Paul DePodesta could have been like Billy Beane. He could have had his name, his image and his story immortalized on the big screen in "Moneyball," the film about the 2002 Oakland Athletics set to premiere next weekend.

But to DePodesta, the former Athletics executive who now works in the Mets' front office, it was never his story. And the character that was supposed to be him always seemed like someone else. Which is why, for as much as the movie is based on a chapter of DePodesta's career, it's not about him at all.

Unlike...