Moneyball 2.0

Ben Reiter is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and the author of Astroball: The New Way to Win It All. He joined SI in 2004 a few years out of college and has written for them ever since. In 2014 Ben wrote a cover story for SI entitled YOUR 2017 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS featuring the then sorry Astros who were the laughingstock of baseball at the time. Three years later, his prediction came true. His book chronicling the journey has been dubbed Moneyball 2.0.

Our conversation blew me away in how closely the parallels have been between baseball management and fundamental investing over the last 15 years. From the incorporation of data to the challenges in managing people, I suspect if you just change the names of the players and the labels for the process, this could be a full-blown conversation about investing. Baseball may even be ahead of the data revolution in investing, and the story of the Astros could hint at lessons that money managers will need to apply going forward.