"With a new afterword"--Cover

The curse of talent -- How to find a ballplayer -- The enlightenment -- Field of ignorance -- The Jeremy Brown blue plate special -- The science of winning an unfair game -- Giambi's hole -- Scott Hatteberg, pickin' machine -- The trading desk -- Anatomy of an undervalued pitcher -- The human element -- The speed of the idea -- The Badger -- Inside baseball's religious war

This book explains how Billy Beene, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is using a new kind of thinking to build a successful and winning baseball team without spending enormous sums of money. The author examines the fallacy behind the major league baseball refrain that the team with the biggest wallet is supposed to win. Over the past four years the Oakland Athletics, a major league team with a minor league payroll, have had one of the best records in the country. General Manager Billy Beene is putting into practice on the field revolutionary principles to build his team that have been concocted by geek statisticians and college professors, rather than using the old scouting technique called "gut instinct." The author takes us behind the scenes with the Oakland A's, into the dugouts, and into the conference rooms where the annual Major League draft is held by conference call, and rumor mongering is par for the course as each team jockeys for position for their favored player

Includes index