Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane had just witnessed one of his favourite prospects, catcher Jeremy Brown, pick himself up off the dirt and circle the bases after tripping over first base on a home run he didn’t realize he had just hit. “It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball,” Beane says to Paul Brand, his assistant. It’s hard not to be romantic about a great baseball movie either.
Moneyball certainly captures the romance of baseball and has all the hallmarks of a classic baseball film: a washed-up pro trying to make a name for himself, a team no one believes in surpassing expectations, and a montage of the epic winning streak that turns the season around. Moneyball should join the ranks of esteemed baseball flicks like The Natural and Bull Durham, but it also has something they don’t: a lasting impact on the way we think about the game.
Well, the book did anyway. Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis’ 2003 work of the same name, which turned the baseball world upside-down. Moneyball is the story of the Oakland Athletics and the efforts of their front office to be competitive in a league where their payroll is one third that of other top teams.
Inspired by Bill James, a security-guard-turned-statistical-guru (seen just once in the film), Beane (Brad Pitt) embarks on a quest to prove to the baseball establishment that everything they believe and everything they do is flawed. Adopting a philosophy that values statistics previously believed to be irrelevant, such as on-base percentage and slugging over batting average and runs batted in, the A’s attempted to find the players no one else wanted, to turn them into superstars. A rag-tag group of guys without “the good face” or all of the “five tools” is assembled for bargain salaries, allowing the A’s to hang around with the Yankees and make the playoffs.
The movie does a good job at turning what is essentially a jazzed-up economics textbook into an inspirational movie. Writers Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian were able to take some of the more personal moments of the book and weave them into a movie script. Fans of the book will undoubtedly be disappointed that “the fat catcher” Jeremy Brown’s only mention in the film is in the afformentioned scene, and that math-whiz, Assistant GM Paul DePodesta is reduced to the generic Brand, played by Jonah Hill.
Brad Pitt plays a convincing Billy Beane, whose eccentricity comes through in the scenes where he is seen driving his car and avoiding watching his team play. However, the movie takes a strange angle on his family life by playing up the storyline of Beane and his daughter, while his wife is only mentioned in a quick phone conversation. The father-daughter relationship feels unnecessary, as the story of Beane’s pro career and subsequent failure would have been enough personal drama to make the film resonate with non-sports fans.
While there have been many criticisms of Moneyball over the years, namely the failure of the A’s to win a World Series and the rampant steroid use in their clubhouse, the book changed the way many people look at baseball, and the movie captures that. This is a must-see for anyone who considers themselves a baseball fan, but they should see it soon… the playoffs start Friday.
