Moneyball-- the movie

“Why did he listen to you? What happened in there? Who are you?”

“Like I said, I’m Peter Brand.”

“I know your name. Tell me who you are.”

In this scene we learn a little about the person of Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, and we meet Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). The two of them go on to create a philosophy that doesn’t just help the A’s succeed, but revolutionizes the game of baseball.

I read Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball several years ago. The book was fascinating. At least it was fascinating to me. It focused on statistical analysis, the inner workings of a baseball team, economics, numbers, and looking at essential baseball categories that are more likely to help you win games. He may have written the book just for me. I drove to the theater tonight wondering how a book for baseball and number geeks could be turned into a major motion picture with mass appeal.

Director Bennet Miller managed to pull it off with Moneyball. The drama was created in reality, but the movie highlighted the parts that made you want to keep watching. In 2002 early in the year the A’s were at the bottom of the standings. They changed their philosophy and their roster in an attempt to start winning games. I thought I saw something similar once in Major League, but this time the movie couldn’t write the ending. It was already written.

Could this team with its 40 million dollar payroll and poor start climb back into the playoffs? Could they pull off the longest winning streak in the history of baseball? And even if they did, would it matter if they didn’t go on to win the World Series? The drama was there. The movie depicted it. And Brad Pitt put together a brilliant performance that was so believable we forgot we were watching the star from Seven and Ocean’s 11, but rather watching Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, trying to win baseball games.

The film was still about baseball. It was still about statistical analysis. But they managed to create it in a way that both baseball geeks and non-baseball fans could appreciate. If you’re not a baseball fan, there will be even more drama for you because you don’t know how the story ends. The writers couldn’t write the script with a storybook ending, because this ending actually happened.

Brad Pitt gestures with his hands as he says in the movie, “There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us.”

Go see Moneyball and find out if the team at the bottom can make it to the top.