Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Moneyball, Non-Fiction, Michael Lewis

"That's the way it's always been done" wasn't going to cut it for the Oakland Athletics.

Billy Beane didn't want to build his baseball team the old-fashioned way.  The old-fashioned way meant taking the word of his scouts and relied on their judgment, who they thought would make good baseball players.  Heck, Billy Beane, according to scouts, was to be a Hall Of Famer, having the right physical characteristics for a long-lasting MLB career.

What scouts couldn't measure over the long term was his "makeup"- he was made to succeed, had always succeeded, but was not made to fail and couldn't handle the pressure of failed at-bats. 

Moneyball takes a look at Billy Beane's journey from baseball washout to executive, and Lewis provides a very thought-provoking read, as Beane takes the Oakland A's from a good baseball team to a 100-game winning baseball team with unorthodox methods.  Lewis's description of Beane, his assistant Paul DePodesta, and players such as Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg make for a very quick and engrossing read, even for non-baseball fans.

Highly recommended.