I finally got around to reading Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Amazing that I’ve waited this long (the book came out almost 10-years ago) because I’m a fan of baseball and I’ve attended hundreds of Oakland games. When the commercials came out advertising the upcoming Moneyball movie, I figured it was time to read the book.

Truthfully, it was disappointing. Billy Beane, a GM I’ve long admired, comes across as a nut case that lets his inner demons push him to the brink. Author Michael Lewis makes some of the players seem like knuckleheads. Old baseball scouts seem like stuck in the mud thinkers. Bud Selig seems narrow minded and short-sighted. Okay, so maybe that last one is true. But my point is that nobody comes out looking like a normal human being. I finished the book and was glad that I wasn’t in the sports industry for the umpteenth time.

But I also learned a lot from the book. It’s hard not to if you have watched baseball for so many years. Hearing how the Oakland team evaluates talent is an education. Rooting for the underdog is always a joy, especially when they outperform expectations.

The ideas of Moneyball have expanded across the league, so Billy Beane isn’t the boy genius he once was. And the A’s are mediocre as a result. But that’s okay, because a legacy was created in the years that the team was a phenom. Just like some of their players. Hopefully it will return again.