--- title: "8 Ball player Quotes By Michael Lewis" description: "8 Ball player quotes by Michael Lewis. Plus more from Michael Lewis and more Ball player sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png" --- > [“The great thing about baseball players, from the point of view of personal hygiene, is how seldom they break a sweat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-from-the-point-of-view-of/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png) > [There was but one question he left unasked, and it vibrated between his lines: if gross miscalculations of a person's value could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/there-was-but-one-question-he-left-unasked-and-it-vibrated-between/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c93/michael-lewis-705_audience_there-was-but-one-question-he-left-unask_41328.jpg) > [Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/some-coaches-believed-they-could-judge-a-player-s-performance-simply/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/379/michael-lewis-705_average_some-coaches-believed-they-could-judge-a_49161.jpg) > [“It was hard to know which of Billy's qualities was most important to his team's success: his energy, his resourcefulness, his intelligence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/it-was-hard-to-know-which-of-billy-s-qualities-was-most-important-to/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30e/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_it-was-hard-to-know-which-of-billy-s-qua_328548.png) > [“On its surface, the booming market in side bets on subprime mortgage bonds seemed to be the financial equivalent of fantasy football:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-side-bets-on-subprime-mortgage/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3a/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-sid_685448.png) > [“Years later he would say that when he'd decided to become a professional baseball player, it was the only time he'd done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d-decided-to-become-a/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d_889516.jpg) > [“if gross miscalculations of a person’s value could occur on a baseball field, before a live audience of thirty thousand, and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-value-could-occur-on-a/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-v_1943859.jpg) > [“What John Ayers was doing seemed routine. But to the few who knew, and watched, it was a thing of beauty. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine-but-to-the-few-who-knew-and/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1d/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine_2106867.jpg) ## Other authors on Ball player ## More by Michael Lewis > [“Crucial decisions are made, today as thousands of years ago, in terms of the intuitive guesses and preferences of a few men in positions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/crucial-decisions-are-made-today-as-thousands-of-years-ago-in-terms/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“You saw someone who reminded you of you, and then you looked for the reasons why you liked him. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/you-saw-someone-who-reminded-you-of-you-and-then-you-looked-for-the/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“At other places management says, ‘Well, gee, fellas, do we really want to bet the ranch on this deal?’ Lewie was not only willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/at-other-places-management-says-well-gee-fellas-do-we-really-want-to/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“BILLY WOULD SAY later that his wife left him because she was unnerved by his intensity—that she could even see it in his hands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/billy-would-say-later-that-his-wife-left-him-because-she-was-unnerved/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“The great thing about baseball players, from the point of view of personal hygiene, is how seldom they break a sweat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-from-the-point-of-view-of/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [There was but one question he left unasked, and it vibrated between his lines: if gross miscalculations of a person's value could occur on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/there-was-but-one-question-he-left-unasked-and-it-vibrated-between/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“The author refers to a player's affected nonchalance and comments he is, "too young to realize you are what you pretend to be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-author-refers-to-a-player-s-affected-nonchalance-and-comments-he/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/a-banking-system-is-an-act-of-faith-it-survives-only-for-as-long-as/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/some-coaches-believed-they-could-judge-a-player-s-performance-simply/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“No longer were the prices of ordinary mortgage bonds allowed to roam inefficiently, for they were now linked to the CMO market, in much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/no-longer-were-the-prices-of-ordinary-mortgage-bonds-allowed-to-roam/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“The difference between Strauss and Ranieri?” says one trader still at Salomon. “That’s easy. Strauss wouldn’t stoop to use the men’s room on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-difference-between-strauss-and-ranieri-says-one-trader-still-at/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“The only inexplicable aspect of the process was that economic theory (which is, after all, what economics students were supposed to know) served almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-only-inexplicable-aspect-of-the-process-was-that-economic-theory/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“It's not easy to stand apart from mass hysteria - to believe that most of what's in the financial news is wrong, to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/it-s-not-easy-to-stand-apart-from-mass-hysteria-to-believe-that-most/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“Dont worry about where i am , i'll let you know when i get there .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/dont-worry-about-where-i-am-i-ll-let-you-know-when-i-get-there/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [“Someone out there was using the fact that stock market orders arrived at different times at different exchanges to front-run orders from one market…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/someone-out-there-was-using-the-fact-that-stock-market-orders-arrived/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ball-player/michael-lewis/#itemlist", "name": "8 Ball player Quotes By Michael Lewis", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The great thing about baseball players, from the point of view of personal hygiene, is how seldom they break a sweat.