Billy Beane: Baseball's Wall Street Super Draft

The A's GM also cited Harvard-educated statistical guru Paul DePodesta, who he hired as his assistant in 1999, as another of the new breed. "He is one of the brightest young men I have ever met in my life -- he did regression analysis for fun," explained Beane. "I needed somebody, quite frankly, to do my mathematics for me."

After working with Beane in Oakland, DePodesta went on to become general manager for the L.A. Dodgers and now serves as The Mets' vice president of player development and amateur scouting.

Beane, who serves on the board of business management software maker NetSuite(N) , also highlighted the similarities in the data-driven worlds of baseball and corporate America. "You can measure every single event and you can measure the value of that event, which is not dissimilar to every single business," he said. "Especially now -- you can get information at your fingertips as it happens."

The general manager, however, acknowledged that sports have their own unique pressures. "I would challenge anybody to find a more emotional business than sports," he explained, adding that in baseball, the scrutiny is relentless. "A public company has quarterly earnings -- our earnings are there every single day."

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

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