Moneyball - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Moneyball or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Moneyball

[claude]

Billy Beane is portrayed as a lonely divorcé. In real life, he had remarried. Scenes were shot with Kathryn Morris as his second wife, Tara. They didn't make the final cut, though they're included as Blu-ray extras. Brad Pitt's character still wears a wedding ring throughout the film.

[bryan]

To win the 20th consecutive game during the streak, the A's' closer Billy Koch blew the save in the top of the 9th by giving up the tying run. He then earned the win when Scott Hatteberg hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th. Koch saved 9 and earned the win in 3 games during the 20 game winning streak.

[harry]

One of the most persistently negative faceless voices attacking Beane's approach to team building in the film is performed by noted character actor Ron Canada. The character who gives a sharp rebuke to the A's after the climactic playoff loss, was intended to evoke the views of baseball traditionalist like Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. In fact Canada auditioned as a Morgan voice match. Director Bennett Miller worked with Canada, a hard core fan of the game over three recording sessions to portray the broadcast scoldings from the game's conservatives. Some of that dialog is the result of mock interviews of Canada's "character" by Miller in the recording studio.Though not credited, Canada is proud to have contributed something to what he calls "a sports film for grownups.".

[richard]

According to the book, the bat used by Hatteberg in the walk-off homer in was made by a company he did not have a deal with. He wasn't supposed to bat in that game and had borrowed the bat from a teammate earlier and grabbed it on his way out to pinch hit. He later got fined for using a different brand bat.

[terry]

Of all the Oakland players from the season represented in the movie (2002), the only one playing for Oakland in 2011 was Mark Ellis, who was traded away in the middle of the season.

[francisco]

The movie doesn't mention that the A's had three pitchers with 15 plus wins ( Mark Mulder 19, Tim Hudson 15, and Barry Zito 23) and two hitters with over 30 home runs and 100 runs battled in ( Eric Chavez 34/109, and Miguel Tejeda 34/131) In fact Miguel Tejeda was the American League Most Valuable Player for 2002.

[wesley]

Several of the Oakland A's radio announcers are heard throughout the movie, but are not credited: The legendary Bill King - whose signature line "HOLY TOLEDO" punctuates the Royals rally to tie the A's from an 11-0 start during what would become the 20th win in a row - is foremost among them. At various points from the 1950s until his death a few years ago, King called Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors, A's and early on San Francisco Giants games. Current Oakland Raiders announcer Greg Papa was also the television play-by-play announcer for the Oakland A's from 1989 to 2003 and is the host of the San Francisco Giants pre and post games shows. Also heard are Ken Korach, then King's second fiddle who later took over the #1 play-by-play role, and color man Ray Fosse, a veteran of the 1970s Oakland championship teams who continued to call games for the A's through the 2013 season. Scott Hatteberg sometimes fills in for Ray Fosse as a color commentator.

[carl]

The film's original director, Steven Soderbergh, intended to have all the baseball players portray themselves. When Columbia Pictures dropped the film, the script was later rewritten and the new director, Bennett Miller, hired actors.

[dustin]

The A's won the AL west again in 2012 with the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball and a record setting 54 wins by rookie pitchers. The season has been informally called "Moneyball 2" by fans and the press.

[kenzi]

David Justice is played by Stephen Bishop, a former pro baseball player. Bishop was a career Minor Leaguer, and as a Braves prospect was nicknamed Young Justice due to his physical resemblance and similar playing style to David Justice.

[nicholas]

Arliss Howard, who plays the owner of the Boston Red Sox, played the adult version of Scotty Smalls in The Sandlot (1993). Brad Pitt even gives the movie a nod when he mentions "the Great Bambino".

[albert]

A person named Scott calls Billy early in the film. He attempts (with questionable ethics) to get Billy to pay his client more money, with no success. This is most likely a reference to super agent Scott Boras, who has brokered record deals for his clients throughout the years.

[dustin]

Despite suggestions in the movie that Scott Hatteberg was a bad-fielding first baseman, he ended the year with a fielding percentage (.994) higher than the league average for his position (.993).

[victoria]

This is the first baseball movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award since Field of Dreams (1989).

[frances]

Director Bennett Miller was so impressed by Kerris Dorsey when she sang "The Show" by Lenka during her audition that he not only cast her as the protagonist's daughter but let her sing the 2008 song twice in the movie which was set in 2002, sacrificing its historical authenticity.

[willard]

Bill James, noted as the statistical influence for the main characters' analysis, is regarded by many to be the father of sabermetrics. This study of advanced baseball statistics is named after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), an organization to which James and other sabermetrics pioneers belong. The film puts a heavy emphasis upon on-base percentage (OBP), though concepts like wOBA, FIP, and BABIP are not mentioned.

[kylie]

When Chris Pratt auditioned for the role of Scott Hatteberg, he was told he was too fat. Pratt decided to lose weight before the role was cast. "I'd check, maybe, once a week," he recalls. "I'd say, 'They cast it yet?' And I would just keep working out. Finally I got in good enough shape that I took a picture of myself and sent it to my agent." He won the role.

[jamie]

Bennett Miller told a screening audience that A's assistant GM Paul DePodesta did not wish to have his real name used in the movie, but was very generously helpful during its making. While the filmmakers had no obligation to change his character's name (to Peter Brand), they did so willingly.

[sophie]

Close to the end of film, right after the scene where the Oakland A's lose to the Minnesota Twins, Billy Beane is seen in his house getting a phone call from what is later revealed to be the Boston Red Sox. Just before the phone rings, Beane is shown drinking some kind of liquid from a glass. But he doesn't finish it, stopping with just a sip remaining. The whole action was filmed intentionally and is intended to symbolize how Beane is just a "sip away" from achieving his goal (like being a step away from winning the championship with the A's).