'Moneyball' movie quotes include some of the best lines from Brad Pitt, who plays real-life Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in the film. Beane's unique system of scouting and evaluating players helped to change the game of baseball. If your favorite 'Moneyball' quote isn't on this list, add it!
'Moneyball' is based on the best-selling book 'Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game' by Michael Lewis (who also wrote 'The Blind Side'). Love him or hate him, few can deny that Billy Beane's sabermetric approach to baseball did get everyone's attention. How do you take a team of total underdogs and make them winners? Beane's system.
'Moneyball' features an all-star cast, led by Brad Pitt, but also including Jonah Hill (as the Ivy League wiz who helps Beane come up with a formula to get players), Philip Seymour Hoffman (as A's manager, Art Howe) and Robin Wright. In January of 2012, 'Moneyball' received multiple Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Pitt), Best Supporting Actor (Hill) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Scout: "We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't...we don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told."
The scout's comment comes as he's meeting with a young Billy Beane's parents about an opportunity to play pro ball for the New York Mets. Billy has a full ride to Stanford, but the Mets are making him a huge offer. The scout is explaining that time is wasting - that if he wants to play professional ball, every year counts.
Billy Beane: "The problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us. It's an unfair game."
This quote sums things up nicely. The Oakland A's are a less-than-poor team when Billy Beane becomes the general manager. What can he do to change things? A lot.
Billy Beane: "I need more money." Oakland A's Owner: "We're not New York. Find players with the money that we do have."
This particular quote includes the cameo appearance by Activision Blizzard CEO Robert (Bobby) Kotick (playing the owner of the Oakland A's).
And Beane's right - he definitely needs more money to compete with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees of the world. Those teams have seemingly endless supplies of cash to purchase the best players (sometimes from the A's) and put together championship-caliber teams.
John Henry (to Billy): ""I know you are taking it in the teeth, but the first guy through the wall... he always gets bloody, always. This is threatening not just a way of doing business. In their minds, it's threatening the game. Really, what it's threatening is their livelihood, their jobs. It's threatening the way they do things. And every time that happens, whether it's the government, a way of doing business, whatever, the people who are holding the reins - they have their hands on the switch - they go bats**t crazy."
Billy Beane's meeting with Boston Red Sox owner John Henry (at Fenway, no less!) is an important one. Henry gets it. He knows exactly what Billy is doing, and why. He sees him as a pioneer who's willing to stick his neck out and make changes. He knows, because Henry and the Red Sox are doing the same thing. And they'll eventually break that dreaded Bambino curse...
Billy Beane: "We are card counters at the blackjack table. And we're gonna turn the odds on the casino."
Beane's truly unconventional approach to scouting and trading baseball players sets the entire baseball world on it's collective ear. Does it work? Watch the movie!
Peter Brand: "Hey, Billy. 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: "Forty seven." Billy Beane: "Okay." Peter Brand: "Actually, fifty one. I don't know why I lied just then."
Jonah Hill gives a fantastic performance as Billy Beane's new assistant in 'Moneyball.' He's fresh out of Yale and eager to please - an overachiever.
Art Howe: "Do you agree with this?" Peter Brand: "100 percent. Do you want the door open or closed?"
Oakland A's manager Art Howe thinks Billy is out of his mind by throwing out the old way of doing things and going with Peter's approach. The lineup card is his. Pena starts at first. Or so he thinks...
Stephen Schott: "We're not gonna compete with these teams that have big budgets. We're gonna work with the constraints that we have and you're gonna get out and do the best job that you can recruiting new players. We're not gonna pay seventeen million dollars a year to players." Billy Beane: "I'm not asking you for ten, twenty, thirty million dollars. I'm just asking for a little bit of help. Just get me a little bit closer and I will get you that championship team. I mean, this is why I'm here. This is why you hired me. And I gotta ask you: What are we doing here?"
Billy's meeting with A's co-owner Stephen Schott doesn't go the way he'd hoped. Over time, however, once Peter starts working with the team, he makes some progress - including getting relief pitcher Ricardo Rincon.
Peter Brand (to Billy): "Baseball thinking is medieval, they are asking all the wrong questions and if I say it to anybody I'm...I'm ostracized. I'm a rebel, so that's why I'm...I'm cagey about this with you, that's why I respect you Mr. Beane and if you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing you got Damon off of your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities."
Peter explains to Billy that people running baseball clubs are thinking in terms of buying players - not buying wins. This change, Peter believes, will change the fate of the Oakland A's.
Billy Beane: "I made one decision in my life based on money. And I swore I would never do it again."
When Billy gets a huge offer from a "big money" MLB team, it's tempting. But he remembers a decision years earlier - when he took the money to play pro baseball and turned down a full ride to Stanford. That decision haunts him.
