Favorite Baseball Movie?

[TZ]

Poll question: Favorite Baseball Movie?

[flvegan]

1. Major League, hands down.

That was some funny shit.

"He may run like Mays, but he hits like shit."

:rofl:

[3.14158675309]

2. Little Big League was pretty good; practically filmed in my backyard!

And you forgot about "For the Love of the Game" Another good one!

Edit: Oops, meant to reply to OP

[3.14158675309]

3. I would have thought you'd be partial to "Fever Pitch"!

:shrug:

[flvegan]

5. I don't think I've seen that one.

Are there nekkid chicks in it?

[GOPisEvil]

7. Remember Drew Barrymore and...what's his name celebrating the '04 Series win?

It was for that movie. Adapted to the Red Sox from an original story about one of the Premier League teams.

Those two...actors get to celebrate the Sox win for a freaking stupid movie. I was appalled, and not just because the Cards didn't win.

[TZ]

9. That's the one with Drew Barrymore

That they filmed when the Sox won their first WS in 2004....

[3.14158675309]

10. Not really (Drew Barrymore) But the main character (Jimmy Fallon) is a COMPLETE Red Sox fan

They actually filmed the final scene on the field when the Sox won their first WS. You should read about the making of the movie-- VERY ironic!

[GOPisEvil]

4. Agreed.

"Are you saying Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?"

[flvegan]

11. Why don't you blow me ump!

[TZ]

15. It's close for me

But Bull Durham gets the nod because it's funny and Sexy as hell I loved watching Nuke pitch with garters on as he breathes through his eyelids....:rofl:

[flvegan]

19. Freak.

:hide:

[5thGenDemocrat]

48. Bull Durham -- and not just because Susan Sarandon was sexy as hell in it

My favorite line? Probably Crash's after Nuke blows off his pitch call: "Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well."
Had catchers do that to me, I am sure, back when I pitched in Connie Mack ball (when dinosaurs ruled the Earth). Not that I actually had a curveball.
I don't think there's a more erotic scene than Crash and Annie having breakfast after their big night of passion. Anyhow, I like most of the movies in the poll but, yeah, I gotta go with Bull Durham.
John
Purely as an aside, Susan Sarandon is ten years older than me to the day.
Oh, and one more aside -- how many DUers know that Robert Redford (of 'The Natural') and Don Drysdale played on the same high school baseball team? Redford was a first baseman. And Kevin Costner played baseball in college. It's why both of them managed to look like real ballplayers, as opposed to, say, William Bendix in 'The Babe Ruth Story."

[pokerfan]

62. 'Bull Durham' in reel life

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020404.html">'Bull Durham' in reel life

In reel life: During the movie, Crash, in order to teach Nuke a lesson, tells a batter what pitch is coming.
In real life: "I thought that was funny, but it wouldn't happen; you wouldn't tell a batter anything," Todd Zeile, then playing with the Arkansas Travelers, told the Democrat-Gazette in 1988.

In reel life: In one bus scene, Crash tutors Nuke on the fine art of spouting clichés. He tells him to write down: "We gotta play 'em one day at a time. ... I'm just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub. ... I just wanta give it my best shot and, Good Lord willing, things'll work out."
In real life: Rumor has it that baseball players do actually say such things.

:rofl:

[5thGenDemocrat]

67. Todd was probably right -- I have a finely developed sense of paranoia

Or, considering my pitching arsenal at 16 consisted of "sorta fast," "not so fast," "pretty slow, considering the job code," and "get him the hell outta there," it might not have been paranoia after all.
John
Oh well. Baseball's loss was sportswriting's gain. And I like to think I maintained a plus-.500 average at the computer.

[BulletproofLandshark]

21. Fuck You, Jobu!!

I do it myself!

[FLAprogressive]

34. "They're still shitty."

:P

[Jack from Charlotte]

88. It's a great one.....

"When the GM of The Indians calls Lou,who is working at a tire dealer, asks if he wants to manage the Indians for the coming season.... Lou says, "Can you hold on, I've got a couple here interested in a set of whitewalls."

