Billy Beane

[Brock Beauchamp]

Billy Beane was born in Orlando, Florida and was drafted first overall by the New York Mets in the 1980 MLB Draft. He flourished in the Mets system, culminating in his posting an .842 OPS in AA Jackson in 1984, followed by an .821 OPS in AAA Tidewater in 1985.

After brief appearances with the Mets in 1984 and 1985, in January of 1986 he was traded to the Twins (along with Bill Latham and Joe Klink), with Pat Crosby and Tim Teufel heading to New York in return.

Across 1986 and 1987, Beane received the bulk of his career MLB plate appearances with the Twins, accumulating 209 total PAs. He posted an underwhelming .561 OPS (52 OPS+). 

Before the 1988 season, Beane was offloaded to the Detroit Tigers for Balvino Galvez.

Beane was a free agent following the 1988 season and signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics, where he ended his MLB career after the 1989 season.

Beane has been quite open in discussing his status as a first-overall draft pick, ensuing struggles, and how it opened him up to the idea of evaluating baseball differently on his path to a wildly successful career in the Oakland Athletics front office.

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[dxpavelka]

One of my favorite memories is the KQRS Morning Show discussing the 1986 AL Rookie of the Year race between Wally Joyner and Jose Canseco and Tom Bernard in the background mumbling "Billy Beane, Billy Beane"

[nicksaviking]

I just remember my mom giggling uncontrollably at his name, she thought he sounded like a cartoon character.

I had my parents watch Moneyball decades later and she said, "It was THAT guy?!?!?"

[Doctor Wu]

Of course most people know about Beane from his tenure in the A's front office, and because of "Moneyball." but he really WAS the hot prospect back in the day. But that just shows: you never can tell how a player will do in MLB. One thing I learned from this post that surprised me:  Beane was born in Orlando, Florida. Wow ... so was I!