Baseball Reviews - Information

AQB Logo

Still Have Baseball Fever?
Catch A Movie

By Bill Avington

Did the Yankees end the baseball season too soon for you? Are you looking for more baseball but less Tim McCarver? Need something to whet your baseball whistle?

Turn to your video store, of course. There, you will find baseball movies, where there is almost always a pennant chase, a record-breaking performance or, at the very least, entertainment.

So, here are some suggestions to rent, re-rent or ignore. Let me know what you think on the Speak Out page or at BillA@armchairqb.com, and I will add your comments where appropriate.

Enjoy!

THE BABE RUTH CATEGORY
(or the best baseball movies ever)

1) Bull Durham - Now, I realize this is on most people's top lists, but it is my absolute favorite.

Here's is a little background on me: I have always been fascinated by behind-the-scenes sports stuff. I love to look into the dugouts, see up into the tunnels and watch the players going into the clubhouse.

This movie had some of the best behind-the-scenes baseball footage ever. I loved Crash (Kevin Costner) calling Newk (Tim Robbins) "Meat." I loved the mound discussions. I loved the lessons on the bus. This is THE baseball movie. Plus, the great locker room tirade by the manager brought the word "Lollygag" into the public lexicon. On that same vein (or maybe not), wasn't Robert Wahl's performance as the chattering coach awesome? The pitcher's mound conference involving the entire infield also was priceless (Candlesticks are always a nice gift idea!).

The other reason this movie has to be No. 1 is the Speech. You all know what I am talking about. The speech in which Crash spews off about what he likes and dislikes. The fact that he dissed the designated hitter should make this the baseball purist's dream come true. Throw in all of the pearl's of baseball wisdom offered by Crash in his teaching of Newk.

Oh, and did I mention Susan Sarandon?

The other neat baseball aspect was the dubious minor league home run record. This is the ultimate double-edged sword. To hold a record for a category like that means you have spent a lot time on minor league buses. And that's not the goal of any minor league player.

2) Field of Dreams - Another Kevin Costner movie. Now you know why I've always said, "If you want to have a great baseball movie, hire Kevin Costner." (Well, I haven't always said that, but I mentioned it once or twice.)

In no movie was the game of baseball more truly loved. This was a film that was like a love letter to a sport. It included great quotes about the interwoven history of baseball and America, scenes in which the love of father and son were solidified in both's love for the game, and the redemption of baseball's most beloved outcast not wearing Grecian Formula.

This is a movie that is less about the game and more about what it means to us. It took us back to our childhoods, sitting in the ballpark with your father or mother and watching the heroes of our past. Without question, absolutely fabulous.

Plus, who can have a dry eye when Kevin Costner's voice catches in his throat as he asks his father, "Hey, Dad, do you want to have a catch?"

3) The Natural - Another homage, but this time to the home run hitter. As Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have found out, everybody loves homers, and was there ever a bigger clutch power hitter than Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford)?

He was everything we would like our heroes to be. He had a bond with the gruff old manager who needed to win the pennant to hold onto the team. He was kind to the bat boy. He told the gamblers to keep their money. He hit the ball so hard that he broke things in stadiums. He was the All-American boy and the epitome of the baseball player as icon.

Okay, so the movie goes away from the book and gets a little hokey, what with the blood stains on the jersey as he takes the final cracks at winning the pennant. And, we know that the light exploding on impact probably would not have caused the firework show that erupted, but who cares. Movies can be hokey, and this one certainly pulled it off well.

Plus, Roy Hobbs was the "best damn hitter I've ever seen."

4) A League of Their Own - Certainly a great baseball movie. The story of the women's all-American League is one long overdue to be told, and this movie tells it better than anyone could ever have imagined.

Tom Hanks is great as the old drunkard of a manager, who goes from a pathetic waste to one of the league's biggest ambassadors. And Geena Davis is the best-looking player in a baseball uniform since Joe DiMaggio.

The action in this is good, and Madonna actually gives her best performance since the "Like A Prayer" video. This movie also provides Little Leaguers with a valuable lesson: There's no cryin' in baseball!

If they could have just lost the annoying kid in the dugout, the movie could have cracked the top three.

5) Bad News Bears - Was there ever a movie that made you feel so good to lose? This lovable group went from a ragged group of stiffs to playing in the league championship. Does it get any better than that?

Now, I know that some of the images were disturbing. The outcomes were certainly taken way too seriously by the supposed adults, and the teasing and ridicule of the weaker Bears is an ugly mirror of society, but the feel-good moral of this movie outweighs all of that. It's okay to finish second if you have left every part of yourself on that field. And wasn't this a women's lib film before it was fashionable (the team's star pitcher is Tatum O'Neal).

Plus, what other baseball movie has music from the opera "Carmen"?

