Sports at Lunch, Billy Beane
- 06-28-2006
- By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions
First of all, Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane wanted to talk San Diego sports. The Mt. Carmel High alumnus was happy to be home for the A's-Padres three-game series at Petco Park when he appeared on June 28 at Sports at Lunch on Center Court at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park.
The guests, for the most part, came to hear Beane, the inspiration behind the Michael Lewis' best-selling book "Moneyball," talk baseball and the economics of the game. Beane would get to that, but first he wanted to be the old San Diego sports fan he says he remains to this day even while making his home in the Bay Area.
"It's the greatest thing when you come back home," Beane said. "I've got friends I played Little League with and went to junior high and high school with. They're people who have sons and daughters 6 or 7 years old. I was watching USC football games, and I saw Reggie Bush with "619" on his face. It was no mystery to me. I know what it represented. I heard players in our clubhouse say, 'What's that mean?' It was so obvious to me. That's a sign of the fraternity that the city has always had among its athletes."
Beane, who played six major league seasons, is now in his ninth season as the A's general manager. His teams have posted seven straight winning seasons and compiled the third best overal record in the American League and fifth best in baseball over the past eight years. The A's have won three American League West titles (2000, 2002, 2003) and one wild-card playoff berth (2001).
He was named Executive of the Year by "The Sporting News" in 1999 and by "Baseball America" in 2002.
Beane also talked about the economics of baseball and discussed how Michael Lewis came to write the book "Moneyball." Beane laughed as he explained how granted Lewis access for a New York Times newspaper story that instead grew into a New York Times magazine story and finally instead became a book.
"When I first read the book, I was red as a beet and (former assistant) Paul DePodesta was white as a ghost," Beane said. "I looked at him and said, 'Am I that much of a maniac?' He looked at me and said, 'Am I that much of a geek?' "
The book explains how Beane and the A's he has built are able to compete in the baseball marketplace with fewer resources.
What else did Beane say? You should have been at Sports at Lunch.
Tom Shanahan can be contacted at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com.
