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)
They were given a fraction of the salary cap that most MLB teams have to work with, and were faced with the challenge of replacing two great players. They decided to rather than replace them, they decided to rebuild the team completely around a bunch of washed out and undervalued players because they have the stats that they want. Eventually, they bought most of their players on their ability to get on base (OBP).
2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
Hits+Walks+Hit by Pitch/ at bats+ Sac flys+Walks+Hit by Pitch
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
Design is the process of developing a product that is both attractive and functional.
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 - Peter Brandt watched film after every game. This represents the "Test/evaluate" phase because he watches how the "prototype" functioned in the test (the game)
2 - Billy Beane forces scouts to remember the first step: Define The Problem. The scouts started throwing out names before they even recognized the problem.
3 - 20 game winstreak- Communicate your results because they prefered not to talk to the media about what they were doing, and they let the winstreak speak for them.
5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)
1 - Effective direction of units.
2 -Two way respect
3 - A vision of success
6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 - Billy Beane fires 2 players without the agreement of the Peter because he believes they are truly not right for the team no matter what their stats are.
2 - The coach gives the hurt first basemen a chance to pinch-hit in the 9th inning of their 20th game.
3 -Billy Beane begins to create a stronger relationship with his players.
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)? 1.5:1
9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? 20 games 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)
.0000000088% chance
11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
The probability is far to low for it to occur by random chance in the relatively short amount of time the Athletics had been playing professional baseball in the modern era. The moneyball approach definintley assisted the odds greatly.
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.
No, Peter used strict science, but Billy, having previous experience, understood and could recognize when a player was wrong for the team, like Jeremy Giambi, whom he fired.
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?
Moneyball was written by Michael Lewis in 2003. He also wrote the book that the film "The Blind Side" Is based on. His writing has a theme of implementing revolutionary ideas in radical ways and the ways that people have done it and how we should improve and follow the models of certain people he believes "got it right".
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