Baseball Movie Review: Moneyball (2011)

As we all enjoyed baseball through the 1980s and even the "steroid era" of the 1990s, a dud named Bill James was trying to tell everyone that baseball was doing it wrong. He actually coined the term "Sabermetrics" way back in 1980. Finally, in the early 2000s, Billy Beane, with the help of his new assistant general manager, Paul DePodesta, shifted their focus from traditional player evaluations to a sabermetric-based approach. The result was a low-budget team that seemed to far outplay its talent. A couple of years later, the book, Moneyball by Michael Lewis, appeared and told that story. 

Moneyball, the movie, is based on that book, and it introduced sabermetrics to a much bigger audience, and at least for a moment, we all fell in love with the idea. Who doesn't love an underdog that can take down the giant-payroll teams? But can a baseball movie that is obsessed with obscure stats be any fun to watch? Absolutely. 

First Pitch
The movie opens with scenes from the 2001 American League Divisional Series as the Yankees topple the A's for the second year in a row. As a Minnesota Twins fan, I feel that pain. It's followed by scenes in which Beane, played by Brad Pitt, tries to figure out how to build a decent team on a miserly budget. Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen, and Johnny Damon are all leaving, and the brass has no more money to pitch in. There is a fantastic scene where Beane is in a room with all of his head scouts, intentionally played by retirement-aged guys, and he's frustrated. They want to keep doing what they've been doing. Use their gut. Trust a kid's swagger. Check out his frame. They even debate one kid's girlfriend. Is she hot enough? "An ugly girlfriend means no confidence!" Beane knows it's time to look at things differently. He doesn't know how.  It's a great setup. The problem is laid out clearly, and you can feel Beane's frustration. 

The Early Innings
On a trip to Cleveland to try to work some trades with Mark Shapiro, Beane keeps getting shot down. A young, very non-baseball-looking guy (Jonah Hill as Peter Brand) is at the core of all the decision-making. After leaving Shapiro's office, Beane tracks him down and basically shakes him down to tell him what's happening. Brand, a fictional version of DePodesta, is Cleveland's analytics guy, fresh out of college. Beane buys him from Cleveland because he realizes this is his ticket to building something that can work. The next portion of the movie is devoted to teaching us which stats matter and which ones don't, and why, and then watching them try to get the team, the manager, and the scouts to buy in. 

Mid-Innings
The game plan is in place. The manager hates it. Almost no one understands it. Beane needs to actually trade away good players to get Howe to play the guys that fit the plan. Eventually, it all starts to work. The back-and-forth between Beane and Howe (brilliantly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) is fantastic. Another significant piece to all of this is make-shift first baseman Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt). He's rough defensively as he's learning the position, and his only notable offensive skill is getting on base, but that's what Beane likes. He's the character that sort of symbolizes the whole shift in strategy, and he's a sympathetic character.

Last Inning
The ending to Moneyball is like a Hemingway story. The A's go on an epic winning streak but fail to break the record after losing a game they led 11-0. They fell to the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs, and the team is written off by most as a novel experiment that couldn't close the deal. Beane gets a shot at the Boston general manager job, but turns it down because he wants to finish what he started. The Red Sox go on to win it all a few years later under Theo Epstein, using the Moneyball concepts pioneered in Oakland.

Overall, Moneyball nails it. It helps us learn and love the new metrics. The cast is fantastic, from Jonah Hill as Peter Brand to Pitt, Pratt, and Hoffman. Best of all, you don't lose that baseball passion. Through all the number crunching, it's still there. 

Run Time: 2 hrs 13 min

IMDB Score: 7.5/10

Scorecard: Home Run. Moneyball was an instant classic.

Player of the Game: Pitt is great as Billy Beane, but I think Hill steals the show with his nerdy, nervous portrayal of Peter Brand. 

Benchwarmer: For a team that is supposed to be stripped of stars, there's little to no mention of guys like Miguel Tejada, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Jermaine Dye, and Eric Chavez. There are some factual errors in there, too, but that's movies, right?

Best line: Billy Beane: "How can you not be romantic about baseball?"