Billy Beane - Activities Outside Baseball

Activities Outside Baseball

Twice married, Beane has a daughter from his first marriage and twins from his current marriage. He attended the University of California, San Diego during the baseball offseasons of his playing career.

On January 4, 2007, the software company NetSuite named Beane to its board of directors. NetSuite co-founder Evan Goldberg cited Beane's ability to combine facts with instinct as an important factor in the decision to involve him in the company. Beane also served as a consultant for, and also appears in, the video game MLB Front Office Manager.

When the Athletics ownership group agreed to purchase the reincarnation of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, Beane, who has expressed a passion for soccer, began developing a system for objectively analyzing soccer players. He has agreed to help the Earthquakes front office develop a method for building a cost-effective team, as the salary cap in MLS is even more restrictive than the Athletics' status as a small-market team in Major League Baseball.

He has most recently claimed that Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, is a personal idol. His friendship with Damien Comolli and Arsenal owner, Stan Kroenke, allowed him to delve deep into the world of English football. He has also claimed to be a "closeted Arsenal fan".

Due to his team's success despite its low payroll, Beane was the subject of author Michael Lewis's 2003 best-selling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book discusses Beane's methods as the GM of the Athletics and how he, along with Harvard-educated statistician Paul DePodesta, used sabermetric principles to run his team in a cost-effective way. According to the book, this allowed him to be successful despite his financial constraints. The book and Beane's methods have influenced the way many think about the game of baseball, including other teams and even players. He was played by Brad Pitt in the 2011 film Moneyball, based on the book of the same name. Pitt was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Beane.