Quotes

Dialogue

Peter Brand: What...what time is it? Billy Beane: I don't know. Pete, would you have taken me in the first round? Peter Brand: What? Billy Beane: After we talked, you looked me up. Would you have taken me in the first round? Peter Brand: Yeah, I looked you up. You...you were pretty good. Billy Beane: Cut the crap, Pete. Would you have taken me in the first round? Peter Brand: ...I would've taken you in the ninth round. No signing bonus. I think that would've convinced you to take that scholarship. Billy Beane: [brief pause] Pack your bags, Pete. I just bought you from the Cleveland Indians.

Dialogue

Peter Brand: I wanted you to see these player evaluations that you asked me to do. Billy Beane: I asked you to do three. Peter Brand: Yeah. Billy Beane: To evaluate three players Peter Brand: Yeah. Billy Beane: How many did you do? Peter Brand: 47. Billy Beane: Okay... Peter Brand: Actually, 51. I don't know why I lied just then.

Dialogue

Peter Brand: [Pointing to numbers on a white board] Using this equation in the upper left... I'm projecting that we need to win at least 99 games... in order to make it to the postseason. We need to score at least 814 runs in order to win those games... and allow no more than 645 runs. [Pulls out code from a computer] Billy Beane: What's this? Peter Brand: This is a code that I've written for our year-to-year projections. This is building in the intelligence that we have to project players. Billy Beane: Okay. Peter Brand: It's about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them... we'll find value in players that nobody else can see. People are overlooked... for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cut straight through that. Billy, of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team... of 25 people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball

Dialogue

Billy Beane: Guys, you're still trying to replace Giambi. I told you we can't do it, and we can't do it. Now, what we might be able to do is re-create him. Re-create him in the aggregate. Grady Fuson: The what? Billy Beane: Giambi's on-base percentage was .477. Damon's on-base, .324. And Olmedo's was .291. Add that up, and you get... [snapping his fingers and pointing at Pete] Peter Brand: Do you want me to speak? Billy Beane: When I point at you, yeah. Peter Brand: 1.092. Billy Beane: [snapping] Divided by three. Peter Brand: .364. Billy Beane: That's what we're looking for. Three ballplayers... three ballplayers whose average OBP is... [snapping] Peter Brand: .364.

Dialogue

Grady Fuson: Billy, can we talk? Billy Beane: Yeah. Billy Beane: You're unhappy, Grady. Why? Grady Fuson: [chuckles in disbelief] Wow. May I speak candidly? Billy Beane: Sure, go ahead. Grady Fuson: Major League Baseball and its fans, they're gonna be more than happy to throw you and Google boy under the bus if you keep doing what you're doing here. You don't put a team together with a computer, Billy. Billy Beane: No? Grady Fuson: No. Baseball isn't just numbers. It's not science. If it was, anybody could do what we do, but they can't cause they don't know what we know. They don't have our experience and they don't have our intuition. Billy Beane: [dismissively] Ok. Grady Fuson: Billy, you got a kid in there that's got a degree in Economics from Yale. You got a scout here with 29 years of baseball experience. You're listening to the wrong one. Now there are intangibles that only baseball people understand. You're discounting what scouts have done for 150 years, even yourself? Billy Be

Dialogue

Radio DJ #1: Alright we got Grady Fuson on the line, former head of scouting with the Oakland Athletics. And, Grady, can you interpret for us what's going on? Grady Fuson: They call it Moneyball. Radio DJ #1: Moneyball? Grady Fuson: Yes, and it was a nice theory, and now it's just not working out. Radio DJ #2: Billy Beane has built this team on the ideas of a guy, Bill James who wrote an interesting book on baseball statistics. The problem is that Bill James never played, never managed. He was in fact a security guard at a pork-and-beans company. Radio DJ #1: Do you see this as a decimation of the organization? Grady Fuson: I think that he bought a ticket on the Titanic. Radio DJ #1: Oh, boy. Radio DJ #2: He's tried to come up with a new approach. My hat's off to him. It won't work.

