Moneyball, the groundbreaking book by Michael Lewis, forever changed the landscape of professional sports. Moneyball tells the inspiring story of the Oakland A's, a small-market baseball team that defied the odds by leveraging advanced data to gain a competitive edge in the highly traditional world of baseball. The hero of this story is the Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, who repeatedly challenged the conventional wisdom of the game by favoring data-driven decision-making over the scouts’ “eye test”. He managed the team much like a hedge fund manager would trade assets, exploiting market inefficiencies to build a competitive roster, despite having a significantly lower payroll than his peers. Let’s dive into the extraordinary story that started the sports analytics revolution!
----
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Michael Lewis
Expectations Debt - Morgan Housel
Please share with a friend or rate 5 stars if you enjoyed this episode! | Find me on Twitter @ReadnRepeatPod
----
Show Notes:
2:22 - Billy Beane's experience as a top HS prospect forged his view as a GM later on
7:56 - Expectations Debt
14:43 - Bill James, a pioneer of baseball analytics
18:00 - Conventional wisdom often produces conventional results
21:35 - We need to be DIFFERENT to win
23:19 - Bet where you have an edge
26:57- Euclis: the Greek God of Walks
31:17 - Zig when others zag... college > HS pitchers
33:42 - A pseudo hedge fund manager
38:45 - Buying low when teams lose hope
42:21 - Avoiding the echo chamber of traditional execs
44:59 - Pick ROI over EGO
48:42 - Luck kills them in the playoffs
52:04 - The sports analytics revolution & beyond
