Money Ball Movie Discussion

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? - The money ball approach was a very scientific and statistic based approach. They picked players only based on their number, not what they look like how how they act. The one statistic they based it on was the players OBP, On Base Precentage

3) What is design? - Design, in my own words, is identifying a problem and trying to fix that problem in the best way possible. In essence, it is to create something functional in the best, easiest, most cost effective way possible.


4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 - Billy sitting at the table telling everyone to identify the problem. You have to be aware of the exact problem before you can even think about a solution.

2 - When Billy traded Giambi he fixed part of the problem because that player was keeping others from functioning at their highest potential.

3 - Billy bought Jonah hill's character, knowing that he could help fix the money issue.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class.
1 - When you say something, people respect it and they listen withought question
2 - A leader is someone who you can put your faith in
3 - Leadership is putting your own ass on the line for what you believe in.


6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 - Beane

2 -

3 -



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)? 68:119

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. .57 to the 20th power = .000013

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach? There is no way, with those numbers, that they got lucky. You cant leave that up to chance, like in black jack they beat the system with MoneyBall.


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. - For the most part, it was strictly science. he set emotion and feeling aside and stuck to the numbers. The only time he strayed from the approah was when he cut Giambi, he did that to increase moral and productivity in the team.