Moneyball

Rating:
Summary: Less than I expected
Review: As a long suffering Anaheim Angels fan (until 2002!), I've always found the on-field success of the Oakland A's interesting, primarily because it usually came at the expense of the Angels. This book explains where that success comes from: GM Billy Bean and his view of baseball fundamentals. That part of the book is interesting, if not new. Michael Lewis certainly revels in the "art of the deal" sections of the book, similar to his approach in "Liar's Poker".

However, what's missing from this book is perspective and balance. Everything other team in baseball is portrayed as free-spending dolts blinded by their illusions, which I found simplistic, unfair and unrealistic. In baseball (which is a $3.5 billion-a-year business), on-field success doesn't always translate into off-field success. Lewis fails to acknowledge that there may be legitimate business reasons behind many teams' free-spending approach to talent, beyond the straight-foward reason of winning baseball games. Star players help land lucrative television deals, draws fans to the stadiums and generate merchandise sales. If the teams happen to win some pennants along the way, all the better!

I just expected a book called "Moneyball" would attempt to explore this aspect of the business of baseball.

Rating:
Summary: Numbers numbers numbers
Review: The most important number in baseball is World series won. How many does Beane have...none. He hasnt even made it to the pennant games yet and they way things are going the A's never will if Beane is the GM. Thier window of oppurtunity passed when the "overpaid" and slick fielding (which doesnt matter to Beane) Derek Jeter threw out the overweight and slow Jer. Giambi at the plate on a great play in 2001. The As would be bottom rung if not the the 3 hammers they have in the rotation, non of whom were picked out of the crowd by Beane. Everyone knew that Hudson, Zito and Mulder would be very good. Groupthink has obviously taken a hold of most of the reviewers, who all seem to say the same things. "OBP is important, Ks are important, not making an out blah blah" and so on as if everyone in the baseball world doesnt know that. Looks like Beane pulled another fast one on all the people who rushed and bought his book.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely worth the time of the casual fan
Review: If you are a so-called "casual" baseball fan, maybe one who watches a couple of games a week on television, or even goes to a game every now and then, and you've picked up most or all of your insight into the game by listening to broadcasters and watching ESPN, then this book will really be quite interesting. If you've read everything ever written by Bill James, play in three different fantasy leagues, and scour the web daily for every little shred of information you can find, then Moneyball will be significantly less worth while. Whatever the case, it is still a fine read, well written and engaging, that introduces you to a memorable group of people working hard at solving the game we all love so much, even if it is a short book and very light on the math that should be there to help back its claims.

The central idea behind the success of the Oakland Athletics, as presented in Moneyball, is that it is possible to accurately quantify the contributions of ballplayers to their teams and by using statistical analysis, find value where the market doesn't believe there to be any. I personally found the idea of using hard, mathematical analysis over gut feeling and village wisdom to make baseball decisions quite appealing. I don't know that I agree with everything in the book and everything about the way the A's approach baseball, but they've got a lot of numbers and wins to back up their approach. No matter what you think personally of their philosophy or their methods, it is worth your time to learn something about them if you are a baseball fan.

In the end, Moneyball is one of those rare sports books that makes you watch (and play) the game differently. It has helped me understand a lot of recent developments in baseball (like why the Toronto Blue Jays never bunt and why the Boston Red Sox hired Theo Epstein as their GM) and it was fun to read as well. I wish it had contained an appendix with a little more on how exactly people simulate a baseball season and quantify the value of the players numerically, but I can understand if the A's either didn't want to share any sort of really specific information on that or if the author just didn't want to bother with learning the math he'd need to know to make that portion of the book understandable for his average reader. I also wish the book had been a little longer. It seems likely that an awful lot of what happened last season with the A's was left out.

Rating:
Summary: Management matters more than money
Review: Highly engaging, delightful and heartwarming read, especially for lapsed baseball fans and those who still appreciate baseball. Lewis blends a love of the game, with a desire to really understand what it takes to win and the lives of some of those who make it all happen.

