Money Ball Reflection

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? (In class research/discussion)

Their approach to the 2002 season was to asssemble a team that would win games and championships on a small budget.  It was a science, and the one stat that they valued the most was OBP.


2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)

The equation for OBP is (Hits + Walks + Hit by Pitch) / (At Bats + Walks + Hit by Pitch + Sacrifice Flies).


3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)

Design is a plan designed to improve something.


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 -When Billy and his scouts were discussing which players they liked and didnt like, brainstorm step.2 - They identified their constraints when Billy talked to his owner about their budget.3 - Billy refined his design when he traded Jeremy Giambi and Carlos Pena away.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)

1 - The ability to lead
2 - When your peers respect you
3 - Making smart decisions


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

1 - Billy went against the scouts judgement and signed players like Giambi, Justice, and Bradford.

2 -  Fired the head scout who was very opposed to Billy's methods.

3 - Traded for Rincon when they needed a left handed reliever



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)?

 1.33: 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak?

20games 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. (In class research/discussion)

They had .000013chance to win 20 games in a row.

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?

You cant predict 20 game winning streaks, no matter how good your statistics are.

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.

There wasnt really an art to his methods, and one instance where he broke away from the moneyball method was when he traded away jeremy giambi and traded for ricardo rincon.

Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?

The author of moneyball is Micheal Lewis.  He has written some other books like The Blind Side.