Brad Pitt graces the cover of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane in the movie “Moneyball”, which is based on the book with the same title by Michael Lewis (watch movie trailer below).

Brad tells SI, “It’s shameful how little I know about baseball…. I’m amazed they let me do this movie…. Baseball and I didn’t get along that well. I wrestled one year [in high school]. I dove one year. Everything but baseball.”

Despite not being a fan of baseball, the 47 year-old actor was drawn to the underdog story and the fact it was not the conventional baseball/sports movie. Brad believes there’s a deeper lesson to be taught in the complicated Moneyball’s universe of numbers and baseball.

“I’m a sucker for the underdog story. (…) The beast at the end of the movie was the same beast in the beginning of the movie. What changed was the world around them, by just a couple of degrees. Nothing monumental. I think that’s true about us. We fine tune ourselves, but big change is not real,” he says.

“Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt (as Billy Beane) and Jonah Hill (as Peter Brand) hits theaters on Friday, September 23.

Brad Pitt’s “Moneyball” Movie Trailer Video