Scott Hatteberg: "I've only ever played catcher." Billy Beane: "It's not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash." Ron Washington: "It's incredibly hard.
This is a great, funny moment in 'Moneyball,' when Billy is trying to sign Scott Hatteburg (catcher) to play first base for him with the A's. Coach Ron Washington thinks Billy's out of his mind, but he tries to go along anyway - up to a point.
David Justice: "What's your biggest fear?" Scott Hatteberg: "A baseball being hit in my general direction." David Justice: "That's funny. Seriously, what is it?" Scott Hattegburg: "No, seriously, that is..." (walks out of the break room) David Justice: "Well hey, good luck with that!"
When Billy asks David Justice to be a leader for the team, he tries to bond a little with catcher-turned-first baseman Scott Hatteburg who is, understandably, freaked out about playing the position.
Billy Beane: "I think the question we should be asking is: Do you believe in this thing, or not?" Peter Brand: "I do."
Billy Beane has everything to lose - his job, his daughter's college fund. He's willing to lay it all on the line to implement Peter's ideas. Now he needs to know that Peter is all in, too.
Billy Beane: "I pay you to get on first, not to get thrown out at second."
The bottom line here: Billy has recruited players for the A's who get on base more than other players. For Peter's system to work, these players must get on base and STAY on base, instead of stealing and getting out (and not getting the runs they need).
Peter Brand: "People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws: Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and Mathematics cuts straight through that. Billy, of the twenty thousand notable players for us to consider, I believe that there's a championship team of twenty five people that we can afford. Because everyone else in baseball under values them - like and island of misfit toys."
This quote is a classic example of how Peter's system works: Find the players that other teams don't want or don't care to pay the big bucks, and snag them for the A's. As a result, Billy assembles a sort of Island of Misfit Toys team for very little money (relatively speaking).
Billy Beane: ""I'm not gonna fire you, Grady." Grady Fuson: ""F**k you, Billy." Billy Beane: ""Now I will.""
Grady Fuson was the A's head of scouting when Billy Beane presented and implemented his new system (well, Peter's system). Fuson bristled at the idea and eventually, he blew up at Billy over it and got fired. FYI: Grady Fuson was back with the Oakland A's in 2010, working as Beane's adviser.
David Justice: "Why doesn't your boss travel with the team?" Peter Brand: "He doesn't like to mingle with the players." David Justice: "Is that supposed to make us easier to cut?"
David Justice's direct question to Peter on a flight to a game shows he's a veteran who knows how professional baseball works. And he's absolutely right: Billy doesn't fraternize with the team because he knows he'll have to cut people, and being friendly with them would make that harder to do.
And also? David Justice is really mad about the dollar soda machine....
Billy Beane: ""Who are you?" Peter Brand: ""I'm Peter Brand." Billy Beane: ""I don't give a rats a** what you're name is. What happened in there? What happened in that room?!""
When Billy's negotiations with Mark Shapiro and Cleveland don't go well, realizes that one reason he didn't get a certain player, Garcia, is because of Peter Brand. He seeks him out to find out what's going on - and wonders why on EARTH Peter would like Garcia. Billy's decision to track Brand down will change the course of the A's and the game of baseball.
Billy Beane: "Would you rather get a bullet to the head five to the chest and bleed to death?" Peter Brand: "Are those my only two options?"
Billy uses this analogy to explain how and why he lets players go the way he does - quickly. Tell them they're cut, and get them out the door to minimize the pain. They're professionals, they'll understand. "No fluff, just facts."
Billy Beane: "David, you're 37. How about you and I be honest about what each of us want out of this? I want to milk the last ounce of baseball you got in you, and you want to stay in the show. Let's do that. Now, I'm not paying you for the player you used to be - I'm playing you for the player you are right now. You're smart, you get what we're trying to do here. Make an example for the younger guys, be a leader. Can you do that?" David Justice: "Alright, I got you."
Billy has a heart to heart with David Justice, explaining that he really needs him to step up and be a true team leader. He also diplomatically (ahem) points out that he's not really paying him the true big bucks - and neither are the Yankees. David's time to be "told" he can no longer play the game is coming. For now, though, he's got a chance, as Billy says, to stay "in the show."
Peter Brand: "Your goal shouldn't be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins. In order buy wins, you need to buy runs."
In 'Moneyball,' Jonah Hill plays Peter Brand, Billy Beane's assistant with the Oakland A's. Brand is a pseudonym for Paul DePodesta, the real-life former A's assistant GM who uses sabermetric principles in baseball.
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A's Scout: "I like Perez."BUY @ amazon
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