Lewis makes a clear case for competent management in baseball or, as featured general manager Billie Beane points out: In what other organization do you let the show be run by middle management. Or as another wag says: At age fifteen, most of what you now about baseball comes from announcers and eighty percent of what they know is wrong.

Oakland GM Beane has studied baseball as a process that produces results. And rather than count on traditional statistics, he learned that many of the things ballplayers and managers think are important just aren't that important. Using much of the Bill James approach (a baseball fan and analyst from Lawrence, Kansas who for the past twenty-five years helped re-invent the way we look at baseball), Beane appreciates batters who don't make outs and who have the patience to take a walk. Beane penalizes his minor league managers when their players fall behind in the walks per at bat ratio. Home runs matter more than stolen bases and sacrifice bunts. In brief, not making an out, e.g., a failed stolen base attempt, 'manufactures' (a favorite baseball verb) more runs than does speed on the base paths. Getting on base and getting extra bases matters more than a high batting average. Pitchers have little control over what happens once a ball is hit into play. Walks, strikeouts and home runs matter more than ERA. While skill matters, luck has an even larger impact on the success or failure of each game.

And there are colorful stories of real people who don't fit the traditional baseball mold yet who make big contributions, truly undervalued assets, including A's minor leaguers Nick Swisher and Jeremy Brown, catcher-now-A's-first-baseman Scott Hatteberg and the A's underhand reliever Chad Bradford

My one small disagreement lies with the continuing myth that baseball is a monopoly. Major league baseball teams do not compete with one another the way competing firms compete. Rather they work in effect as regional offices of the same firm. Competing firms would be glad to put their opponents out of business; major league baseball would die if that were to be the case. The fact that teams compete on the field disguises the fact that teams are economically cooperating with one another. The teams compete against other uses of the fans' entertainment dollar, not one another. Major league baseball is not a monopoly; it is one big company operating in the entertainment or sports business. Even 'free' agents cost two first-round draft choices, and Beane shows how to put these to good use.

Lewis shows, however, that baseball can be rational, a process to be studied, understood and, most important, managed. Good management is essential to success. The A's, contrary to what Bud Selig says, are not an "aberration". Instead, they benefit from good management. In 2002, their division standings were exactly the opposite of the team payrolls. Management matters more than money. Economic inefficiencies can be ferreted out and exploited. Reliance on conventional wisdom and not on researched, reasoned analysis will produce a lot of expensive losses. Just look at the Orioles, Mets, Red Sox, and Dodgers. And then look at Minnesota, Toronto and Oakland.

Rating:
Summary: Great behind-the-scenes look at doing more with less
Review: Highly reccomended to fans whose teams overspend and get little return on investment.....the book gives you ammunition to finally prove to others that most people running pro teams are running them fantasy league style, not effectively using deeper analysis and out-of-ordinary, breaking-the-mold knowledge...

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: For years, baseball scouts and other game insiders used incomplete, often unscientific methods of evaluating young talent. They focused, for hitters, on batting average and intangibles such as "good swing" and "good baseball body." In the 1980s, baseball fan and statistician Bill James and others like him began developing or relying on more scientific ways of assessing the true "value" of a player--such stats as on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and (later) win shares. This book details the evolution and implementation of some of these principles, particularly in the Oakland organization under the direction of GM Billy Beane, a former player who had all the intangibles of a great hitter but was a Major League bust. The story is gripping, and Lewis, without undue complication, explains the workings and significance of the new stats. Lewis is able to give his readers compelling details about Beane's business methods and negotiation strategies--secrets Beane probably should have kept secret, both to maintain a competitive advantage and to preserve more cordial relations around the league. May be of interest to even the casual baseball fan.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully insightful but a bit extreme
Review: This book tells the captivating story of how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane built one of the top franchises in Major League Baseball today with the second lowest payroll. The objective, science-based methods and thought processes he and his management team used to accomplish that amazing feat are compelling and offer wonderful insight into what makes a successful ballplayer and front office. However, the tale is a bit extreme in focusing only on a few of the admittedly remarkable role players who contribute greatly to the team's success while barely mentioning the more conventional star players who are probably the primary drivers for that success. That said, it is a tribute to Beane and his management team that they are consistently able find ways to fill the holes created when those stars, such as Jason Giambi, leave for more money. I have a hunch that Beane's way will guide a paradigm shift in strategy, tactics and, possibly most importantly, player evaluation to the benefit of all who love baseball.

