Zach Corgiat-Raymond
Mr. Hertz
English 2
6 November 2012
Billy Beane
Who is Billy Beane a player, a scout, a general manager? Well Billy Beane was all three of those. He started out as a kid from a military family so he was moved from Hollywood Florida to San Diego California. He was great at football, basketball, and baseball at Mt. Carmel High School. During his sophomore and junior season he had a nice average of average .500, but he ended his senior season with an average of .300(Wikipedia). The major league scouts were astounded by his ability. So he gave up football to avoid injuries for baseball season. He was one of the best athletes of his time.
After his senior year in high school he was heavily recruited by the New York Mets franchise. He also had the decision of going to Stanford University on a joint football/baseball scholarship(Wikipedia). He would have replaced the once great John Elway. Instead of attending Stanford he went to play in MLB. The Mets picked him with the 23rd pick in the 1980 MLB draft(Wikipedia). The Mets took the risk on Billy Beane because they had two other first round picks.
After his senior year in high school he was heavily recruited by the New York Mets franchise. He also had the decision of going to Stanford University on a joint football/baseball scholarship(Wikipedia). He would have replaced the once great John Elway. Instead of attending Stanford he went to play in MLB. The Mets picked him with the 23rd pick in the 1980 MLB draft(Wikipedia). The Mets took the risk on Billy Beane because they had two other first round picks.
During his early playing days he was put on the class A team the Little Falls Mets to start his career. The Mets thought he would be better than their top first round pick Darryl Strawberry(Wikipedia). He struggled batting an average of .210. He couldn't make the adjustments needed to keep up with all the other players. Even though he struggled he was moved up to the advanced class A team the Lynchburg Mets in the Carolina league. After a good season in the advanced class A league he was moved up to the class AA league the Jackson Mets in the Texas league. Beane was struggling again with only an average of .220 while his teammate Darryl Strawberry got the Most Valuable Player of the league(Wikipedia).
Beane stayed on his class AA team until the year 1984. That year he made his first promotion to the MLB to play for the New York Mets. He played in five games of the 1984 season. He went back to AAA and played for the Tidewater Tides in the International League for most of the 1985 season. He had a batting average of .280 and lead the tides with 19 home runs and 77 runs batted in(Wikipedia). He did play in eight games for the Mets though.
Beane stayed on his class AA team until the year 1984. That year he made his first promotion to the MLB to play for the New York Mets. He played in five games of the 1984 season. He went back to AAA and played for the Tidewater Tides in the International League for most of the 1985 season. He had a batting average of .280 and lead the tides with 19 home runs and 77 runs batted in(Wikipedia). He did play in eight games for the Mets though.
In the 1986 season he got traded by the Mets to the Twins. He was supposed to start in left field for the Twins, but he had problems with injuries and ineffectiveness(Wikipedia). He did play in 80 for the Twins batting an average of .218. He played a little for the Toledo Mud hens the minor league team for the club. He was batting good in the minors so he was brought up for twelve games after the September 1 roster expansion.
During spring training of the 1988 season Beane was traded again to the tigers. He was on the opening day roster for the Tigers to fill in an injury. He didn't last long though after that he was optioned to the AAA team where he was at for most of the season(Wikipedia). His time in Detroit didn't last too long when he granted free agency.
Beane signed with the Oakland Athletics for the 1988 season. He played in 37 games batting an average of .241 in 79 at bats. He again though spending most of his season in the minor leagues. He resigned with the Athletics for the 1990 season, but he was sent to the minors after spring training(Wikipedia). This would be his last days of a player.
Billy Beane was sick of the lifestyle of a minor league baseball player. He went to the General Manager of the Athletics organization and requested a job as an advanced scout. He stuck with that job until the 1993 season when he was promoted to the Assistant General Manager where he scouted minor league players(Wikipedia). The Athletics went to three World Series’ in a row under the ownership of Walter Haas Jr. The Athletics had the highest payroll in MLB. Walter Haas Jr. died in 1995. The new owners were Stephen Schott and Ken Hoffman. They told the General Manager Sandy Alderson to slash payroll.
Alderson started to focus on the saber metric principles. Alderson taught Billy Beane to look at the players value that other teams did not see(Wikipedia). Beane took over Alderson’s position as General Manager on October 17 1997. He still uses Alderson’s methods in buying players. With these methods the Athletics could be unstoppable if they play their cards right.
Billy Beane was one of the greatest athletes of his time. Beane was traded by many teams and never really had the time to settle though because so much was expected of him. His loss was a gain for not only him but the entire league for what he accomplished. He never really prospered as a baseball player, but he turned into one of the best General Manager in MLB history.
Work Cited
"Billy Beane." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Beane>
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