Foreword

It’s well documented in Moneyball that we (the Oakland A’s of the late 1990s and early 2000s) were going to great lengths to rethink all aspects of baseball: how it is managed, how it is played, who is best suited to play it, and why.

The gap between the rich and the poor was growing wider than ever. To some, especially baseball traditionalists, having the second lowest payroll in baseball might be viewed as a threat. A threat to landing talent. A threat to winning. A threat to keeping our jobs. For us, it was the opposite; it was liberating. We could break the rules and take chances bigger payroll teams wouldn’t dream of taking. It gave us the opportunity to explore new frontiers in every area of the game.

I knew bringing Rick Peterson onboard as our pitching coach represented tremendous growth for us and would give us an edge. Rick is anything but your typical baseball guy. He’s an educated guy who studied psychology and art in college. He is very intellectually curious. We were the same. It was a great match in our minds.

Rick was always looking to learn and was going to explore every possible way to make our pitchers not only better, but also healthier. When we were together, Rick was looking into areas no other coaches were looking at—biomechanical analysis with Dr. James Andrews, statistical probabilities associated with various pitch counts, sports psychology, and even mindfulness—to figure out how to improve our pitchers’ performance.

What strikes me about Rick is just how open he is to new ideas, to challenging traditional thinking. That’s what reframing is all about—choosing to see the world through a different lens that enables you to bring out the best in yourself and others.

Rick reframed how to best achieve maximum pitching performance, especially in pressure situations. He showed that performing in the clutch is not a case of “you have it or you don’t.” Rather, it can be learned.

He successfully brought out the best in the budding young stars of our pitching staff—the Big Three of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, and Mark Mulder. Perhaps even more importantly, he helped the other less-physically-gifted pitchers like Chad Bradford and Cory Lidle maximize their potential and their contributions to our team. Baseball is a game with razor-thin margins of victory. Being able to get all your players—from the top of your roster to the bottom—to consistently perform to their potential in pressure situations is frequently the difference between winning and losing.

Throughout my career, both as a player and an executive, I’ve clearly seen differences in how some players cave under the pressure while others thrive. With entertaining stories from an insider’s perspective, Rick and Judd share how those who appear to be immune to the pressure think differently and are able to be their best when it matters most.

Just as Rick was a difference-maker for our team, the wisdom captured in Crunch Time will be a difference-maker for you and your team. Enjoy!

—Billy Beane, Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Oakland Athletics

CRUNCH TIME

HOW TO BE YOUR BEST WHEN IT MATTERS MOST