Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

by Michael Lewis

Overview

Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times).

One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century

Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games?

In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers—numbers!—collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.

What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers—with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to—to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393324815
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/17/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	16,626
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.

Date of Birth:

October 15, 1960

Place of Birth:

New Orleans, LA

Education:

Princeton University, B.A. in Art History, 1982; London School of Economics, 1985

What People are Saying About This

Garry Trudeau

A brilliantly told tale....Michael Lewis's beautiful obsession with the idea of value has once again yielded gold.

Tom Wolfe

Moneyball is his grandest tour de force yet.

Editorial Reviews

"A journalistic tour de force."

Wall Street Journal - Richard J. Tofel

"I understood about one in four words of Moneyball, and it's still the best and most engrossing sports book I've read in years. If you know anything about baseball, you will enjoy it four times as much as I did, which means that you might explode."

The Believer - Nick Hornby

"Michael Lewis's beautiful obsession with the idea of value has once again yielded gold…Moneyball explains baseball's startling new insight; that for all our dreams of blasts to the bleachers, the sport's hidden glory lies in not getting out."

Garry Trudeau

"The best book of the year, [Moneyball] already feels like the most influential book on sports ever written. If you're a baseball fan, Moneyball is a must."

People

"It’s a sports story that’s actually a business story that’s also a story about preconceptions. Plus, Michael Lewis’s writing is so clear, readable, and highly entertaining."

Literary Hub - Charles Yu

"Moneyball is the best business book Lewis has written. It may be the best business book anyone has written."

Weekly Standard - Mark Gerson

"Ebullient, invigorating…Provides plenty of action, both numerical and athletic, on the field and in the draft-day war room."

Time - Lev Grossman

"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's] thoughts about it."

New York Times - Janet Maslin

"Rarely has the lesson of a book...had such an enormous impact....[Moneyball] showcase[s] Lewis’s great gift of finding the perfect characters and narratives to animate big, complex ideas that have been hiding in plain sight."

GQ - Daniel Riley

"By playing Boswell to Beane's Samuel Johnson, Lewis has given us one of the most enjoyable baseball books in years."

New York Times Book Review - Lawrence S. Ritter

"One of the most enjoyable baseball books in years."

New York Times Book Review

"The single most influential baseball book ever."

Slate - Rob Neyer

"An extraordinary job of reporting and writing."

San Jose Mercury News

"You have to read Moneyball.... Amazing anecdotes... an entertaining, enlightening read."

Baseball America

"Another journalistic tour de force."

Wall Street Journal

"Ebullient, invigorating... provides plenty of action, both numerical and athletic, on the field and in the draft-day war room."

Time

"Anyone who cares about baseball must read Moneyball."

Newsweek

"Engaging, informative, and deliciously contrarian."

Washington Post

Stunning....[Lewis's] explanations of the science of baseball...are spellbinding.

New York Observer

May be the best book ever written on business.

Weekly Standard

One of the most enjoyable baseball books in years.

The New York Times Book Review

You have to read Moneyball...Amazing anecdotes...an entertaining, enlightening read.”

Baseball America Editors