Of course "Sarono" the crazy Haitian, is now on TV every 5 minutes as spokesman for Allstate.

[siligut]

6. Damn Yankees. Gwen Verdon singing What Lola Wants?

Plus it was my first baseball movie and I am sentimental.

[3.14158675309]

12. Damn fine movie! Ya gotta have HEARRRRT!!!!!!

:thumbsup:

[charlie and algernon]

8. I'm partial to For Love of the Game

Love Field of Dreams, Major League, and the Natural as well.

Gus Sinski: The boys are all here for ya, we'll back you up, we'll be there, cause, Billy, we don't stink right now. We're the best team in baseball, right now, right this minute, because of you. You're the reason. We're not gonna screw that up, we're gonna be awesome for you right now. Just throw.

Vin Scully: After 19 years in the big leagues, 40 year old Billy Chapel has trudged to the mound for over 4000 innings. But tonight, he's pitching against time, he's pitching against the future, against age, against ending. Tonight, he will make the fateful walk to the loneliest spot in the world, the pitching mound at Yankee Stadium, to push the sun back into the sky and give us one more day of summer.

[3.14158675309]

14. It is the most realistic baseball movie ever made IMO, hands down. Excellent movie!

[charlie and algernon]

18. Costner threw thousands of pitches for that movie

They also filmed the game in sequence and had Vin Scully broadcast the completed game.

[3.14158675309]

26. I loved watching the commentary on that movie

[OmahaBlueDog]

45. Speaking of commentary, Vin Scully does an excellent job in that film

he manages to make the play by play not sound godawful, which it does in most movies.

Of course my favorite baseball movie play by play is Bob Uecker in "Major League"

[RoyGBiv]

13. For Love of the Game ...

I'm partial to this mostly because I read the novel years ago when no one had heard of it because I was fascinated with Michael Shaara at that time.

The novel is exceptional.

Usually when I love a novel I tend to hate the movie, but this was an exception. The movie is not completely faithful to the book, but it catches enough of the spirit during the "inside his head" scenes that the distinction falls away for me.

By contrast, Field of Dreams is based on a novel I really don't like, but I do like the movie. The novel was a product of its times, I suppose, but some of the sexism in it screams at you. I much preferred the Annie in the movie.

[3.14158675309]

16. I read "The Natural" and it SUCKED; Redford's production is 100 times better!

[RoyGBiv]

20. Yeah ...

I wouldn't say it sucked, but it's not one of my favorite novels either.

Of course, the author of the novel had a different purpose in mind in the portrayal of baseball than the producers of the movie, so that's some of it.

[fishwax]

40. well, I think both novel and film are great

They clearly had different purposes in mind, of course. I saw the movie as a kid, long before I read the book--I loved it at the time and still do. I read the book in college as part of a class on the history of sports in America, and fell in love with it as well. It incorporates so much of the mythological history of baseball that it practically serves as an alternate history of the game.

[RoyGBiv]

47. The Natural ...

I think _The Natural_ is difficult because it is so depressing.

Even *as* a Cubs fan, I turn to baseball when I want to lighten my spirits. :)

Seriously, Malamud(sp?) did have a completely different story conception in mind in the novel than the producers of the film did. In some very fundamental ways, they are completely different stories, one of redemption, the other not so much. That lack of a redemptive spirit is hard for an American audience already. Against the backdrop of baseball, it's even harder.

I think that's why even something as depressing as _Bang the Drum Slowly_ can still be appealing. There's a redemptive "vibe" to it. Of course, baseball fans often don't like this movie either, so maybe I'm all wet.

Just random thoughts ...

