Monday, December 30, 2019

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

My second book for December was Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. While Sharon and I saw the movie years ago, I have never gotten around to reading the book. Moneyball is included on Bill Simmon's list of the best sports books.

Published in 2003, the book follows the Oakland Athletics baseball team through the 2002 season. It chronicles their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team despite Oakland's small budget. Beans was really the first baseball general manager to use an analytical, evidence-based, saber metric approach to assembling a team.

Moneyball also provides a look at Billy Beane's high school and minor and major league baseball careers. Passing up a chance to play football and baseball at Stanford, Beane signed with the Mets straight out of high school. Viewed as a can't miss five tool prospect, he never lived up to his potential.

This is a very readable book. I recommend it.

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