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Moneyball

The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
Moneyball is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of major league teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.
In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      The blurb on the back cover of this study of major league baseball and money touts the author's "usual narrative flair." What delights the listener, however, is the reader's narrative flair. Granted, the writing is sprightly. Lewis asserts that conventional wisdom holds that the bigger the payroll, the better the ball club. Not so, says Lewis. To prove it, he gives a lively anecdotal account, including locker room humor, of the eccentrics of the Oakland Athletics, a team able to excel with a small budget. Scott Brick makes the most of these assets, less like a gifted narrator and more like a sports fan regaling pals with fascinating inside scoops. Further, the melody of his narration is one of Brick's most expressive and tuneful. In all his work, Brick almost sings in a youthful, manly voice brimming with personality and gusto. It sounds here as if "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is one of his favorite ditties. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Before Bill James, baseball junkies, even those selecting players, were relegated to assessing players and teams using only mundane statistics. Then, the Oakland Athletics, under General Manager Billy Beane, adopted James's radical methods--and philosophy--with dramatic success. Michael Lewis tells the surprisingly fascinating story behind the success of the A's, whose choices of players were often derided by other teams. Lewis's reading is excellent; he loves the story and the people, and the joy he experienced writing MONEYBALL comes through as clearly as any fastball. Not just for baseball fans, this story will impress anyone who understands that the way things are done can always be improved, even the seemingly subjective process of picking star athletes. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 28, 2003
      Lewis (Liar's Poker; The New New Thing) examines how in 2002 the Oakland Athletics achieved a spectacular winning record while having the smallest player payroll of any major league baseball team. Given the heavily publicized salaries of players for teams like the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, baseball insiders and fans assume that the biggest talents deserve and get the biggest salaries. However, argues Lewis, little-known numbers and statistics matter more. Lewis discusses Bill James and his annual stats newsletter, Baseball Abstract, along with other mathematical analysis of the game. Surprisingly, though, most managers have not paid attention to this research, except for Billy Beane, general manager of the A's and a former player; according to Lewis, "y the beginning of the 2002 season, the Oakland A's, by winning so much with so little, had become something of an embarrassment to Bud Selig and, by extension, Major League Baseball." The team's success is actually a shrewd combination of luck, careful player choices and Beane's first-rate negotiating skills. Beane knows which players are likely to be traded by other teams, and he manages to involve himself even when the trade is unconnected to the A's. " 'Trawling' is what he called this activity," writes Lewis. "His constant chatter was a way of keeping tabs on the body of information critical to his trading success." Lewis chronicles Beane's life, focusing on his uncanny ability to find and sign the right players. His descriptive writing allows Beane and the others in the lively cast of baseball characters to come alive. (June)Forecast:Lewis's reputation, along with extensive national promotion, first serial in the
      New York Times Magazine and a 13-city tour should help the book hit bestseller lists throughout the baseball season.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 2, 2012
      In order to compete in professional baseball, conventional wisdom says a team has to have a solid cash flow and a flawless recruiting program. Oakland A’s general manager Billy Bean took another path to success and built a winning team from a collection of traditionally undervalued players. Scott Brick’s winning performance combines pitch-perfect narration that captures the spirit of Lewis’s text with a knack for reading sports stats, facts, and figures. Brick skillfully navigates an unsteady sea of information to produce a flawless reading that will keep listeners enthralled for hours. They will root for the underdog and gain a solid understanding of exactly why money can’t always buy a championship. A Norton paperback.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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