The only thing to blame on this movie is the sequels, which produced just one decent moment. You all know the moment: the Houston Astrodome, where some of the Astros players led the fans in a rousing rendition of "Let them play," when the game's organizers tried to stop the Bears' game early because it was time for the major league game. Yeah, right, that might happen, but don't you wish it would?

THE PAUL O'NEILL CATEGORY
(or solid but not Hall of Fame baseball movies)

1) Major League - Corny? Yes. Overdone? Absolutely. Great fun? You bet.

Major League is not about the plot or the acting. It is about the message that a bunch of garbage and half-baked baseball players can compete in the American League and beat the mighty New York Yankees. Isn't that truly the American way?

And there was some very entertaining off-the-field baseball stuff, such as the red tags when you were being sent down to the minors and the reaction of the players who made it but were trying to hide their excitement from their teammates who had gotten cut.

Plus, Bob Uecker has never been finer.

A nice comedy to entertain you. Is that so wrong?

2) Angels in the Outfield - Okay, I know that it is hard to buy Tony Danza as your star hurler. And yes, this stuff was hokey, but admittedly didn't you enjoy it.

Now, I'm not saying it's the best baseball movie out there, but it is enjoyable. This features the old tried and true "baseball/kids" theory. You know, kid becomes player/manager/mascot/batboy of a major league team and magically the team realizes the meaning of the game through the kids eyes.

Plus, any movie with Danny Glover in it is a sure bet. Add in Tony Danza and you got hit written all over it. Also, don't miss Christopher Lloyd as the angel "AL" in his American League umpire's cap.

3) Rookie of the Year - Similar to the previous film, this one features a boy who breaks his arm and can magically throw major-league type of stuff. Far-fetched, yes, but it had the Cubs doing well, so you already knew it was fiction.

Some good baseball action here, but no where near the quality of the Babe Ruth category of movies. Enjoy it for what it is - a nice baseball movie.

4) Eight Men Out - This movie, based on the Eliot Asinof book, certainly differs from the other movies mentioned in that it does not glorify baseball and that it requires thought to watch. The movie focuses on one of baseball's worst times, the Black Sox Scandel, when eight Chicago White Sox players - including Shoeless Joe Jackson - were found guilty of throwing the World Series.

The movie is not sympathetic to the players or the owners, as it shows the mistakes of both sides, but rather to the fans, whose trust was never the same afterwards.

Overall, a decent historical baseball flick, but it gets too deep at times, as it is often tough to tell the players without a scorecard.

5) Little Big League - Oh, you don't remember this one? The kid becomes the manager of the Minnesota Twins and helps lead them to the playoffs. An OK movie that plays on the above "baseball/kids" premise.

However, the one caveat with this one is that the kid becomes as jaded as the players. It takes a trip to a street-game of stickball for him to realize how great baseball really is.

This one is not bad, even if the awful Metrodome is the site for a lot of the action. A bit melodramatic, but hey, that's life in baseball movies.

Honorable mentions: Bang the Drum Slowly - The fictional story about the relationship between two minor league teammates - an ace pitcher and his dim-witted catcher, who is dying of Hodgkin's disease. The scenes tend to drag at a couple points, but the performances by Robert DeNiro as the catcher and Michael Moriarty as the pitcher are outstanding. A Little Trivia: Danny Aiello makes his film debut in this movie.

Pride of the Yankees - The poignant story of Yankee legend Lou Gehrig. To many baseball fans, Gary Cooper is the Iron Horse. Although made in 1942, it remains the best biographical film about a baseball player ever.

BELOW THE "MENDOZA LINE"
(or the worst baseball movies ever)

1) The Scout - I know you have seen this one on Comedy Central since they have shown it about 30 times in recent weeks.

Albert Brooks is the greedy scout, and Brenden Frasier is the fireballing hurler who becomes the greatest pitcher in the major leagues thanks to a fastball that blows hitters away. There's even the ha, ha joke of a pitch knocking the catcher over. I know, try and control the convulsing.

Miss this one at all costs. The baseball action is so bad that you will yearn for the dog days of November and December without baseball.

2 and 3) Major League II and Major League III - Feel bad for Bob Uecker, one of the few to have to sit through these horrible movies.

Everything that made the first one palatable goes wrong for these films. The premise changes not one iota from the original and the acting is not nearly as good. If I were the Cleveland Indians, I'd sue.

4) Mr. Baseball - Tom Selleck as the superstar hitter who gets stuck playing in Japan. I wish this movie had only been released there ... maybe we would have been spared the agony of watching this movie.

It's not good, not even close to being good. Selleck has been unable to turn his Magnum P.I. fame into anything except for a guest role in Friends. Feel bad for him, but feel worse for those of us that saw this movie in the theater.

Return to top
Return to the baseball playoffs page
Return to main baseball page
To post a comment on our review, go to the Speak Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to Bill, click here.

Design & Hosting by BLAZE inter.NET