Relationship between General Manager and Coach. Why did Beane give Lewis this trade secret? Baseball traditionalists vs. JEP article: In late 1990s, Beane was correct, but already that market imperfection has been corrected through competition. Was on-base %-age overvalued? Is it still? Five years ago, exploiting an arbitrage opportunity meant looking for players with ordinary batting averages but unusually high on-base %-ages. Why did Beane trust that approach? Scouts? Cash?Ībility to get on base: on-base percentage and walks. 'If I can't measure it, I can't invest in it.' Used statistical analysis to find ways to evaluate players to try to put together a better baseball team. But it would be a changed art form, one that perhaps many current fans would no longer be interested in.īaseball. Undoubtedly, some would enjoy the art of ‘manager software’, and others would enjoy the video-game feel of bionic athletes playing baseball. Or if baseball athletes were all seven foot tall, 300lbs, and ran a four second forty. I don’t know if baseball would be as enjoyable if, for example, all field managerial decisions were made by a computer. For the most part, it is the imperfections in the game that make the art attractive. I think there’s another reason to dislike this rationalization or optimization of the game, and that is aesthetics.įor me, sport is first and foremost an art.

You talked about negative reactions to Moneyball from certain members of the baseball community often because of its implications on their livelihood. I hope you don’t mind that I comment on your Michael Lewis interview here – I’ve only just listened to it, I feel compelled to comment, but comments are disabled there.

Moneyball by michael lewis