Ever wanted an inside glimpse into the mind of a general manager? Ever wanted to know what makes a GM tick, what makes a team make the hard decisions that may otherwise be impossible?
Here’s your chance.
Moneyball tells the story of current Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, who is faced with a problem in 2003. Beane wants to win championship, just like every other GM. Unlike most GMs, however, Beane is faced with having one of the lowest spending allotments (budget) of any team in baseball (26th to be exact). The overwhelming majority of GMs looked hard at guys who were superior athletically, with cannon arms and light tower power. Beane couldn’t afford to lure these talents away from bigger spending teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox or New York Mets, so he had to try a different approach.
Thus, Moneyball was born.
Moneyball was so well respected by baseball writers, researchers, general managers and front office personnel, that many of them have adopted several of the statistical revolutions the book presented. The statistical analysis used by Beane is a system called sabermetrics, which objectively analyzes players statistics through in-game activity. Statistics such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement) and UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) have become so commonplace among baseball front offices that they’ve even trickled down to the media world. ESPN’s “Next Level” consistently brings these figures up to analyze what a player’s worth to their team truly is.
Moneyball is one of the best baseball books you could ever hope for as a baseball fan, a casual reader, or even a father trying to teach his son the value of a dollar.
STARS: 4.5/5
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