Moneyball

Rating:
Summary: A new perspective; for Baseball and more
Review: Though the topic of Moneyball centers around Baseball its scope has a much broader reach. In the same manner that Lewis's Next examines how the Internet has toppled several societal barriers, Moneyball takes a look at how statistics and information question our understanding of value. In a nutshell it all boils down to this; don't be fooled by what you see. Over time its the small and undetected things which can make a big difference.

Baseball serves as a perfect proving ground for this expanded perspective. A baseball season is 162 games long. Over that period the difference between a .275 hitter and a .310 is just one hit a week. As a fan you could watch a whole season and, unless you followed a team's statistics, you would find it hard to discern who was the better hitter.

But we already have mechanisms for tracking batting average along a whole host of other hitting statistics. With free agency the best hitters are rewarded accordingly. The question for Baseball becomes - how accurate is our current system of valuation? How much more valuable is a slugger like Sammy Sosa than good on base man like Jason Kendall?

Moneyball tracks the path of the Oakland A's and their maverick GM Billy Beane. Beane and his crew employ all of the latest statistical analysis for evaluating players, much to the chagrin of the old time scouts who know a ball player when they see one. Through their studies, Beane and his staff recognize that on base percentage is highly undervalued in the current market. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom but the results bare them out. Over the 2000-2003 seasons the Oakland A's with a payroll roughly a third the size of the New York Yankees won more games than the Yankees during that period.

While this book is a must read for all baseball fans it also carries with it a much broader value. We make millions of assumptions everyday based on appearances. But it's not always the brightest or the most articulate who gets the job done. Sometimes its the little guy, slugging away, who has a much larger impact. The challenge is to be able look beyond what the eye can see and focus on the bottom line. If you can, then you're playing Moneyball.

Rating:
Summary: Beane¿s got it
Review: I read a lot; a lot of different books in a lot of different genres. But I put this and Make every girl want you above all others because both make you think about what you've read. Most books I buy just rehash old info, with a little bit of new stuff. These books, however, make you think about everything in there, and make you question everything you've been taught - this book about baseball, that book about dating. Let's start by saying that Billy Beane is the man. It's unbelievable how Beane used statistical analysis to consistently build winning teams out of players with - for example - high on-base percentages. I am now a huge A's fan, and very excited to follow and root for the A's in the pennant chase over these next few weeks. My only question is why Beane wrote this book. Why Beane felt the need to make such an incredible strategy public knowledge, especially since it works so well.

Rating:
Summary: Very good for those in "objectively managed" workplaces
Review: A number of business have moved to an objective management approach using Six Sigma and similar methodologies. What Lewis describes here is exactly that - an organization managed by fact and some very candid successes and failures with this approach. Insightful reading for anyone in a similar environemnt (or anyone interested in creating such an environment!).

As a note, I agree whole-heartedly with the previous comments on this title - even if you don't like baseball, you'll find yourself more interested (and perhaps more respectful) in the sport.

Rating:
Summary: A New Approach To The Grand Old Game...And It Works!
Review: To every rule, there is always the exception. Take the world of major league baseball. With free agency driving player salaries to unbelievable heights, it's an accepted piece of conventional wisdom that only rich teams can be successful today.

If that's really true, then why have the Oakland A's, with one of the lowest payrolls in the game, been one of sport's most consistent winners these past few years? That's the question that Michael Lewis answers in this fascinating book. At the heart of the story is the general manager of the A's, Billy Beane. Beane was once a major leaguer himself. He was labeled a "can't miss" star by those who are supposed to be able to predict such things, but ended up achieving marginal success. How Beane is turning the game's accepted notions upside down is the heart of this story. The 2002 season looked like an impossible one for the A's...they had lost three of their best players to free agency.

Everyone thought the game was over them...everyone but Billy Beane.

As the book opens, we join Beane and his staff on the day of baseball's amateur draft. We witness the A's enjoy an almost magical success in getting the players they want; in part because few, if any other teams want them. Does Beane know something no one else does? The answer is a qualified yes. It turns out he's putting to work statistical models that have been developed by the writer Bill James and others over the past two decades, This information is widely available and widely known to fans...but given little credence by most of the men who still run the game.

As we read on, we learn the logic behind the A's decision to hand their starting first base job to Scott Hatteberg, a former Red Sox catcher who could no longer catch due to an injury; why they coveted Chad Bradford, a pitcher buried in the minors by the White Sox, but who they knew would develop into one of the game's best relievers; why they were willing to trade for all-star second baseman Ray Durham, even though there was no chance they would be able to re-sign him at the end of the season.

Lewis' narrative is engaging and vivid. He puts us in the board room and the locker room as the season unfolds. It's a great story, especially for baseball fans, but really worthwhile for anyone intrigued by the idea of what fresh approaches and unconventional thought can bring to an individual or an organization.

A grand slam all the way!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but ultimately disappointing
Review: Too much of a Liar's Poker view of the world. Billy Beane is like the guy on Salomon's mortgage desk in the 80's who was brilliant because he realized the Ivy Leaguers must rule the world.

