"Moneyball" Billy Beane
Billy Beane will deliver the keynote address at the MBA's 119th Annual Event, starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at the Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier. A former Major League Baseball player and executive, who later became the subject of the best-selling book “Moneyball,” Beane played a pivotal role in transforming the conventional wisdom of scouting and player evaluation. Unlike traditional baseball scouts who relied on subjective judgments and traditional metrics, Beane embraced a statistical approach to player evaluation known as sabermetrics. This revolutionary approach emphasized the analysis of on-base percentage and other advanced metrics to identify undervalued players in the market.
Beane grew up in Mayport, Florida, and San Diego, California, the child of a career military family. His father, a Naval Officer, taught him how to pitch. Beane attended Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, where he excelled at baseball, football, and basketball. The high school coach added Beane to the varsity baseball team for the last game of his freshman season. Beane batted .501 during his sophomore and junior years of high school. In his senior season, his batting average dropped to .300. Despite the decrease in batting average, scouts were enamored with Beane's talent. Beane gave up football to avoid an injury that could prematurely end his baseball career. Despite this, Stanford University tried to recruit Beane on a joint baseball–football scholarship as the quarterback who would succeed then-sophomore John Elway for the Stanford Cardinal football team.
Author Michael Lewis made Beane the subject of his 2003 best-selling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book explores Beane's methods as the GM of the Athletics and how he, along with Paul DePodesta, used sabermetric principles to field a winning team despite an exceptionally low payroll. The book and Beane's methods have influenced the way many teams and players think about the game of baseball. The book was made into the 2011 film "Moneyball," in which Beane was portrayed by Brad Pitt. Pitt's performance in the film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Keynote Speech: Lessons for Life and Business: How Careful Analytics and Strategic Use of Assets Can Give Companies an Edge.
With great insight and signature wit, Beane conveys his innovative, winning style of management and leadership, which involves identifying undervalued assets to create and sustain a competitive advantage. By striking parallels between baseball and business, He inspires audiences across industries with his unforgettable winning underdog story.
Annual Event Tables:
Table of 10: $2,500
For table reservations, contact Melissa at 814/833-3200, 800/815-2660 or mlesniewski@mbausa.org.
