Despite the fact that it (and, to be fair, the general narrative around Beane and the A’s, which always seems to ignore the fact that even after losing Damon, Isringhausen, and Giambi, that team was already really good!) ignores the reality of that 2002 team -- Mulder, Hudson, and Zito not getting a single mention is particularly egregious -- I do think Moneyball is the probably the best baseball movie ever made, not just the best baseball economics. Because it’s actually about the reality of baseball, not just using it as some vaguely-jingoistic background setting like most baseball movies are. Yes, it’s mostly math and logic and negotiation -- but then again, that’s what baseball often is. All numbers and logic puzzles and mind games punctuated by an occasional home run.
Plus, the use of This Will Destroy You’s “The Mighty Rio Grande” is one of the greatest needle drops in cinema history. I don’t think the movie gets nominated for Best Picture without that song, I really don’t.
Zaillian probably deserves most of the credit for the script. Sorkin was the name, but it really does not feel like a Sorkin script at all (and I’m pretty sure Zaillain wrote the drafts both preceding and succeeding Sorkin).
As a Yankee fan, I also thought Joe Morgan had an anti-Yankee bias. Maybe he just had a generalized anti-modern baseball bias. Or just an anti-good broadcasting bias. But hey, now John Smoltz has taken his mantle as the most annoying national color commentator.
And my condolences on the likely imminent loss of the A’s. It’s a real black mark on MLB. Maybe San Jose will get an expansion team.
Can I tell you? I went back and forth about whether the mention the Hudson, Mulder, and Zito erasure. Because you're right. They were incredible. And, even more, they were still products of essentially the same approach: not one of them was a class flame-thrower. All they did was get people out.
I love your notes about Zaillian, too. A few lines are very Sorkinish, but I agree: it does not feel like one of his scripts.
And goodness: I was unaware that Yankee fans were as tired of Joe Morgan as A's fans were.
Despite the fact that it (and, to be fair, the general narrative around Beane and the A’s, which always seems to ignore the fact that even after losing Damon, Isringhausen, and Giambi, that team was already really good!) ignores the reality of that 2002 team -- Mulder, Hudson, and Zito not getting a single mention is particularly egregious -- I do think Moneyball is the probably the best baseball movie ever made, not just the best baseball economics. Because it’s actually about the reality of baseball, not just using it as some vaguely-jingoistic background setting like most baseball movies are. Yes, it’s mostly math and logic and negotiation -- but then again, that’s what baseball often is. All numbers and logic puzzles and mind games punctuated by an occasional home run.
Plus, the use of This Will Destroy You’s “The Mighty Rio Grande” is one of the greatest needle drops in cinema history. I don’t think the movie gets nominated for Best Picture without that song, I really don’t.
Zaillian probably deserves most of the credit for the script. Sorkin was the name, but it really does not feel like a Sorkin script at all (and I’m pretty sure Zaillain wrote the drafts both preceding and succeeding Sorkin).
As a Yankee fan, I also thought Joe Morgan had an anti-Yankee bias. Maybe he just had a generalized anti-modern baseball bias. Or just an anti-good broadcasting bias. But hey, now John Smoltz has taken his mantle as the most annoying national color commentator.
And my condolences on the likely imminent loss of the A’s. It’s a real black mark on MLB. Maybe San Jose will get an expansion team.
Can I tell you? I went back and forth about whether the mention the Hudson, Mulder, and Zito erasure. Because you're right. They were incredible. And, even more, they were still products of essentially the same approach: not one of them was a class flame-thrower. All they did was get people out.
I love your notes about Zaillian, too. A few lines are very Sorkinish, but I agree: it does not feel like one of his scripts.
And goodness: I was unaware that Yankee fans were as tired of Joe Morgan as A's fans were.