Anyone who has read Michael Lewis' seminal book Moneyball knows of the saga of Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg was a discarded catcher, a player whose talents were underrated -- and then totally written off -- after Hatteberg suffered a serious arm injury. But thanks to his clinical approach at the plate, Hatteberg rescued his career at first base for the Athletics, who under GM Billy Beane have made a cottage industry out of finding overlooked talent. According to this story in the Cincinatti Post, Hatteberg realizes just how lucky he was to find Beane, or more accurately, to have Beane find him:
"I could be working at a Blockbuster somewhere," said Hatteberg, who played with the A's from 2002-05.Moneyball is a fantastic book, and Hatteberg's story makes for one of the most interesting in the work. But it does include plenty of embarrassing detail about Hatteberg's climb back into the game ... and Adam Dunn is being sort of a jerk about it:
That's when he was approached by Beane, who wanted to turn him into a first baseman."It was his idea," Hatteberg said of the move to first. "He sold me on a bunch of at-bats and I couldn't ask for more than the opportunity and then I had to learn a whole new position."
Hatteberg said teammate Adam Dunn even bought the book just so he could read that chapter and make fun of him."I liked the part about his wife hitting him fungoes," Dunn said. "That's the only good part about that book."
(HT: BBTF)