[fishwax]

56. yeah, it's definitely a downer

American audiences pretty much expect the individualist hero to triumph at the end (as he does in the movie version) rather than to fail. As I said, I read it for a history class, and there were plenty of people in that class who were not just depressed, but downright *pissed off* by the ending :)

But there's definitely something about the novel that runs counter to how we connect baseball to optimism--even if that optimism is (as in the case of Cubs fans) perennially deferred. Barlett Giamatti once said the game is designed to break your heart, because it starts in the spring, when everything begins again, but in the end it leaves you to face the fall alone. For most Americans, baseball is about the first part of that quote--the chance to begin again. But in The Natural Malamud focuses on facing the fall alone. There were many texts which, in the years after World War II, dared to question the hyper-optimism of the 1950s, but I think it was especially bold of Malamud to use *baseball* to engage those questions. And yet, at the same time, the novel treats the mythology of baseball with such tender regard ... yeah, I'm just offering random thoughts too :)

Since you're a Cubs fan, I'll combine this subthread with our "W.P. Kinsella" subthread and ask if you've ever read his short story "The Last Pennant Before Armageddeon" ... it is, as the title might imply, about the Cubs, and it's one that I occasionally use in my lit classes (since I'm in Illinois and most of my students are Cubs fans :))

[RoyGBiv]

63. No, I have not ...

But now I must. Not having any idea what it's about, I can still say with what I think is authority that any title having "Armageddon" in it is *perfect* for a story built around the Cubs. :)

I've been looking for more fiction to read. (I read history mostly and have been on this kick with the transition from Weimar to the Nazi state lately. Talk about depressing. Anyway, I've had my fill for the time being.) Is it in one of his collections?

[fishwax]

65. It's in the book "The Thrill of the Grass"

I thought I had a pdf file of it, but I can't seem to find it on my computer now ... I'll keep looking for it, though.

(I read history mostly and have been on this kick with the transition from Weimar to the Nazi state lately. Talk about depressing. Anyway, I've had my fill for the time being.)

I can see where some lighthearted fiction about the end of the world might be in order ;) Sounds like interesting stuff, though ...

[RoyGBiv]

64. The Natural ... redux

It's too late/early for me even to attempt to explore this intelligently, and it's getting *way* off topic, but I wanted to mention it in the hopes we might take it up again at some point.

I minored in literature, but, inasmuch as I could, I focused more on southern writers (Southern Renaissance) and the so-called Lost Generation and then some beatniks. When I say "focused," I mean in an academic setting. The elective upper-level classes I took were all centered there. My personal reading is all over the place.

Anyway ... there's a link between all three of those subjects of some variety, particularly, I think, between beatniks and Lost Generation authors. I have sort of a theory (meaning "idle ramblings inside my head") that there were authors in the 50s that formed another sort of mini-lost generation of their own but, due to that almost enforced optimism you mention, never were popularized in the same way. If that has any basis, Malamud would seem to fit with that.

I can't really cite anything right now or even think very clearly. This thought first entered my head when reading some African-America literature in conjunction with studying the early history of the Civil Rights movements.

The historical context of literature is incredibly important to understanding it and seeing its significance. That's actually how I got so interested in Shaara in the first place. His _Killer Angels_ led me to _For Love of the Game_. Some of his characterizations of historical people are incredibly unusual for the time period in which he wrote.

I think I'm rambling. Since these are two of my favorite subjects, I tend to go on.

[fishwax]

35. There was a time when Shoeless Joe was among my favorite novels

And there are still aspects of it that I really enjoy. It combines baseball (which I love) with elements of the road narrative (which is a scholarly interest of mine), and the road aspects get a much fuller treatment in the novel than the film. I still think it does a great job of capturing something important about baseball in America in a way that many films but few novels (The Natural is an exception) have done.

But eventually it came to be that the novel's sexism increasingly destroyed my ability to enjoy it on subsequent readings, and I haven't returned to it in several years. I suspect that a big part of the reason I haven't returned to it is because I don't want the sentimental pleasure that the novel represents to me (as a token of my youth) to be completely eviscerated, and I'm not sure that (between the sexism and some of the clunky plotting, among other flaws) that pleasure could hold up in the way I'd like it to.

