October 14, 2011, 7:16 pm

By ANDREW KEH

October 14, 2011, 7:16 pm By ANDREW KEH

Richard Gardner

In “Moneyball,” the well-received baseball film, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane walks into the locker room, sits next to a player strapping braces on his legs and delivers the news:

“You can’t have 26 players in the clubhouse,” Mr. Beane, played by Brad Pitt, says.

All emotions fly across the player’s face: a sliver of hope that the visit is merely social, then panic, sadness, fear and, finally, resigned stoicism — he hasn’t made the 25-man roster that Major League teams are limited to for the bulk of the season.

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Beane says.

Richard Gardner knows all about sorry.

“I know how it hurts,” said Mr. Gardner, of Marlton, a man in his early 60s who heard a similar speech in May 2009, when he lost his main job. He is still unemployed — one of 14 million Americans without a job.

“It is a hurt,” said Mr. Gardner, who supervised more than 100 people as a plant manager at Helvoet Pharma Inc., formerly Owens-Illinois Inc., in Pennsauken and Burlington. After he was laid off from Helvoet in May 2009, he landed a contract job. That ended in May 2010.

“You spend 33 years with an organization and you help build it up and then you are let go,” he said. “I thought I was immortal, that I was going to survive until I retired.”

Mr. Gardner is different from many people who have be laid off, because he, like Mr. Beane, has also laid people off.

Michael Lewis’ book “Moneyball” tells how the Oakland A’s Beane, with a minuscule budget for signing players, in 2002 overruled his scouts and adopted a new and controversial way of choosing players by using exotic statistical evidence called sabremetrics.

Those statistics led Mr. Beane and the A’s to sign undervalued players and stretch the club’s limited budget. In 2002, the A’s payroll totaled $41 million; the New York Yankees’ totaled $125 million.

After a rough start that nearly caused Mr. Beane to lose faith in his approach, the A’s started to win.

Maybe, Mr. Gardner says, hiring managers can take a leaf from “Moneyball,” and not always focus on the obvious.

“If you know the guy has skills, but he’s shy or gets nervous in interviews, take a chance,” he said. “Maybe he’s the diamond in the rough who will pull you through.”

First published on October 8, 2011 at 12:00 am

In Moneyball, the well-received baseball film, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane walks into the locker room, sits next to a player strapping braces on his legs, and delivers the news:

“You can’t have 26 players in the clubhouse,” Beane, played by Brad Pitt, says.

All emotions fly across the player’s face: a sliver of hope that the visit is merely social, then panic, sadness, fear, and, finally, resigned stoicism – he hasn’t made the 25-man roster that Major League teams are limited to for the bulk of the season.

“I’m sorry,” Beane says.

Richard Gardner knows all about sorry.

“I know how it hurts,” said Gardner, of Marlton, a man in his early 60s who heard a similar speech in May 2009, when he lost his main job. He is still unemployed – one of 14 million Americans without a job.

“It is a hurt,” said Gardner, who supervised more than 100 people as a plant manager at Helvoet Pharma Inc., formerly Owens-Illinois Inc., in Pennsauken and Burlington. After he was laid off from Helvoet in May 2009, he landed a contract job. That ended in May 2010.

“You spend 33 years with an organization and you help build it up and then you are let go,” he said. “I thought I was immortal, that I was going to survive until I retired.

“I remember walking out the door and shaking hands and saying, ‘I never thought it would end this way.’ “

I met Gardner earlier this year – he was one of nearly 80 unemployed people that I profiled online and in The Inquirer in the series “Looking for Work.”

All of them remember the moment they learned, just as that ballplayer did, that they would lose their jobs.

“You knew that he knew it was the end of his career,” Gardner said.

But Gardner is different from many of those profiled, because Gardner, like Beane, has also laid people off. He has hired employees as well, which is why I asked him to see Moneyball with me last week.

Like many Americans, Gardner is a ballplayer – Little League as a youngster, frat vs. frat in college, and summer softball as an adult.

“I love the game,” he said.

Baseball has never meant much to me. Because I’m a Philadelphian, I’m happy that our team is doing well, but I couldn’t name five players.

But, as a business writer who covers employment, I avidly read Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, despite having had absolutely no interest in Beane and the Oakland A’s.

The story, and it’s true, goes like this: The Oakland A’s had a minuscule budget for signing players, so, in 2002, over his scouts’ objections, Beane adopted a new and controversial way of choosing players.

His scouts had made decisions based on talent, heart, looks, and even, “he has an ugly girlfriend,” as one scout said as he passed over a prospect. “It means he has no confidence.”

A couple of economics majors, boiled down in the movie to one Yale nerd played by Jonah Hill, persuade Beane to assess players with more obscure measures, using exotic statistical evidence called sabremetrics.

Those statistics led Beane and the A’s to sign undervalued players and stretch the club’s limited budget. The A’s also signed more high school players than college players, because their initial contracts were cheaper. In 2002, the A’s payroll totaled $41 million; the New York Yankees’ totaled $125 million.

Beane chose has-beens, injured players, wild cards, and oddities, “an island of misfit toys,” as described in the movie. For some, ending up with the A’s was not only their last chance, but their only chance.

After a rough start that nearly caused Beane to lose faith in his approach, the A’s started to win.

All of this is familiar to Gardner.

Does one hire by “heart” or by statistics? Both, says Gardner: “You can tell the ones who are energetic and want to become part of the process and the ones that won’t contribute anything.

By Associated Press


Published: Sep 28, 2011 at 1:55 PM PDT

NEW YORK —
The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics will open next season in Japan with a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome on March 28 and 29.

Seattle and Oakland had been scheduled to play there in March 2003, but the series was scrapped because of the threat of war in Iraq. The A’s will be the home team in both games, the commissioner’s office said Wednesday. The series could feature a pair of Japanese stars, the Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki and Oakland’s Hideki Matsui, who is eligible for free agency.

This will be the fourth Japan opener, following the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs (2000), the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay (2004), and Boston and Oakland (2008).

Major League Baseball and the players’ association said the series will be dedicated to assisting rebuilding in Japan following this year’s earthquake.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)