What was your favorite part of Moneyball? Why?
My favorite part of the film Moneyball is the Oakland Athletics’ 20th game after their 19-game winning streak, and they are off to a great start beating the Kansas City Royals 11 runs to none. Billy Beane, Oakland’s manager, who never watches their games as he is scared to jinx them, comes back to watch the Athletics play for the first time. When the Royals come up to bat, the Athletics’ confidence and cooperation starts wavering and slowly Kansas City started slowly catching up to Oakland. The second the score is tied 11 to 11, it is Oakland’s turn to bat and Art Howe, the head coach of the Athletics, makes a big decision. He motions for Scott Hatteberg, a defensive player to grab a bat and get on the field, and with a confused face he does as he is told. Hatteberg gets ready to bat and the stadium goes silent; the fans nervous and fellow players hesitant. As the Royals pitch the ball in slow motion Hatteberg hits the ball and it soars high into the air, landing in the crowd and earning the Athletics’ a home run and they win, a surprisingly high score of 12 to 11. This was my favorite part of the film because it seemed like Billy Beane really had jinxed the team, the music was sad and everything looked terrible for the Oakland As. But when Howe makes the decision to let Scott Hatteberg bat and he wins the game for the team, it shows how amazing this team is and how deserving they are of a now 20 game winning streak.
To what extent would you say that Beane was a courageous leader? What are some examples and how much did courage culminate in better results?
Billy Beane was definitely a courageous leader, to what extent is up for debate. The one thing that sets him apart from anyone else who was a part of the Oakland Athletics and their success is how he truly believed in his ideas and philosophies, and even when no one supported him he didn’t lose confidence in himself. It’s a good thing his confidence didn’t waver because his ideas were the reason why the Oakland Athletics had a huge comeback. His courage to let go of his best players such as Carlos Pena and other main players on the Athletics, although it looked like he had given up on the team, it really allowed for them to thrive. People criticized his decisions to change the team’s roster, but later complimented his courage. Billy Beane’s decisions changed the face of baseball forever, but if he had listened to the mean comments people constantly threw at him, nothing would ever have changed.
There are a number of times when the team’s manager, Art Howe, defies Billy’s requests for line-up changes. Each is trying to put the best possible team on the field, but they are using two different paradigms for making those decisions. How does Billy handle Art’s defiance and, given that Billy is Art’s boss, what do you think of Billy’s approach?
The two had completely different philosophies on what would make the Oakland Athletics successful in the Major League Baseball Association. Art Howe, the main coach of the Athletics, coached with a very traditional approach, playing the players with the most experience, while Billy Beane the team’s general manager was focused on a very new approach, not yet used in the sport of baseball. Billy used a philosophy from a book he read called Moneyball, and used statistics and math done by his assistant Peter Brand to pick players and help his team perform the best possible. Howe’s line-ups were as they always were, the all-star players who didn’t seem to care as much anymore. Billy used his statistics and did have a higher position but I felt Howe and Beane should have worked together rather than dispute the line ups, but personally I feel it is ultimately the head coach's job to pick and choose the lineups.