In 2004, Michael Lewis wrote a fascinating book called Money Ball – which went on to become a major Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt. The book tells the tale of Billy Bean, the manager of US Major League Baseball team the Oakland A’s and how he managed to take a team with one of the lowest budgets in the league to the play-offs – on multiple occasions! How did he do it? Well, conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success… but without the financial firepower to…
