Editorial Content for The Cardinals Way: How One Team Embraced Tradition and Moneyball at the Same Time

(Full disclosure: I’ve known Howard Megdal for several years, and I consider him a friend.)

Ever since Michael Lewis’ MONEYBALL blew onto the scene in 2003, there has been a boom in books that describe how other teams have embraced the business paradigm that relies increasingly on statistical and game analysis and less on what might be described as the human factor as emblemized by the image of the grizzled scout. In 2011, Jonah Keri published THE EXTRA 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First, and in 2015, Travis Sawchik delivered BIG DATA BASEBALL: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak. The former dealt with the relatively new Tampa Bay Rays, the latter focused on the Pittsburgh Pirates, a charter member of the National League.

"Megdal’s talents lie in his ability to get those men to open up, to freely discuss the failures as well as the successes, so the overall picture is more evenhanded than one might expect; this is neither a paean nor a hatchet job."

THE CARDINALS WAY describes a team that’s something of a hybrid. Like the Pirates, the Cardinals have been around since the 1880s. They have fielded some of the greatest teams in the sport, including the Depression-era Gashouse Gang and the progressive mid-1960s, which broke down racial barriers. The Cardinals also had the good sense to hire a young general manager by the name of Branch Rickey in 1919. Rickey has been credited with “inventing” the farm system, which used the minor leagues as a funnel for future big leaguers. Of course, he is also known as the man who signed Jackie Robinson, thereby breaking the “gentleman’s agreement” to keep African Americans out of organized baseball.

Howard Megdal --- whose previous books include THE BASEBALL TALMUD and TAKING THE FIELD: A Fan’s Quest to Run the Team He Loves (he also wrote WILPON’S FOLLY, released only as an eBook) --- goes deep behind the scenes to prove that the Cardinals moved forward to adopt some of those MONEYBALL methods, but maintained the principles that made the franchise so successful.

Baseball fans outside “Cardinals Nation” would be forgiven for not knowing the names of the principal characters of high-ranking front office personnel, who form a mutual admiration society. Perhaps a list of dramatis personae would have been useful. This is really “inside” baseball we’re talking about, more about player development and the minors than what goes on at the Major League level.

Megdal’s talents lie in his ability to get those men to open up, to freely discuss the failures as well as the successes, so the overall picture is more evenhanded than one might expect; this is neither a paean nor a hatchet job. He also employs some of the new-age statistics and industry jargon (OPS+, “performance metrics”) that might not resonate with some readers for whom such numbers are an added distraction. Again, a glossary of some of the key terms might have been beneficial. But those who are passionate about business and baseball will find an illuminating and educational resource in THE CARDINALS WAY.