Oakland As A-OK!
Mikaela says:Fans of Moneyball, the Oakland As, the underdog, or the new wave of baseball will be happy to learn of Nick Swisher's heroic performance leading the way to the A's sweep against the Yanks.
Those who read the book will remember Nick Swisher was the much sought-after player, valued by many teams, not just the As, with their new insight into choosing players based on the stats not the stories and/or dreams they represent to talent scouts and coaches alike. Well, Swisher's a success.
This bodes well for the possibility of maintaining competition and entertainment even if salaries are, oh, I don't know, capped like hockey players' one day. There, I said it. What can I say? I'm a labor girl. (And a gigantic nerd who became an A fan because of a book and its explanation of a mathematical basis for assessing the value and therefore risk of choosing some players over others.) What's sexier than baseball plus math plus good writing? Um, NOTHING. Go Oakland!
posted by mjae @ 4:14 PM
2 Comments:
Too cute. Nothing sexier than baseball. Well... except those unsexy pinstripes, of course.
Thanks for the tip on the book. Have you already read "Men at Work" by George Will (yes, that G. Will, the conservative political pundit)? Great writer and the best book on baseball I've ever read. Will examines the sport by breaking it down into it's four basic skills: hitting, fielding, pitching, and managing, putting the best of each task under a microscope and statistically showing the tiny sliver of an edge that makes the difference between success and failure at the professional level. I'm a liberal and I've bought that book three times - have stopped lending it.
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