Moneyball

So many great lines in this and I’m only about a third of the way in (tbf I did start it this afternoon).

He’d been on the receiving end of the dreams of older men and he knew what they were worth. Over and over the old scouts will say, “The guy has a great body,” or, “This guy may be the best body in the draft.” And every time they do, Billy will say, “We’re not selling jeans here,”

And that face! Beneath an unruly mop of dark brown hair the boy had the sharp features the scouts loved. Some of the scouts still believed they could tell by the structure of a young man’s face not only his character but his future in pro ball. They had a phrase they used: “the Good Face.”

my friend and i still find reasons to use “we’re not selling jeans here” all the time

It’s such a great line! And it’s true as well, baseball is really lookist even to this day.

Now ofc thinking of the bit in the Zito book when he gets picked up for a jeans ad by an ad executive who saw him in an inflight magazine.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/vbgqvm/good-face-high-ass-the-baseball-scouting-glossary

And Billy Beane now attempts to do what he has done so many times in the past: insert himself in the middle of a deal that is none of his business.