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Josh Pesavento
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
22 October 2014
Money Aint Nothin But A Thang
The 2002 Oakland Athletics made baseball history in multiple ways. After losing three of
their top players due to salary reasons, just about everybody had counted the As out for the
season. Oaklands General Manager, Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), created a new way of
acquiring quality baseball players for an affordable price when he met up with Peter Brand
(played by Jonah Hill). Their new way of winning games was simple: sign guys who get on base.
The team also tied the American League record of TWENTY consecutive wins. Win number
twenty could not have come at any more of a dramatic fashion than it did. After blowing an
eleven run lead, Scott Hatteberg came up in the ninth inning and ended it with one swing of the
bat. Beane and the As had a team salary of close to $40 million. The league average in the MLB
that year was $67 million, and the league high of
$125 million was held by the New York
Yankees. The Oakland Athletics exceeded their
expectations by a longshot; they made the 2002
playoffs, and won the AL West with 103 wins.
However, the season ended in the American
League Divisional Series when they were
defeated by the Minnesota Twins. In 2011,
director Bennett Miller released, Moneyball, a film reenacting the As season while focusing

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primarily on a select few players. The movie was a tribute to the book, Moneyball: The Art of
Winning an Unfair Game, published in 2003 by author Michael Lewis. While both reviewers
have contrasting views on the uniqueness of Moneyball as a film relating to baseball, they both
agree that the film draws the attention of baseball fans.
J.R. Jones and Peter Hartlaub have different views on the uniqueness of the film. Jones
begins his review by stating a difference from all other baseball movies, dramas about baseball
have always been steeped in romance. He gets the point across that this film is different from
the usual baseball movie because there is no love scene. The closest thing that is emotionally
appealing is when Beanes daughter sings The Show to him at a guitar store. Moneyball uses a
unique style of romance. In one of the beginning scenes, Pitt is quoted saying how can you not
be romantic about baseball?. However, Hartlaub thinks differently. When discussing the role of
Chad Bradford in the movie, he states that he's framed as a "Major League"/Ricky Vaughn
team savior. He has no doubts that Moneyball, in fact, IS just like all baseball movies! Hartlaub
regards that the movie could have been better because The first 25 minutes masquerade as a
great movie. He thought that the directors sold themselves short with unneeded scenes, thus
making the moving a tad long for his liking. Jones disagrees with this as he loved the movie,
particularly Brad Pitts performance, and states that Pitt could wind up cheating himself out of
an Oscar this year. Jones believes that Brad Pitt is having a tremendous acting year, and that
Moneyball is one of his finest.
Jones and Hartlaub do agree that the film draws the attention of sports fans . Moneyball
does what it intended on doing: it brings in sports fans. Jones says that baseball focuses our
attention on individuals trying to realize their true potential, which is what makes the grand
slams so sweet and the strikeouts so bitter. Baseball is a game of beauty; it sets you up for

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failure, and teaches you how to overcome adversity. Hartlaub notes how Pitt never really seemed
interested in watching the games and how it appeals to our curiosity. The movie makes people
wonder why a general manager, and former MLB athlete, prefers working out over watching his
team play.
While Jones and Hartlaub do not agree on everything, they do have a few places of
common grounds about Moneyball. Personally, I thought this was a fantastic movie, but then
again, baseball has been my favorite sport since I was four years old. This movie suits well for
most sports fans because who doesnt love cheering for the so called Cinderella story? My
favorite scene from this movie was when a young Billy Beane was in a room of MLB scouts
discussing rather to go to college, or go play with the big boys. The scout said We're all told at
some time that we're too old to play the children's game. Some of us are told at 18, some of us
are told at 40. But we're all told. This part stuck with me particularly because I realized that all
good things come to an end at some point. I would recommend this movie if you have not seen it
yet, as it is one of my favorites.

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Works Cited
"Colorado Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, Jobs." - The Denver Post. N.p., n.d.
Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
"Home." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.