BASEBALL IS MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS...

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2018)

This movie is based on a true story and is a must see for baseball fans, especially those who play fantasy ball. After losing his top ballplayers, Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) finds himself a computer nerd (Jonah Hill) to pick players for him, players that are cheap. They sign a catcher (Chris Pratt) who can't throw, an outfielder (Nick Porrazzo) with an iron glove, a "has been" with bad knees (Stephen Bishop), and a pitcher (Casey Bond) who throws underhand. The stat they use to obtain talent in the film is primarily "On Base Percentage" (OBP).
Philip Seymour Hoffman, nearly unrecognizable with his head shaved, plays Art Howe the field manager of the team. The movie is interrupted by flash backs in Billy Beane's baseball player career, and his present home life. Art Howe doesn't like the team he has been dealt and fails to manager the team according to the expectations of Billy Beane. This is primarily the fault of Billy Beane who failed to bring in Art Howe on the decision making process to obtain the new players. Howe looks at them as being defective and unusable.
A person can watch and enjoy "Secretariat" without being a horse race fan. This movie is different in that it incorporates a lot of baseball jargon. It attempts to have universal appeal, but I would suspect non-fans might lose interest. If your girl friend is not a baseball fan, you might first wean her in with that Dru Barrymore Redsox Movie.