04/19/24
June 12, 2003
A great interview with Bill James.: Calling Hal and Grum and any other sabermetricians.
As an amateur sabermetrician (not very good at it, not making money from it and not a registered member of SABR), it's always fun to read what James has to say. I'm glad that he's finally gotten a chance to step to the other side of the fence (from fan to participant), but it's made me a little worried nonetheless. Bill James (as well as Voros McCracken and Keith Law) getting jobs with a major league team might mean the suppression of new baseball information. If James comes up with a new metric for defence (as he hints in the interview), there is no reason in the world the Red Sox would let him reveal it to the rest of the world. It would be in there best interest to keep it internal and try to use that as an advantage over the rest of the teams in MLB. That said, there are many other individuals that are busy number-crunching and adding the baseball knowledge base. One such place, Baseball Primer, is a fountain of knowledge (especially the member named TangoTiger). As for Moneyball, I'm on the waiting list for my library. 224th on the list.
posted by grum@work at 11:29 AM on June 12, 2003
I've read it. And already passed it on..... Lewis is a good writer, once I started I was loathe to set it down. Since the premise of the book is that Beane must exploit the inefficiencies to achieve success with a tiny budget, I think you get a pretty one-sided view of Beane. I don't think Lewis is ever critical of Beane although he does describe his odd habits and interesting personality. I found the machinations leading up to and during the amateur draft to be the most interesting episode in the book. I was already familiar with the sabermetrics and the general approach of the A's organization, but for those who haven't been exposed to them, Lewis does a very good job of explaining the ideas. Two thumbs up. I hope that James et al. won't make any new methods of analysis proprietary. I would think that James especially has invested so much into educating the fanbase that it would be difficult to turn his back on us outsiders. I don't think he has a burning desire to join the inner circle of baseball - more likely he sees this affiliation with the Red Sox as a chance to finally get a look inside.
posted by mbd1 at 12:21 PM on June 12, 2003
I just (yesterday) bought Moneyball for my Dad (Father's Day = Sports Books). I flipped through the first few pages, and it looks like it will be good.
posted by eckeric at 01:23 PM on June 12, 2003
224th on the list. Yeah. I gave up on that and finally used some of my Amazon credit from Xmas.
posted by yerfatma at 01:38 PM on June 12, 2003
Had to drive from Baltimore and KC last weekend and listened to Moneyball for the first six hours. Not the same thing -- sure, sure -- but I ninth the recommendation.
posted by jackhererra at 04:28 PM on June 12, 2003
Has anyone read Moneyball? It's getting pretty good reviews.