Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis is a fascinating story about the Oakland Athletics’ (A’s) revolutionizing of the world of baseball. The story follows General Manager Billy Beane, as he challenges the traditional scouting strategies of the big leagues, and instead opts to develop a pioneer approach to individual performance and team selection.

The book follows how Beane took this idea and ran with it, completely turning around the previously unsuccessful Oakland A’s. Through applying sabermetrics and using analytical data instead of the traditional scouting, Beane’s new strategy allowed him to compete with bigger and better-funded teams, outbidding them and beating them despite having a smaller budget.

At the time, traditional scouts judged a player’s “value” in terms of batting average and RBIs. Beane instead looked at it from an economy standpoint, valuing players based on their probable contributions and cost efficiency. Beane believed that although these traditional stats are valuable and important, they can be broken down into other metrics such as On-Base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG) that gave more accurate evaluations of a player’s quality.

Beane led the charge in proving that economists have an important role to play in sports. He showed how proper data analysis and economic principles can be used to select effective players without being limited by traditional, less productive means. In particular, he measures team appropriateness with metrics like VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) which allow him to find affordable players who could perform as well or better than the other organizations’ higher-priced players.

He also recognized that simply understanding one or two aspects of the game wasn’t enough, and that having a balanced mix of players with different skills is equally important. The team consisted of players with good power, but also players with good On-Base Percentage (OBP). The team also included a strong bullpen and one-inning stoppers.

The book does a great job of explaining the new approach to baseball and how Beane changed the way teams are evaluated and run from a managerial and decision-making perspective. Without Beane's revolutionary approach, the Oakland A's may never have had their run of success from 2000 to 2006, succeeding to the playoffs four times despite having one of the smallest payrolls in the sport.

Clearly, Beane has, and continues to be a huge influence in the world of baseball, and in Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis tells a captivating story about how this mindset was developed, how it was applied, and how it became a success. Whether you’re a fan of the sport or an economist looking to learn more about how economic principles can be implemented in sports, this book is an inspiring and enlightening must read.