Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Book Review: Wonderfully Written
Summary: 5 Stars
Mr. Lewis has really created a gem in "Moneyball." It's hard to imagine a book about sabermetrics and statistics becoming an interesting and compelling story. Lewis has someone melded together a character study of Billy Beane along with the revolution of objective statistics in baseball in a way that doen't make people roll their eyes. This book is truly wonderful and probably one of the most important books on baseball since Bill Jame's baseball extracts.
On top of the interesting bits regarding the behind the scenes workings of a major league ball club is something even more substantial. This book can change the way the reader views all levels of baseball. What should high school coaches teach regarding hitting? This book suggests patience and knowing one's strike zone. Should pitcher's be worried about arm strength or deception? The book could easily be used to help coaches of all levels of baseball groom young players to be more effective ballplayers. It will even help those coaches with game strategy. In that sense this book is revolutionary. Sabermetrics used to be for a special class of baseball fan who spent more time at their computers than actually watching or playing baseball.
Now sabermetrics belongs to the masses.
And just imagine if this book sparked interest in applying objective criteria in other areas of life. What's the best way to manage a group of office workers, who is the best candidate to hire for a particular job, how can a business owner use previous sales numbers to formulate a strategy for the future? It may seem like a stretch but this book could change the way readers think about a whole host of issues, some not even close to relating to baseball.
Everyone can learn a lesson from this book and no baseball fan or businessmen should go without reading it.
Book Review: Sports Meets Business
Summary: 5 Stars
Even if you don't watch baseball, this insightful look at one player's love for the game will captivate you. You'll also learn how to pick winning players for any kind of team.Book Review: Not really a review, but something I noticed...
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished reading Moneyball for the first time. I was generally impressed, and a lot of the ideas about baseball seem to be fairly on target, but I think they need to stand the test of time before we can accept them as unquestionably valid. We're not there yet.
Anyway, I was curious about how a lot of the players mentioned in the book fared in Major League Baseball, and checked out the stats on many of them. Now there is one part of the book where Ray Durham (A's second baseman) is taking batting practice while coaches Ron Washington and Thad Bosley are chatting behind the cage, obviously with our author Michael Lewis nearby and listening in too. Now "Wash" and "Boz" mention that they each got lots of stolen bases in their careers. Wash claims to have gotten 50 or so one year (my memory's vague on this detail as I write this) and Bosley acknowledged when Wash said that Boz got 90 one season. Durham is shocked by this. While I read it, I took it as fact. If you take the time to look it up, you'll see that they're obviously having an inside joke at someone's expense, either Durham's, Lewis' or both.
Wash played 12 yrs, almost all as a utility infielder. He had as many as a total of 10 stolen bases in only one season, never made double digits in any other year. Ron Washington did not play on the speedy Royals in the 70s. His first season was '78 with the Dodgers, then he went down to the minors again until he was back up with the Twins in '81. Looks like he started in 82 and or 83, that's it.
Bosley's top steal total was 12 in '78 with the White Sox. He usually didn't even get 90 ab's in a year. Utility outfielder for every one of his seasons in the majors.
Now it didn't seem to me that Lewis was presenting this info as if he was in on the joke. I wonder what anyone else's impression was, if they seemed to sense any irony on his part. It would be a bit embarrassing if Lewis printed this without fact checking it, especially when he's as irreverent as he is toward his targets (scouts, baseball management/establishment) for basically not bothering to check real facts (statistics). It's at least as important for a non-fiction writer to be checking his facts as for a baseball general manager.
I also took some time to dig up stats on the A's 2002 draftees. Nick Swisher is doing very well, Joe Blanton is a #3 A's starter now, but no other draftee of theirs that year is spectacular -- most aren't even in the majors yet. One prospect they ridiculed and passed on, Prince Fielder, is looking like a new star for the Brewers. So while the A's got a huge number of the guys they wanted, those guys haven't by and large panned out to be all that great, no more than any other team's, that I can see. Their picks seem to about on par with other teams' picks.
So while the book's premise is intriguing, from what I can see, it hasn't proven itself to be true yet by a long shot. That may change over time, and we can see a handful of teams now mimicking the A's philosophy (Red Sox, Blue Jays, Padres for starters). Time will tell.
Knowing this, that the jury is still very much out, I have to say that to me it seems like the attack on Joe Morgan in the last part of the book is way over the top and out of line. Morgan has a right to his opinion, and he's paid money to give his opinion on TV. A career like his gives him the right to speak his mind, and actually he has more credibility than Beane or Lewis based on that alone. It would definitely be better for Morgan if he'd examine the evidence a bit closer, rather than refuse to read the book. Lewis meanwhile attacks Morgan for wrongly claiming Beane wrote the book (among other things). As far as I can tell, Morgan never said that. Morgan did say that Beane says in the book that he is "smarter than everyone else." (which isn't literally true, but it's the gist of Beane's attitude, honestly) Beane is quoted often in the book, saying lots of things, from cover to cover. That doesn't mean he wrote the book, and if Morgan says that Beane said something in the book, that's not the same as Morgan saying Beane wrote the book. My gut says Lewis is dishonestly twisting what Morgan said, of disingenuosuly throwing fuel on the fire. It is possible I missed some quote of Morgan where he clearly says that Beane wrote the book -- and I did look for it. I've looked at the quotes that Morgan's critics (incl. Lewis' in the book) cite as 'proof' -- and none of those quotes state what they say it states. But if anyone can find where Morgan actually says that Beane wrote Moneyball, I would like to see it.
I'm kind of neutral where Joe Morgan is concerned. I think he'd probably learn something by reading the book, and I think Lewis also goes too far in his claims and attacks. Moneyball has some interesting, intriguing ideas in it that may or may not be valid over the long run. But the experiments are underway, and in time we'll know. My gut says some will turn out to be true and some not.
Book Review: A wonderful book that will open the door to appreciating baseball even more.
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1989 I saw the movie Field of Dreams and it changed my life forever, making me a baseball fan with its love for the game. Moneyball by Michael Lewis would be the second life changing event in my baseball evolution, teaching me aspects of the game that I never even knew existed. Lewis presents how the Oakland As, with one of the lowest payroles in the game, continually make the playoffs with underrated talent and intelligence.
Lewis introduces such things as Bill James, SABR, on base percentage, and other concepts that have opened a treasure trove of information for making a person a more complete fan. I promise if you read this book you will never look at the game the same way again and for the better.
Book Review: Outstanding connections from sprots to business
Summary: 5 Stars
I've cited this book, and passages and ideas from it for many years since my first reading.
In a world starving for great analogies, this book helps to draw relevant and interesting connections from MLB to outside world.