Incidentally, I don't know if you've ever read anything else by W.P. Kinsella, but the sexism is an issue in his other work as well. It's not always blatant and explicit so much as it is the real difficulty he has presenting convincing female characters or presenting female characters on their own terms. I have occasionally taught a few of his short stories in undergrad lit classes, and the undergrad guys--a demographic not always sensitive to such issues--even tend to pick up on it.

The movie, though, was great, both as an adaptation (it treats the novel quite well, I think) and on its own merits.

[RoyGBiv]

46. I read it in the early 80s I think ...

I don't remember exactly when, but strangely enough I remember exactly where I read it. I consumed it in a single day sitting on my grandmother's chair in the den.

I wanted to like it, and I agree about the road narrative parts. That's one thing I took away from it that I did enjoy, and I found myself thinking of those parts years later when I read Zen. I also developed this fascination for J.D. Salinger and read _Cather in the Rye_ immediately after _Shoeless Joe_. It's not a book I hate by any means, but it kept sending off notes of discord in my brain as I was reading it whenever Annie was involved.

Part of that -- perhaps most of it -- comes from something implied by my remembering where I read the book. I was raised by my mother and grandmother, two very strong women, my grandmother having been a baseball coach for girls when she was a teacher -- baseball, not softball -- and making a right proper spectacle of herself in a male-dominated world to which she gave a virtual middle-finger. Baseball is something I have always loved. My grandmother and I would sit in the afternoons during the summer and watch the Cubs when we first got cable. Reading _Shoeless Joe_ actually threatened to unwind my conceptions of baseball and things about it that made it such a special game to me.

I didn't call it sexism then. It was just wrong and unreal.

And, yes, I have read some of his other stuff. _The Iowa Baseball Confederacy_ is the one that comes to mind off the top of my head, but I've read some of his short stories too. I think you may have hit it. He had an inability to develop a female character in his writing. I don't know anything about his personal life. I wonder now what influences (or lack of them) led to that.

On a personal note, I didn't know you were a literature person -- a Sooner and a bookworm. Awesome. :) What do you think of Shaara's novel?

[fishwax]

50. "notes of discord" sums it up pretty well

and it is all the more frustrating because I always really *want* to like what I'm reading of his. Alas.

Your grandmother sounds cool :thumbsup:

On a personal note, I didn't know you were a literature person -- a Sooner and a bookworm. Awesome. :) What do you think of Shaara's novel?

Guilty as charged :) Unfortunately, I haven't read the novel (:blush:), but I plan to at some point. I thought the film was pretty good, though ... alas, an interest in sports just isn't at all marketable in my particular field, so I've had to put those interests (in a literary sense at least) on the back burner during grad school; but I've always had the idea that, should I find myself fortunate enough to have tenure someday, I would undertake a project about baseball (or sports in general).

Speaking of Sooners, Kinsella wrote a story in which the narrator/main character played baseball at OU--I can't find the book on my shelves right now, so I can't tell you the title--and OU didn't really feature in the story other than as the ostensible setting (he puts the university in OKC instead of Norman, so the story clearly isn't concerned with OU as place), but it's still kind of cool, I suppose.

[OmahaBlueDog]

43. I love both "Field of Dreams" and "For Love of the Game"

I love the exchanges between Costner and John C. Reilly in "For Love of the Game"

"God, I always said I would never bother you about baseball, Lord knows you have bigger things to worry about. But if you could make this pain in my shoulder stop for ten minutes, I would really appreciate it."

[RoyGBiv]

49. The after-game hotel scene was awesome ...

Reilly was great in the whole movie, but I can't think of any other actor who would have played that as well as Reilly did.

[OmahaBlueDog]

54. Two scenes that I like

One is the scene with Billy (Costner) and Gus (Reilly) before the game:

Gus Sinski: Trying to take my hand off?
Billy Chapel: Sorry.
Gus Sinski: Just let me set for that juice. Warn me or something.
Billy Chapel: I'm gonna throw a little harder than usual today. There's your warning.
Gus Sinski: Chap, don't throw it away too early.
Billy Chapel: Today I'm throwing hard.
Gus Sinski: You and me? One more time?
Billy Chapel: Why not?


