As general manager William Lamar Beane III (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive.

He is also minority owner of soccer clubs Barnsley of the EFL League One in England and AZ Alkmaar[2] of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands.

A first-round pick in the MLB draft by the Mets, Beane failed to meet the expectations of scouts, who projected him as a star.

In his front-office career, Beane has applied statistical analysis (known as sabermetrics) to baseball, which has led teams to reconsider how they evaluate players.

He is the subject of Michael Lewis's 2003 book on baseball economics, Moneyball, which was made into a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt as Beane.

[5] The high school coach added Beane to the varsity baseball team for the last game of his freshman season.

[9] The New York Mets, who had the first overall selection of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft, liked Beane's talent and considered choosing him with the first pick.

"[13] Believing Beane to be a more refined player than their top first round pick, Darryl Strawberry, the Mets assigned Strawberry to play rookie ball with other high school draftees while Beane was assigned to the Little Falls Mets of the Class A New York–Penn League, with players drafted out of college.

[16] Beane began questioning himself, while his new roommate, Lenny Dykstra, succeeded with unwavering confidence and superior mental focus.

In 1985, Beane spent most of the season with the Tidewater Tides of the Class AAA International League, getting called up to the 1985 Mets for eight games.

[18] Following the season, the Mets traded Beane with Joe Klink and Bill Latham to the Minnesota Twins for Tim Teufel and Pat Crosby, a minor league player.

[19] The Twins entered spring training prepared to give Beane the job as their starting left fielder over incumbent Mickey Hatcher, but he dealt with injuries and ineffectiveness.

The Twins sent Beane to their new Class-AAA affiliate, the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), after spring training in 1987.

[35] To field a competitive roster on a limited budget, Alderson began focusing on sabermetric principles to obtain undervalued players.

[42] He and other like-minded GMs also changed their draft strategies to focus more on defensive skills, which became undervalued in the years immediately after the Moneyball revolution.

This new emphasis on defense was displayed in the 2010 season; although the Athletics finished at .500 and again missed the playoffs, they led MLB in defensive efficiency, measured as the percentage of balls put into play by opponents that resulted in outs, and allowed the fewest runs in the AL.[45] In February 2012, the Athletics extended Beane's contract through 2019.

[47] In November 2022, Beane transitioned into a new role as senior advisor to owner John Fisher, and Forst became the new head of baseball operations.

[49] His friendship with ex-Arsenal scout Damien Comolli and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke allowed him to delve deep into the world of English soccer.

[50] In March 2015, the Dutch soccer club AZ Alkmaar, under general director Robert Eenhoorn, a former major leaguer, hired Beane as an advisor.

[59] The book was made into the 2011 film Moneyball,[42] in which Beane was portrayed by Brad Pitt, whose performance earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.