Reese Kaplan -- Enjoy Holiday Champagne to Toast a Former Met

Throughout the years the Mets have employed a great many ballplayers whose career once they exited the diamond have prospered better than they did when throwing, hitting or fielding the red stitched sphere used to play this game of baseball.

One such player who came to fame many years ago was Billy Beane, a struggling outfielder who spent parts of six seasons playing for five teams, none of whom cared to keep him around for more than his brief trial. His best season came in 1984 as a AA player for the Jackson affiliate when he batted .281 while slugging 20 home runs, driving in 72 and stealing 26 bases. That combination of power, speed and contact hitting suggested a bright future for the then 22 year old, but after promotions to the Mets twice in 1984 and 1985, the Twins in 1986 and 1987, the Tigers in 1988 and the A's in 1989, it became clear that he didn't have what it took to advance to the highest level of play. 

 His career as an athlete ended before age 27 with a career batting average across his six partial seasons of just .219.

Unhappy with his late 20s being spent shuttling between small towns on long bus rides, he approached his General Manager (none other than Sandy Alderson) to ask about terminating his playing career and becoming a part of the administrative side of the Oakland franchise. 

Alderson initially set him up to be an advance scout which would keep him directly around the game but no longer in a playing capacity. He did that from 1990 to 1993 when he was then promoted to the role of Assistant GM.

In his early years for the A's he was focused upon improving the minor league operations which coincided with the death of free spending owner Walter Haas, Jr. The new regime ordered Alderson to cut costs drastically and the club rapidly went from the highest payroll in the game to one which was more small market in magnitude. To cope with this new approach Sandy Alderson embraced what we now consider the new metrics and he taught Billy Beane to consider things like on-base percentage to identify valuable players whose contributions didn't stand out in the traditional back-of-the-baseball-card way.

When Beane became the full GM in 1997, his approach was ridiculed by a great many baseball professionals, but quickly that turned into wonder and even a little envy. 

 It didn't happen overnight as his club played to a 4th place finish in his first year in charge in 1998, but made it to second place in 1999. Starting in 2000, the A's went to four straight postseason appearances with a lot of players who were castoffs from other organizations due to the understanding and advocacy of stats other teams weren't valuing.

Now the whole Billy Beane story is not new to folks after the tremendous success first of the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis and then again 8 years later when it was converted into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill which dramatized what the A's did to become a winning franchise once again. 

The movie also starred the late Philip Seymour Hoffman playing a man whose name sticks in the craw of every Mets fan, Art Howe.

These days Billy Beane is still affiliated with the Oakland A's but now as the Executive VP of Baseball Operations and a part owner. That's not a bad career ascension for a guy who couldn't hit a lick when given the chance.