June 15, 2007

"Billy Beane Wrote Moneyball"

Joe Morgan proudly refuses to even crack the spine of one of the most famous and influential baseball books of the last 30 years -- though his ignorance doesn't stop him from criticizing it -- so I'm not surprised he has no clue who the author is.

But what excuse do the writers and editors at a national wire service have? As seen in Thursday's Toronto Star:
How annoyed do you think Michael Lewis gets when/if he sees stuff like this?

8 comments:

Mike said...

That's hilarious!

Hawkeye Fierce said...

Not the first time I've seen that particular mistake, either. How does this stuff make it past the fact checkers?

laura k said...

Man, I don't think it's hilarious, or even amusing. If I were Michael Lewis, I'd be pissed off as hell.

If AP can't get even basic facts correct, how can we trust anything in the mainstream news?

(Answer: we can't.)

Unknown said...

He talked about this in the book as well

Lincoln Minor said...

They corrected the error.

"Beane was the subject of the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which focused on his innovative approach developing talent from the farm system as well as unique methods of scouting and player evaluation."

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/225305

laura k said...

He talked about this in the book as well

About people thinking Billy Beane wrote the book? I must not be getting something here.

Jeff said...

"He talked about this in the book as well"

In the paperback edition, Lewis added an "Afterword" in which he talked about the reaction to the book. He quotes a number of people who somehow got the impression that Beane wrote the book.

"...but he's [Beane] also a shameless self-promoter who wrote a book about his imagined genius.."
-Doug Krikorian: Long Beach Press Telegram

And the famous Jow MOrgan (the dumbest broadcaster in sports?):
"I wouldn't be Billy Beane first of all! I wouldn't write the book Moneyball!"

laura k said...

"In the paperback edition, Lewis added an "Afterword" in which he talked about the reaction to the book."

Oh, of course. Thanks for that.