The Professional Sports League Baseball - 954 Words

Ryan Mahn Professor Matheson Economics of Sports October 27, 2014 Moneyball Compared to most other professional sports leagues in the United States, there is a lot of financial disparity between small market and large market teams in Major League Baseball. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a novel about how an unlikely general manager, Billy Beane, used unconventional statistical analysis to enable the Oakland Athletics to outplay much wealthier teams in the league. The problem faced by Beane and the Athletics was competing against large-market teams that were able to afford the services of the â€Å"best players† in the league. Through the use of sabermetrics, Beane and his staff found a solution to overcome their limited budget†¦show more content†¦Baseball is a true â€Å"team sport†. Sabermetrics, the statistical method applied by Bean and his acquaintance Paul DePodesta deviated from these overused and overvalued measures, and focused on team players, not volatile superstars (Moneyball). Sabermetrics revolved around the analysis of undervalued statistics—primarily on-base percentage, the number of times a player swings at the first pitch, and the average number of pitches per at-bat a player sees (Moneyball). With this tactic, Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics were able to win many more games than they would have if they were constrained by overvalued players. Beane was able to use this ingenious method of statistical analysis to discern the unique talents of undervalued players that did not meet the statistical criteria of big market teams. With a very specifically assembled team, whereby some players were even forced to switch positions, the Oakland Athletics had seemed to overcome the odds. A prime example of the potential success of sabermetrics was seen in a player named Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg spent most of his career lingering around the Boston Red Sox organization as a catcher—both in the minor leagues and in the major leagues (Moneyball). Hatteberg was seen as a very average catcher and hitter throughout the big leagues. He did his job well enough, however he did not stand out in popular statistical categories such as homeruns and RBIs. Unacknowledged by the Red Sox, however,