The OBP deal is only valid because Tejada needs people on base so he can drive them in. But surprise - "Miggy swings at everything" and rarely walks! He's from the Dominican Republic and those guys swing baby because nobody walks off the island.
Chavez is a slugger and not a walker as well.

You need guys with high OBP's so the high slugging percentage guys can drive them in.

The real secret to the A's regular season success isn't Beane or any Ivy League number cruncher but the ZHM formula - starting pitching Zito, Hudson and Mulder. Their lack of success in the post season is due to a shaky bullpen and poor baserunning and an incredibly poor decision not to offer Jason Giambi the no-trade clause on the contract extension that met the rest of his demands. The A's blew the chance to lock Giambi at much lower price than the Yankees ultimately paid. Hmmm - the best combination slugging + on base percentage player in the game at below market value - That's inconceivable but the A's let Giambi walk.

Anybody out there think the A's would have lost to the Twins if Giambi were wearin' the yellow, white & green in 1992.

The name of the game is to win. The most wins for lowest payroll is still a loser's game.

Rating:
Summary: Bigger than baseball.
Review: While Mr. Lewis deserves much credit for making 'Moneyball' a page turner, the story itself, which the author professes to have fallen in love with, is irresistable. You may read this book because you like baseball, but the thinking man will savor it for its celebration of innovation, and the triumph of the intellect it depicts. In fact, 'Moneyball' goes even further. It champions the individual, repudiates collectivism, and offers hope to upright men who despair a lack of justice in this world. Folks, Billy Beane (the book's hero) is you modern day, scaled down, none of the frills but all of the appeal, John Galt. Enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Don't view this book as being about baseball
Review: Don't be confused, "Moneyball" is not just about baseball. It should not be viewed as a book about baseball, but about how one should think "outside the box" of conventional decision and policy making. Although you may not be a baseball fan, anyone who is a policy or decision maker, should read this book. The lessons that Michael Lewis beautifully crafts are applicable to many fields of endevour that have nothing to do with baseball including academia, business, and law. The momentum of decades of decision making based on convensional decision making has narrowed thinking in numerous area of learning. Let's use Lewis's "baseball" as a metaphor for expanding the creative thinking in our work.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Inside Stuff
Review: Lewis does a fine job of examining how the Oakland A's began to use statistical data in a fresh and innovative way to maximize the productivity on the field of a team with a low budget. Undoubtedly the A's have had some excellent seasons recently and are once again in the hunt. However the reasons for their success may not be as attributable to the emphasis on OBP and offense built on the analysis presented here as it has been on solid starting pitching. Lewis presents a great case for linking the cold analysis of data to performance and establishes that Bill James and those that followed turned much of conventional baseball wisdom on it's head. It's a great story and any fan of the game will be completely absorbed by it.
It amazes me that the rest of the baseball establishment hasn't caught on to Billy Beane's management style and there lies my main problem with this book. Lewis is so enthralled with Beane that he makes it seem that the rest of the baseball world is comprised of a bunch of rubes just waiting to have their pockets picked by the A's. I think the A's have done a fine job and there is no doubt that Beane is the GM of the hour but time will tell if a team run with his system will be able to hang in there with the big-money boys.
That said I recommend the book to all baseball nerds because it is entertaining as hell, well written and it will make you think about some of the long held assumptions about the game.

Rating:
Summary: Question Everything!!
Review: Obivously, as a baseball fan, this is required reading for anyone wondering about how things work behind the scenes. We get interesting portraits of Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford, players who every other team thought were worthless, but are helping the A's win games. Additionally, it will be interesting to see how Jeremy Brown and the other draft picks discussed in the book pan out in the future. Throwing money at big name ballplayers is not a surefire way to win ball games (as Texas, the Mets and countless other teams know). People have been doing things in baseball for so long that it's hard for some to do it any other way. Hopefully, this book will inspire other teams to spend their money more wisely, which might revive the average fan's interest in a sport that is wildly unfair. As a teacher, I think Billy Beane's reexamination of how things are done could also help school districts as well. In times of great financial hardship, school districts should really EXAMINE what they spend their money on. Like the Oakland A's, they could get more bang for their buck if they learned to think in different ways.

Rating:
Summary: Forget Everything You've Been Told About Baseball
Review: I admit as I read this book I was a little disturbed. As a baseball fan, you want to believe that the closer and clutch hitter are of vital importance to the game, but not in the view of Billy Beane. A seemingly callous view of almost every romantic role in baseball leaves you wondering throughout the book, unable to put it down. This book sheds some light on one of the most intriguing mysteries of baseball, how do the cash strapped Oakland Athletics keep winning?

This book has something for everyone. It involves a lot of mathematics and statistics, but not to worry. I have a C- math student throughout high school, yet Michael Lewis' storytelling and explanations even made me understand. A must-read for baseball diehards who are ready to here a view completely opposite from everything they've ever been told about the game.