“Allegory of the Cave” v.s. “Moneyball”
Jesse Sacks-Hoppenfeld
Plato’s, “Allegory of the Cave,” illustrates the movement of individuals through the “divided line,” from the visible to the intellectual world, depicting the effects of education on mankind. This allegory questions the results of people embracing philosophy, and becoming enlightened.
Plato writes of people who are bound in a cave since birth and are only able to watch the shadows cast on the cave wall in front of them by people manipulating statues in front of a fire. In the allegory the people, common citizens, come to accept the shadows as reality, as they are the only images that they ever see. The fire and statues are eventually revealed to the prisoners, which can cause varying results: denial of reality, or acceptance of a “truer” reality. Prisoners are later taken out of the cave where a similar internal conflict occurs. Finally the commoners look to the sky, understand that the sun is the cause of everything and become enlightened, marking the transformation into a philosopher king.
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While reading this excerpt from Plato’s, “Republic,” I drew several parallels to Michael Lewis’, “Moneyball,” and the enlightenment that is saber metrics. “Moneyball,” speaks to the “Art of Winning an Unfair Game;” depicting how the Oakland A’s tried to find athletes with undervalued skills, in order to acquire them for less than they were truly worth, exploiting the inefficiencies of the MLB market. Lewis writes of the “old,” subjective mindset of baseball scouting departments that placed extreme emphasis on a prospective player’s appearance; his height, weight, and how he physically looked in a baseball uniform; as well as the traditional five tools (running speed, arm strength, hitting for average, for power, and fielding ability.) Through statistical analysis the Oakland A’s, led by their maverick general manager, Billy Beane, determined that statistics such as on-base percentage, and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive proficiency, and less expensive to come by in comparison to the over valued skill sets including speed, contact, and power.
In this analogy the front offices of the Major League Baseball teams would be the citizens bound in a cave, prospective athletes would be the characters casting shadows onto the cave wall, and the use of saber metrics, statistical analysis of players, would be the sun which enlightens the populous. Moreover raising the question, “what would happen if the baseball world embraced Moneyball, and found profound success?”
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Much like in the “Allegory of the Cave,” where many people are frightened by their new understanding of life, and want to return to the cave, the majority of front offices in baseball, and even his subordinates within the A’s organization, greeted Billy Beane’s statistical analysis of baseball with disdain, and ostracism. Such conflicting viewpoints regarding the scouting department of the Oakland A’s were illustrated through the 2001 and 2002 MLB drafts. In 2001 the A’s drafted the antithesis to Beane’s Moneyball experiment, by picking Jeremy Bonderman: a high school pitcher with all the traditional tools. (Beane has been known to avoid drafting high school pitchers as the chances of them panning out are very slim in comparison to more developed collegiate athletes. In addition, Beane’s experience as the “next-great” Major League baseball player out of high school who never reached his potential has been influential in his avoiding of such young athletes.) In contrast, in the 2002 MLB amateur player draft, the A’s made groundbreaking decisions in the implementation of the use of Beans’s innovative statistical analysis in their draft. This change in draft strategy is well known for the drafting of Jeremy Brown in the first round. Jeremy Brown, a 5 foot 10, 226 pound catcher has come to personify the contrast between the old-school baseball perspective and the “new-school” saber metrics idea. The A’s scouts in the draft room were quoted as joking around about Brown’s thicker body type, while Paul DePodesta, the Assistant General Manager and the current Vice President Of Player Development And Scouting for the New York Mets, and Billy Beane were more concerned with Brown’s incredible knack for getting on base.
To make a long story short, in 2002 the Oakland A’s won 103 games and the American League West after losing arguably their three best players to free agency: the AL MVP Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen. They won an incredible 20 consecutive games in August and September leading to their playoff birth, before losing to the Twins in the Divisional Round. Plus they did all of this with a payroll of a mere $41 million. The Yankees in comparison spent over $125 million that season. (The Yankees signed Giambi to a 7 year $120 million contract prior to the 2002 season.)
(Scene from the Moneyball movie, directed by Bennett Miller, starring Brad Pitt, and Jonah Hill)
(Scott Hatteberg’s pinch hit, walk off homerun, to win the A’s 20th straight game. This is a video with both clips from the Moneyball movie and actual game footage.)
In connecting the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s, and the “Moneyball,” idea of how to run an organization back to the “Allegory of the Cave,” you could say that modern day general managers would come to understand that their previous existence, their past understanding of baseball, was false, and they would come to understand that their lives, their perception of what makes a successful team, had been one of deception (deceived by the traditional five tools). A few will embrace the “sun”, the statistical analysis of baseball, and have a far better understanding of baseball and far more success. And many organizations have embraced saber metrics, becoming “philosopher kings.” The New York Mets, Yankees, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Cleveland Indians have all publicly adopted the “Moneyball” strategy. (At this point every team utilizes statistical analysis in their player development, however some teams are more public about their tendencies and place more emphasis on saber metrics.)
Bill James, the founder of saber metrics, John Henry, the owner of the Red Sox, and Theo Epstein, the at the time incredibly young “Moneyball Guru” General Manager, helped end the 86 year “Curse of the Bambino,” when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, and again in 2007. They truly embraced the sun in the form of saber metrics, and became enlightened, found tremendous success.
Sources:
Lewis, Michael. Moneyball. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.
I have never seen "Moneyball," but you do a nice job explaining it. I am not sure if I would have drawn the same connection as you though. In some aspects I can see where you are coming from with the wanted players controlling the sport because of popular demand. I don't believe that the players would be puppeteers in this case, however. The front offices were not restricted to those players and could have sought out others. There was no real search of truth in this analogy and that is where I think it is lacking.
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