Baseball? Moneyball.
Like most everything else that capitalism touches [for better or for worse] it has become a commodity by and large. It is something to make money off of. That doesn’t stop a lot of the players and the fans from loving it for other reasons, of course. Just don’t lose sight of the bottom line. And part and parcel of that is this: the ballplayers themselves become mere commodities. Really, they are traded back and forth here like baseball cards.
But the beauty of any sport is how deeply embedded it is in the world of either/or. Either you win or you lose. Either you are good at it or you are not.
And there are almost always clearly defined rules for every aspect of it.
Not like other parts of our life at all.
But what happens if it becomes less and less fun to play because it becomes more and more about the science of statistics? Everything becomes increasingly more calculated…calibrated. The computer takes over. The “soul” of the game is lost. Or so some insist.
IMDb
[b]Of all the Oakland players from the season represented in the movie (2002), only one played for Oakland in the season that the movie premiered (2011): Mark Ellis (and he was traded away in the middle of the season).
The A’s won the AL west again in 2012 with the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball and a record setting 54 wins by rookie pitchers. The season has been informally called “Moneyball 2” by fans and the press.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball_(film
MONEYBALL [2011]
Directed by Bennett Miller
[b]Title card: “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” Mickey Mantle
…
Billy: The problem we’re trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there’s fifty feet of crap, and then there’s us. It’s an unfair game. And now we’ve been gutted. We’re like organ donors for the rich. Boston’s taken our kidneys, Yankees have taken our heart. And you guys just sit around talking the same old “good body” nonsense like we’re selling jeans. Like we’re looking for Fabio. We’ve got to think differently. We are the last dog at the bowl. You see what happens to the runt of the litter? He dies.
…
Peter: There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. I apologize.
Billy: Go on.
Peter: Okay. People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. You’re trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who’s worth seven and half million dollars a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is…is…an imperfect understanding of where runs come from. The guy’s got a great glove. He’s a decent leadoff hitter. He can steal bases. But is he worth the seven and half million dollars a year that the Boston Red Sox are paying him? No. No. Baseball thinking is medieval. They are asking all the wrong questions. And if I say it to anybody, I’m-I’m ostracized. I’m-I’m-I’m a leper. So that’s why I’m-I’m cagey about this with you. That’s why I… I respect you, Mr. Beane, and if you want full disclosure, I think it’s a good thing that you got Damon off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.
…
Billy: Where you from, Pete?
Peter: Maryland.
Billy: Where’d you go to school?
Peter: Yale. I went to Yale.
Billy: What’d you study?
Peter: Economics. I studied economics.
Billy: Yale, economics, and baseball. You’re funny, Pete.
…
Billy: Pack your bags Pete, I just bought you from the Cleveland Indians.
…
Peter: It’s about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them, we’ll find value in players that no one else can see. People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cut straight through that. Billy, of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball undervalues them.
…
Peter: Billy, this is Chad Bradford. He’s a relief pitcher. He is one of the most undervalued players in baseball. His defect is that he throws funny. Nobody in the big leagues cares about him because he looks funny. This guy could be not just the best pitcher in our bullpen, but one of the most effective relief pitchers in all of baseball. This guy should cost $3 million a year. We can get him for $237,000.
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Billy: He gets on base a lot. Do I care if it’s a walk or a hit?
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Scott Hatteberg: I’ve only ever played catcher.
Billy: It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash.
Ron Washington: It’s incredibly hard.
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Grady: Baseball and its fans will be more than happy to throw you and Goggle Boy under the bus if you keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t put a team together with a computer.
Billy: No?
Grady: No. Baseball isn’t just numbers. It’s not science. If it was, anybody could do what we’re doing but they can’t. You got a kid in there that’s got a degree in economics from Yale. You got a scout here with 29 years of baseball experience. You’re listening to the wrong one. There are intangibles that only baseball people understand.
…
Grady: Major League Baseball thinks the way I think. You’re not gonna win. And I’ll give you a nickel’s worth of free advice. You’re never going to get another job when Schott fires you after this catastrophic season you’re setting us all up for. And then you’re gonna have to explain to your kid why you’re working at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Billy: I’m not gonna fire you, Grady.
Grady: Fuck you, Billy.
Billy: Now I will.
…
Radio host: We’ve got Grady Fuson, former head of scouting for the Athletics. Grady, can you interpret for us what is going on?
Grady: They call it Moneyball.
Host: Moneyball?
Grady: Yes, and it was a nice theory, and now it’s just not working out.
Commentator: Billy Bean has build this team on the ideas of a guy, Bill James, who wrote an interesting book on baseball statistics. The problem is that Bill James never played, never managed. He was in fact a security guard at a pork-and-beans company.
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Billy: Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?
Peter: Are those my only two options?
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Billy [to himself—with the team in last place]: What the hell am I doing?
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Billy [to Peter]: When you get the answer you’re looking for you hang up.
…
Billy: Art, you got a minute?
Art: Yeah. Take a seat.
Billy: You can’t start Peña at first tonight. You’ll have to start Hatteberg.
Art: Yeah, I don’t want to go fifteen rounds, Billy. The lineup card is mine, and that’s all.
Billy: That lineup card is definitely yours. I’m just saying you can’t start Peña at first.
Art: Well, I am starting him at first.
Billy: I don’t think so. He plays for Detroit now.
…
David Justice: How you likin’ first base, man?
Scott Hatteberg: It’s, uh… it’s coming along. Picking it up. You know, tough transition, but I’m starting to feel better with it.
David Justice: Yeah?
Scott Hatteberg: Yeah.
David Justice: What’s your biggest fear?
Scott Hatteberg: A baseball being hit in my general direction
[Hatteberg and Justice share a laugh]
David Justice: That’s funny. Seriously, what is it?
Scott Hatteberg: No, seriously, that is.
[uncomfortable pause; Hatteberg leaves]
David Justice: Well, hey, good luck with that.
…
Billy: I hate losing even more than I wanna win. And there’s a difference.
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Billy: When your enemy is making mistakes, don’t interrupt him.
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Billy: It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball. This kind of thing, it’s fun for the fans. It sells tickets and hot dogs. Doesn’t mean anything.
Peter: Billy, we just won twenty games in a row.
Billy: And what’s the point?
Peter: We just got the record.
Billy: Man, I’ve been doing this for… listen, man. I’ve been in this game a long time. I’m not in it for a record, I’ll tell you that. I’m not in it for a ring. That’s when people get hurt. If we don’t win the last game of the Series, they’ll dismiss us.
Peter: Billy…
Billy: I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we’ve done here, none of it’ll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They’re drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team… we’ll have changed the game. And that’s what I want. I want it to mean something.
…
John Henry: For forty-one million, you built a playoff team. You lost Damon, Giambi, Isringhausen, Pena and you won more games without them than you did with them. You won the exact same number of games that the Yankees won, but the Yankees spent one point four million per win and you paid two hundred and sixty thousand. I know you’ve taken it in the teeth out there, but the first guy through the wall. It always gets bloody, always. It’s the threat of not just the way of doing business, but in their minds it’s threatening the game. But really what it’s threatening is their livelihoods, it’s threatening their jobs, it’s threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it’s the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the people are holding the reins, have their hands on the switch. They go bat shit crazy. I mean, anybody who’s not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they’re dinosaurs. They’ll be sitting on their ass on the sofa in October, watching the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.[/b]