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Moneyball
The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
2011 · Directed by Bennett Miller · 134 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 19 frames
Tagline
What are you really worth?
Plot
The Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball have difficulty fielding competitive teams due to low revenue and owners who are reluctant to spend money. General manager Billy Beane drafts and develops cheap, young, and talented players, but the Athletics lose the 2001 American League Division Series (ALDS) to the New York Yankees, baseball's richest and most successful team. For the 2002 season, Beane is given a paltry $41 million budget. Through free agency, three richer teams poach three of Beane's best players: Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen. Adding insult to injury, Giambi joins the Yankees.
Beane is skeptical about traditional baseball scouting methods after the New York Mets drafted him in the first round of the 1980 draft—prompting Beane to decline a Stanford scholarship—only for Beane to have an unimpressive playing career. Beane tries to trade for the Cleveland Indians' Karim García, but Cleveland refuses on the advice of team advisor Peter Brand, a Yale economics graduate who privately complains to Beane that Cleveland rarely takes his advice, and expresses a belief that baseball teams focus too much on individual players to have success. Intrigued, Beane asks whether Brand would have drafted him in 1980. After Brand reluctantly admits that he would not have drafted Beane until the ninth round, Beane hires Brand.
Beane and Brand study sabermetrics, an unconventional scouting philosophy. Unable to afford more talented, expensive players, Beane and Brand focus on maximizing the team's on-base percentage (OBP) and compromise on skills like base stealing, defense, and batting average. They acquire undervalued players like aging David Justice, injured catcher Scott Hatteberg, and submariner Chad Bradford. Beane fires head scout Grady Fuson, who refuses to abandon his traditional scouting methods.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian
- Cinematography: Wally Pfister
- Edited by: Christopher Tellefsen
- Music: Mychael Danna
- Production design: Jess Gonchor
- Produced by: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
Cast
- Brad Pitt as Billy Beane
- Jonah Hill as Peter Brand
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe
- Robin Wright as Sharon
- Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteberg
- Stephen Bishop as David Justice
- Reed Diamond as Mark Shapiro
- Brent Jennings as Ron Washington
- Ken Medlock as Grady Fuson
- Tammy Blanchard as Elizabeth Hatteberg
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Scott Rudin Productions, Michael De Luca Productions, Rachael Horovitz Productions, Columbia Pictures
- Budget: $50,000,000
- Box office: $110,206,216
- Themes: underdog, california, sports, baseball, based on true story, oakland, california, job transfer, oakland athletics, talent manager, statistics
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