Dialogue

Billy Beane: Hatteberg at first... and anyone but Mags first out of the pen. Art Howe: You want Peña on the bench? Billy Beane: That's right. So you can play Hattie. Art Howe: Peña is not only the best first baseman... he's the only first baseman. Billy Beane: Hattie gets on base more than Peña. In fact, 20 percent more. Art Howe: And his fielding? Billy Beane: His fielding does not matter. Art Howe: I've heard enough of this. Billy Beane: Have you? Art Howe: And I... I disagree with you, plain and simple. And moreover, I'm playing my team in a way that I can explain in job interviews next winter.

Dialogue

Billy Beane: [Entering the office; to his secretary] Suzanne, get me Ed Wade on the phone. Suzanne: Okay. Billy Beane: Coffee on? Suzanne: Yes. Billy Beane: Good morning. Suzanne: Good morning, Billy. Peter Brand: [Sits down at Billy's desk] What's up? Suzanne: Wade's on 2. Billy Beane: [Answers the call on speakerphone] Ed? Ed Wade: Hello? Billy Beane: Ed, it's Billy. Ed Wade: What's up? Billy Beane: Look, I need a little help on defense. Ed Wade: Okay. Billy Beane: I'm willing to trade Jeremy Giambi for it. Ed Wade: [Intrigued] Really? Peter Brand: [In disbelief] What? Billy Beane: Mmm-hmm. Who do you got? Ed Wade: Well, let me think. Peter Brand: What are you doing? Billy Beane: [Mutes speakerphone; to Peter] Cleaning house. Ed Wade: Mabry? Billy Beane: [Unmutes speakerphone] Maybe what? Ed Wade: No, Mabry. Billy Beane: Hold on. [Mutes speakerphone, looks at Peter] Peter Brand: No. Billy Beane: Why not? Peter Brand: Because you can't trade Jeremy Giambi. Billy Beane: [Unmutes speake

Dialogue

Billy Beane: It's hard not to be romantic about baseball. This kind of thing, it's fun for the fans. It sells tickets and hot dogs. Doesn't mean anything. Peter Brand: Billy, we just won twenty games in a row. Billy Beane: And what's the point? Peter Brand: We just got the record. Billy Beane: Man, I've been doing this for... listen, man. I've been in this game a long time. I'm not in it for a record, I'll tell you that. I'm not in it for a ring. That's when people get hurt. If we don't win the last game of the Series, they'll dismiss us. Peter Brand: Billy... Billy Beane: I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here, none of it'll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They're drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team... we'll have changed the game. And that's what I want. I want it to mean something.

Dialogue

The A's going to the play-offs with the West Division title. Forgive the A's if they're not celebrating. They have been here before... when Oakland went up two games to none on the Yanks in the ALDS... and went nowhere after losing three straight. With a win today over the Twins, Oakland moves into the ALCS... for the first time since 1992.

Dialogue

John Henry: [Leading Beane through a tour of Fenway Park] Due respect to the Coliseum, but this is a ballpark. Billy Beane: Yes, it is.

Dialogue

John Henry: So why did you return my call? Billy Beane: Because it's the Red Sox. Because I believe science might offer an answer to the Curse of the Bambino. [Henry laughs] Because I hear you hired Bill James. John Henry: Yup. You know, why someone took so long to hire that guy is beyond me. Billy Beane: Well, baseball hates him. John Henry: Well, baseball can hate him, you know. One of the great things about money is that it buys a lot of things, one of which is the luxury to disregard what baseball likes, doesn't likes, what baseball thinks, doesn't think. Billy Beane: [Laughing] Sounds nice. Well, I was grateful for the call. John Henry: You were grateful? Billy Beane: Yeah. John Henry: For $41 million, you built a playoff team. You lost Damon, Giambi, Isringhausen, Peña, and you won more games without them than you did with them. You won the exact same number of games that the Yankees won, but the Yankees spent $1.4 million per win, and you paid $260,000. I know you are taking it

Dialogue

Billy Beane: I made one decision in my life based on money. And I swore I would never do it again. Peter Brand: You're not doing it for the money. Billy Beane: No? Peter Brand: No. You're doing it for what the money says. And it says what it says to any player that makes big money. That they're worth it.