous success despite having a player-personnel budget that came to a small fraction of his competitors'.
Along the way he had to confront challenges from within the A's organization and ridicule from the mainstream media. He had to manage the egos and doubts of these ballplayers who had had their flaws thrown in their face constantly as they pursued a career playing pro ball. And he had to continue his faith in the wisdom of his decision despite some building evidence that it wasn't working out.
This all makes for a terrific story, which features all the above plus keen insights into Beane himself and why he would make such a move.
This book, though probably a snooze for folks who don't care about economics, baseball, or math, is fascinating for those that do.
Background: starting in the 1980's, and using rigorous statistical analysis, a few obsessed fans proved that much of the accepted wisdom surrounding baseball strategy and player assessment was wrong.
In the early 2000's, Billy Beane, a former can't-miss prospect/just-missed, non-star ballplayer, became General Manager of the cash-strapped Oakland A's. He saw opportunity in the mismatch between what baseball greybeards THOUGHT was true and what had been PROVEN to the contrary. He reasoned that he could form a team much more cheaply than his competitors if he could find players with "winning" qualities that had remained unnoticed, in many cases obscured by meaningless attributes that the "conventional wisdom" took to be deal-breaking flaws.
This book is the story of what happened when Beane put this theory into practice, and found tremendous success despite having a player-personnel budget that came to a small fraction of his competitors'.
Along the way he had to confront challenges from within the A's organization and ridicule from the mainstream media. He had to manage the egos and doubts of these ballplayers who had had their flaws thrown in their face constantly as they pursued a career playing pro ball. And he had to continue his faith in the wisdom of his decision despite some building evidence that it wasn't working out.
This all makes for a terrific story, which features all the above plus keen insights into Beane himself and why he would make such a move.