Billy Beane

Not to be confused with another former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean.

Billy Beane
Beane in 2006
Outfielder
Born: March 29, 1962 (1962-03-29) Orlando, Florida
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 13, 1984 for the New York Mets
Last MLB appearance
October 1, 1989 for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics
Batting average	.219
Hits	66
Runs batted in	29
Teams
As Player New York Mets (1984–1985) Minnesota Twins (1986–1987) Detroit Tigers (1988) Oakland Athletics (1989) As General Manager Oakland Athletics (1998–present)

William Lamar "Billy" Beane III (born March 29, 1962) is a former Major League Baseball player and the current general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics. He is the subject of Michael Lewis' 2003 book on baseball economics, Moneyball, which was made into a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt as Beane.

Baseball career

Early life

Beane grew up in San Diego, California, the child of a career military family. His father, a naval officer, taught him how to pitch. In high school, he excelled at baseball, football, and basketball, but gave up football to avoid an injury that could prematurely end his baseball career. Despite this, Stanford University tried to recruit Beane on a joint baseball-football scholarship as the quarterback who would replace then-sophomore John Elway for the Stanford Cardinal football team.

Playing career

Because many teams believed Beane would attend Stanford and not sign with a professional team, Beane fell to the 23rd overall pick in the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft where he was taken by the New York Mets, who were enamored of Beane's talent. The Mets had three other first round picks, allowing them to risk Beane not signing. Beane decided to sign for $125,000 after a trip to visit the Mets clubhouse. Beane notes his decision to sign with the Mets instead of going to Stanford as the "only decision he would ever make in his life about money."

Believing Beane to be a more refined player than their top first-round pick, Darryl Strawberry, the Mets assigned Strawberry to play rookie ball, while Beane was assigned to the Class-A Little Falls Mets. Beane struggled and was unable to make the adjustments that were necessary when playing tougher competition.

Beane played parts of six seasons as a reserve outfielder in the major leagues, with the Mets, the Minnesota Twins, the Detroit Tigers, and the Athletics, from 1984 to 1989. He played for two teams that would win the World Series: the Twins in 1987, and the Athletics in 1989. He was not on either team's post-season roster. Beane completed his 148-game major league career with a .219 batting average and 3 home runs.

Front office career

Struggling to make the big league roster in 1990, Beane approached Athletics General Manager Sandy Alderson during spring training and asked for a job as an advance scout. Beane held this position through 1993, becoming Assistant GM of the Athletics in 1994.

In 1995, team owner Walter A. Haas, Jr. died. New owners Stephen Schott and Ken Hofmann ordered Alderson to slash payroll. As a result, Alderson began focusing on sabermetric principles toward obtaining relatively undervalued players.

Beane succeeded Alderson as GM on October 17, 1997. He continued Alderson's crafting of the Athletics into one of the most cost-effective teams in baseball. For example, in the 2006 MLB season, the Athletics ranked 24th of 30 major league teams in player salaries but had the 5th-best regular-season record.

Due to his team's success despite its low payroll, Beane was the subject of author Michael Lewis's 2003 best-selling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book discusses Beane's methods as the GM of the Athletics and how he, along with Harvard-educated statistician Paul DePodesta , used sabermetric principles to run his team in a cost-effective way. According to the book, this allowed him to be successful despite his financial constraints. The book and Beane's methods have influenced the way many think about the game of baseball, including other teams and even players.

Beane speaking in 2007.

Despite their regular season success, the Athletics have struggled with winning in the playoffs under Beane. The Athletics reached the playoffs in four consecutive years from 2000 through 2003, losing in the American League Division Series each year. They won their first playoff series under Beane in 2006 when they swept the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series, but were subsequently swept by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. Other low payroll teams, such as the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins and the 2008 American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, have appeared in the World Series.

After the 2002 season, the Boston Red Sox attempted to woo Beane with an offer to be their GM, but he declined. On April 15, 2005, Beane received a contract extension to remain with the team as its general manager through 2012, and new team owner Lewis Wolff awarded Beane a small portion of the team's ownership.

The Athletics have not made the playoffs or finished above .500 since their 2006 playoff appearance, which has triggered criticism of Beane and his approach in some quarters in baseball, especially in 2009. One possible explanation for his recent lack of success is that other general managers have followed his lead and are now using the same approach he does. Beane largely dismisses criticism of his approach, saying about his philosophy:

“

It's all about evaluating skills and putting a price on them. Thirty years ago, stockbrokers used to buy stock strictly by feel. Let's put it this way: Anyone in the game with a 401(k) (a retirement savings account) has a choice. They can choose a fund manager who manages their retirement by gut instinct, or one who chooses by research and analysis. I know which way I'd choose.

”

Illustrating this example, Beane began concentrating on high-school players (a group he once largely ignored) in the MLB draft, considering them to be heavily undervalued. He and other like-minded GMs also changed their draft strategies to focus more on defensive skills, which had become undervalued in the years immediately after the Moneyball revolution. This new emphasis on defense was displayed in 2010; although the Athletics finished at .500 and again missed the playoffs, they led MLB in defensive efficiency (percentage of balls put into play by opponents that resulted in outs) and allowed the fewest runs in the AL.

In February 2012, the Athletics extended Beane's contract through 2019.

Activities outside baseball

Beane attended the University of California, San Diego during the baseball offseasons of his playing career.^{[citation needed]}

On January 4, 2007, the software company NetSuite named Beane to its board of directors. NetSuite co-founder Evan Goldberg cited Beane's ability to combine facts with instinct as an important factor in the decision to involve him in the company. Beane also served as a consultant for, and also appears in, the video game MLB Front Office Manager.

When the A's ownership group agreed to purchase the reincarnation of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, Beane, who is an avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League, began developing a system for objectively analyzing soccer players. He has agreed to help the Earthquakes front office develop a method for building a cost-effective team, as the salary cap in MLS is even more restrictive than the A's small-market status in Major League Baseball.

Beane has been married twice; he has a daughter from his first marriage and twins from his current marriage. He was played by Brad Pitt in the 2011 film Moneyball, based on the book of the same name.

Awards and honors

In December 2009, Sports Illustrated named Beane as number 10 on its list of the Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade in all sports.

References

Notes

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)