The movie premiere was a lot of fun and a big boost for Oakland, especially with Brad Pitt showing up at the Paramount. But as Robert Gammon at East Bay Express points out, there’s of course a compelling argument that Michael Lewis’ best-selling book on which the movie was based probably helped do-in the A’s. It’s a case that sportswriter Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated makes, positing that Billy Beane’s sharing his secrets with Lewis for the book has made the A’s increasingly less competitive. Writes Gammon:
Now, years later, up to twenty other teams have taken Moneyball to heart and are copying Beane’s basic approach for how to build a winner. And because many of those other ballclubs have more money to spend on the players that Beane covets, the A’s — starved for revenues in an outdated stadium — can no longer compete for those players. Not surprisingly, the A’s have been a losing team for the past several years.