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Lewis" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-from-the-point-of-view-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The great thing about baseball players, from the point of view of personal hygiene, is how seldom they break…” — Michael Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There was but one question he left unasked, and it vibrated between his lines: if gross miscalculations of a person's value could occur on a baseball field, before a live audience of thirty thousand, and a television audience of millions more, what did that say about the measurement of performance in other lines of work? 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In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an inadequate tool for learning what you needed to know to evaluate baseball players and baseball games. Think about it. One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks. 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Alas, there was a difference between fantasy football and fantasy finance: When a fantasy football player drafts Peyton Manning to be on his team, he doesn’t create a second Peyton Manning. When Mike Burry bought a credit default swap based on a Long Beach Savings subprime–backed bond, he enabled Goldman Sachs to create another bond identical to the original in every respect but one: There were no actual home loans or home buyers. Only the gains and losses from the side bet on the bonds were real.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Lewis" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-side-bets-on-subprime-mortgage/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3a/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-sid_685448.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3a/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-sid_685448.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3a/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_on-its-surface-the-booming-market-in-sid_685448.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“On its surface, the booming market in side bets on subprime mortgage bonds seemed to be the financial…” — Michael Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Years later he would say that when he'd decided to become a professional baseball player, it was the only time he'd done something just for the money, and that he'd never do something just for the money ever again. He would never again let the market dictate the direction of his life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Lewis" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d-decided-to-become-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d_889516.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d_889516.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/046/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_years-later-he-would-say-that-when-he-d_889516.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Years later he would say that when he'd decided to become a professional baseball player, it was the only…” — Michael Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“if gross miscalculations of a person’s value could occur on a baseball field, before a live audience of thirty thousand, and a television audience of millions more, what did that say about the measurement of performance in other lines of work? If professional baseball players could be over-or undervalued, who couldn’t? Bad as they may have been, the statistics used to evaluate baseball players were probably far more accurate than anything used to measure the value of people who didn’t play baseball for a living.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Lewis" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-value-could-occur-on-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-v_1943859.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-v_1943859.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_if-gross-miscalculations-of-a-person-s-v_1943859.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“if gross miscalculations of a person’s value could occur on a baseball field, before a live audience of…” — Michael Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What John Ayers was doing seemed routine. But to the few who knew, and watched, it was a thing of beauty. The ball is snapped and John Ayers sees Taylor coming, and slides quickly back one step and to his left. And as he slides, he steps to meet his future. He’s stepping into 1985, when the turf will be fast and he won’t be able to deal with Lawrence Taylor…. Another quick step, back and left, and it’s 1986, and he’s injured and on the sidelines when the Giants send Joe Montana to the hospital and the 49ers home on the way to their own Super Bowl victory…. A third quick step and he crouches like one power forward denying another access to the hoop. But now it’s 1987 and Coach Bill Walsh is advising John Ayers to retire. Ayers ignores the advice and then learns that Walsh won’t invite him back to training camp…. He takes his final quick step back and left and times his blow, to stop dead in his tracks the most terrifying force ever launched at an NFL quarterback. “I don’t think I’ve ever played against a football player who had more drive and intensity to get to the quarterback,” John Ayers will say, after it’s all over, and he’s been given the game ball by his teammates. “It was almost like he was possessed.”…But now it’s 1995, and John Ayers has just died of cancer, at forty-two, and left behind a wife and two children. Joe Montana charters a plane to fly a dozen teammates to Amarillo, Texas, to serve as pall-bearers. At the funeral of John Ayers the letter of tribute from Bill Walsh is read aloud.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Lewis" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine-but-to-the-few-who-knew-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1d/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine_2106867.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1d/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine_2106867.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1d/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_what-john-ayers-was-doing-seemed-routine_2106867.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What John Ayers was doing seemed routine. But to the few who knew, and watched, it was a thing of beauty…” — Michael Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ball-player/michael-lewis/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ball-player/michael-lewis/", "name": "Ball player Quotes by Michael Lewis", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ball-player/michael-lewis/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/michael-lewis-705_ball-player_the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-f_34139.png" }, "description": "8 Ball player quotes by Michael Lewis. 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