Rating:
Summary: How business should get done!
Review: I won't repeat what the other reviewers stated about the book. Yes, there is some moments where the author moves away from the main premise of the book, Billy Beane and how he GMs the Oakland Athletics.

However, from what I learned from reading this book was that Mr. Lewis wanted us to understand that by bucking the industry, Billy Beane was able to come out on top. Baseball and other sports are often run no differently than other corporations wherein management often takes the safe route so that when later questioned for a decision they can state they followed SOP to avoid responsibility. Mr. Beane on the otherhand despite being second guessed all the way by his scouts, opposing teams and even his players had the guts to draft and trade for players that would provide the best production at a minimal cost. Often these players would never be thought of as prospects by the other teams. He also cleverly picked up players that would be free agents at the end of season that his team could never afford to resign in order to obtain draft picks for young-cheaper talent from the teams that signed these players. Others teams often trade these players on the fear they will receive nothing in return when the player leaves. Mr. Beane on the other hand enjoyed using their talents toward a second half of the season pennant drive and when they say goodbye he has an annuity for future talent!

Despite the A's consistent results, at least at the time of the author's writing, only two other teams sought to mimic his approach of not just using a database of statistics with a Harvard type grad to run them but selecting the data that no one figured had any value in judging talent. In the end, Mr.Beane figured that his approach was not being recognized by baseball as having merit. In fact baseball assumed that only teams in large money making cities could succeed, ie the NY Yankees and that the Oakland team was simply an exception and not the rule.

After reading this book, I obtained a lesson in business and not sports that exceeds many of the better known business books that I have read. If you want to succeed, you can't accept what has been done before as a given, instead look for efficiency where no one may have tapped. Please Billy come to the Mets, we desperately need a new GM! 100 million in payroll and a last place team to show for it.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Great Book
Review: I was surprised at how great this book was. I had put this book near the top of my reading list. Soon after that, I read an excerpt that was from the middle of the book. Little did I know that it was probably one of slowest sections of the book, so I moved it down on my list. When talking with out attorney, he mentioned that the book was really good. The next day I started reading it -- and couldn't put it down. It was really good.

You get to know parts about baseball that are rarely covered. Even a non-baseball reader will come away being very informed and capable of passing it on to friends who might be sports freaks. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite on the money
Review: For as much buzz as this book got, I find it to be pretty light on substance. Basically, the premise is that the A's eschew traditional scouting, which is by and large based upon "potential" and instead look to stats to see how a player has actually performs as measured by stats like walks and on-base percentage. That's about it. It's too early in the game to judge if any of the picks or way of doing business here is a success. I guess if the A's want to run their team like a fantasy baseball team, that's great, but as history has shown although it has given them a competitive team, it has yet to field a great team. Sure, their GM makes some good trades, but he makes some gobblers too (that don't make it into the book). Overall, the book did not seem balanced, fair, or even insightful. A good example is the discussion on Giambi...on how Oakland had to really do it's work to try to replace their premier player who was going to the dark side (the Yankees). I guess the fact that Giambi was a guy who came up before Billy Beane and was picked by the traditional scouting system wasn't mentioned because it was contrary to what the author is trying to say. Has Oakland done a good job fielding a team? Sure...but so has Kansas City, Minnesota, Toronto and Montreal, all with teams that have a comparable payroll to the A's.

I'm guessing in a few years once the current Oakland roster cycles through and they go back to mediocrity you will not be seeing teams hiring stat-nerds to sign players with.

At least it was a short, quick read. My take is that the less you actually know about baseball, the more you will enjoy it, because for the rest of us most of the conclusions are just bunk. It strikes me that the author knew what the book was going to be before he started and then went out and filtered the "facts" to support it.