MLB: Can 'Moneyball' Movie Stick To the Script?

Don’t get me wrong—I am no movie critic and haven’t yet been given the keys to run a major-league franchise, but I can say that I am really looking forward to Moneyball. 

By now, almost everyone close to the game knows that the Oakland Athletics were featured in the book Moneyball, by Michael Lewis. Moneyball shows readers how the cash-strapped A’s used advanced statistics in new ways to build a successful team comprised of unwanted or forgotten players. 

For someone like me—ignorant of this world and its data before I read the book—the idea of creating a team with what a computer tells you is, of course, very intriguing. 

It has been said many times that this movie is very reminiscent of The Social Network, but of course, the question remains: Can the movie-makers take what was written and make it a story that people truly care for? 

The book describes the emergence of two castoffs—Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg.  Those familiar with their careers know the struggles they went through and the determination they needed to truly find success.

A successful translation of these stories to the big screen remains to be seen. 

Though hardcore baseball fans will likely flock to the theatres when the movie is released, we don't know yet if mainstream America is interested in sabermetrics. 

Heck, how many years did it take for baseball insiders to finally accept more sophisticated statistical analyses? 

The evolution of sabermetrics isn’t like the story Facebook.

Yet, with a cast that features Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill, and with Aaron Sorkin writing the script, Moneyball does have all the ingredients to make a dramatic impact on those unfamiliar with this side of the baseball world. 

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective.

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