MONEYBALL - MICHAEL LEWIS

 MONEYBALL

- MICHAEL LEWIS -

You might think sports book by the title, the cover, and the general story. However, you could make a case to label this a Math/Stats book. The pages are filled with real life stories and examples on how powerful the use of stats can be...it just happens to be in baseball.

Essentially one man took a look at the stats baseball has been using for over a hundred years and threw them out the window. He started trying to find stats that he could use to find both good players and undervalued players. With this info he took the Oakland Athletics, the poorest team in baseball, and changed them from crap to a championship level team...by using only stats.

It is filled with stories of underdog players who were overlooked because they didn't fit the old school mold of a baseball player - everything from how handsome they were, to how often they walked compared to how many home runs they had. This is how baseball had been run for eons. The thinking was almost all 'gut feelings' and 'the looks' of a guy. The typical stats that were kept did not have much merit when actually valuing a player, they just happen to be what people kept track of when baseball first started. It turns out with a new way of thinking and tracking (using advanced stats) the ugly, 'boring', players came at a cheap price...and when combined together they made a great team. Throw out the old RBI and batting average and bring in the on-base-percentage and slugging average to find some diamonds in the rough. Apparently this has started a new philosophy in baseball, turning the old boys club on it's head and letting some of the number nerds get in there to help out.

Moneyball theory in a nutshell

It was a great overall story of a David vs Goliath type situation, punctuated with short examples and stories of the players who didn't fit the mold. Like the club-footed pitcher who was overlooked because of his deformed foot, even though he had great stats. Or the overweight catcher who walked every chance he got. It really gave some human element to what could have been a bland story about numbers. I'd say read it before you die, even if you are not a huge sports fan.

Or, you could watch the movie - it's on Netflix. Of course, it won't be as good as the book. They never are.