Moneyball hits a true winner

Photo Credit: Courtesy of imdb.com

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill gave inspiring performances in "Moneyball." The movie is based on the true story of the 2001 Oakland Athletics.

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October 11, 2011

Cameron Soltau, Staff Writer

   Moneyball tells the true story of how a baseball team on a shoe-string budget turns into a winning team no one saw coming. 

   Moneyball stars Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ocean’s Thirteen) as the general manager of the 2001 Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane, and Jonah Hill (Evan Almighty, The Invention of Lying) as an economics expert who turns out to be a key member for the Athletics.  The movie is based on the novel “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis.

   Moneyball is a story about how the 2001 Athletics use a computer generated formula to see how well players get on base to help propel them to a championship.  Beane gets this help from Cleveland Indians stat man Peter Brand (Hill).  Beane lives a tough live dealing with his ex-wife (Robin Wright) getting a new husband and with his job as Athletics’ GM possibly ending.  The only person who really understands Beane is his daughter (Kerris Dorsey), an aspiring guitarist who is nervous of performing in front of an audience.  She constantly asks her dad if he is going to lose his job.

   Many of the older-timers in baseball criticized Beane for using a method that they thought would never work.  The senior scout for the Athletics at the time was saying the idea was stupid and it would never work.  Beane ended up firing him during the season.

   Using their newly found computer formula the Athletics have a turnaround season, finishing first in their division and making it to the playoffs.  During the off-season, Beane gets a job offer in Boston with the Red Sox.  He gets offered the largest pay of any GM in sports.  Eventually Beane turns down the offer of $12.5 million to stay with his team in Oakland.  At the end of the movie, Beane finds a CD his daughter made for him and he is amazed by her talent.  The camera closes in on his eyes and as the music continues to play Beane hears in the song a basic summary of what his daughter thinks of him: “You’re such a loser, Dad.  Just enjoy the show.”

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