From BusinessWeek, Freakonomics vs Moneyball:
Freakonomics author Steven Levitt has repeatedly criticized Moneyball, Michael Lewis's 2003 best-seller that says the Oakland A's used statistical analysis to win games with moderately paid players. Lewis argued that the A's won on the cheap in part by telling batters to draw walks by being patient at the plate. Levitt countered that the team's powerful pitching was the key to its wins.
Last year, Levitt rejected an academic study that endorsed the book's findings, saying it didn't prove its point persuasively enough to be published in the University of Chicago's prestigious Journal of Political Economy, of which he is co-editor. ("We reject 94% of the papers that are submitted," Levitt notes.) Authors Raymond Sauer of Clemson University and Jahn Hakes of Albion College managed to get the paper into the latest issue of the not-quite-so-serious Journal of Economic Perspectives. Sauer isn't troubled by Levitt's rejection. "He had very insightful comments," he says. "It was a cordial exchange." And it's one that may continue: So far this season, the A's have the fifth-best record in baseball -- with both a middle-of-the-road payroll and some fine pitching.
Comments