This was one of the best stories of all-time.
For those that still think Beane is overrated, I remind you:
Billy Beane: Well, I was grateful for the call.
John: You were grateful?
Billy Beane: Yeah.
John Henry (Rd Sox Owner): For forty one million, you built a playoff team. You lost Damon, Giambi, Isringhausen, Pena and you won more games without them than you did with them. You won the exact same number of games that the Yankee’s won, but the Yankee’s spent one point four million per win and you paid two hundred and sixty thousand. I know you’ve taken it in the teeth out there, but the first guy through the wall. It always gets bloody, always. It’s the threat and not just the way of doing business, but in their minds it’s threatening the game. But really what it’s threatening is their livelihoods, it’s threatening their jobs, it’s threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it’s the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the people are holding the reins, have their hands on the switch. They will bet you’re crazy. I mean, anybody who’s not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they’re dinosaurs. They’ll be sittin’ on their ass on the sofa in October, watch the Boston Red Sox win the world series.
[he takes out a paper from his coat pocket and puts it in front of Billy]
Billy Beane: What’s this?
John: I want you to be my General Manager. That’s my offer.
http://www.moviequotesandmore.com/moneyball-movie-quotes-1.html#.Tv7MI9QS2Ag they made a lot of mistakes which I have started to change
[Peter shows Billy a tape of an Orioles game]
Peter Brand: The Visalia Oaks and our two hundred and forty pounds catcher, Jeremy Brown, who as you know is scared to run to second base. This is in the game six weeks ago. This guy is gonna start him off with a fast ball. Jeremy’s gonna take him to deep center.
[tape shows Jeremy hitting the ball and starts running and Peter pauses the tape]
Peter Brand: Here’s what’s really interesting. Because Jeremy is gonna do what he never does, he’s gonna go for it. He’s gonna round first and he’s gonna go for it. Okay?
[he starts the tape again and Billy watches it closely]
Peter Brand: This is all Jeremy’s nightmare’s coming to life.
Billy Beane: Ah, they’re laughing at him.
Peter Brand: And Jeremy’s about to find out why.
[he pauses the tape again]
Peter Brand: Jeremy is about to realize that the ball went sixty feet over the fence. He hit a home run and didn’t even realize it.
[after Peter has showed him the tape of Jeremy Brown hitting a home run]
Billy Beane: How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Peter Brand: It’s a metaphor.
Billy Beane: I know it’s a metaphor.
[Billy gets up to leave]
Billy Beane: Okay. Pete, you’re a good egg. I’ll call you.
[last lines; Billy is driving his truck listening to a CD his daughter made for him]
Casey Beane: Uh…hey, dad. This is the song you asked me to record. Please don’t show it anyone else. Uh… let me know if you change your mind and stay in California. If not, you were (a?) really great dad.
[end title states Billy turned down the Red Sox’s offer of 12.5 million dollars and stayed as the GM of the Oakland A’s. Two years later, the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, using the same model Billy pioneered and Billy is still trying to win the last game]
He’s only got a 40 Million payroll and he’s doing the impossible every year, as a loyal GM to Oakland.
I’d love to see people credit him for constructing all those parts without petty cash to toss around. That takes skill across the board as a GM – staying ahead of your young players salary’s, drafting, scouting, finding a quantity of fits, not just a few, and a commitment to this process. He doesn’t get to relax – he goes through these same motions every day.
……………..it’s the american way to reshape america’s game, think outside the box or hell, build a better box. It’s doing what you want with what you got and getting people to believe they can do something different without all the wheels coming off. It takes a yard of guts to admit you can’t do what you thought and retool and go forward without all the crybaby whining………………like the man said the first one through the wall always gets bloody………………..but if we can’t take a little bloddy nose then we all better go and hide under our beds cause its not safe and secure out there.