Moneyball

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. It describes the team's sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team on a small budget. It led to the 2011 film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.

Synopsis

The central premise of Moneyball is that the collective wisdom of baseball insiders (including players,

By re-evaluating their strategy in this way, the 2002 Athletics, with a budget of $44 million for player salaries, were competitive with larger-market teams such as the New York Yankees, whose payroll exceeded $125 million that season. The approach brought the A's to the playoffs in 2002 and 2003.

Lewis explored several themes in the book, such as insiders vs. outsiders (established traditionalists vs. upstart proponents of sabermetrics), the democratization of information causing a flattening of hierarchies, and "the ruthless drive for efficiency that capitalism demands".

Moneyball also looks at how the A's evaluated prospects. Sabermetricians argue that a college baseball player's chance of MLB success is much higher than the more traditional high school draft pick. Beane maintains that high draft picks spent on high school prospects, regardless of talent or physical potential as evaluated by traditional scouting, are riskier than those spent on more experienced college players. College players have played more games and thus there is a larger mass of statistical data on which to base expensive decisions. Lewis cites A's minor leaguer Jeremy Bonderman, drafted out of high school in 2001 over Beane's objections, as an example of the type of draft pick Beane would avoid. Bonderman had all of the traditional "tools" that scouts look for, but thousands of such players have been signed by MLB organizations out of high school over the years and failed to develop as anticipated. Lewis explores the A's approach to the 2002 MLB draft, when the team had a run of early picks. The book documents Beane's often tense discussions with his scouting staff (who favored traditional subjective evaluation of potential rather than objective sabermetrics) in preparation for the draft to the actual draft, which defied all expectations and was considered at the time a wildly successful (if unorthodox) effort by Beane.

Moneyball traces the history of the sabermetric movement back to such people as

Influence

"Moneyball" has entered baseball's lexicon; teams that value sabermetrics are often said to be playing Moneyball. Baseball traditionalists, in particular some scouts and media members, decry the sabermetric revolution and have disparaged Moneyball for emphasizing sabermetrics over more traditional methods of player evaluation. Nevertheless, Moneyball changed the way many major league front offices do business. In its wake, teams such as the

When the Mets hired

In the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the Tampa Bay Rays were considered masters of Moneyball, reaching the 2020 World Series with a payroll prorated at US$28.2 million, third-lowest of Major League Baseball's 30 teams.^[4][5]

Lewis has acknowledged that the book's success may have hurt the Athletics' fortunes as other teams accepted sabermetrics, reducing Oakland's edge.^[6]

Since the book's publication and success, Lewis has discussed plans for a sequel to Moneyball called Underdogs, revisiting the players and their relative success several years into their careers, although only four players from the 2002 draft played much at the Major League level.

Moneyball has also influenced and been influenced by other professional sports teams including European club association football (soccer). Beane has regarded

Moneyball covers the lives and careers of several baseball personalities. The central one is Billy Beane, whose failed playing career is contrasted with wildly optimistic predictions by scouts.

Players and people discussed in Moneyball:

Oakland farm system

• Barry Zito – 2002 AL Cy Young winner, part of the "Big 3" with Mulder and Hudson (below)
• Mark Mulder – part of the "Big 3" with Zito and Hudson
• Tim Hudson – Not drafted by Beane; part of the "Big 3" with Mulder and Zito
• Kirk Saarloos
• John Baker
• Joe Blanton
• Jason Giambi – Not drafted by Beane. 2000 AL MVP, signed with the New York Yankees in 2002 for $120 million over 7 years
• Miguel Tejada – Not drafted by Beane; 2002 AL MVP
• Gold Glove winner
• Jeremy Brown
• Nick Swisher
• Bobby Crosby
• Mark Teahen
• Jeremy Bonderman – traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2002

Oakland bullpen

• Jason Isringhausen – signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001–02 offseason
• Billy Koch – 2002 AL Relief Pitcher of the Year
• Chad Bradford
• Jim Mecir
• Ricardo Rincón
• Mike Magnante

Other players

• Kevin Youkilis – referred to in the book as the "Greek God of Walks". Youkilis was drafted in 2001 by the Boston Red Sox and heavily desired by Beane, who tried to snare him via a failed three-team trade discussed in the book.
• Prince Fielder – son of former slugger Cecil Fielder, drafted in 2002 by the Milwaukee Brewers. Claimed by Beane to be "too fat" even for the A's.
• high school
  " draft pick.
• Scott Kazmir – cited as an example of teams' – in this case the New York Mets – foolishness in drafting high school pitchers because of the difficulty in projecting their future, as opposed to college players.
• Jamie Moyer – then with the Seattle Mariners
• Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement. Durham would eventually sign with the San Francisco Giants
  .
• Terrence Long
• Erik Hiljus
• David Justice
• Jeremy Giambi
• Alex Rodriguez – Beane compares A-Rod's stats to those of Eric Chavez.
• Greg Maddux
• Cliff Floyd
• Alfonso Soriano
• Jeff Francis
• Zack Greinke – drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 2002
• Scott Hatteberg

