Recently I asked my friends on Facebook
to help me pick my next book to movie comparison. The choices were Moneyball and Catch Me if You Can. Moneyball was the overall favorite with
my friends. The book was written by Michael Lewis and the movie version was
directed by Bennett Miller. I was glad when this option was picked because I
have been a baseball fan since I was a little kid.
The full title of the book is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
and it gives a very in-depth look at how the Oakland A’s created a successful
team with a budget not even half of the New York Yankees. The GM of the A’s Billy
Beane has been involved with the major leagues since he was just a teenager. Once
a player, then a scout he is now in charge of putting together a winning team.
Instead of looking at the big stats of a player he with the help of Paul
DePodesta use sabermetrics to help find players that while costing much to sign
can get on base just as much as all stars. I really enjoyed the breakdown of
all the different player stats and how sabermetrics were originally created. The
book would also jump back and forth from time to time to Billy’s past and different
times of his baseball career whether they be in high school or the minor
leagues. The book also does a really good job of helping you picture the
excitement of a player when they make a big play or are even told they are
being signed.
I remember reading that this movie was a
passion project for Brad Pitt shortly before it opened in theaters. I am a fan
of Brad Pitt’s movies and if he is passionate about one I am usually immediately
interested in it. Bennett Miller did a good job of directing a movie with
baseball in it, but at times it didn’t feel like the focus of the movie was
about baseball and analyzing stats to find players. Billy’s family life is not
a big factor in the book but in the movie it is referenced at multiple times
even in the closing minutes of the movie. Another big difference in the movie
is the inclusion of Peter Brand. Peter Brand does not exist in the book but is
created for the movie to resemble Paul DePodesta who did not want his name used
in the film. The cast of actors for the movie do a very good job in their
roles. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Chris Pratt both turned in very solid
performances along with brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.
While the movie is enjoyable for a
sports fan there are a number of items missing from it that make the book such
a better option. The movie primarily focused on the offensive side of the
Oakland A’s and not the defense, namely the pitching staff. Yes they talk about
pitcher Chad Bradford and show him in the movie a bit, but they don’t discuss
his pitching style and history at all like in the book. The addition of a
family life for the main character was not necessary. This is supposed to be
about Baseball, not dealing with a tweenage daughter who plays guitar and
sounds like she could have a song on the soundtrack to the movie Juno.
One of the two biggest things that I
missed in the movie version was the discussions about the upcoming player draft
and who they would want to sign. In the book you can feel the excitement as
Billy waits to see if he can get the players he wants and in what order. One
moment he is disappointed that a player he was hoping to get will no longer be
available, but as soon as a team makes a move that they couldn’t have predicted
he is elated once again because his player will be available. I also missed the
bantering and deal making on the day of the trade deadline. There is a scene in
the movie that covers that day for about five minutes but in the book it is a
lot more intriguing as you picture Billy calling different teams to try and
make multi team trades. Billy’s history of trading for players one year and
trading them away the next is also included and I think helps show what a
General Manager really does when it comes to player management.
The
epilogue for the book is one part I went back and went through multiple times. Getting
to read about Jeremy Brown a player that no one wanted except for Billy and
Paul hitting a big time homerun was a perfect way to end it for me. The movie
tried to include it at the end but by then too much had changed from the book
to the movie. If someone was to walk up to Redbox and pick up this movie
without knowing anything about it, they will probably enjoy it. As a fan of
baseball movies I did enjoy it, but it was missing too much of the book to be a
truly good adaptation of the book.
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