Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 08, 2003
On the Money

Matt Welch, one of my favorite bloggers, offers this review of Moneyball in Reason Online.


Which may sound like evidence for Richard Griffin’s description of sabermetrics as a "cult," but that charge misses a crucial point. The analytic revolution thrived precisely because from its early days people argued passionately with each other. As important, they yielded when the better research or theory won. Much of the parlor reaction to Moneyball has focused on questions such as: What happens when the rest of baseball catches up to Beane’s fanatical emphasis on on-base percentage? And why on earth would he give away his trade secrets?

The first question ignores the distorting effects of Lewis’ book. He chose to highlight Oakland’s strong emphasis on offensive patience, partly because it’s important and partly because it presented to him cerebral underdog subjects such as castoff catcher turned starting first baseman Scott Hatteberg and submarine pitcher Chad Bradford. Sabermetrics at heart is about analytical thinking, not one particular statistical category. Perhaps the most significant organizational change the A’s have implemented over the years is a scientific physical program to prevent what the stat geeks have long identified as a crucial problem: arm injuries to pitchers. Critics of Beane and Moneyball say both are piggybacking on the success of Oakland’s three great young pitchers (Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, and Mark Mulder), but it’s entirely plausible that one or more of the three would have blown out their elbows in nonsabermetric organizations.


Posted by David Pinto at 04:43 PM | Books | TrackBack (0)
Comments

It is a good article in a fine magazine.

Posted by: Luca Brasi at December 9, 2003 09:47 AM