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Title: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0-393-05765-8 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 10 May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (187 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential for nerds everywhere, sports or otherwise
Comment: If, like me, you're one of those hopeless stat geeks who never get tired of "who's better?" discussions, "Moneyball" may well be right up your alley. Chronicling how the cash-strapped Oakland A's regularly compete with the huge-spending likes of the Red Sox and Yankees, "Moneyball" sets out to demonstrate that how plentiful your resources are isn't as important as how you use them. In one sense, it's about how A's general manager Billy Beane, himself a washout as a player, manages to build successful teams on a tight budget with a bunch of guys even I haven't heard of. But in another, deeper sense, the book is about how any enterprise can be improved if it's remade along rational lines.
Beane's business plan for the A's rested on a bold premise, namely that much of the traditional "knowledge" accumulated by baseball insiders was, well, b.s.. After all, Beane had tanked in his professional career after being tagged as a can't miss prospect, so how much could scouts know? Beane's plan, while radical, was also so fiendishly simple it's hard to believe it wasn't more common. Under Beane, the A's started judging prospects not by how athletic they were, or how good they looked in a uniform, but by how well they had performed in games. And if that meant hiring a group of Harvard graduates like assistant GM Paul DePodesta to pull names of college players off a computer, so be it.
Of course, the A's also faced the problem of money, since their payroll had to be kept at about 40 million dollars, or 15 million less than Alex Rodriguez makes. The solution? Treating the team like any other business, Beane and co. used cutting-edge research and technology to break players and stats into parts. Since they couldn't afford highly desired players, the A's had to figure out what was most important and go after it. And if the research is to be believed, it's the ability to get on base by any means necessary. On-base percentage takes on an almost mythical importance in "Moneyball," with the A's searching relentlessly for guys who could get on base and do it cheaply.
It's this aspect of the book that gets the most attention, and quickly becomes the most fascinating. Lewis emphasizes how the A's front office, with plenty of help from stat guru (but don't call him a statistician) Bill James, was able to look at numbers and find the underlying truth. As Lewis makes clear, it's not just looking at numbers that determines a player's value, it's looking at the *right* numbers. Lewis often draws parallels to the business world, and these comparisons serve to illustrate how one can make a killing with superior knowledge and counterintuitive thinking. It was strategies derived from the research of stat geeks that enabled the A's to improve their record in 2002 despite losing three of their top players to free agency.
Lewis also takes some time out from the analytical stuff to paint a vivid portrait of Beane himself. Lewis lets us see him plying his craft in the draft room and at the trading desk, demonstrating the shrewdness of a swindler. He often appears to be playing a different game from his colleagues, which is exactly what Lewis wants us to think. And we get to see Beane's (sort of) human side while he works out, and stresses out, during games. His frequent profanity-laced tirades and incessant tobacco chewing may not be too savory, but Beane is clearly just like the rest of us in at least a few ways.
Lewis gives us snapshots of some other, secondary characters as well. There's Paul DePodesta, Billy's Harvard-educated sidekick. There's Jeremy Brown, the overweight college catcher who was scarcely rated as a prospect despite having set records at Alabama. There's Scott Hatteberg, who was cast off by the Red Sox but given a new life in Oakland thanks to his ability to get on base. Finally there's Chad Bradford, the submarine-throwing pitcher who became a premier setup man with an 84-mile-an-hour fastball and a delivery that scraped the mound. We get to know all of these guys, and why they fit so well into the A's scheme.
Lewis also happens to be a pretty damn good storyteller, with a an engaging and uber-readable style. Bill James said baseball statistics fascinated him because they had the power of language, and Lewis's discussion of this seemingly boring subject demonstrates why. By framing a book about baseball in the language of business, Lewis makes his story accessible to enthusiasts of both. Not to mention, the book is worth reading simply for Lewis's brutally hilarious description of Jeremy Giambi's outfield play. High comedy, friends, high comedy.
I don't think "unputdownable" is a word, but if it were it would definitely be applicable to "Moneyball." I could even be convinced to say this is the best sports book I've ever read, and I've read some good ones. You don't necessarily have to agree with the A's strategies to enjoy the book, but you may well find yourself turned into a stat geek by the end. And for all you dolts out there saying Billy Beane had nothing to do with drafting Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, and Mark Mulder, it's right there on page 39 from a member of the A's scouting department: "Billy made us take Zito." So that's one down right there.
Rating: 5
Summary: For anyone who also finds Joe Morgan to be a buffoon...
Comment: Moneyball is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite some time. It very bluntly states why teams like the Kansas City Royals continue to wallow in their misery while teams with some semblance of intelligence in the front office can thrive, all in a very concise and easy to read manner. Key discoveries, like McCracken's theories on pitchers not being able to control balls in play, and other defining moments in the way baseball statistics are looked at are given ample space to develop without overwhelming the reader with regression analysis.
Looking past the brief sabermetric focused parts of the book, it is simply a great tale with many intriguing characters. Scott Hatteberg, the converted catcher who has to learn a new position. Jason Giambi, who is what most Oakland As will become after their six years of indentured servitude. Jeremy Giambi, his defensively challenged brother. Chad Bradford, a soft throwing pitcher with an unorthodox delivery. Jeremy Brown, a overweight catcher who has a propensity for finding his way on base. And of course, Billy Beane, a man who gets plenty of publicity today, some good, but a lot negative from people too narrow minded to think in new ways.
One question that some people believe remains after the novel is "what happens when all of baseball thinks the way the As, Blue Jays, and Red Sox now do?" The answer is contained in the book - its not likely to happen anytime soon, dispite the overwhelming evidence for many teams to have a complete brain overhaul. Commentators like Joe Morgan, (occassionally Peter Gammons), GMs like Allaird Baird, and managers like Larry Bowa will be in power for the next decade or two, and don't look like they'll change their ways short of a 162-0 season out of the As.
Rating: 4
Summary: Theory vs. theater.
Comment: I just finished "Moneyball" and found it a fascinating read. While I am neither a huge baseball fan nor an expert in statistics, I nevertheless found the blending of the two subjects quite captivating. I also found the style of the writing that author Michael Lewis uses to be very conversational and accessible to the reader.
I can see why this book, and the events it chronicles, caused such an uproar in the baseball world. The crux of the conflict seems to be theory vs. theater. The approach of Billy Beane and others has proved that using certain statistics to choose a team and project where they will go during the season is a valid, successful approach to the game.
However, there is a case to be made for their opposition's claim that such an approach takes the flair and theater out of baseball. I recall that someone once said, "We don't know how the game will turn out. If we did, it wouldn't be worth playing." It's that peppering of random chance that creates the theater of a baseball game. Sometimes the crowd wants to see flashy, dramatic and unexpected plays.
My sense is that ultimately some combination of the statistical and the traditional will come about. That team managers will be able to use both the flash and the stillness to achieve victory.
I definitely recommend this book, whether you're a baseball fan or not. Also, if you are interested in reading about the inside story of the bond markets during the mid and late 80s, Lewis's first book, "Liar's Poker," offers the reader the same accessible style.
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Title: The Teammates by David Halberstam ISBN: 140130057X Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 14 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown ISBN: 0385504209 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich ISBN: 0743249992 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0140143459 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups : A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues by Rob Neyer ISBN: 0743241746 Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: 02 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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