What is the best baseball movie made since 1980?
| 61* |  11 (5.29%) |
| Bull Durham | 45 (21.63%) |
| Cobb | 1 (0.48%) |
| Eight Men Out | 14 (6.73%) |
| Field of Dreams | 55 (26.44%) |
| For Love of the Game | 10 (4.81%) |
| A League of Their Own | 10 (4.81%) |
| Major League (the first one) | 42 (20.19%) |
| The Natural | 14 (6.73%) |
| The Rookie | 6 (2.88%) |
But speaking as one of the six people who saw Mister 3000, Mister 3000 was better than A League of Their Own. And Mister 3000 was a long way away from being good -- it was a by-the-numbers, totally predictable, selfish-guy-grows-a-heart film. But the baseball scenes were actually quite good, I thought.
Field of Dreams, IMO is the best movie. Sandlot gets no respect, I tells ya.
I admit that I'm a sucker for no-hitter stories, though, whether they follow through or not. And I thought this was the best Kevin Costner baseball flick by a longshot, which is almost identical to "baseball movies since 1980." He was in three of our 10 options, after all, and those three, as I write this, have combined to take more than half the vote,
We'll have to follow this with a pre-1980 poll, including Bang the Drum Slowly, Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and all the old "Pride of the Yankees" era stuff.
It gets my vote.
I think the next poll should be about the worst baseball movies of all time.
- Ed
- Mister Baseball
- Mister 3000 (which, honestly, is pretty much a rehash of Mister Baseball -- I don't want to spoil the ending of either for anyone who actually wants to go see one or the other, but they have the same ending, right down to the key play in the baseball game that shows how much the main character has grown as a person: it's the same play!)
- A League of Their Own
- The Babe
- any of the sequels to Major League
...there must be a dozen I've forgotten.
At least Mister Baseball isn't the worst Tom Selleck movie.
I was working at a theatre when it came out, and it did no business. It was kind of depressing that solid kids movies like the Sandlot did nothing, while crap like the Flintstones packed the house.
I can't believe that the new Sandlot sequel will be good though
Now there's a future poll subject. I'll cast my early vote for Quigley Down Under, which was so bad even Alan Rickman wasn't enjoyable.
Field of Dreams is actually the best movie of the lot -- when you get past the hokum and the sentimentality, it's a remarkably well-produced film that successfully sells an utter fantasy as believable. And it's genuinely touching at the end. But baseball was really the metaphor, not the subject, of the movie. For that reason, Bull Durham gets my vote, for so many reasons, but especially this one:
BATBOY: Get a hit, Crash!
CRASH: Shut up.
Highlight the seemingly blank space for the spoiler of that universal play.
The sacrifice bunt to bring a runner home... FROM SECOND! Do hollywood writers just sit around and assume this is the greatest possible play in baseball? If we're all about the unrealistic, how about a triple play (for the good guys) to end the game?
If anyone recalls this play in other films, please share.
On the other hand, no one has voted for The Rookie? There was a feel-good story for anyone who ever dreamed of playing pro-ball.
Rob?
I think if the baseball scenes in "Eight Men Out" had looked better I'd vote for it. But the only time the actors looked good to me as ballplayers was the sequence over the closing credits, when they were just casually tossing the ball around. And was it D.B. Sweeney as Joe Jackson? That little twerp? Joe was a big guy. Sayles casting himself as Ring Lardner was genuis, though - he's a dead ringer.
I go back and forth on "Field of Dreams" - it catches so much of the magic and mystery and poetry, but if I'm in the wrong mood, I feel myself suffocating in treacle.
But "Bull Durham" never, never lets me down. Which is why it gets my vote. Despite Annie Savoy's best efforts, it's not so much about the game as magic so much as about the game as a way of life. We do this every day, as Earl Weaver used to say. So don't think, Meat. It'll hurt the ball club.
Field of Dreams captures people with its fantasy. When you watch the movie, you relate so much to the characters. You almost feel like you are in the story.
- Best pre-1980 baseball movie
- Worst baseball movie ever
- Best/worst baseball book
- Best/worst baseball song
Jobu's play also turns up in the 1979 made-for-TV remake of "The Kid from Left Field" starring Gary Coleman. If memory serves, it at least is not the last play of the game.
- Worst baseball movie ever
- Best/worst baseball book
- Best/worst baseball song
Wow, let's think about these...
Best pre-1980: "Bang the Drum Slowly" is almost the only good pre-1980 baseball movie that comes quickly to mind. I have reasonably warm childhood memories of Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees" but I haven't seen it in at least 30 years, so who knows...
Worst baseball movie: Either version of "The Babe" - it's possible of course that Babe Ruth was one of those phenomena, like collapsing stars or the interior of the atom, that we simply lack the technology to properly explore...
Best/Worst baseball book: Should we do fiction/non-fiction? Should we do before/after Bill James? I've read so many damn baseball books, from statistical treatises to quickie player bios - and pretty well none of them really bothered me. This is a huge, huge subject, and probably deserves its own thread.
Best/Worst baseball song: Anything that Terry Cashman had a hand in gets my vote for worst, although "Homer, Ozzie, and the Straw" almost redeems his existence among us. No credit there, though. Best: is "Mrs Robinson" a baseball song, or just one that refers to the game? If not, I dunno... probably "Centerfield."