...and then there's the scene where an outfielder has made a bonehead play that will end up on SportsCenter:

Billy Chapel: There's a bunch of cameras out there right now waiting to make a joke of this, Mick. So you can either stop, give them the sound bite, do the dance. Or you can hold your head up and walk by, and the next time we're in Boston, we'll go out there and work the wall together. Don't help them make a joke out of you.

[KamaAina]

17. Fever Pitch! Reshot while the Sox were in the process of ruining the plot!!

Seriesly! It was supposed to take place during one in a seemingly endless series of 86 or so losing seasons -- but then it happened :bounce: so they had to reshoot the ending!!

edit: features Yankees-branded toilet paper!

[GOPisEvil]

22. Fever Pitch is a Football Movie.

I refuse to recognize the shitty American version the stars were allowed to be on the field for the Red Sox celebration. So screw them! :evilgrin:

[KamaAina]

23. So you're saying it was really about the Pats?

Or the Revs, maybe? :shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

25. The book and the original movie are memories of an Arsenal fan.

[SoxFan]

27. No, it was a SOCCER movie

[SalmonChantedEvening]

24. Bull Durham

Max Patkin slow dancing with Susan Sarandon.

Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!

Larry: Lollygaggers!

Skip: Lollygaggers.

So much more here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094812/quotes

[achtung_circus]

30. And the bondage..... nt

[SoxFan]

28. Voted for "Field of Dreams"

If you're ever in northeast Iowa or southern Wisconsin, you can visit the farm where the movie was filmed. It's free, and you can run the bases, play catch, check out Shoeless Joe's corn stalks. It's in Dyersville, Iowa, near Dubuque.

I'm also going to put in a word for "The Rookie". Not great, but good, and based on the really cool story of Jimmy Morris, a high school coach who made the majors as a reliever for the Rays in his late thirties.

[Upton]

29. IMO, "Eight Men Out" is the best baseball movie ever

and you didn't even include it your poll..I can only conclude this lapse has something to do with you being a Nats fan.

[rucky]

31. +1

[XemaSab]

39. Word

nt

[OmahaBlueDog]

44. Excellent movie

John Sayles at his best

[TZ]

69. Nice post madinmaryland

:eyes:that's why I put the how could you forget option.and I agree that's a very good movie though

[nuxvomica]

71. Agreed

[LSdemocrat]

72. That's also my choice

[Va Lefty]

84. My pick too

[mix]

93. +1

astonishing oversight, poll-maker

[Forkboy]

32. Fear Strikes Out.

[peekaloo]

75. I liked the sequel.

when he moves in with his mom and runs a motel. :dunce:

[Forkboy]

76. LOL

Perkins was always good.

"I'd never hurt a fly." :)

[Dr. Strange]

33. This is the Spinal Taps.

It's about a heavy metal band that decides to put together a baseball team. But they have trouble keeping their catchers. (One spontaneously combusts, another dies in a bizarre double play.) They experiment with different rules, like having eleven bases instead of four, but then no one ever scores. (And during one game, the team gets lost between the 8th and 9th bases.) It's really funny.

[TZ]

79. LOL!

I thin you ought to write the screenplay for this...;)

[sasquatch]

36. I voted "Major League", but I think the most underestimated movie was "The Sandlot"

[Kat45]

37. Other: "Rhubarb" Curmudgeonly old guy dies and leaves his

baseball team to his ornery cat. It's a fun movie. Anybody else see it?

[begin_within]

53. I have, about 10 years ago. It's really cute. In fact,

I was going to post that movie in this thread but you got to it first.

[Kat45]

80. Cool! Good to find somebody else who's seen it.

I also saw it a number of years ago, back when the UHF stations would show old movies on Saturday afternoons. I'd love to see that movie again, but it's probably a picture that never made it to DVD.

