AUTHOR: Michael Lewis
DATE FINISHED: February 13
BLURB: Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager, is leading a revolution. Reinventing his team on a budget, he needs to outsmart the richer teams. He signs undervalued players whom the scouts consider flawed but who have a knack for getting on base, scoring runs, and winning games. Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball and a tale of the search for new baseball knowledge--insights that will give the little guy who is willing to discard old wisdom the edge over big money.
REVIEW: I saw this movie years ago and enjoyed it enough to pick up the book it was based on. I am not someone who watches baseball. I played when I was a kid, and I raised a softball player, so I know all the rules, but while I can enjoy a game when I see it, it is not something I seek out. What fascinated me about this was how non-players looked at the game and how it's changed the sport today. The book was thoroughly engaging, with stories about specific players that Beane wanted countering the dryer portions about the theory of it all. I loved seeing how the numbers play out, and getting faces to the theories in motion was worth it. Now I have to rewatch the movie. And check out some of his other works. From what I can tell, his conclusions are sometimes flawed, but considering he wrote The Big Short (another movie I loved), I'm willing to do my digging to see which ones are worth my time.
SQUARE: Movie Tie-In/Made Into a Movie
