Sports movies fall into three categories; intense, inspiring, and cheesy. Moneyball falls into none of the above. While viewers could make the case that it’s an inspiring underdog story, it clearly isn’t. It’s about the injustices in the game and how the game of baseball really is in the front office.
Moneyball is the film adaptation of the book Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. The cast is stocked with heavyweights Brad Pitt (“Inglorious Basterds”) Phillip Seymour Hoffman (“Charlie Wilson’s War”) Jonah Hill (“Superbad”).The movie chronicles the journey of the 2002 Oakland Athletics beginning with the 2001 ALDS against the New York Bankees. No that isn’t a typo, the opening graphic shows the two team’s payrolls with the Yankees at $144 Million and the A’s with a meager $39 million.
While the Yankees prevailed, GM Billy Beane (Pitt) is forced to replace his three biggest stars, closer Jason Isringhausen, 1st Baseman Jason Giambi, and Outfielder Johnny Damon, who have all been signed by big market teams with which the A’s can’t compete in the money war. It also doesn’t help that the owner of the A’s (Bob Kotick) has no more money to give to Beane to piece together a winner.
To solve the problem, Beane goes to the Cleveland Indians to try and make some deals to bolster his roster. While there, one of the assistants to Indian’s GM Mark Shapiro (Reed Diamond) gives Shapiro some advice against trading one of their younger prospects to the A’s. Beane seeks the assistant, known as Peter Brand (Hill), and tries to figure out what he knows that Beane doesn’t. As it turns out, Beane decides to hire this assistant to piece together the new look Oakland A’s.
Brand’s philosophy on replacing the big stars from the 2001 team is based on baseball statistics known as Sabermetrics, which at the time is an obscure area of statistics in baseball. By taking the On Base Percentages of Damon and Giambi, he can find three or four cheap, overlooked players with the average On Base Percentage of Damon and Giambi to help the A’s win games. The math is complex but to the average high school student, his reasoning for seeking out these overlooked players is understood.
No matter what the sports movie is about, there have to be heroes on the field. One of which is one of these overlooked prospects, Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt). Hatteberg was once a catcher for the Red Sox but was released when he ruptured a nerve in his elbow and was told he could never throw again. But Hatteberg’s On Base Percentage was what the A’s needed. Beane and 3rd Base Coach Ron Washington (Brent Jennings) visit Hatteberg and convince him to make the move to 1st base where he won’t have to throw and sign with the A’s.
The other hero is a relief pitcher Chad Bradford (Casey Bond). Major League teams decided his lackluster 83 mph fastball and submarine style was not worthy of their team, so the A’s signed him for a steal. Chad became a specialist against right handed batters and went on to have a standout career out of the bullpen. Bradford is the guy that gripped me more than anyone else because of the human side of his story. He was never given a chance anywhere and when Howe finally started calling upon his specialties, Bradford showed up.
And, as always, there has to be the antagonist. Unfortunately for Beane who is building the team, it’s his manager Art Howe (Hoffman). Howe refuses all of Beane’s strategical requests including letting Bradford pitch in place of the struggling bullpen pitchers and to play Hatteberg at first over the talented prospect Carlos Pena (Adrian Bellani). After many arguments and a 20-26 start to the season, Beane deals Pena to the Tigers and dumps party animal Jeremy Giambi (Nick Porrazzo) to the Phillies, forcing Howe to let Hatteberg take over 1st base. Immediately Hatteberg’s ability to get on base impacts the team as they A’s take off towards a 103 win season.
As the A’s go on their climactic win streak, I couldn’t help but think about how cheesy the writers could have made the streak. The movie does a fantastic job balancing reality and the magnitude of the events that take place. They didn’t exaggerate any of the events, they told the amazing story as it happened, and in this case the truth is more gripping than any story you could make up. There was a bittersweet after taste to the movie as the A’s could only afford to keep this particular group of players for one season.
Director (Bennett Miller) captured the 2002 Oakland Athletics perfectly in an ornate balance of seemingly impossible inspirational moments and reality. Moneyball receives 4 stars out of 4. It runs 130 minutes and is rated PG-13.
