Thursday, 21 November 2024

Billy Beane

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Contributors 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Baseball Executive
Statistics: 3 The Sporting News Executive of the Year Awards (1999, 2012 & 2018)
Billy Beane's professional baseball career was a dud, as the highly touted player barely made a dent in the majors. As an executive with the Oakland Athletics, he was a part of a revolutionary way of thinking about statistics and value.

Beane was not the creator of sabermetrics, but he was the first to use its principles and build an affordable team that could compete with baseball's elite. Beane, the subject of the popular book "Moneyball," which became a film, was a three-time Executive of the Year, and Oakland made the playoff far more often than they should have with the payroll they had.

Beane might not have won a World Series, but he altered the way the other general managers thought, and his work forever changed the way we look at baseball players.

We are proud to nominate Billy Beane for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.