Moneyball

I loved Moneyball. It completely changes how you look at the game of baseball. In a nutshell, it talks about Billy Beane's revolutionary approach to evaluating players, not on RBIs or batting average, but basically ON BASE PERCENTAGE. He is able then to aquire player everyone else ignores dirt cheap, and put together a rather respectable team.

Sure there's a lot of controversy over his methods. Sure, they must be taken in moderation, because I DO think they overlook the mental part of the game. However, if you're spending $40 million on payroll, and winning as many games as a team with a $140 million payroll, you MUST be doing something right.

The argument about never winning a pennant or World Series I think falls short. Billy is playing the odds, just like the casino. Over the long haul (186 games), his strategy works great. However, over the course of a 5 or 7 game series, the random swings of fortune take over.

If you like baseball, you'll love this book.