Is Moneyball a Myth? Perceived Advantages to Sabermetrics vs Reality

Abstract

Moneyball (2003) exposed readers to the use of advanced statistics, or Sabermetrics, in baseball and how it improved the ‘bang for the buck’ in selecting baseball players. It also offered the seductive idea that quantitative geeks could beat jocks in baseball personnel decisions. The main research question that I address is whether, as the book claims, Sabermetrics has indeed provided an advantage to general managers and teams using Moneyball thinking, or is it just a myth? Furthermore, if Moneyball was effective at one point of time has outing the ideas of Sabermetrics has fundamentally altered other teams’ decision making process and made the Moneyball effect go away?