moneyball

n. a derisive name for a sport (especially baseball) in which skill and fans seem secondary to money, esp. a sport in which teams, hoping to secure winning seasons and the resulting broadcasting and merchandising incomes, negotiate expensive contracts with desirable players. Also money ball. Subjects: English, United States, Baseball, Money & Finance, Sports & Recreation

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Citations: 1977 Gerald Strine Washington Post (Apr. 12) “It’s a Bullish NBA Playoff; Blanks Seen for Bullets” p. D4: It reamins to be seen whether coach Dick Motta, having put together a stronger bench, can get consistently superior efforts from Elvin Hayes and Phil Chenier now that the name of the game is Money Ball. 1978 Allen Abel @ New York City Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) (Oct. 9) “Pride + tradition” p. S3: “I didn’t think we’d catch Boston. I knew we’d make a run at them, but the distance was too great. I didn’t think we could win it. Ahh, but they’re just money ball players.” George [Steinbrenner] ought to know. He’s paying them. 1993 Michael Farber Gazette (Montreal, Can.) (Apr. 3) “Pools reflect our lost innocence” p. D1: While you were still rooting for your team for no reason more profound than it was your team, they changed the rules on you. The Dodgers and Giants split for the Coast, sharpies like George Steinbrenner bought into the game, the players earned free agency, the World Series became a seven-night affair because that’s what was best for television sponsors. Baseball became moneyball, and it made perfect sense for fans to get cut into the game. 2004 Bradford Doolittle Kansas City Star (Kan., Mo.) (July 6) “Moneyball’s true gist is often overlooked”: The word, moneyball, has pried its way into the baseball lexicon. There are moneyball players and moneyball teams. As with any kind of contrived language, the use of the term carries with it the stigma of stereotype, which, like all stereotypes, is based on misinformation and ignorance.

Posted 7 Jul 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

With the January 2003 publication of Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, the word has additionally come to signify a strategy of baseball management, often linked to baseball statistician Bill James and researchers at the Society for American Baseball Research, of stressing traditionally underrated (and thus cheaper) qualities such as high on-base percentage while placing less emphasis on others like speed, runs batted in, or fielding prowess.

by mookieproof 08 Jul 04, 1245 GMT

Lewis defines “moneyball” as you explain it, but it is not a definition that exists outside of Lewis’ book or discussions related to it. I’ll keep an eye out to see if his new definition for the term will catch on in the wild, but so far, it hasn’t. (I say this as a member of SABR myself.) The last cite above is a discussion of the book, by the way.

by Grant Barrett 08 Jul 04, 1255 GMT