Moneyball "Game Changer"

1) What was the “Moneyball”approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion). The Moneyball approach that they applied was that they wanted to get players who had not necessarily good playing styles, but how their OBP was. Moneyball was a science because it dealt with putting in numbers into the computer and coming up with an overall percentage for the player. The single statistic that they really stuck with was the fact that the player could get on base and not that he wasn’t good in the field.

2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion) The equation to calculate OBP is

OBP= H+BB+HBP
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AB+BB+HBP+SF
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion) Design is a creative/innovative way to come up with an idea and then put it into play.


4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design I like dick Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 – Hired Peter Brant for a solution for his team. Refining approach based on his first attempt.

2 – Fired Giambi and went against Moneyball technique. Tested and evaluated player.

3 – Traded players in order to make a better approach to winning games. Created more made new decision.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)

1 – Being able to make decisions without other peoples input. Direction
2 – Alignment
3 – Explaining decisions made toward the team and how to become a better player. Commitment

6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 – When Billy Beane went into the clubhouse and told the players how they should feel about losing.

2 – When Peter Brant came in early on the first day to get work done and be productive.

3 –When Peter Brant fired a player and had him traded to the Tigers.

7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? 68 : 51

8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? 1.33 : 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? 20 games won.

10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)The odds of winning 20 games in a row would take 477 years to make that possible.

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach? I think that in some parts they got lucky but also the moneyball technique was very helpful as well.

12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team. Billy Beane did apply the moneyball approach as a science but he also applied and art to it as well when he decided to trade players.

Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing? Michael Lewis wrote the book Moneyball and he also wrote Blindside: The evolution of the Game. I think that the theme to his writing would have to deal with sports and maybe the economic aspect of baseball.