Moneyball by Michael Lewis which mostly chronicles Billy Beane's sucess running the Oakland Athletics on a paper thin budget, is probably the best and most influential baseball book of the last 10 to 15 years. How many here have read it and what did you think of it?
Billy Beane! A first round pick by the New York Mets in 1980. I remember it like it was yesterday. He was touted as the New York Mets biggest up and coming prospect. Untouchable was what they called him. Untradable! And the first offer they got for him they took! And he turned out to be a bust! Then GM Frank Cashen had a knack for building up his minor leaguers to make them more marketable!
Don Cardi
Five - ten years from now, they're gonna wish there was American Cosa Nostra. Five - ten years from now, they're gonna miss John Gotti.
I read it and loved it. It's a fascinating examination of the way guys like Beane, Bill James and Theo Epstein revolutionized the way we look at baseball and statistics. This book is to be read and reread.
Billy Beane! A first round pick by the New York Mets in 1980. I remember it like it was yesterday. He was touted as the New York Mets biggest up and coming prospect. Untouchable was what they called him. Untradable! And the first offer they got for him they took! And he turned out to be a bust! Then GM Frank Cashen had a knack for building up his minor leaguers to make them more marketable!
He had quite a career. 148 games, with a .219 batting average and 3 home runs.
My favorite part of the book was the comparison of Beane, the five tool phenom, coming up in the system with Lenny Dykstra, the cigarette smoking surfer boy, who wouldn't think at the plate, and had never heard of Steve Carlton.
