Chris Pratt of “Parks & Rec” Playing “Moneyball”

Everybody's favorite prime-time shoeshine boy, "Parks & Rec"'s Chris Pratt, has been cast to play former Oakland A's first basemen Scott Hatteberg in Brad Pitt's upcoming movie, "Moneyball."

Pratt joins a cast being led by Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathryn Morris and Stephen Bishop, in a film being directed by Bennett Miller ("Capote") with a script from Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian.

The film, based on Michael Lewis' book of the same name, tells the story of how A's general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) and his assistant Paul DePodesta (Hill) revolutionized the way baseball players are evaluated. Over his first eight seasons leading the team, Beane helped guide the A's to the playoffs five times despite having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

Hatteberg, who was initially going to play himself, was a catcher for the Boston Red Sox whose career behind the plate was cut short when an elbow injury left him unable to throw. Beane and DePodesta took a chance on him, signing him for short money and teaching him to play first base for the 2002 season. Though he proved to be an average player, Hatteberg was signed for a fraction of the cost of your average major leaguer.

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