Book Review: Moneyball as Sport Finance in Action: But are the Lessons from Baseball More Generally Applicable?

Moneyball (Lewis, 2003) is a book about baseball. The book describes how a small-market Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, has been able to compete with large-market teams by being innovative in a tradition-laden industry. However, when read through a business management lens, one discerns that this baseball book, in fact, has general management lessons in a variety of areas including leadership, innovation, overcoming resistance to change, and creating a sustainable competitive advantage. In this article, we outline and illustrate the valuable lessons for business that emerge from the Moneyball story. More specifically, we provide a brief overview of the book; summarize arguments for applying Moneyball ideas to management as presented in the popular media as well as in academia; determine the underlying management themes contained in the Moneyball story; and propose Moneyball lessons for managers.