ECONOMICS IN BASEBALL
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A Swing and a Miss for Beane
Some wonder why their hometown team can't make the playoffs, even though they have spent so much money, and how dirt-poor teams are going so deep into the playoffs in various professional sports. The New York rangers currently have the highest payroll in the NHL at 74 million dollars and nothing to show for it . They finished the most recent season in second last place in their conference and haven't seen the post season for seven years. This type of inexcusable event occurs in a much higher amplification in the sport of professional baseball, where money-giants such as the New York Yankees have been the strongest sports dynasty in the world.
The game is becoming less about the idea of a team and sportsmanship, and more about the big name players and those big bucks they demand. One wonders how a relatively poor franchise can even compete these days, but they seem to find a way. Take a look at the Anaheim Angels, whose payroll was only 63 million when they won the World Series two years ago, or the Florida Marlins who ousted the boys in pinstripe last year with a payroll of about 50 million dollars . Probably the most consistent small-market team over the past few years has been the Oakland Athletics led by their ever-so-famous general manager Billy Bean and his unorthodox attitude towards success in baseball.
Bean's story and his ideas about the game have been well chronicled by Michael Lewis in his book, Moneyball. Over the past couple of years this book has arguably become the most popular piece of baseball literature to grace the earth...