About three weeks ago, we talked about interactive whiteboards and their ability to provide statistical analysis that can help pro coaches and athletes win more games. But an old article in the New York Times adapted from Michael Lewis’ infamous book “Moneyball” shows that a high-ranking team executive responsible for personnel moves can do just fine with a simple dry erase surface. Moneyball is the story of Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team. Back in the early 2000s, the A’s managed to win a lot of games with a low payroll by crunching numbers to analyze player performance and tendencies, and concurrently developing cheap, young players to replace the stars who would inevitably leave the team in free agency for bigger markets and bigger contracts. The excerpt notes that Beane had two giant whiteboards mounted on the walls in his office. One of them had the names of all the players owned by the A’s, and the other had the names of players on all the other major league teams. Through big picture thinking, name association, and computer research, Beane could quickly achieve his ultimate mid-season goal: selling the players on his team that he didn’t want for more than they were worth, and buying the players he wanted from other teams for less than they were worth. Once he targeted the names he wanted from his grocery list whiteboard, he could go ahead and talk to other GMs about potential trades. More often than not, Beane would get what he wanted, and the A’s would go on a second half surge to make the playoffs.
What made this story so revolutionary was that it depicted a brash young GM who bucked traditional trends and won games through cold analysis mixed with old-fashioned hustling. The older generation of management probably felt threatened by someone who showed that a heavy dose of statistics, numbers and logic could often trump gut instinct and a trained eye. Not surprisingly, the Moneyball approach has influenced teams like the Boston Red Sox, who have combined statistical analysis with a well-stocked minor league system and high payroll to win 2 World Series championships in the past 5 years. Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether the Moneyball approach could work for every franchise. However, the experts universally agree that Beane’s ability to do more with less has shown the establishment that there’s more than one way to win on a consistent basis.
Posted by Taeho Lim
