Consistently selected as one of the most important baseball books written in recent years, Moneyball shined a spotlight on a quiet revolution in the way ballplayers are evaluated.
"Moneyball" is itself now a baseball term of art, though it is arguably little more than one application of sabermetrics--another baseball term of art coined by Bill James to describe the analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence derived from baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Adherents to sabermetrics are said to be playing "moneyball."
Like sabermetrics, the premise of moneyball (and the book) is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders (including players, managers, coaches, scouts, and the front office) over the past century is subjective and often flawed. Statistics such as stolen bases, runs batted in, and batting average, typically used to gauge players, are relics of a 19th century view of the game. Moneyballers argue that on-base percentage and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive success and that these qualities are sometimes cheaper to obtain on the open market than more historically valued qualities such as speed and contact. Moneyball is the story of how the Oakland A's took advantage of more empirical gauges of player performance to field a team that could compete successfully against richer competitors in Major League Baseball.
Coming soon to a theater near you too (http://moneyball-movie.com/).
Comments