Moneyball - Michael Lewis [0]
“Ebullient, invigorating…. Provides plenty of action, both numerical and athletic, on the field and in the draft-day war room.”
—Lev Grossman, Time
“By playing Boswell to Beane’s Samuel Johnson, Lewis has given us one of the most enjoyable baseball books in years.”
—Lawrence S. Ritter, New York Times Book Review
“A journalistic tour de force.”
—Richard J. Tofel, Wall Street Journal
“A brilliantly told tale…. Michael Lewis’s beautiful obsession with the idea of value has once again yielded gold…. Moneyball explains baseball’s startling new insight; that for all our dreams of blasts to the bleachers, the sport’s hidden glory lies in not getting out.”
—Garry Trudeau
“Amazing anecdotes…an entertaining, enlightening read.”
—Will Lingo, Baseball America
“This delightfully written, lesson-laden book deserves a place of its own in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
—Rich Karlgaard, Forbes
“An extraordinary job of reporting and writing.”
—Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News
“Anyone who cares about baseball must read it.”
—Cathleen McGuigan, Newsweek
“Michael Lewis has written what might be the best book ever about baseball.”
—Steve Weinberg, Orlando Sentinel
“Lewis has a wonderful story to tell, and he tells it wonderfully.”
—Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, The New Republic
“[Lewis’s] descriptive writing allows Beane and the others in the lively cast of baseball characters to come alive.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Lewis’s book is a thoroughly modern, entertaining…even revolutionary look at the way the game has changed and is changing…guaranteed to ruffle a lot of feathers.”
—Brad Zellar, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“This book is as much for people who take joy in new ideas as in games.”
—Brian O’Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Engaging, informative and deliciously contrarian.”
—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
“Lewis is a five-tool reporter: He can think, joke, characterize, write for average readers and write for powerful decision makers.”
—David Kipen, San Francisco Chronicle
“Lewis has managed to put together a compelling inside-baseball book that skewers many of the sport’s longstanding sacred cows.”
—Carol Knopes, USA Today
“Lewis’s glee about the depth of baseball’s irrationality has plenty to say to anyone who’s human…. He rises to Jamesean heights in describing the difference between Beane’s view of baseball talent and the rest of baseball’s.”
—Marta Salij, Detroit Free Press
“This insightful volume refutes the conventional wisdom of veteran baseball men and celebrates an underdog.”
—David Lieberfarb, Newark Star Ledger
“I understood about one in four words of Moneyball, and it’s still the best and most engrossing sports book I’ve read for years. If you know anything about baseball, you will enjoy it four times as much as I did, which means that you might explode.”
—Nick Hornby, The Believer
“Fantastically informative and entertaining…bound to excite extreme envy.”
—Josh Benson, New York Observer
“Open this book…and your mind.”
—Nat Newell, Columbia, South Carolina, State
ALSO BY MICHAEL LEWIS
Liar’s Poker
The Money Culture
Pacific Rift
Losers
The New New Thing
Next
MONEYBALL
The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
MICHAEL LEWIS
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
Copyright © 2004, 2003 by Michael Lewis
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton 2004
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lewis, Michael (Michael M.)
Moneyball: the art of winning an unfair game / by Michael Lewis.—
1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-0-393-06740-8
1. Baseball—Economic aspects—United States. 2. Baseball—Scouting—United States. 3. Baseball players—Salaries, etc.—United States. I. Title.
GV880.L49 2003
796.357'06'91
2003005089
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London