SNF Parkway Theatre Baltimore, MD
Sig Mejdal
Assistant GM, Baltimore Orioles
andDan Connolly
Sportswriter
Moneyball— Baseball's data revolution
Program Description
Join Orioles Assistant GM Sig Mejdal and veteran sportswriter Dan Connolly for a special screening of Moneyball. This Oscar-nominated film captures how the Oakland A’s shook up the world of baseball by using data analytics to build a winning team on a budget. After the film, Mejdal, a pioneer in the field, will share how these groundbreaking strategies continue to influence the sport today. Whether you’re an OG baseball fan or a stats enthusiast, this event offers a fascinating look at the intersection of sports and science.
Presented At
SNF Parkway Theatre Baltimore, MD
Film Synopsis
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane attempts to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the struggling Oakland A's. Faced with a tight budget, Beane must reinvent his team by outsmarting the richer ball clubs. Joining forces with Ivy League graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane recruits bargain-bin players whom the scouts have labeled as flawed, but have game-winning potential. It’s a strategy that challenges old-school traditions and puts him in the crosshairs of those who say he's tearing out the heart and soul of the game. Based on the book by Michael Lewis, this film received six Academy Award nominations.
About the Speaker
After graduating from UC Davis in 1989, Sig Mejdal worked for NASA and Lockheed Martin's satellite operations unit at the Onizuka Air Force Station. Mejdal's interest in baseball was recreational until 2003, when the book Moneyball inspired him to consider pursuing a career in sabermetrics. He attended the Winter Meetings in search for a job in baseball, but when that didn’t materialize he continued to work at NASA as a biomathematician in the Fatigue Countermeasures Group (studying sleep patterns of astronauts on the International Space Station in order to optimize their sleep schedules). In 2018, the Baltimore Orioles began rebuilding their team by hiring Mike Elias, previously from the Houston Astros, as General Manager. Elias subsequently hired Mejdal as Vice President and Assistant General Manager of Analytics. Mejdal helped Elias by implementing advanced analytics and international scouting, similar to their successful approach with the Houston Astros. Their strategy involved dismantling the existing roster to rebuild it from the ground up, focusing on young, cost-effective talent. Key acquisitions, such as trading for ace pitcher Corbin Burnes, have positioned the Orioles as a competitive team in Major League Baseball. The Orioles moved from 110 losses in 2021 to 100 wins in 2023 and progressed from being 61 games behind the first place in 2018 to winning the AL East in 2023.
Sportswriter Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.