In his book Moneyball, Michael Lewis tells the story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, and how he built a winning team by throwing out "conventional wisdom" and evaluating players according to standards considered foolish by generations of baseball executives. Drawing upon the research of Bill James and the practice of his predecessor Sandy Alderson, Beane has no interest in a player's batting average; he considers a batter's on-base percentage a much better indicator of his value. Amazingly, Beane believes the single most important offensive statistic is how many times a batter is walked.
At first glance this seems to defy baseball logic. A batter doesn't even get credit for an at-bat in which he draws a walk--statistically it is considered a non-contribution. (Hence it doesn't even show up in a batting average.) A walk is considered a pitcher's mistake, not the result of a batter's skill. (Early box scores even designated walks as an error on the pitcher.) "Conventional wisdom" says that players are paid to swing the bat, not stand there watching pitches sail by.
That's what the "baseball world" would have us believe. Billy Beane believes differently, and his way of thinking makes sense. The point of an offense is to score runs. To score runs a batter needs to get on base, To get on base a batter needs to develop a keen eye that can discern pitches in the strike zone from pitches outside the strike zone. To develop this discerning eye, a batter needs to see a lot of pitches. To see a lot of pitches, a batter needs to take a lot of pitches. The more pitches a batter sees, the more discerning his eye becomes. The more discerning a batter's eye, the more likelihood he will turn good pitches into base hits, and reach base on a walk by recognizing when a pitch is outside the strike zone.
The only way all of this will happen is if a batter learns to discipline himself and take more pitches. This way the batter, not the pitcher, takes control of the strike zone, and a walk becomes the batter's accomplishment more than the pitcher's mistake. (Not to mention the more pitches you can force a pitcher to throw, the sooner you will wear him out.)
That is why for years in the Oakland A's organization, minor league batters have been expected to get at least one walk in every ten at-bats, and Alderson and Beane have watched each of their minor league team's walk totals, leaning on mangers whose teams are not walking enough.
Following Jesus Christ is very much like this--accepting Jesus' wisdom which often seems to contradict the "wisdom" of the world. But the results are indisputable--and if you think about Jesus' teachings long enough, they just make sense!
As we approach a new year, may we all resolve to live by Jesus' wisdom--not what the world presents as wise.
Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
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