Disengenuious Perhaps?
October 24, 2011
No doubt this is an entertaining and even fun movie to watch. I couldn’t help smelling conspiracy, however. Is it possible that between the hard cracking business dealings of Billy Bean and his self promotional movie, there lurks something that is…well, false? Consider:
- Is is completely genuine for Johnny Damon to be heralded as the Oakland Athletics franchise player who broke their hearts because he wasn’t affordable? (There is a true story here but it isn’t located in Oakland California).
- Is it completely genuine to suggest that the Oakland A’s won so many games during the 02 season with a team full of “Undervalued” players? (I seem to remember the likes of Jermaine Dye and Miguel Tejada on that team…funny they were never mentioned).
- Is is completely genuine for Billy Bean to take credit for the Boston Red Sox’s curse breaking World Series Win when that team was led by players such as the aforementioned high-priced Johnny Damon? (One among many to comprise one of the highest payrolls in MLB).
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October 25, 2011 at 12:47 am
Saw the movie. Enjoyed the book. Baseball fairy tales aren’t nuanced and filled with tension. They are spectacular and leave the subtleties and potential hypocrisies for the academy. As a self-admitted movie consumer (rather than critic), I was wrapped up in the story of it all. You gave me some food-for-thought.
October 25, 2011 at 2:47 pm
JP – yes, it was an engaging film. Food For Thought – that’s all this is…
October 27, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Disingenuous? Perhaps. If I remember the book, (and it’s been several years) It focused more on drafting philosophies. 8 of the players that were drafted by the A’s in 2002 played in the Major Leagues in 2011.
We traded Johnny Damon to the A’s. He left them in free agency. I think we did plan to resign him in free agency, and actually offered him $1 million more (total) in a 4 year contract than Boston did. Our offer was early, and he turned it down, thinking he would get more.
The A’s payroll was $8 million less than the Royals in 2002. Tejada was drafted and developed by them. Dye’s destination in the trade for he who must not be named was actually Oakland. It was a three team trade and the A’s sent 3 players who would not play a full season between them to the Rockies to complete the deal.
Barely mentioned in the film was that the 2002 team was led by 3 young homegrown pitchers (Hudson, Zito, Mulder) and a good 4th starter in Cory Lidle (who, along with starting 2nd baseman Mark Ellis, came to the A’s in addition to Johnny Damon in that trade.) They also got Ray Durham and cash in mid season from the White Sox for basically nothing.(Trivia: former Royal Esteban German played on the 2002 A’s and now is in the World Series as a utility guy.)
I know Epstein gives Beane credit. I have not heard of Beane taking it. Epstein obviously had more money to work with, and spent a lot of money on free agent pitching instead of developing it, but you can see the philosophy of underrated guys who get on base filling out that 2004 team. Bill Mueller, David Ortiz, (a part time player when they signed him) Mark Bellhorn, Kevin Youkilis etc.
I enjoyed the movie, but thought it was made so that a non baseball fan would enjoy it.
I though the guy that played Mike Sweeney looked about 40 and too small.
When going through some old VCR tapes a few years ago, (when we were getting rid of our last VCR) I came across a tape of the A’s 20th win featured in the movie, where the Royals came from 11 runs down to tie the game, only to lose it in the bottom of the ninth. It was enjoyable to watch the comeback again, but I stopped it after the top of the ninth when we tied it. In that inning, the Royals gave away an out on a bunt, and made the third out of the inning when Luis Alicea inexplicably tried to steal third with 2 outs. Typical.