| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Michael Lewis
|
by Michael Lewis
|
by Michael Lewis
|
by Simon Kuper
|
by Michael Lewis
|
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links
(What is this?)Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive cast-off veterans.
Lewis was in the room with the A's top management as they spent the summer of 2002 adding and subtracting players and he provides outstanding play-by-play. In the June player draft, Beane acquired nearly every prospect he coveted (few of whom were coveted by other teams) and at the July trading deadline he engaged in a tense battle of nerves to acquire a lefty reliever.
Besides being one of the most insider accounts ever written about baseball, Moneyball is populated with fascinating characters. We meet Jeremy Brown, an overweight college catcher who most teams project to be a 15th round draft pick (Beane takes him in the first). Sidearm pitcher Chad Bradford is plucked from the White Sox triple-A club to be a key set-up man and catcher Scott Hatteberg is rebuilt as a first baseman. But the most interesting character is Beane himself. A speedy athletic can't-miss prospect who somehow missed, Beane reinvents himself as a front-office guru, relying on players completely unlike, say, Billy Beane. Lewis, one of the top non-fiction writers of his era (Liar's Poker, Next), offers highly accessible explanations of baseball stats and his roadmap of Beane's economic approach makes Moneyball an appealing reading experience for business people and sports fans alike. --John Moe, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Lewis has hit another one out of the park... You need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis'] thoughts about it." The New York Times "I understood about one in four words of Moneybal, and it's still the best and most engrossing sports book I've read for years. If you know anyting about baseball, you will enjoy it four times as much as I did, which means that you might explode." Nick Hornby "What does it take to turn a subject like baseball statistics into a true-life thriller not even a baseball-loathing bibliophobe could put down? Answer: saturation reporting, conceptual thinking of a high order, a rich sense of humor, and talent to burn. In short, Michael Lewis. Moneyball is his grandest tour de force yet." Tom Wolfe "This delightfully written, lesson-laden book deserves a place of its own in the Baseball Hall of Fame." Forbes "Anyone who cares about baseball must read it." Newsweek" "Engaging, informative and deliciously contrarian." Washington Post
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
THE FIRST THING they always did was run you. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
THE FIRST THING they always did was run you. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
68% buy the item featured on this page: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Ł6.73 |
 |
14% buy The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine Ł12.50 |
 |
9% buy Liar's Poker (Hodder Great Reads) Ł5.41 |
 |
7% buy The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game Ł7.08 |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
