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Editorial Review:
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive cast-off veterans.
Lewis was in the room with the A's top management as they spent the summer of 2002 adding and subtracting players and he provides outstanding play-by-play. In the June player draft, Beane acquired nearly every prospect he coveted (few of whom were coveted by other teams) and at the July trading deadline he engaged in a tense battle of nerves to acquire a lefty reliever.
Besides being one of the most insider accounts ever written about baseball, Moneyball is populated with fascinating characters. We meet Jeremy Brown, an overweight college catcher who most teams project to be a 15th round draft pick (Beane takes him in the first). Sidearm pitcher Chad Bradford is plucked from the White Sox triple-A club to be a key set-up man and catcher Scott Hatteberg is rebuilt as a first baseman. But the most interesting character is Beane himself. A speedy athletic can't-miss prospect who somehow missed, Beane reinvents himself as a front-office guru, relying on players completely unlike, say, Billy Beane. Lewis, one of the top non-fiction writers of his era (Liar's Poker, Next), offers highly accessible explanations of baseball stats and his roadmap of Beane's economic approach makes Moneyball an appealing reading experience for business people and sports fans alike. --John Moe, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Fabulous Read!! I think all the other reviews say enough so I'll try to keep this short and simple. Even speaking from the perspective of a baseball illiterate limey, I must say that I found this book very very interesting indeed.... and most enjoyable. This was the first book of Michael Lewis' that I read and I have subsequently went on to read a number (not all) of his other works..... all of which have been equally as good. If you are interested in sports and/or the area athlete/player recruitment then this book will... more info
Major League Analysis Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, takes as its central focus the exploits of the Oakland A's and their svengali general manager Billy Beane. Ignoring conventional baseball wisdom, he and Paul DePodesta have developed a whole new strategy, using the groundbreaking work of the likes of Bill James, for competing in the big leagues on a fraction of the budget of teams like the New York Yankees. In essence this very readable book can be divided into two distinct styles, the personal and the scientific. When... more info
... you'd really want to love baseball While the book has interesting insights into pro sport, it's very American. I found it a struggle.
Not just for baseball fans The book is centred around the Oakland A's baseball team, but as someone who had only ever seen one baseball game in his life, it was still a fascinating book. The narrative is about how the team can consistently outperform other teams which have more funds to pay for players etc.. Michael Lewis does not labour the analogy of their approach to other fields, and its left to the reader to think how the same ideas may be applied elsewhere. Even if you have never seen a baseball game you would be able to enjoy... more info
