Gálvez during spring training in 1988. He made the Tigers' opening-day roster that season as an injury fill-in, and was optioned in late April to Toledo, now serving as Detroit's Class-AAA affiliate, where he spent most of the season. During this time, he played in the same outfield as another player with nearly the same name—Billy Bean—and also had a teammate with the name Rice. Beane appeared in six games for the 1988 Tigers. Granted free agency after the 1988 season, Beane signed with the Oakland Athletics, appearing in 37 games with the 1989 Athletics, batting .241 in 79 at-bats. Beane spent most of the season with the Class-AAA Tacoma Tigers of the PCL. He re-signed with the Athletics for the 1990 season, and was sent down to the minor leagues at the end of spring training. Front office career Weary of the lifestyle of a minor-league player, Beane approached Athletics GM Sandy Alderson a day after he was reassigned to minor league camp in April 1990 for a job as an advance scout. Beane held that position through 1993, when he was promoted to assistant GM of the Athletics, tasked with scouting minor-league players. Under the ownership of Walter A. Haas Jr., the Athletics appeared in three consecutive World Series from 1988 through 1990, and had the highest payroll in baseball in 1991. Haas died in 1995, and new owners Stephen Schott and Ken Hofmann ordered Alderson to slash payroll. To field a competitive roster on a limited budget, Alderson began focusing on sabermetric principles to obtain undervalued players. He valued on-base percentage among hitters. Alderson taught Beane to find value that other teams did not see using sabermetrics. Beane succeeded Alderson as GM on October 17, 1997. He continued Alderson's crafting of the Athletics into one of the most cost-effective teams in baseball. For example, in the 2006 MLB season, the Athletics ranked 24th of 30 major league teams in player salaries but had the 5th-best regular-season record. The Athletics reached the playoffs in four consecutive years from 2000 through 2003, losing in the American League Division Series each year. In 2002, the Athletics became the first team in the 100+ years of American League (AL) baseball to win 20 consecutive games. They won their first playoff series under Beane in 2006 when they swept the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series, but were swept by