Sports films have a history of casting professional athletes, and Moneyball is no exception. Casting sports icons can be a challenge, as finding an actor who can both resemble their physical stature and capture their personality, is incredibly difficult. But Moneyball isn't a tale of sporting legends or of greatness, it's a film about underdogs, and the use of intelligence and ingenuity to overcome unfairness and difficulty in the world of professional sports. The film isn't centered around sports scenes, like the traditional baseball movie, but rather around the work in the general manager's office and scouting room. Nevertheless, the baseball scenes are realistically performed by the professional players involved.
In the film's early production, Steven Soderbergh was set to direct, and he planned to build a cast of primarily real MLB players. In the final film, which was written by Aaron Sorkin and starred Brad Pitt, many of these players were replaced by actors, such as Chris Pratt, who played the struggling Scott Hatteberg. Attentive baseball fans may notice the real sports figures sprinkled throughout the film, however. Many of the scouts are played by real MLB scouts, including one of the film's best performances, which comes from Ken Medlock, a retired semi-professional player. The film features real MLB announcers, such as Bob Costas, and of course, professional players.
5 Stephen Bishop
Actor and retired baseball player Stephen Bishop plays David Justice in Moneyball. Following his college athletic career in the '90s, Stephen Bishop played on various minor league baseball teams, including teams of the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles. Since then, he has had a number of film and television roles, including the sports film Friday Night Lights and its television counterpart. Bishop has also appeared in high-profile movies such as Hancock, The Town, and Battleship.
The athlete Bishop portrays, David Justice, was an important part of the real-life Moneyball story. Justice was an older player during the time of the Oakland Athletics' 2002 playoff run. He was traded to the team as an experiment, as Paul DePodesta (Peter Brand's real-life counterpart), wanted to know if players would retain their on base percentage as they grew older. OBP was the main strategy of this team, as explained in the film, and David Justice was one of their first successful experiments.
4 Casey Bond
Though he never made it into Major League Baseball, Casey Bond was actually drafted by the San Fransisco Giants and played two seasons in the minor leagues. Following his short stint in professional sports, Casey took up acting, and has since appeared in Greyhound and Nashville, as well as his small role in Moneyball. In the film, Casey Bond plays undervalued MLB athlete, Chad Bradford, who becomes a talented piece of the team, despite his unconventional style of pitching.
Chad Bradford's bizarre pitching style, in which he would throw the ball side-arm, was one of the main reasons he was undervalued. Like with many of the players on the rag-tag team, Billy Beane's strategy in Moneyball looks deeper than the outward appearance of Bradford, and notices that he excels in a particular stat called DIPS. While many teams would select pitchers due to pitching velocity, the Oakland Athletics decided to focus on DIPS, as the stat primarily ed for the pitcher's ability to make outs. This was the pitching equivalent to the team's focus on OBP for hitters. Bradford exceeded in this statistic, making him valuable to the roster's philosophy.
3 Chad Kreuter
The player turned Moneyball actor with the most successful in baseball was Chad Kreuter, who played sixteen years in the MLB. While he doesn't play a player in Moneyball, he does portray baseball pitching coach Rick Peterson. Chad Kreuter played on seven different professional baseball teams during his career, as well as briefly becoming a coach himself for the USC Trojans baseball team.
Chad Kreuter's role in Moneyball is brief, as Rick Peterson was one of many coaches portrayed in the film. Peterson is known in the baseball world for his contributions to the Athletics, primarily for coaching Barry Zito, who was known as one of the MLB's best pitchers during the season Moneyball depicts. Aside from playing a small role in the film, Chad Kreuter also contributed as the film's 'Baseball Consultant.'
2 Derrin Ebert
After being drafted in the 18th round of the MLB draft in 1994, Derrin Ebert played five seasons of minor league ball before making his debut with the Atlanta Braves in 1999. Though his career in the MLB was short, Ebert managed to play professional baseball until 2005. In Moneyball, the former athlete portrayed Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Magnante. Like other baseball players in the film, Ebert didn't turn to a career in acting, but rather coaching, following his professional athletic career.
Derrin Ebert's character, Mike Magnante, is an important role in the film. Unlike many of the athletes the film centers around, Magnante was not a part of the Athletics' run in 2002 and was released from the team in July of that season. The film depicts Brad Pitt's Billy Beane sympathetically releasing Mike Magnante from the team, which is one of the untrue moments in Moneyball. Unfortunately for Magnante, the Moneyball numbers system favored against his ability to perform for the team. Ironically, in real life, Magnante became a high school algebra teacher following the end of his MLB career.
1 Royce Clayton
Another actor with an extensive career in the MLB, Royce Clayton played in the league from 1991 to 2007, and was awarded for being an All-Star in 1997. In Moneyball, Clayton plays shortstop Miguel Tejada. While Royce Clayton never took on a career as an actor in his post-MLB life, Moneyball wasn't the only film he was involved with. Royce Clayton contributed to the baseball film The Rookie, as an adviser on set for the film as he was a character in it, played by another actor.
Miguel Tejada wasn't one of the additions to the team that came from Billy Beane's strategy in Moneyball, so he wasn't a major part of the film's story. In real life, Tejada was awarded the American League MVP award for his efforts in the 2002 season and was one of the main reasons for the team's success following the loss of Jason Giambi.
