The Futility Infielder

This spring's hottest baseball book is Michael Lewis' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Lewis, author of the bestseller Liar's Poker, chronicles Oakland A's GM Billy Beane and the unconventional inner workings of the A's front office. Lengthy excerpts in the New York Times Magazine and the current (May 12) issue of Sports Illustrated have generated some serious buzz among baseball fans, especially the statheads, not to mention lots of controversy within the game. Advance press has focused on Beane's less-than-flattering opinions of former manager Art Howe and rival GMs Kenny Williams (White Sox) and Steve Phillips (Mets), among others.

I've been itching to get my hands on a copy of the book, so after two fruitless trips to the local megastore, I just ordered my own copy online. I'm going to hold off on delving too deeply here until I've actually read more of the book, but I do think it's one that will have a huge impact inside the game.

With Beane in the spotlight, this piece from the zine Chin Music was unearthed via Baseball Primer. It turns out Beane is quite the punk rock fan, so Chin Music arranged an interview between the A's GM and punk rock legend Johnny Ramone which took place last summer. Beane was positively gushing upon meeting Ramone:

BB: Johnny, they might have given you a heads up that I might turn into a crazy fan here and just gush for a few minutes. But I went out and got the "Rocket To Russia" 8-track when I was 16. And I got into the Ramones, the Dead Boys and everybody else for the same reason that you started playing it. I got so sick of hearing "Kashmir" and "Roundabout" by Yes and all these synthesizers on the radio. So when I first heard you I went, "Oh my God!" It was like I was enlightened! So I said, "Johnny's just gonna have to put up with me for a few minutes because I'm gonna turn into like some crazy Trekkie guy here."

Elsewhere Beane reveals that he paid a visit to CBGB's during the A's-Yankees Division Series in 2001(posing for a photo in front of the venerable club while wearing a suit and tie) and that he's been turning some of his players onto the old school via books such as Legs McNeil's classic oral history of punk, Please Kill Me! It's not every day you find a GM conversant in the music of the New York Dolls, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols, but that's just one more way Billy Beane is breaking the mold.