Moneyball (2011) quotes
Director
Bennett Miller.
Cast
Brad Pitt.
Robin Wright.
Jonah Hill.
Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball. This kind of thing, it’s fun for the fans. It sells tickets and hot dogs. Doesn’t mean anything.
– Billy Beane
Billy, we just won twenty games in a row.
– Peter Brand
And what’s the point?
– Billy Beane
We just got the record.
– Peter Brand
Man, I’ve been doing this for… listen, man. I’ve been in this game a long time. I’m not in it for a record, I’ll tell you that. I’m not in it for a ring. That’s when people get hurt. If we don’t win the last game of the Series, they’ll dismiss us.
– Billy Beane
Billy…
– Peter Brand
I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we’ve done here, none of it’ll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They’re drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team… we’ll have changed the game. And that’s what I want. I want it to mean something.
– Billy Beane
How can you not get romantic about baseball?
– Billy Beane
When your enemy’s making mistakes, don’t interrupt him.
– Billy Beane
I’m not gonna fire you, Grady.
– Billy Beane
Fuck you, Billy.
– Grady Fuson
Now I will.
– Billy Beane
Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?
– Billy Beane
Are those my only two options?
– Peter Brand
If you lose the last game of the season, nobody gives a shit.
– Billy Beane
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 Yankees won, but the Yankees 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 of 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 go bat shit crazy. I mean, anybody who’s not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they’re dinosaurs. They’ll be sitting on their ass on the sofa in October, watching the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.
– John Henry
We’re all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children’s game, we just don’t… 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.
– Scout Barry
Billy, this is Chad Bradford. He’s a relief pitcher. He is one of the most undervalued players in baseball. His defect is that he throws funny. Nobody in the big leagues cares about him, because he looks funny. This guy could be not just the best pitcher in our bullpen, but one of the most effective relief pitchers in all of baseball. This guy should cost $3 million a year. We can get him for $237,000.
– Peter Brand
The Visalia Oaks and our 240 lb catcher Jeremy Brown, who as you know, scared to run to second base. This was in a game six weeks ago. This guy is going to start him off with a fastball. Jeremy’s going to take him to deep center. Here’s what’s really interesting, because Jeremy’s gonna do what he never does. He’s gonna go for it. He’s gonna around first and he’s gonna go for it. Okay?
– Peter Brand
This is all Jeremy’s nightmares coming to life.
– Peter Brand
Awwww, they’re laughing at him.
– Billy Beane
And Jeremy’s about to find out why. Jeremy’s about to realize that the ball went 60 feet over the fence. He hit a home run and didn’t even realize it.
– Peter Brand
I pay you to get on first, not get thrown out at second.
– Billy Beane
There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. I apologize.
– Peter Brand
Go on.
– Billy Beane
Okay. People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. You’re trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who’s worth seven and half million dollars a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is… is… an imperfect understanding of where runs come from. The guy’s got a great glove. He’s a decent leadoff hitter. He can steal bases. But is he worth the seven and half million dollars a year that the Boston Red Sox are paying him? No. No. 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-I’m-I’m a leper. So that’s why I’m-I’m cagey about this with you. That’s why I… I respect you, Mr. Beane, and if you want full disclosure, I think it’s a good thing that you got Damon off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.
– Peter Brand
You get on base, we win. You don’t, we lose. And I *hate* losing, Chavy. I *hate* it. I hate losing more than I even wanna win.
– Billy Beane