money baseball

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (ISBN 0-393-05765-8) is a book by Michael M. Lewis, published in 2003, about the general manager of the Major League Baseball team Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane, and his team's modernized, statistics-heavy approach to running the organization.
The central premise of Moneyball is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders (including players, managers, coaches, scouts and the front office) over the past century is subjective and often flawed. Statistics such as stolen bases, runs batted in, and batting average, typically used to gauge players, are relics of a 19th-century view of the game and the statistics that were available at the time.
Since then, real statistical analysis has shown that on base percentage and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive success and that avoiding an out is more important than getting a hit. Every on-field play can be evaluated in terms of expected runs contributed. For example, a strike on the first pitch of an at-bat may be worth - 0.05 runs. This flies in the face of conventional baseball wisdom and the beliefs of many scouts who are paid large sums to evaluate talent.
By re-evaluating the strategies that produce wins on the field, the 2002 Athletics, with approximately $41 million in salary, are competitive with larger market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who spend over $100 million in payroll. Oakland is forced to find players undervalued by the market, and their system for finding value in undervalued players has proven itself thus far.
Several Lewis themes explored in the book include: insiders vs. outsiders (established traditionalists vs. upstart proponents of Sabermetrics), the democratization of information causing a flattening of hierarchies, and the ruthless drive for efficiency that capitalism demands. The book also touches on Oakland's need to stay ahead of the curve; as other teams begin mirroring Beane's strategies to evaluate offensive talent, diminishing the Athletics' advantage, Oakland begins looking for other undervalued baseball skills such as defensive capabilities.
Moneyball also touches onto the A's methods of prospect selection. Sabermetricians argue that a college baseball player's chance of MLB success is far and away higher than a traditional high school draft pick. Beane maintains that high draft picks spent on high school prospects, regardless of talent or physical potential as evaluated by traditional scouting, is riskier than spending them on more polished college players. Lewis cites A's minor leaguer Jeremy Bonderman, drafted out of high school in 2001 over Beane's objections, as but one example of precisely the type of draft pick Beane would avoid. Bonderman had all of the traditional "tools" that scouts look for, but thousands of such players have been signed by MLB organizations out of high school over the years and failed to develop. Lewis explores the A's approach to the MLB Draft, from Beane's often-tense discussions with his scouting staff (who favored traditional subjective evaluation of potential rather than objective sabermetrics) in preparation for the draft to the actual draft, which defied all expectations and was considered at the time a wildly successful draft by Beane.
In addition, Moneyball traces the history of the sabermetric movement back to such luminaries as Bill James (now a member of the Boston Red Sox front office) and Craig R. Wright. Lewis explores how James' seminal Baseball Abstract, an annual publication that was published from the late-1970s through the late-1980s, influenced many of the young, up-and-coming baseball minds that are now joining the ranks of baseball management.
Moneyball has made such an impact in professional baseball that the term itself has entered the lexicon of baseball. Teams which appear to value the concepts of sabermetrics over traditional tactics are often said to be playing "Moneyball". Baseball traditionalists, in particular some scouts and media members, decry the sabermetric revolution and have disparaged Moneyball for going against traditional thinking in statistics analysis and emphasizing concepts of sabermetrics. Nevertheless, the impact of Moneyball upon major league front offices is undeniable. In its wake, teams such as the New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians[1], and the Toronto Blue Jays have hired full-time Sabermetric analysts. Since the book's publication (and success), Lewis has discussed plans for a sequel to Moneyball called "Underdogs," revisiting the players and their relative success several years into their careers.
College baseball is baseball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. Compared to football and basketball in the U.S., college competition plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily fulfill that role.
The first known intercollegiate baseball game took place in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1859, between squads representing Amherst College and Williams College. Amherst won, 73-32. This game was one of the last played under the "Massachusetts rules", which prevailed in New England until the "New York rules" developed in the 1840s gradually became accepted.[1] The Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club of St. John's College in New York (now Fordham University) played the first ever nine-man team college baseball game on November 3, 1859 against (the now defunct) St. Francis Xavier College.
College baseball has grown phenomenally in popularity since the 1980s. Traditionally, it has been played in the early part of the year, with a relatively short schedule and during a time when cold (and/or rainy) weather hinders the ability for games to be played, particularly in the northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. These and other factors have historically led colleges and universities across the nation to effectively consider baseball a minor sport, both in scholarships as well as money and other points of emphasis. During the 1980s, coaches and athletic directors in warm-weather regions of the nation began to recognize the unrealized potential appeal of the sport. These efforts were led by example by Coach Ron Polk at Mississippi State University. They went out and aggressively recruited the sport to potential athletes, as well as made various upgrades to their programs; such as bigger and better stadiums, more money for staff and support salaries, and promotions. As these efforts resulted in better players and overall programs, more television and print media coverage began to emerge. The ESPN Network greatly increased television coverage of the NCAA playoffs and the College World Series.
Soon, in many warm-weather regions, baseball came to be considered a major sport, approaching the level of football and basketball. And even non-warm weather schools started to recognize baseball's potential and began to put considerably more emphasis on it. Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Oregon State are three notable examples of cold (or rainy) weather schools with very successful programs. The first two made the College World Series when warm-weather schools placed major emphasis on baseball as well as had the advantage of playing earlier and more games because of favorable climate advantages. Oregon State won back-to-back national championships in 2006 & 2007. Archrival Oregon has not even had a varsity baseball program since 1981. Many credit the Beavers' success as being a primary factor in UO's recent decision to revive baseball in 2009. For 2008 and succeeding seasons, the NCAA has mandated the first ever start date for baseball. This day is exactly thirteen weeks before the selection of the NCAA tournament field, which takes place on Memorial Day. For 2008, this day is February 22. Many feel this date will give non warm-weather schools more parity in college baseball and help continue to make the sport a major one nationally.
As with other intercollegiate sports, most college baseball is played under the auspices of the NCAA or the NAIA. The NCAA writes the rules of play, while each sanctioning body supervises season-ending tournaments. The final rounds of the NCAA tournaments are known as the College World Series; one is held on each of the three levels of competition sanctioned by the NCAA. The College World Series for Division I takes place in Omaha in June, following the regular season. The playoff bracket for Division I consists of 64 teams, with four teams playing at each of 16 regional sites (in a double-elimination format) in late May. The 16 winners advance to the Super Regionals at eight sites, played head-to-head in in a best-of-three series. The eight winners then advance to the College World Series, a double elimination tournament (actually two separate four-team brackets) to determine the two national finalists. The finalists play a best-of-three series to determine the Division I national champion. In 2008, the winner of the CWS was Fresno State.
EA Sports released MVP 06 NCAA Baseball, the first college baseball video game ever released. It includes most Division I schools. A sequel, MVP 07: NCAA Baseball was also released.
The rules of college baseball are similar to the Official Baseball Rules. Exceptions include the following:
The bat may be made of wood or of aluminum or a metal or composite material that meets NCAA standards. The designated hitter rule is used. In addition, a player may serve as both pitcher and DH at the same time and may remain in one position when removed in the other. One or both ends of a doubleheader are sometimes seven innings in length. However, the NCAA has recently tightened the interpretation of what constitutes a regulation game, encouraging schools to play as many nine-inning games as possible. A mercy rule may be in use, which terminates play when one team is ahead by 10 or more runs after seven innings (6½ innings if the home team is winning). In games that are scheduled for seven innings the rule takes effect in the fifth. This rule is not used in NCAA tournament games. Several conferences institute this rule only on Sundays or the final day of a conference series, so that the visiting team can travel on time.