Did you see Folks?
I'd have to include the main theme song from the "Homer at the Bat" episode of The Simpsons (sung to the tune of "Talking Baseball").
And somebody finally voted for "Cobb," meaning poor Jim Morris and "The Rookie" is the only one of the 10 without a vote so far!
This sort of thing, by the way, is one of the reasons why more baseball movies don't get made. Anyone willing to risk making one leaves themselves open to the worst kind of nitpicking from the audience and critics.
Why bother, when almost any other sort of movie doesn't suffer from the same handicap? If someone makes a movie about Alexander the Great, and he's "inexplicably righthanded" instead of lefthanded (as he was), nobody takes it on themselves to complain.
It's just one of those small discrepancies. I was watching Jerry Maguire last night -- another movie I love -- and I still couldn't help but notice that when the Cardinals line up for a "crucial 2nd-and-1 play," the Dial-A-Down on the sideline clearly reads "1."
It's not like I'm looking for things to be snooty about. Just stuff I've noticed."girls they do get wooley."
"We're dealing with some serious s*** out here."
plus many others....
what a classic.
oh my....
Anyway, as someone who is currently writing a movie about some elements of baseball history, I feel such criticism keenly. Not only are movies limited by the available talent (Ray Liotta's a talented actor, but he can't learn how to play lefthanded, and making "lefthanded" a prerequisite in casting is bound to create more problems than it solves) but Hollywood's own conventions play havoc as well. In Hays Code Hollywood, you couldn't show a beloved hero boozing it up in a bar. In today's Hollywood, you can't show honest race relations or sexual politics in a period film. And anytime, anywhen, in a two-hour film historical accuracy and fidelity has to take a back seat to pacing and plotting.
So in the case of someone writing a "based-on-a-true-story" movie, like I'm trying to right now, you have to start making changes. A whole long list of changes, which will (if the thing ever gets made, which is infinitesimally unlikely) earn me the scorn of my peers. Guys will probably pitch and hit with the wrong hand. Events that happen to Germany Schaefer in 1908 will happen to Rabbit Maranville in 1911... when Rabbit isn't even playing in the majors yet! Something Larry Doyle said, will be said by Fred Snodgrass instead. Teams will play series in the wrong order. John McGraw may even be somewhat likeable - and his trainer won't be a figure of fun, but undoubtedly a respected, grizzled old hand with much experience and wisdom. As the only major black character in the movie, he may need to be.
And instead of losing the 1911 World Series, the Giants may have to win it. Whether that still makes it a "true story" or not, we'll have to see. :)
Confession: I'm a big John Sayles fan. Passion Fish is probably one of my five favourite movies ever. Eight Men Out is not quite that good, but it's very well done and the Black Sox story is timeless.
Dude, you should listen to my Crusades-knowing friends talk about how awful Kingdom of Heaven was because of all of the historical inaccuracies. For the record, I really enjoyed it, even if the leper king had already been dead for a decade before the story happened. It's way better with him in it.
- Best pre-1980 baseball movie - Worst baseball movie ever - Best/worst baseball book - Best/worst baseball song
Pre-1980 baseball movie? I haven't seen that many, unfortunately; I'll take The Bad News Bears over Pride of the Yankees.
Worst baseball book is, unfortunately, a hole with no bottom. Best... I'll speak up for one I know nobody else is going to mention: Sherwood Kiraly's amazing and hilarious novel California Rush.
Baseball song. Again, there are so many bad ones, mostly done by guys at local radio stations as novelties. For a good one, try 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man', either the Chuck Berry original or the Buddy Holly cover. I am partial to the Holly.
It's cheap and manipulative, and you can see everything coming from miles away. It also has an endless, needless, useless coda that just kills it. Why do we need the framework with the now-elderly ladies? Just so we can hear how everyone died but they got an exhibit at Cooperstown? A title card could tell us that in ten seconds, not the half-hour that the beginning and end suck up.
It had the elements of a good or even great film, but the cheap gags and cheaper sentimentality kill it.
The only pet I ever named was the hamster I called "Chips". And yes, he was named after the Erik Estrada TV show.
Say what you gotta say, Shrike ... The Natural has a not-so-healthy eight percent of the vote so far, but it certainly can be argued that it deserves more commentary if not more votes (keeping in mind I voted for what the site has so far determiend is Costner's third-best baseball flick!) ...
A close second is "Major League", Bob Uecker really put that film over the top. He was also good in the second one, especially when he was drunk. Brewer fans are lucky to get to hear that guy on a daily basis.
I thought "Little Big League" was a decent flick too. I love the part when Dennis Farina gets fired as the manager and then steals the toilet paper before he leaves.
Bull Durham on the other hand, seems to get better...
I didn't see any votes for that one with the kid who turns into a Pro Pitcher (Angels in the outfield??? or is that another bad one??) the only reason that one sold anything is because all the 8 year olds wanted to BE that kid, it had nothing to do with the movie...
of course that actually explains the Britney Spears phenomena too, at least until she reached the point where she really WAS just selling the s*x
I wonder though, is the original Bad News Bears, not a decent baseball movie??
None of the follow ups, but just that one...