I didn’t have room in my review of Moneyball to include this tidbit, but the Rangers’ current manager turns up as a character in the movie. Washington was a coach on the A’s staff during the time period covered by the film. You can see the movie’s version of him around the 1:00 mark of the official trailer, delivering one of the film’s many nice lines.
That’s TV actor Brent Jennings portraying Washington. He’s got a grainier voice than the real guy, but he must have gotten something of the man. I had forgotten that Washington was with the A’s organization at the time, but when he showed up on screen, I thought, “That’s Ron Washington!” even before Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane called him “Wash.”
This isn’t the only Rangers connection to the movie. Former Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton appears as an actor in the film, portraying former A’s shortstop Miguel Tejada. You can also see him in the official trailer above, around the :15 mark talking to David Justice about the soda machine.
Oddly enough, not all the real-life baseball guys were eager to be depicted in this movie. Former A’s assistant GM Paul DePodesta wouldn’t allow his name to be used, so the character played by Jonah Hill is a fictional composite. Apparently it had nothing to do with the fact that Hill looks nothing like DePodesta, though lots of sports websites pointed it out anyway. If someone made a movie in which you were a character, would you want Jonah Hill portraying you?
