I have been sitting on this story for about five days, and every time I wanted to post it, something got in the way. Since we find ourselves with an off-day and waiting on the Phillies to hit town, so why not now?
John Baker could be featured in the on-again, off-again movie Moneyball. Or to be more precise, some actor may portray him in the movie.
The Moneyball movie is back on, according to a report Thursday in Variety. That means Marlins catcher John Baker is sure to get pestered again with questions about who will play him on the big screen. "I have no idea,'' he said. "Maybe Jake Gyllenhaal? Baker is one of the so-called "Moneyball players" featured in Michael Lewis' critically acclaimed book about the unorthodox draft methods used in 2002 by Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane. Beane will still be played by Brad Pitt. How about John Baker playing John Baker, who has a small but significant role in the book? After all, he was featured in Summer Catch, which ranks as one of the five worst sports movies ever made in 2001.
First off, has anyone ever seen Summer Catch? Because I sure haven't. Since the movie was such a bomb, or so we are told, that may not be the one Baker will want to use for his video resume'. (And nope, I don't have my computer setup to do all those really neat accent marks over letters.)
But we are getting off track here, John's greatest movie roll came while he was with the Isotopes and I highly recommend you check it out.
'Topes Cinema Presents Braveheart
The man has star quality and the camera loves him. And whatever other cliché would be appropriate under these circumstances.
Truthfully, all of this is covered in the original article, but instead of having to scroll down and searching for the Braveheart thing, I provided the direct link. And who says I'm useless?
The rest of the article talks about Baker's association with the A's which is interesting.
But towards the end I did learn that John and I have something in common.
Meanwhile, Baker - who loves to read books - still hasn't read Moneyball.
"I've kind of stayed away from that book,'' Baker said. "I don't like to read things that are too close to me.''
If he ever gets around to reading the book, he won't have to buy a copy.
"(Lewis) gave us all a copy,'' he said. "Mine's at home.''
I also own the book and haven't read it, though for a different reason. Mine is, I was a little late to the game in purchasing it and by the time it appeared on my door step every Tom, Dick and Harry had written a review on it to explain it all to us rubes. This made it lose some luster. The great thing is about a few years ago, maybe longer, I come to find out most all of those reviewers didn't understand the premise of the book. Or so I am told, but the latter ones make a lot more sense, because I have no problem understanding that when marginal value is above its marginal cost, you load up. Eventually, they will be in equilibrium where they belong due to the increase in demand.
Okay, we are getting way off tangent here. I guess the bottom line is this: Will John Baker get to paint his face blue and make a cameo in the movie? He would be perfect for it. Mel Brooks would put it in.