Mrs. Miller
Period 1
Money Ball Statistics
When you think of the word statistics, what is the first thing you think of? If this is Mrs. Miller reading this than you are probably thinking about math. However, most sports fans would think about baseball. They cannot have a conversation about baseball without mentioning someone’s statistics. The player’s stats tell all about what he has done is his time playing the sport. It can even tell who is better at each category like hitting, fielding, or pitching. Most baseball fans already know this, but what they don’t know is the pain staking process these mathematician’s go through to compile these statistics.
The Major league baseball draft is the most important component to a successful season. All throughout the season the owners of each team sends over thirty scouts all across the country to find the best high school and college players. Then they report back to their teams and they make a list of the players with most important to least important. Then the last couple days consist of them picking at every flaw that they can find in the players than adjusting their list accordingly. In chapter two this is the scene that is taking place. Gathered around a large table, all of the scouts for the Oakland A’s are sitting at tables with their neat stacks of paper with all of the information about their favorite prospects. They go around the table telling why each player is worth a first round pick. The General Manager of the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane is in charge of this meeting but sense he wasn’t the one to go around and actually see the players he is mainly just listening and letting the scouts work out the players. There is another man by the name of Paul DePodesta, Billy’s assistant, is also sitting quietly. He is the only one in the room with a laptop on the table in front of him. If there was someone who represented statistics this would be him. The difference between Paul and the rest of the