According to E! Online, Aaron Sorkin, creator of Sports Night and The West Wing, has been signed up by Columbia Pictures for writing duties for the upcoming movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt.

If all goes well, the scribe is expected to turn in his version in August, at which point the studio hopes to have chosen a new director to commence production.

The movie is based on the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, written by Michael M. Lewis, which chronicles how GM Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s used different statistical analysis to field a competitive team with a lower payroll.

From Wikipedia:

Rigorous statistical analysis had demonstrated that on-base percentage and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive success, and the A’s became convinced that these qualities were cheaper to obtain on the open market than more historically valued qualities such as speed and contact. These observations often flew in the face of conventional baseball wisdom and the beliefs of many baseball scouts and executives.

By re-evaluating the strategies that produce wins on the field, the 2002 Athletics, with approximately $41 million in salary, are competitive with larger market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who spend over $100 million in payroll. Because of the team’s smaller revenues, Oakland is forced to find players undervalued by the market, and their system for finding value in undervalued players has proven itself thus far.

(from press release)

Major League Baseball pitching legend Rick Sutcliffe have joined the advisory council of World Vision’s “End Malaria” campaign.

Malaria kills nearly 1 million people a year, 85 percent of whom are children. World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working in 64 malaria-endemic countries, last year launched an initiative to boost prevention and treatment activities in hard-hit areas and strengthen advocacy to improve government policies and increase resources.

Rick Sutcliffe brings not only a personal passion to the fight against malaria, but also a track-record in rallying others on good causes. The 3-time all-star garnered many honors during his 18 years in Major League Baseball, including the National League Rookie of the Year award in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1979 and the Cy Young award in 1984 (splitting the season between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs). He has contributed to ESPN’s “Monday Night Baseball” as an analyst and also covers Major League Baseball’s World Series, internationally. Sutcliffe said he is eager to capitalize on his resources and experience with teamwork to help make a difference.

“I strongly believe in World Vision’s mission to end malaria and make the world a better place for children. It is a privilege to join them in this campaign,” said Sutcliffe. “Working together as a team with supporters at home and a strong presence in the field, we can strike out this preventable, killer disease.”

The End Malaria campaign aims to reduce illnesses and deaths from malaria, contributing to the global goal of near zero preventable malaria deaths by 2015. World Vision distributes insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent infectious mosquito bites and works in partnerships to ensure nets, prevention training and medicines are available in impoverished communities where needed.

The campaign also focuses on raising awareness of the global impact of malaria in the United States to garner new resources and expand the growing movement to end malaria. Among the goals is to increase U.S. government funding to combat malaria to at least $1 billion a year.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

The Atlanta Braves retired the #31 jersey of pitcher Greg Maddux last Friday evening.  Earlier that day, Maddux was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame.

Yes, Maddux will be also be a first-ballot selection for the MLB Hall of Fame in 2014.  He just will not be voted in unanimously.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) has the responsibility of selecting the Hall of Fame inductees for Major League Baseball.  I say this system is broken.

Never has a first-year (or any) candidate received 100% of the vote.  This includes recent slam dunks (Rickey Henderson, 95%; Cal Ripken, Jr., 98.5%) and all-time HR leaders (Hank Aaron, 97.8%; Babe Ruth 95.1%).

Did you hear about the guy who won 511 games and did not get in on his first year of eligibility?  Cy Young squeaked in with 76.1% of the votes on his second year (1937).  Doesn’t the guy have some kind of award named after him?  I guess he needed 600 to make more of an impression.

And even when a special election was held for the greatest defensive right fielder of all time, the BBWAA could only muster up 92.7% of “yes” votes for Roberto Clemente.

I don’t know if it is partly racism, partly self-righteousness, or partly a publicity stunt by some nincompoop writers, but I do know that the BBWAA needs to be held accountable in order for the Hall of Fame honor to be taken seriously.

My proposal:  If a first-year-eligible player gets more than 90% of the vote (80% for minority players), then those BBWAA writers who did not vote for that player should be identified and stripped of their future voting privileges.  What do you think?

(reprinted from DRSEA Newsletter – Volume II, Issue 15)

by Charles S. Farrell

I had figured it was inevitable, given the record of the Washington Nationals under Manny Acta, but I was still sad to see him fired. There are so few managers of color in baseball that the loss of even one is monumental.

By all accounts, Acta was a class act.  I actually met him a few months ago in the Dominican Republic at a reception to announce a joint venture between Major League Baseball and the USAID called MLB-USAID-Dominican Development Alliance. The Alliance, which seeks to use baseball as a catalyst for improving the lives of the less fortunate in the Dominican, is a partnership between Major League Baseball, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps and six well-known charitable non-profit institutions – World Vision, Save the Children, Plan International, Esperanza International, Batey Relief Alliance and the Dominican Institute for Integrated Development.

I made a major faux pas when I met Acta at the reception.  Not recognizing him, I asked if he was in baseball.  “Yes,” he said, “I am the manager of the Washington Nationals.”  He showed a wonderful sense of humor when I tried to cover myself by saying I didn’t recognize him because I usually saw him on TV in the dugout with his hat on.  He said, “Not likely; we don’t get on TV that much.  You only get on TV if you are real good, and we are not there yet.”  They still aren’t; the Nationals need a magician, not a manager.  I only hope that Acta will get another chance to manage a team, something rarely offered people of color in sports.

About the DRSEA

The basic mission of the Dominican Republic Sports & Education Academy (DRSEA) is to provide young, gifted Dominican student athletes the opportunity to become well-rounded individuals. While providing student athletes with the opportunity to hone their natural athletic talents amongst some of the world’s best young athletes, the Academy will also prepare them to excel in life, outside the lines and off the playing fields.

(from press release)

In the middle of the second inning of last Friday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, 39,203 New York Mets fans at Citi Field set the Guinness World Record™ for most potato chips crunched at once, courtesy of the Big City Crunch promotion sponsored by Wise Snacks.

Based upon both the audible and visual evidence, Danny Girton Jr., the adjudication manager on-site from Guinness, certified the world record.

The Mets lost the game 3-0 and are now in fourth place in the NL East.