Moneyball: It’s all about Billy Beane

Posted on September 21, 2011

Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane watches spring training camp at Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona on February 24, 2005. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

The first time I even knew that Billy Beane existed was when I saw legendary Sports Illustrated photographer V.J. Lovero’s picture of him displayed two pages across the table of contents in the magazine in 1989. He was a nobody player on a star-studded team. The reason he was in Sports Illustrated? Quite simple. V.J. had nailed him hitting the baseball tight horizontally with a 400mm lens from the inside first base spot at the Oakland Coliseum with the ball squished on the bat. I didn’t know who Beane was and I did not care. All I knew was that the picture was amazing and I wanted to be V.J.!

Fast forward a decade or so later and Beane was the A’s general manager and I was covering the team regularly for Sports Illustrated and Major League Baseball. It is no secret that I am not, and never have been, an A’s fan. Growing up in Fremont it was hard rooting for the crappy Giants as the A’s won three straight world titles in ’72, ’73, and ’74. As I grew older and made my living photographing the game I loved my hatred for the green and gold disappeared. They were more fun to photograph when they were good, and man were they ever fun to photograph beginning in 1999! Led by Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez, and Miguel Tejada offensively, it was apparent that this club was going places. Once the young pitching staff, anchored by Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito came along the frat-house A’s were destined for great things. The architect of this great club? Billy Beane of course!

The A’s made post-season runs in both 2000 and 2001, but after they lost Giambi to the Yankees via free agency no one knew how well the 2002 club would hold up. This is the miracle team that ran of 20 straight victories that is featured in the new movie being released this Friday from Sony Pictures entitled “Moneyball.” The movie is an adaptation of the best-selling book by the same name written by Michael Lewis in 2003. The book was a fascinating read that looked at how a small market team like the A’s could compete against the rich teams like the Yankees by using numeric formulas and stats to draft, trade and sign free agents. Since Beane did not have a large payroll at his disposal he had to find diamonds in the rough. Because of this strategy and it’s success (although short-lived) Beane finds himself played by Brad Pitt in a major motion picture that hardly even mentions the stars, yet focuses on the bit players like Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg.

I have not seen the movie yet, but I am excited for the release and plan on watching it very soon. I have always been fascinated by Beane. He is a terrific interview whenever he is on radio or television (even though he rarely says anything) as his entertaining answers are not just about baseball, but other things going on around the world. The clips I have seen are very cool, and it appears that Pitt has done a good job of capturing the charismatic Beane on the big screen. I am not an A’s fan, but I am excited about this film. If I was an A’s fan I think I would be going nuts about the national exposure this movie will be giving the green and gold. I would also feel a little sad that the great teams from 10 years ago didn’t win it all.