Billy Beane, a former professional baseball player, is the current minority owner and executive vice president of Major League Baseball side the Oakland Athletics. He is best known for being played by Brad Pitt in the 2011 movie, Moneyball.
The player
A star athlete in high school, where he excelled at (American) football, basketball and baseball, he could have pursued a professional career in all three sports, but eventually chose baseball, and was selected 23rd by the New York Mets in the 1980 draft.
Despite many scouts predicting that he would go right to the top, his playing career failed to match expectations, and he was traded first to the Minnesota Twins, and then the Detroit Tigers. He joined the Athletics as a free agent in 1989, but, after 37 games with them, he was relegated to the minor leagues after spring training the following season.
Front Office
Beane realising that the life of a minor league player was not for him, and he approached Oakland GM Sandy Alderson for a job, and became an advance scout. He was then promoted to assistant GM, and succeeded Alderson as GM in 1997.
Moneyball
Beane soon realised that the Athletics did not have the financial resources to compete with the leading teams in the league like the Mets, the Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Red Sox, for example, and where at continued risk of losing their better players to their rivals.
With the help of analyst Paul DePodesta he looked for an alternative strategy which became known as Moneyball, inspiring a book and film of the same name.
Using analytical, evidence-based approach called sabermetrics, the essence of Moneyball is that the perceived wisdom of baseball insiders is subjective and often fundamentally wrong, and based on an almost “medieval” understanding of the sport.
Players should be recruited not because they are star names, but because of their ability to score runs and get on base.
Success
Under Beane’s stewardship, Oakland reached the play-offs in four successive years between 2000 and 2003, going on to lose in the American Series each time. In 2002, they made history when they became the first team in more than 100 years to win 20 consecutive games.
At the end of that season, the Boston Red Sox made Beane a highly lucrative offer for Beane to become their GM, but he turned it down out of loyalty to Oakland. Within two years, the Red Sox had become World Series champions, using an approach based partly on Moneyball.
It was not until 2006 that they won their first play-off series under Beane, sweeping the Minnesota Twins in the American League. However, they were then heavily beaten by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship series.
Criticisms
Some traditionalists have decried the use of sabermetrics, and believe that more traditional methods of player evaluation still have their place. In addition, the success of the book and film have seen so many other franchises use some form of Moneyball, that whatever edge the Athletics once possessed has been eroded.
Moneyball’s influence outside baseball
Moneyball’s influence has also spread beyond baseball to other sports. In the NFL, for example, it is reported to have had an influence on the recruitment strategy of the Cleveland Browns.
Meanwhile, since the Fenway Sports Group took control of Liverpool Football Club, the Anfield side have adopted a numbers focused approach to player recruitment and strategy.
Meanwhile, Brentford, who were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2020 – 2021 season, have adopted a heavily analytical driven strategy, and even decided to scrap their academy system altogether because it was not judged cost effective. The West London club believe that it has allowed them to compete, and hold their own, with clubs with far bigger budgets.
Beane and Soccer
Beane regards former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger as a personal idol, and has had discussions with the Frenchman, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson and John Henry, the Liverpool owner, about using the analytical approach in English football.
In 2017, Dutch club AZ Alkmaar appointed him as an advisor, and Beane also became part of the consortium that bought League One side Barnsley in 2017.
Beane today
In 2015, Beane became executive vice president of baseball operations with the Athletics, David Frost taking over from him as general manager. However, he continues to have a role in recruitment, and in recent years has begun concentrating on high school players, a group he had previously ignored, believing them to be seriously undervalued.
In part, the data revolution that has swept football in the past decade can be attributed to Beane.
