Moneyball

Ryan Brazner’s Blog on Moneyball

This is my first blog on the book Moneyball The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. This book starts by telling the reader about a young kid named Billy Beane who was trying out in front of scouts from various major league baseball clubs. Even though Billy was 6 feet, four inches tall, he outran the sprinters in the 60-yard dash, leaving the scouts in awe. Normally, athletes that tall do not run that fast.

The author Michael Lewis, who has written many famous books including the Blind Side, writes about Billy’s life as a kid. His dad was in the military, but whenever he returned home to San Diego, he insisted on teaching his son something. He chose to teach him baseball. His dad wasn’t a baseball player, but he taught Billy how to play through handbooks. As he got older, he pitched his first high school game as a freshman, throwing a seven hit shutout in one of the hardest divisions in the country. The scouts were amazed with him. One game, he hit three triples – the first was over the outfielder’s head, so the outfielders moved back the next time he was at the plate. The second time, he still hit it over their heads. So then they moved back even further - into where the parking lots would be on a major league field. Guess what? He hit it over their heads again!

But Billy had problems when he struck out. One time he hit his metal bat on a wall and bent it into a 90-degree angle. Even so, he insisted on batting with the bent bat the next time he came up to bat. As the author says, Billy didn’t have problems with failing, it is just that he didn’t know how to fail.