TOW #12 (IRB)- "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis

Through the first five chapters of Moneyball, Michael Lewis describes Billy Beane's adequate professional baseball career, and, later, his very successful run as manager of the Oakland Athletics. Despite being a highly touted prospect, Beane performed to the level scouts expected him to as a professional. During the 1980’s, he was signed by multiple teams, and constantly moved up and down from the minor leagues, never making an impact in the major leagues. Although, after retiring, Beane became the manager of the Oakland A’s, one of the poorest teams in the MLB. With such a low payroll, he was forced to take a completely different outlook for the upcoming 2002 draft than that of much richer teams, such as the New York Yankees. In chapter 4, Beane recalls reading a book written by statistician Bill James about the idea of sabermetrics. Using the complex statistical process invented by James, Beane and his assistant Paul DePodesta predicted the best players to draft based on player’s history and specific attributes, not on their future (most scouts choose players based on potential rather than their current skill). Thus far, Lewis’ main purpose for writing Moneyball is to inform readers of the memorable story of Billy Beane from a sub-par baseball player to a legendary manager. He directs this great story towards fans of all sports, as well as those intrigued by the world of statistics. In order to effectively convey this great story to readers, Lewis enables the use of a unique chapter structure that goes back and forth between a span of twenty years and provides narration on Beane’s life. In the first chapter, Lewis describes what Beane went through during the scouting process as he looked to be drafted by a major league team. Then, in the second chapter, Lewis analyzes how these events in his own career later influenced his decisions as a manager of the A’s. Once again in chapter three, Lewis goes back twenty years to when Beane was playing professionally for different teams. Finally, in chapters four and five, Lewis explains how Beane realized his inability to produce at a major league level and later uses this information and applies it to sabremetrics and the 2002 draft. Overall, I felt this odd structure is very effective as it allows the reader to thoroughly understand how Billy Beane was able to become a top manger with such a small payroll.