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Photo courtesy of The Athletic
Amidst the gradual spread of sabermetrics across MLB, the Oakland Athletics (A's) were among the first to adopt it fully.
“We were using data as our primary driver… we weighted data more heavily than we did subjective scouting opinions.”
Billy Beane, former general manager of the Oakland Athletics that led the Moneyball era, student conducted interview
Due to ownership changes and budget cuts in the 1995 season, the A's became one of the lowest budget teams in the MLB. The A's were desperate to find effective tactics to outpace their wealthier competition.
$52,189,370 vs. $19,404,500
MLB team payrolls, 1996, Baseball Cube
Big-market teams with financial advantages were able to buy the "best" players, while small-market teams struggled with budget constraints.
"As early as 1999, Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. ("Bud") Selig had taken to calling the Oakland A's success "an aberration," but that was less an explanation than an excuse not to grapple with the question: how'd they do it? What was their secret? How did the second poorest team in baseball, opposing ever greater mountains of cash, stand even the faintest chance of success, much less the ability to win more regular season games than all but one of the other twenty-nine teams?"
Moneyball, Michael Lewis
Sandy Alderson, the general manager (GM) at the time, approached sabermetrics by hiring analytics consultant Eric Walker.
Sandy Alderson (left) and Eric Walker (right), 2011, Deadspin
Sandy [Alderson] was a lawyer with little or no baseball background when the Haas family (owners of the A's) made him the GM; naturally, he encountered a somewhat hostile staff, deeply suspicious of an "outsider" with no baseball background. Sandy felt he needed every available advantage, and when he came across my work he was prepared to deal with me when I approcahed him.
Eric Walker, analytics consultant of the Oakland Athletics during the 1996 season, student conducted interview
"While Beane is often credited as a pioneer in the sabermetric revolution, Alderson is the one who truly got that ball rolling in Oakland and mentored Beane in his ways."
Alex Hall, Athletics Nation
The A's 1996 season provided an opportunity for sabermetrics to prove its value compared to old-school methods.
"Also, at one time Sandy asked me to provide a more detailed analysis of the value of a particular player ... that the manager and coaches thought highly of but whom Sandy thought--correctly--was actually a severe drag. It was his intention to use some of that information as cause for getting rid of the man."
Eric Walker, analytics consultant of the Oakland Athletics during the 1996 season, student conducted interview
Despite Alderson's revolutionary tactics, payroll differences persisted, keeping the A's financially disadvantaged compared to other teams.
$70,408,134 vs. $20,063,000
MLB team payrolls, 1998, Baseball Cube