MONEY BALL EXTRA CREDIT


Billy Beane uses on base percentage as his statistical analysis to build his team. While this statistic is very useful for a team like the Oakland A's, who do not have a lot of money to spend, it is not very practical. In my opinion while the movie does make sense I think this is an isolated incident. The Oakland A's did not do very well the following year which leads me to believe it was a one time thing. My reasoning behind this is that baseball is not completely random. This theory violates the classical linear regression because baseball is not random. There is skill behind all of the statistics assumed in the movie.

My main argument for this movie is that for one year it worked. No other team, even after people began using Beane's theory of OBS has ever been able to perform like the A's that year. In our regressions we assume everything is random. In baseball skill makes these variables not random. While OBP is a good indication for batters we also have to look at pitchers. A team will never be able to acquire an extremely good pitcher without giving the money necessary for their skill. Also when looking at OBP you are also evaluating walks. This in itself is very random. No one looks for walks but instead might have a "good eye". While my argument that skill effects the randomness of baseball I do believe Beane developed a very useful measurement. The only problem is that every team began to use the same technique.