IBA: Poole: Beane faces his toughest task yet at meetings

Poor Billy...“But nobody really believed him when he said he had that secret sound”

The conversation was with a veteran baseball major league executive who happened to be at the same out-of-state airport terminal. We made small talk, discussing trades, free agents, the team by which he is employed and, naturally, the future of both Bay Area teams.

Sure enough, though, he eventually asked the question on the minds of A’s fans as well as many others in the sport: What is Billy Genius going to do now?

The tone was mocking, the sarcasm evident.

For there is no small amount of contempt for Billy Beane after he parlayed the success achieved from his unconventional approach into a best-selling book. While the A’s general manager became a celebrity, some of his fellow GMs felt belittled. Thus, traditional baseball types are unsympathetic in the wake of Billy’s worst season as a star.