Scouts, management, and journalists

• Billy Beane – GM
• Paul DePodesta – Assistant GM
• David Forst – scout
• Grady Fuson – Head of scouting
• Ron "Hoppy" Hopkins – National cross-checker scout
• Chris Pittaro – scout
• J. P. Ricciardi – worked under Beane and DePodesta as Director of Player Personnel
• Sandy Alderson – Beane's predecessor and mentor with the Athletics
• Peter Gammons – Sportswriter
• Art Howe – Oakland manager
• Ron Washington – Athletics coach
• Joe Morgan – Hall of Fame second baseman and ESPN broadcaster
• Steve Phillips – New York Mets GM
• Bill James – baseball writer and statistician whose Baseball Abstract books greatly influenced Beane
• Voros McCracken – sabremetrician and writer specializing in pitchers' defense
• Omar Minaya – Montreal Expos GM

Analysis of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft

Beane's list

Beane assembled a list of twenty players they would draft in a "perfect world"; meaning if money was no object and they did not have to compete with the other twenty-nine teams.

The list, and the teams who drafted them:

Pitchers

• Cleveland
  , #22 (1st round)
• Joe Blanton – Oakland, #24 (1st round)
• Jeff Francis – Colorado, #9 (1st round)
• Luke Hagerty – Chicago Cubs, #32 (1st round)
• Ben Fritz – Oakland, #30 (1st round)
• Robert Brownlie – Chicago Cubs, #21 (1st round)
• Stephen Obenchain – Oakland, #37 (1st round)
• Bill Murphy – Oakland, #98 (3rd round)

Hitters

• Nick Swisher – Oakland, #16 (1st round)
• Russ Adams – Toronto, #14 (1st round)
• Khalil Greene – San Diego, #13 (1st round)
• John McCurdy – Oakland, #26 (1st round)
• Mark Teahen – Oakland, #39 (1st round)
• Jeremy Brown – Oakland, #35 (1st round)
• Steve Stanley – Oakland, #67 (2nd round)
• John Baker – Oakland, #128 (4th round)
• Mark Kiger – Oakland, #158 (5th round)
• Brian Stavisky – Oakland, #188 (6th round)
• Shaun Larkin – Cleveland, #274 (9th round)
• Brant Colamarino – Oakland, #218 (7th round)

Oakland's picks

• #16 – Nick Swisher – successful major leaguer, traded to Chicago White Sox after 2007
• #24 – Joe Blanton – successful major leaguer, traded to Philadelphia Phillies in 2008
• #26 – John McCurdy – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2006.
• #30 – Ben Fritz – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2010.
• #35 – Jeremy Brown – MLB experience consists of 11 plate appearances for Oakland in 2006. Last played minor league ball in 2007.
• #37 – Stephen Obenchain – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2006.
• #39 – Mark Teahen – spent parts of eight seasons in MLB, played only in the minors in 2012 and 2013.
• #67 – Steve Stanley – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2006.
• #98 – Bill Murphy – MLB debut in 2007, pitched approximately 18 innings in MLB. Has played only in foreign and minor leagues since 2009.
• #128 – John Baker – traded to the
  Florida Marlins
  and has played around 300 total games in six MLB seasons.
• #158 – Mark Kiger – MLB experience consists of 1+2⁄3 innings at second base for Oakland in the 2006 American League Championship Series. Never played in the MLB regular season. Last played minor league ball in 2009.
• #188 – Brian Stavisky – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2010.
• #218 – Brant Colamarino – never made MLB. Last played minor league ball in 2007.

Reception

Richard H. Thaler of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Cass R. Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School described the book as a "sensation... Lewis has a wonderful story to tell, and he tells it wonderfully... Lewis also raises some serious puzzles that he does not resolve, and his account has some large and perhaps profound implications that he does not much explore."^[12]

David Haglund of

Sheldon and Alan Hirsch also argue against Moneyball's thesis in their 2011 book The Beauty of Short Hops: How Chance and Circumstance Confound the Moneyball Approach to Baseball, pointing out that the 2002 A's were notable for allowing fewer runs than other teams, not scoring more.^[15]

Film

A movie based on the book was released in 2011. Actor

Bennett Miller took over directing duties,^[18] and Aaron Sorkin rewrote the script.^[18] Shooting began in July 2010 at Blair Field, the Sports Stadium for Wilson High School (Long Beach, California), Sony Studios in Culver City, Dodger Stadium, and the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.^[19][20] The film was released in theaters on September 23, 2011. Moneyball was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Picture.

In popular culture

The book is parodied in the 2010

External links

Look up Moneyball in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Moneyball (book details) – The Official Michael Lewis website
• Majoring In Moneyball by John Manuel
• Billy Beane's Perfect Draft: A Baseball Revolution? by Richard van Zandt – guest column at BaseballEvolution.com (April 13, 2006)
• Library of Economics and Liberty
  .