The movie “Moneyball” is a transcription of a new-age idea brought to life by the mind of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
The story is compelling and romantic in the way the game of baseball is, with characters — most notably Beane himself, played by Brad Pitt — learning to accept themselves for who they are while overcoming past demons.
“Moneyball,” teaches — nay — preaches to “be true to thyself and thyself be true.”
The film showed there is anguish and uncertainty in defeat and confidence and triumph in victory.
Nonetheless, “Moneyball” is not without its flaws.
Some crack the very foundation upon which the flick sits.
“Moneyball” is a story about numbers. Numbers are facts. And facts, although sometimes misconstrued, tell the truth.
Ostensibly the Athletics were in a bind prior to the 2002 season because Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Ishringhausen walked for more money. That’s what the movie conveys anyway.
What the movie producers failed to reveal is that the Oakland organization had found, groomed and developed arguably the best front-end starters in baseball.
Barry Zito won the American League’s CY Young Award in 2002. Behind Zito stood Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson.
Miguel Tejada, whose name was only mentioned in passing throughout the film, won AL MVP.
Tejada and Eric Chavez, two players already in the Athletics system before Moneyball techniques were instilled, formed a formidable left side of the infield.
The film isn’t focused on the big picture, though.
Its end aim is to proscribe baseball’s traditions and praise sabermetrics (numbers).
Any other storyline, even if it was a major player behind Oakland’s 103 win season, was omitted from the script.
Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) is brought on to “recreate” (as the movie puts it) the void left by the departure of Giambi and company.
Whom the team acquired, though, is not historically accurate.
In the movie, Jeremy Giambi is said to have been coming from the Yankees, swapping places with his brother.
Chad Bradford, another key 2002 off-season sign in “Moneyball,” is described as a nobody, coming from essentially nowhere.
There’s a scene where he personally thanks Beane for being given a chance to prove himself.
In reality, Giambi and Bradford had already been with the team.
Concerning Bradford, he pitched in 35 games for Oakland the season prior.
Never mind Beane’s daughter in the movie was singing a Lenka song that released in 2008, when the film was set in 2002.
Other parts of "Moneyball" were just odd.
For some reason, the movie seemed to climax during the game between the Kansas City Royals in which Oakland blew an 11-run lead before winning it courtesy of a walk-off home run from Scott Hatteberg.
During this time, Beane thought back to his failure as a “sure thing” player, which flayed his peace of mind and challenged his resolve.
Sure, the A’s were trying to make history by winning for the 20th consecutive time.
There’s drama in that.
Had Oakland lost, though, the course of the season would not have changed.
The real climactic point in the movie seemed to be an afterthought.
The movie scarcely seemed to play up final game of the year, a loss to the Twins in Game 5 of the ALDS after holding a 2-0 series lead.
Oh well.
Overall, “Moneyball” entertained.
Despite its glimpses of magnificence, however, the movie, like the A’s teams under Beane, doesn’t win its last game.
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