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Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball. Following the low-budget Oakland Athletics, their larger-than-life general manger, Billy Beane, and the strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts, Michael Lewis has written not only "the single most influential baseball book ever" (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what "may be the best book ever written on business" (Weekly Standard).

I wrote this book because I fell in love with a story. The story concerned a small group of undervalued professional baseball players and executives, many of whom had been rejected as unfit for the big leagues, who had turned themselves into one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. But the idea for the book came well before I had good reason to write it-before I had a story to fall in love with. It began, really, with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games?

With these words Michael Lewis launches us into the funniest, smartest, and most contrarian book since, well, since Liar's Poker. Moneyball is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the front offices of major league teams, and the dugouts, perhaps even in the minds of the players themselves. Lewis mines all these possibilities-his intimate and original portraits of big league ballplayers are alone worth the price of admission-but the real jackpot is a cache of numbers-numbers!-collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers and physics professors.

What these geek numbers show-no, prove-is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information has been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics.

Billy paid attention to those numbers -with the second lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to-and this book records his astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. Moneyball is a roller coaster ride: before the 2002 season opens, Oakland must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players, is written off by just about everyone, and then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win...how can we not cheer for David?
Customer Review: Enlightening
You always hear about the vast amounts of money that are spent in the world of baseball, but are teams getting their money's worth? Conventional wisdom would have us believe that teams that spend the most money get the best results. However, in the world of baseball this is not the case. This book focuses on the Oakland Athletics, one of the best performing teams in major league baseball, and also one of the lowest paid teams. How do they do it? According to this book, this is possible through exploiting inefficiencies in the market. Baseball, through its years of tradition, has built up a way of evaluating players that doesn't really address how they actually perform. This leads to undervaluing talent and skills that actually lead to success. The trick is to be objective and look at things as they really are. There are many things that people take for granted in every field, and this leads to market inefficiencies. This is more of a baseball book than a business book. It is not presented as a road map to success, but rather as a story of a baseball team fighting against the odds. If you're a fan of baseball, you'll be able to enjoy the story and learn a few things that you might be able to apply to your own business. However, if you don't like baseball, you many not find this to your liking.
Customer Review: A worthwhile read even for non sports fans
I've never followed baseball much, but have always been fascinated by the obsession with statistics in the game. The curious disconnect, which Lewis addresses in fascinating detail, is how it's taken so long for those managing the teams to put all of this raw data to use. So much of the spirit of baseball is romance, intuition and emotion. But these days the stakes are too high with many millions invested in a team to compete without every edge available at your disposal. Billy Beane and the A's have forever changed the game of baseball, and it's great to read about when and how the revolution started. A true investigator, Lewis also recognizes the weaknesses of Beane's breakthrough approach to baseball and how, even though it may greatly increase the odds for a winning season, the strategy comes somewhat unraveled at playoff time.

Will Barry Bonds reach the 756 home run mark and eclipse Hammerin Hank Aaron? The controversial Barry Bonds certainly is a baseball legend in his own mind, but does he have enough star quality and MLB cache to keep him in the baseball limelight? Is he a has been or someone who should be a has been? The question many people are asking is simply this one is Barry Bonds washed up? Many people believe it is time for Bonds to hang up his cleats. He has been injury plagued the last couple of seasons and has also been involved in Major League Baseballs steroid controversy. In the past the slugger has admitted that hes used steroids and contends that the drugs were administered unwittingly. Despite his use of performance enhancing drugs, there is no question that he has been one of the games most productive players.

Barry Bonds is chasing perhaps the greatest mark of them all-- the all-time Major League Baseball home run record. Currently Hank Aaron, who has 755, is the one that fans admire. Bonds also trails Babe Ruth, who accumulated 715 dingers.

He will start this season at 708 and will need either one outstanding year or two extremely productive ones to break the record. Many experts believe with the injuries hes sustained over the past few seasons it will be hard for him to reach the plateau set by Aaron. Another problem with Bonds setting a new lifetime home run mark is that people believe it will not be a true record because the slugger used steroids.

If he does become the most prolific long ball hitter to ever stand at home plate, there will be some contending that he cheated in order to do so. Critics will claim that during some of his most productive seasons he was on steroids and could not have hit that many home runs without the juice. Its not that Bonds didnt have any ability; he was and still is a gifted athlete. The question is because he whacked at least some of his homers while on steroids will people respect the record the same way they have for Ruth and Aaron. That is the big question.

Bonds will definitely be in the spotlight regardless of what he does this season. As long as he continues to play, the story of him chasing Ruth and then Aarons record will be a hot baseball topic this season and possibly next.

The fact that he plays half of his games in San Franciscos hitter friendly AT&T Park certainly favors Bonds accomplishing this goal. But he also has things working against him. Most pitchers will try to throw around him, not giving Bonds very much at which to swing. As the season wears on, this will affect him both physically and mentally.

Bonds has complained in the past about how many walks he receives and how they take a toll on his legs. Another problem that may prevent Bonds from breaking the home run record is that hes in the National League and is required to play the field. He has indicated he would like to stay with the San Francisco Giants and will refuse a trade to an American League (AL) team. If he were to go to an AL team, it could prolong his career because he would be able to be a designated hitter and would not be required to play the field.

He has said that San Francisco is his home and he will retire before hes traded to another team. There is no question that this season hell be under scrutiny, and if he doesnt produce the media will be all over him. Reporters may ask if he is over the hill, unable to go long without steroids, or if he can possibly stay healthy enough to finish his quest for the record.

The fact remains that Barry Bonds is going for the record and baseball fans will certainly be watching to see if he can do it. If he closes in on the mark, there will probably be sellout crowds in stadiums across the United States hoping to catch a home run ball from the remarkable Bonds. He will have many obstacles to overcome if he is going to accomplish this great feat.

One thing is certain it will be interesting to see if he has the stamina to hold on long enough to break the record. If he fails there will be people saying he should have retired at the top of his game and not have come back to try to break the record. Fans of home run fever will be tuning in the watch the saga of Barry Bonds.

This article was written by Susan Alvis sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com If youre looking for baseball tickets to see Barry Bonds in action, look no further than Stubhub.com where fans buy and sell the hottest sports tickets. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.stubhub.com

// posted by ontario-baseball27313 @ 4:38 PM 0 comments