[begin_within]

83. According to imDb, it was finally released on DVD on July 1st of last year.

You can buy it online for around $10 most places it seems.

[GOPisEvil]

38. Where the hell is Brewster's Millions?

:P

[jobycom]

55. Didn't make it because the grandfather was a honkie.

:rofl:

I love that film.

[jobycom]

41. "Field of Dreams" slightly over "Bull Durham."

Both captured the essence of baseball, from different angles. I liked the metaphor of "Field of Dreams" slightly better than than the philosophy of "Bull Durham."

As long as I live, I don't think I'll ever appreciate Major League or understand why its fans rate it so high. No metaphor, no message, no depth, not much in the way of writing, just a "rah rah win it all on the last swing" story. It's a weak comic book compared to fine novels. But that was my opinion, I guess, and no reason anyone should agree with me any more than I should have to agree with anyone else. :)

(Edited first line of second paragraph because I reread it and it sounded dumb the way I first wrote it).

[OmahaBlueDog]

42. I said "Field of Dreams"..but how on earth could you forget "Bang the Drum Slowly"?

On edit...and also, how could you forget "Pride of the Yankees", which is universally recognized as a movie for which you will not lose your guy card if you cry.

[underpants]

51. Bull Durham anyone who says different is a c*cksuker

Sears Sucks!

[fishwax]

57. Okay, well, uh... candlesticks always make a nice gift

and uh, maybe you could find out where she's registered and maybe a place setting or maybe a silverware pattern. Okay, let's get two! Go get 'em.

[underpants]

58. Strikeouts are fascists

:applause:

[fishwax]

59. You've got to play the game with fear and arrogance

Nuke: Fear and ignorance. Got it.

:rofl:

[underpants]

61. the rose goes in front

[rrneck]

52. Bull Durham. Kooky but it has heart. nt

[seaker]

60. Pride of the Yankees

[NewJeffCT]

78. +1

my pick

[Jamastiene]

66. There's no crying in baseball. n/t

[Iggo]

68. Perhaps...

...you shouldn't have chastised her so vehemently.

[Tabasco_Dave]

70. The Bad News Bears (1970's) n/t

[NightWatcher]

73. I cant believe I'm the first to say.. The Sandlot

You got any naked pictures of your sister?
You want some?


Bull Durham was a great look at the minors, but the sandlot is were all the stars got their start back in the day.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

74. I really liked

Bang the Drum slowly and It happens every Spring!

[abq e streeter]

94. Finally---was just about to post It Happens Every Spring

WGN in Chicago used to ( who knows, maybe still do) show that every spring right before baseball season started---as sure a sign of spring in Chi. , as the temperature finally reaching the 40's...

[Pierre.Suave]

77. Major League

no Contest.

"Juuust a bit outside..."

[MadBadger]

81. Gonna have to go with Little Big League

:-)

[HERVEPA]

82. Bang the Drum Slowly. Great movie. Great cast.

Michael Moriarty ... Henry 'Author' Wiggen

Robert De Niro ... Bruce Pearson
Vincent Gardenia ... Dutch Schnell
Phil Foster ... Joe Jaros
Ann Wedgeworth ... Katie
Patrick McVey ... Bruce's Father

Heather MacRae ... Holly Wiggen
Selma Diamond ... Tootsie, Hotel switchboard operator

[gmoney]

85. +1

Care for a few hands of TEGWAR?

[gmoney]

86. "Bingo Long and his Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings" was really good

A definite winner, but just like in real baseball, it didn't make the "official" list because it's about the Negro Leagues.

[Jack from Charlotte]

87. You nailed it. De Niro was remarkable.....

Played Bruce with slow eyes.

"From now on I rag no one."

[dembotoz]

89. fond of the rookie

althought field of dreams.....

[bif]

92. Same here

I thought "The Rookie" was great. But slightly edged out by "Field of Dreams..

[MrSlayer]

90. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings

Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones.

[nickgutierrez]

91. Major League, or 61*.

I think I rate A League Of Their Own a little higher than most people, too.