It's been more than ten years since the publication of "Moneyball," the best-selling book from Michael Lewis that chronicled the Oakland A's season of 2002. The subsequent theatrical release of "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt, earned six Academy Award nominations.
In short, Moneyball was a hit.
But the baseball landscape has changed significantly since the events of 2002. The gap between small-market teams like the A's and big-market teams like the Yankees has only grown. New stadiums, TV deals, and skyrocketing salaries have stacked the deck even further against the have-not's.
While the A's have toiled away in their outdated Coliseum in Oakland, new ballparks have sprung up in St. Louis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Miami, Washington DC, San Diego, Minneapolis, Queens, and the Bronx. Following in the footsteps of the Yankees, other sports franchises have cashed in on mammoth television rights contracts. In the AL West alone, the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers have landed deals totaling $6 billion. And teams have been using those billions of dollars earned in the turnstiles and cable boxes by lavishing hundreds of millions on free agents like Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, and C.C. Sabathia.
Other small market teams mimicked Billy Beane's "Moneyball" approach, finding undervalued assets and turning them into wins on the baseball field. The Tampa Bay Rays, for example, cobbled together a World Series team in 2009 with an emphasis on defense and speed on the basepaths, two largely ignored traits for baseball teams.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Billy Beane's cheeks would be flush red.
Ten years after writing his career-defining book, Michael Lewis has decided to revisit the A's (with the reluctant blessing of Beane) to pen a new book. But Lewis will not just be following the A's for one season like he did in 2002. This time, the author will be with the ballclub as it fights for a new stadium and TV deal in the Bay Area, and continues to buck the odds in a big market sports world. He will be with the A's as the erstwhile Beane contemplates his future as an overachieving general manager and a minority stakes holder in a moribund franchise. He will be with the A's every step of the way.
This is Moneyball II.