It took three years but Mark Mulder has finally watched the movie Moneyball.
Based on Michael Lewis’s 2003 book, the film re-enacts the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics, showing how general manager Billy Beane created a competitive team with a low budget and data-driven analysis.
Mulder, now 36, had no reason for waiting so long to watch the 2011 movie but decided Wednesday night was the right time:
Former teammate Tim Hudson couldn’t believe that he had never seen the movie, which Mulder decided to live-tweet:
Within the first two minutes Mulder’s review wasn’t looking very positive:
Some actors in the movie included Brad Pitt, who played Beane, Jonah Hill, who played the fictional Peter Brand, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played manager Art Howe. Mulder seemed to find the casting decisions amusing:
But Mulder remembers Beane in a different way:
He did think one actor did a stellar job though:
And Mulder spotted a few inaccuracies. The first one arose when David Justice, a new arrival, was upset about having to pay for soda:
In the movie Jeremy Giambi parties after a loss which prompts Beane to enter the room in fury, but that may not have actually happened in real life:
Jonah Hill wanted to sit with the players on the flight in the film, but former Athletics executive Paul DePodesta would never do that according to Mulder:
Mulder who went 81-42 in his five years with the A’s, learned first-hand that Hollywood isn’t afraid of embellishing a good story:
But reminisced on the finer moments towards the end of the movie:
This tweet refers to the day the A’s earned a 12-11 victory over the Kansas City Royals for their 20th straight win. Hoffman’s role made Mulder appreciate one more thing from the 2002 season:
And Mulder’s final review of the movie…
