Moneyball by Michael Lewis

The book Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, is about how the Oakland Athletics, one of the poorest teams in baseball, changed the game forever. It takes place during the 2002 MLB season and contains many flashbacks. When the A's changed
Baseball, it started with their general manager, Billy Beane. Beane himself used to be a baseball player. In high school, he was considered a 5 star player and was believed to be picked high in the draft. He was selected early, by the New York Mets, by never truly made it to the big leagues. He and Paul Depodesta, his assistant, were planning to change baseball. In the years before, the A's had great records and made it to the playoffs, but with players that were suggested to be past their prime or not not good enough to begin with by other teams. The A's payroll was mediocre, compared to the rich teams like the Yankees, but the A's would still win, and nobody knew why. Most people thought it was all luck, but Billy and Paul knew exactly what they were doing. Paul Depodesta was a Harvard grad and had created a computer program that, in his mind, found the best players based on the most important stat, OPS. He believed that high on base percentages created runs, therefor wins and Billy agreed. With 40 million dollars, a third of the Yankee's payroll of 126 million, Billy Beane had created a team or rather," an island of misfit toys"(60) as he would joke, that would win the AL West and have 103 wins, with a payroll 20 million dollars less than the next bet team. I like how this book talks about how Billy Beane picked up players with "defects" and put them on his team, when the players themselves didn't even know why. I also enjoy the sarcasm in the book that Billy has and how the book talks about all the un-conventional things he does. One bad thing about the book, in my mind, is it's length. I believe that it is far too long and boring for the average or below average baseball fan. Still, I would encourage baseball fans to read this book because it tells how Billy Beane changed America's past time.