Moneyball

Moneyball was written by Michael Lewis. This is not the first time I have read a Michael Lewis book. The first was Liar's Poker, and this was every bit as interesting.

Moneyball follows baseball's Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane through the 2002 season. Beane is different than most GM's. Rather than trading for high-priced, homerun hitting power or high-priced, fastball throwing arms, he looks at different metrics for success in professional baseball.

The metrics, which were initially highlighted by writer, Bill James (now a consultant with the Boston Redsox) show the importance of on-base % and slugging %. Basically, the stats highlighted the importance of not getting out. It also uses statistics in drafting players and as it relates to certain kinds of plays (i.e. bunting and stealing bases).

By using these metrics, instead of say batting average or home runs, Billy Beane's A's have put together several very successful seasons, including on-base %, the A's regular season record in the Billy Beane era has been (excluding this year) 825 - 632. This equates to a 57% winning %. Not too bad.