Moneyball

I have taken the last few weeks to re-read one of my favorite sports books of all-time, “Moneyball”.

Now, the subject matter of the book itself is not entirely the purvey of a blog like this.

It follows the Oakland Athletics baseball team of the early part of this decade in its quest to be more efficient by preying on less-utilized statistics and theories than other MLB teams.

It is a revealing look into the intricacies of the front office and the subcultures in baseball.

Now here’s the rub.

This book is not written by a sports journalist!

That’s right, it’s possible to have an “insider” story come complete with editorializing without a sports journalist at the helm, damaging their own objectivity.

I bring this point up because I have heard the argument that if not journalists, who can write sports books that are entertaining and from an insiders’ perspective.

This is clearly inaccurate, as Michael Lewis does a phenomenal job in “Moneyball” and also in “The Blindside”, both done from the perspective of someone outside the industry.

I’m not cold-blooded, and I know that sports journalists are people that once had their own rooting interests. If they want to write a book, that’s okay with me.

I just wanted to point out that they are not the only professionals that can think to write a compelling read on the matter.