Billy Ball takes on a whole new meaning ...

Rating: Null/10 (23 September 2011)

Most films about the Great American Pastime feature the game itself ("Eight Men Out," "Major League"), the drama behind it ("The Natural," "The Rookie") or some ethereal experience that uses baseball as a metaphor for life ("Field Of Dreams").
The newest motion picture based on this premise is one of the first to deal with the business aspect of the game. "Moneyball," directed by Bennett Miller ("Capote"), written by Aaron Sorkin ("Social Network") and Steve Zaillian ("Schindler's List," Gangs Of New York") and based on the book by Bill James, does to ball stat fans what "Apollo 13" did to NASA engineers - makes them super cool.
Beginning in 2001, after the Oakland Athletics amazing choke job against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) sees the writing on the wall - the days of doling out millions upon millions of dollars to high-priced free agents is killing baseball.
Meeting the less charming but equally stat-driven Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, "Get Him To the Greek"), Beane now has to face an angry A's staff (losing superstars Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to free agency), fans and 100 years of baseball tradition.
Why? Because Moneyball, the concept, uses a series of intricate statistics to determine the most important aspect of the game - scoring runs. Plus, a small market club like Oakland has to worry about just meeting payroll, so Beane and Brand have their work cut out for them, trying to rebuild a more efficient team within the constraints of a limited budget.
Furs fly and hackles are raised when Beane goes up against coaches, trainers, scouts, clubhouse personnel, and especially Athletics manager Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar winner for "Capote"). Howe, usually very quiet and mild-mannered (I actually met him several times during inter-league games in San Diego), is completely against the philosophy of using stats to win games.
As an old school baseball man, when he sees a bad fielder or a player past his prime or an unorthodox pitcher, he sees failure. Beane and Brand, however, see an opportunity for runs, which means wins in the moneyball system.
At first, during the 2002 season, it appears as if this concept is a complete and utter failure. The A's slip comfortably into last place and Beane's head is definitely on the chopping block. Howe doe not help the situation, though, keeping key players out of the lineup who might actually make the system work.
Fed up, Beane makes several trades which force Howe to use the moneyball athletes and - lo and behold - the squad turns around and goes on an incredible winning steak that threatens to break the all-time AL record.
Most of the film's later drama revolves around this action. Can Oakland do what the Yankees, Red Sox, Indians and Tigers could not accomplish? Will moneyball succeed or fail as a viable baseball strategy? Will the players and coaches ever come around - even if the owners and GMs fall in line?
These questions are more than adequately answered in this fine film. A bit long in the tooth - especially when dealing with the frankly uninteresting parts of Beane's family life, but overall a most interesting look at an idea based upon the nerdiness of Sabre statisticians and math geeks invading the beloved game of baseball.
Already the Oscar buzz is loud for this one. Expect Pitt's low-key effort (of the even lower-key Beane) to snag a lead nomination, while Hoffman and (quite possibly) Hill just might score Best Support Actor nods.
Perhaps a little too much retrospect and not quite enough on-field action for my tastes, but "Moneyball" delivers in the clutch and makes a sometimes dull game sparkle and crackle with excitement.