Rating: 
Summary: Not your father's baseball
Review: Baseball of yesteryear was played with a lot less money and players were evaluated on various subjective criteria. Now the money involved is much more and some people, including Billy Beane, Bill James, and others, are saying that statistical analysis can be used to put together a good team.While reading this book you may re-think how a baseball player is evaluated. It's interesting how Beane's philosophy of avoiding outs (including sacrifices) at all costs and emphasizing getting on base (through walks) contrasts with so many people, including his own coaches and experienced players. Naturally, it is fun to compare Oakland's success under Beane to other organizations; let's say the Atlanta Braves (John Schuerholz) and the New York Yankees (Brian Cashman). Since 1998 (when Beane became GM) through 2002 the A's have won 457 regular-season games, finished first in their division twice and won no playoff series. In that time period, Schuerholz's Braves have won 493 games won their division each of those years and have won 4 division and league championships. Cashman's Yankees have won 497 games, 8 division and league championships and 3 World Series. Maybe these three general managers operate pretty well given their respective environments. Since Beane did not go to Boston we will never know if he could have made the Red Sox more successful (although Bill James is in their front office). This book is definitely worth the read. It gives the reader a lot to think about and perhaps the reader's view of the game will be different. Those who are in fantasy leagues might be particularly interested in some of the analysis. Some of the hero worship of Billy Beane could be toned down; he has only been at this business for 5+ years. On the other hand, Michael Lewis depicts Beane as more than human who can't stand to watch his own team play. Maybe he'll be the Branch Rickey of our times but it will take several more years to find out. Perhaps the most troubling for the sport are the conclusions near the end of the book: is this all worth it? The fans, the owners, the coaches and managers and even the players want the "flashy" baseball. Move the fences in and hit more home runs. Do the hits and runs and the base stealing -- that is what sells tickets and makes the sports highlights. How many championships have you won? Do we really want the game to be managed by spreadsheets and statistical projections?
Rating:
Summary: Good book, doesn't tell the whole story
Review: "Moneyball" is extremely well-written. It is a quick read and a good read. However, there are some problems with the information presented here. Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder are all unbelievable pitchers and have much to do with the success of the low-budget team in Oakland; however, they are barely even mentioned in the book. Michael Lewis spends more time on finds like Scott Hatteberg. However, most of the A's success is due to the Big 3. And Billy Beane deserves a lot of credit for finding and drafting those guys. It's just not spelled out in this book. To read this book and have no knowledge of baseball, you would think that all other GM's were idiots. Guys who just didn't get it. After reading this book, I'm not sure how Billy would find guys like Vlad, Sammy, Pedro, Ichiro (well, basically foreigners who wouldn't fit his statistical model). Sometimes, relying on scouts is a good thing. And sometimes drafting high schoolers (Griffey, Kerry Wood, Josh Beckett) is also a good thing, even if it is a bigger roll of the dice. But Beane does have an admirable plan. All in all, this book is a worthwhile read, even if it does have the noteable ommission of Hudson, Zito, and Mulder.
Rating: 
Summary: Geeks' revenge
Review: Who knows baseball better - the jocks or geeks? Well, it appears that you can't rid the front office of jocks, but you're screwed if you don't let the geeks in. Lewis has written a book that ultimately proves that careful statistical analysis is often superior to conventional wisdom in finding out what makes good baseball players and teams. Moneyball tells the story of the A's general manager Billy Beane and his assistant Harvard grad Paul DePodesta and their quest to build an A's team armed with the smallest budget in baseball and a new approach to baseball stats. The success that they achieve proves once again that people cannot accept the fact that science is superior to intuition and conventional wisdom in many circumstances. Beane is a former major leaguer whose promising career never really took flight despite everyone's high expectations. Fortunately, he found his niche in the front office of the Oakland A's, a team he transformed by deemphasizing the conventional wisdom that had falsely predicted the outcome of his own major league career. Inspired by the sabermetrician Bill James whose Baseball Abstracts were appreciated by only a handful, Beane and DePodesta decided that the best way to spend the tiny A's budget was to draft or trade for players who were undervalued in the baseball market but whose stats told a different story. For example, they realized that on base percentage was worth more than home runs or batting average. They wanted players who could get on base whether by walk or hit. After all, a home run is worth a lot more if previous batters make it on base. Beane and DePodesta also realized among many other things that good fielding stats were overrated, errors were often meaningless, and luck plays a huge role in the outcome of a baseball game. The beauty of this book is that it reminds us again and again that no matter how strong your subjective notions are, don't forget that statistical analysis is an objective enterprise largely devoid of emotional attachments and preconceived ideas. Of course, choosing players based completely on refined statistical analysis while ignoring other nonquantifiable factors is foolish, but the A's are proof that this new approach is extremely effective. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most enjoyable books I've read
Review: I enjoyed reading this more than any other book I've read in a while.
It's about Billy Beane and how the A's have been run in the last couple of years.
It has a lot about Bill James as well... and mentions Rob Neyer a few times. It's not even really about money, which is surprising, coming from Michael Lewis, and with the title.. It's about baseball. And it focuses on the A's, going all the way until January this year.
As an A's fan, I'm worried that it gives away too many of Beane's secrets!
ALthough, there is a passage that puts me to ease a little (page 241)
"IF one didn't already know better, one might think that Voros McCracken's article on baseballprospectus.com would be cause for celebration everywhere inside big league baseball. One knew better. Voros knew better. 'The problem with major league baseball', he said, 'is that it's a self-populating institution. Knowledge is institutionalized. The people involved with baseball who aren't players are ex-players. In their defense, their structure is not set up along corporate lines. They aren't equipped to evaluate their own systems. They don't have the mechanism to let in the good and get rid of the bad. They either keep everytyhing or get rid of everything, and they rarely do the latter.'
