So after writing a multi-post blog series called “Stats Lie” and seeing the movie Moneyball and posting my reflections on that, I was encouraged by a friend that it would be worth it for me to actually read the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis because there was a lot more there. I’m glad I read it because this kind of book really is in my wheelhouse for the issues and dynamics it covers and I couldn’t read it fast enough.
I stayed away for years from the book because I thought it was just a book on statistics and was primarily number driven. But it really is a book about leading change, battling and overcoming the forces of resistance, thinking creatively in innovation and taking responsibility for limitations without succumbing to a victim mentality. It’s about a relentless pursuit into statistics and knowledge in a quest for something higher than measurements: meaning.
This book has a couple examples where the title of this whole series is explicitly used – proving I’m not very original and that even Kenny Smith of TNT (see post 1) was not very original in his use of the phrase which triggered this series.
Here’s one by the author in response to Bill James’s work on defensive statistics and the widespread problem in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and later in regards to the inefficient use of metrics within baseball (which reflect what I address in post #7):
“The statistics were not merely inadequate; they lied.” (Kindle, loc 1196)
Here’s another quote from two of the “sabermetric” pioneers,
“Ken Mauriello and Jack Armbruster had been part of that generation. Ken analyzed the value of derivative securities, and Jack traded them, for one of the more profitable Chicago trading firms. Their firm priced financial risk as finely as it had ever been priced. “In the late 1980s Kenny started looking at taking the same approach to Major League baseball players,” said Armbruster. “Looking at the places where the stats don’t tell the whole truth—or even lie about the situation.” (Kindle, loc 2168-73)
So in addition to providing a good apologetic for the title of this blog series, it also speaks to what is at the heart of this whole discussion about metrics and measurements and moneyball. If there are accusations about stats lying, then it logically follows that the heart of the issue is about truth and trust. What viewpoints or perceptions of reality are telling the truth and what can be trusted to be a light to your path of decision making and direction?
The book (and the movie) Moneyball is about the quest for truth and meaning and about the vision, the determination, and resilience required to bust through the illusions offered by those defending the status quo and general culture. I loved this book far more than I thought I would, but it highlights dynamics and tensions experienced in so many places every day. I look forward to highlighting a couple other things from it in the coming days.
