Billy Beane
Billy Beane
William Lamar "Billy" Beane IIIis an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. Prior to his front office career, he played in MLB as an outfielder between 1984 and 1989 for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. He joined the Athletics front office as a scout in 1990. He was named general...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth29 March 1962
CityOrlando, FL
CountryUnited States of America
Even at this time his career, people stop to watch him come to the plate. I know I have.
Why do people care about anything we do? We play in a crappy stadium, in a market that we share with another team, with one of the lowest payrolls in the game. Really, I'm not that interesting.
When I first came into baseball, people didn't want to hear that a team was a business. But it is. And the better the business is run, the healthier the team on the field is going to be.
The idea that you can create a template that will work forever doesn't happen in any business. There's some really, really bright people in this business. You can't do the same thing the same way and be successful for a long period of time.
I don't want a lot of guys like me who played the game. Quite frankly, I want blank canvases; I want people to come in with new ideas. I don't want the biases of their own experiences to be a part of their decision-making process.
I'm sure we'll have some sort of conversation. That's going to be a challenge, even if we start negotiations. He's a talented guy who is going to command a lot.
I know we didn't get to see the real Dan Meyer. He says he feels great now, and he could be a real shot in the arm for us.
It's something you have to consider, no question. And that's out of respect for the guys already here.
It's something we didn't know about, but he came forward with the information, so I commend him for that.
It was Ken, ... He called. I think it was probably not an easy phone call for him to make.
There was a real sense of determination in talking to him. You could get carried away with superlatives with Frank Thomas. Arguably, he is one of the greatest offensive players of his generation.
It's not always possible in our situation to get your perfect guy. As always we're going to make any improvements we can, whatever it is. If Sandy Koufax wanted to come to pitch for us, I don't think I'd say, 'No Sandy, we need a right-handed bat, you'll have to come back later.' It's just the nature of our situation.
Is this the best way you can play this?
It's a necessity. We've got to get it done. It's not something that's going to solve itself.