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)The moneyball approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt was that they would use the on base percentage to determine who makes the team and who is best for the team. This way of picking players is more of a science but it does have some art to it to make the final decisions of who plays and who doesn't.
2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
The calculation of the OBP was
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
Design is making a detailed plan of something. This movie shows that by how they wanted to use the OBA and make a good team by doing that.
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 talks to Peter in the first time they talk one on one in the garage Billy is used step 6: Explore the possibilities because he is seeing what is making his team better.
2 -When Billy talks about the outcome and how he lost the last game and how it didn't matter if he did not win the last game this shows step 12: Communicate process and results.
3 - Another way when Billy shows us that he used a step is step 10: Refine the Design. Is when he fired Giambi. It was part of the system but because he had bad moral he had to fire him.
5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)
1 - Direction
2 -Alignment
3 - Commitment
6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 - Billy shows effective leadership when he moved Giambi because it was a better decision for the team.
2 - Peter also shows effective leadership when he travels with the team and has to defend his boss with the awkward questions that he got.
3 - Another way was when Billy fires Peta to get Hatterburg to play first even though it was bullying to get his way it was just as effective either way.
7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? _
76__ : _51__
8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? _
.67__ : 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)
The ratio of winning that many games in a row is 0.000037 and it would take 166 years to get a 20 game winning streak naturally.
11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
I think that it was a little bit of of both. I think that the moneyball system worked and helped them a lot but also I think it was some luck.
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.
I think that the moneyball system was mostly all science. I think that when he did this it mostly was always science but Billy did put some art in it like when he fired Giambi. The moenyball technique wanted Giambi to stay but he had to fire him because he didn't help the team.
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 originally a book by Micheal Lewis. Micheal Lewis also have written books about sports that can be changed such as poker and other stuff in that nature.
