Moneyball (DVD)

As a mathematician and lifelong baseball fan, I became familiar with the work of Bill James very early, in the 1980's when I was a college professor in mathematics. I even reviewed some of his books and later, when I was editing a math journal, evaluated some submissions based on sabermetrics, the application of mathematics to baseball performance. James developed his work in the late 1970's and at first there was little interest. Necessity being the mother of invention, Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team had a major problem in fielding a competitive team. The Athletics had a very successful season, but their star players were free agents, and they could not compete with the salaries that the big market teams could offer. The Athletics then made the extremely bold move to make personnel and on-field strategy decisions based on the statistical ideas of sabermetrics. Ridiculed at first, the system worked and in 2002, the Athletics were the first team in over 100 years to win 20 games in a row. Over the years, the Athletics have proven to be very successful, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the major leagues. This movie is the film version of the book “Moneyball,” written by Michael Lewis and it depicts the struggles and challenges that Beane faced in implementing the sabermetrics principles on the field. For they go against many very established traditions in baseball. Brad Pitt delivers a superb performance as Beane. It gives the viewer many insights into how baseball operations are done and the struggles to change the game. While it does help the viewer if they know something about the work of Bill James, such knowledge is not essential. It can be strongly argued that there have been two people that dramatically altered the game of baseball. The first was Babe Ruth, who made the home run an integral part of the game. The second was Bill James, who applied statistics to demonstrate the actual value of many of the acts of the game. Not all of which are cost effective. Now, all teams utilize at least some of the basics of sabermetrics. This movie demonstrates an existence proof of that value.