Sabermetrics and Success: A Moneyball Analysis

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A Legacy Everlasting in Moneyball
Hollywood’s reputation is known for their embellishment and exaggeration of reality. Every movie that is produced for Hollywood has its own spin of an inaccurate depiction. Although, this reputation does not mean that some of the movies produced are accurate with a few minor inaccurate traits. Moneyball is an example of an accurate movie based on the concepts of sabermetrics and statistical information on Major League Baseball batters and pitchers. This concept focuses on overlooked statistical information, including walks, on base percentage, and hit by pitches. Sabermetrics converted a dwindling and poor baseball team into one of the best major league teams in baseball at the time. Hollywood accurately depicted …show more content…

When they started selecting players, they “ended up going after players that other managers considered too old, too injured or too mediocre” (“Fresh Air” 1). This is completely accurate, they went after men in their thirties and men people thought were not good enough. In reality, these men were “one of the most undervalued players in baseball” (50:34-50:38). Once they had selected their players, the world exploded with questions and concerns, thinking the Athletics were insane. Other teams had opposing views and they “tended to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather than to pick a strategy that is most efficient" (Lewis 129). Yet, that was the goal of the Oakland Athletics, to succeed and be the best team in baseball. Whether it was in the same style of the other teams or not, their usage of sabermetrics was there to help them find the top players in the world, with the money they had. Although it may have seemed as if they were a “couple of whack jobs in the front office, doing something totally crazy… [but instead it was] sort of this is creative destruction that is going to change the industry” (“Morning Edition” 1). These worldwide concerns were eloquently shown in the movie by having radio spokesmen, recruiters, and other general managers express their thoughts and ideas about what the Athletics were doing with …show more content…

There will always be “rapid change in the business world and how there will always be people who resist change because it threatens them” (“Morning Edition” 1). This is extremely accurate to the integrity of not only the game, but also the business side of the Oakland Athletics program. Art Howe was an adequate example of the stereotypes and judgements that people had about sabermetrics; he was hesitant and did not trust the process they were trying to accomplish (57:33-58:28). It was not until he tested different athletes to “find ways to do things much better than they are currently done” (Lewis 71). Yet, he would have not tested new players if it was not for the results shown through sabermetrics, which demonstrated who should be on the field. This is accurate to the 2002 Athletics team because it demonstrates how not everyone was in agreeance with the statistical information. They were so successful “mostly by ignoring everything he'd been taught about the game” (Dargis 1). Having opposition was reasonable because the data tested boundaries and limits that had never been shown through recruitment of

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