Moneyball

The Oakland A’s end their 2001 season with a loss in the AL fifth game of a best of five elimination series, still an admirable accomplishment seeing as the A’s are considered a poor team with a payroll one-third of that of a rich team like the New York Yankees. During the off season, they lose three of their star players through free agency, most problematic being first baseman Jason Giambi. Without more money which he doesn’t get from owner Stephen Schott, the A’s GM, Billy Beane, knows that they will never win the World Series as richer teams will always be able to pilfer their best players – ones they have been able to nurture – with more lucrative contracts. Billy knows they have to think differently about how to replace the three, looking at what they require in combination rather than looking at the three as individuals, which is different than the way scouts have looked at players over the sport’s history. In a meeting with Cleveland Indians management about players, Billy meets Peter Brand, a quiet Yale Economics graduate, who works for the Indians doing player analysis. Upon questioning Peter later in private, Billy realizes that purely academic Peter has much the same thought process as he does. Billy hires him as the A’s Assistant GM after receiving what he considers the correct answer to Billy’s question on his own checkered past as a first round 1979 draft pick which led to notoriety as a failure as a player. But once on the payroll, Peter convinces Billy to look at the entire dugout, and acquire undervalued players for what they can do in order for the team to win. As an example, they acquire former catcher Scott Hatteberg, whose career is seen as being over by all other teams due to an elbow injury that doesn’t allow him to throw. Although not a hitter, they acquire him for his ability to “get on base” in whatever way required (usually by walks), and plan to teach him how to play first base, a generally non-throwing position. These moves don’t sit well with the A’s scouting team and sports analysts. Problematic is that the A’s Manager, Art Howe, who also doesn’t agree with or understand the strategy, refuses to listen to Billy about how best to manage the team as assembled. Billy knows that his and Peter’s jobs are on the line if they don’t produce, which he realizes means nothing less than winning the World Series. But more important to Billy is to show the world of baseball that his way is the right way.—Huggo