Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Moneyball is a biographical narrative chronicling the life and strategies of the great baseball general manager, Billy Beane. The story begins with a history of Billy's life, as he was once a promising ball player himself. It discusses how he was supposed to be the next "phenom", as many would call it. He was drafted and signed to the New York Mets right out of highschool, even surprising himself as he made a promise to go and play at an American University, but like so many others, the money got to him. This part of his life shaped the way he would later manage his baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, to incredible success.



The author of the novel, Michael Lewis, is a great writer and kept the reader interested through the telling of numerous stories from Beane's life. Although he did not create these stories as they were true events, he wrote them as vividly as if you had a front row seat watching these events unfold. Lewis' blend of well-researched sports statistics, dug-out humour and vivid storytelling were the perfect match for the telling of such a life story.



"We're going to run the organization from the top down. We're controlling player personnel. That's our job. I don't apologize for that. There's this belief that a baseball team starts with the manager first. It doesn't." Billy Beane

-This quote really epitomizes his philosophy of running an organization. He wanted full out control of his baseball team. Many people believed that the manager was just Billy's puppet who did whatever he wanted.

"Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising." Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise

-This is a quote that Billy uses to show his fall from baseball stardom. Scouts praised his skills, said he was major league ready, but in the end he was not.

"The selections made are, from the A's point of view, delightfully mad. Eight of the first nine teams select high schoolers. The worst teams in baseball, the teams that can least afford for their draft to go wrong, have walked into the casino, ignored the odds, and made straight for the craps table."

-This quote is a subtle reminder to Billy of how he came straight out of high school and did not flurish into an Allstar like many had once thought. This shows how he strongly believes his decision was wrong and that university players are much more developed than young highschoolers.