He sympathized with basball owners woh didnt' know what to think, or even if they should think. 'If you're an owner and you never played, do you believe Voros McCracken or Larry Bowa?' The unemployed former paralegal living with his parents, or the former All-Star shortstop and current manager who no doubt owned at least one home of his own?"
Voros McCracken's astonishing discovery about major league pitchers had no apparent effect on the management, or evaluation, of actual pitchers. No one on the inside calld Voros to discuss his findings; so far as he knew, no one on the inside had even read it. But Paul DePodesta(assistant GM of the A's) had read it. Paul's considered reaction: 'If you want to talk about a guy who might be the next Bill James, Voros McCracken could be it.' Paul's unconsidered reaction: 'The first thing I thought of was Chad Bradford."
The article that Voros wrote is on baseballprospectus, about how pitchers don't control the hit percentage of balls in play, so the most important thing about them is the nubmer of strikeouts, walks, and home runs. [...]
This is just one of the many great points about the way baseball is now analyzed.
Run, don't walk, to get this.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific And Not About Me Me Me!!!
Review: They used to call me "Moneyballs" in college so when I noticed this on the best seller list at the local independent, I got more than a little excited. Alas, I was to be surprised by yet another book NOT about Heavy Hop Dop. This is a book about my favorite sport! Baseball. And a good one too. It reads fast and even amuses in places. I'm not an A's fan (even if I did get all A's in school), but this "Moneyball" is an entertaining read. Play balls! HHD.
Rating:
Summary: More Than Lives Up To the Hype
Review: I am almost embarrassed at how much I enjoyed this book. I purposely avoided it for a long time annoyed at how much hype it was getting thinking surely it wasn't a 'real' baseball book for true fans. I gave in recently when the paperback came out and must admit that I am dumbfounded with delight. This is a GREAT book for true fans of the game and even for those who know next to nothing about baseball! Michael Lewis is a remarkably gifted author who can tell a great story, entertain, and inform with amazing ease while writing in excellent prose. His central focus in this book is "Why have the Oakland A's won so many baseball games lately with such a relatively low payroll and so few established stars?" You will quickly find out if you are a fan of "Old School" baseball or the "New Wave" thinking running through Oakland, Toronto, and even the Red Sox. Many will take strong stands along these sides and may even rate their opinion of this book solely upon that. Either way, this book is great entertainment and is very much worthy of a place on your bookshelf for "read it cover-to-cover keepers"!
Rating:
Summary: Attn: Fantasy Baseball
Review: It goes without saying - for baseball fans, numbers people, entrepeneurs, etc., this book is a must read. But unbeknownst to most, this book is a MUST READ for one demographic in particular: fantasy baseball enthusiasts. If you are a fantasy baseball owner, please buy this book, because essentially, Billy Beane is running a real-life MLB team no differently than you are running your fantasy squad. Once you read this book, you will be compelled to (1) attempt to outsmart your buddies by drafting and acquiring players that you identify as more valuable than your competitors (assuming you trust your analyses, as Beane does), and (2) outwit your buddies by trading and trading some more, again for players that you identify as more valuable than your competitors If you are a parent or of an obsessed fantasy baseball child, please buy them this book immediately. This book will capture their attention, thereby providing you way to get your sports/computer junkie child to pick up a book and read it cover to cover.....a task all too difficult all too often.
Rating:
Summary: Theory vs. theater.
Review: I just finished "Moneyball" and found it a fascinating read. While I am neither a huge baseball fan nor an expert in statistics, I nevertheless found the blending of the two subjects quite captivating. I also found the style of the writing that author Michael Lewis uses to be very conversational and accessible to the reader. I can see why this book, and the events it chronicles, caused such an uproar in the baseball world. The crux of the conflict seems to be theory vs. theater. The approach of Billy Beane and others has proved that using certain statistics to choose a team and project where they will go during the season is a valid, successful approach to the game. However, there is a case to be made for their opposition's claim that such an approach takes the flair and theater out of baseball. I recall that someone once said, "We don't know how the game will turn out. If we did, it wouldn't be worth playing." It's that peppering of random chance that creates the theater of a baseball game. Sometimes the crowd wants to see flashy, dramatic and unexpected plays. My sense is that ultimately some combination of the statistical and the traditional will come about. That team managers will be able to use both the flash and the stillness to achieve victory. I definitely recommend this book, whether you're a baseball fan or not. Also, if you are interested in reading about the inside story of the bond markets during the mid and late 80s, Lewis's first book, "Liar's Poker," offers the reader the same accessible style.
Rating:
Summary: BASEBALL IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Review: Michael Lewis is a fine writer and Billy Beane is a man of genius. This book puts the lie to Bud Selig's assertion that money alone creates competetiveness, and further describes the new realities of power offense vs. "little ball," and how a relief pitcher can be found to fill holes for one season.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, if a bit too sure of itself...
Review: Any veteran fan who is not a stat-head, will not agree with everything written in here. However, it is fascinating to consider. Beane is no hero, but certainly a hell of a GM. I'm fascinated to see how DePodesta does in LA with a bigger payroll. The book is at it's best when describes the stories of the players--Scott Hatteberg, Jeremy Brown and the trades (the chapter on Rincon is classic). It slows down when Lewis falls too much into his financial/math background. Still, anything that challenges the prevailing wisdom (I particularly loved the scene where Beane goes nuts on Art Howe for the lefty-Lefty, righty-righty bullpen match ups--it is one my own pet peeves) is worth 5 stars. Guys like Bill James get their just due. Overall, it is a fanastic read. Besides, anything that upsets that blowhard Joe Morgan this much MUST BE GENIUS!
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