10 BEST BASEBALL MOVIES by Susan Granger
Missing the baseball season? During epidemics, war and national tragedy, baseball has always been a constant. Spectator sports not only engage us but also distract us from our current emotional crisis.
Director Ken Burns chronicled the sport of “Baseball” in his massive 1994 documentary, now streaming free on PBS, plus here are 10 highly entertaining baseball movies (in alphabetical order) that you can enjoy on streaming services like Apple TV, Prime Video, Netflix, Vudu, Fandango NOW.
“The Bad News Bears” (1976), directed By Michael Ritchie. It’s the original Little League satire – with Walter Matthau as the grouchy, beer-guzzling coach and kids Tatum O’Neal, Jackie Earle Haley and Matthau’s real-life son Charlie as a member of an opposing team. Bill Lancaster’s screenplay was based growing up with his father, Burt Lancaster, who would later play an aged version of Archibald “Moonlight” Graham in “Field of Dreams.”
“Bull Durham” (1988) by writer/director Ron Shelton, with Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner & Tim Robbins. It’s a smart, sassy romantic comedy about the Bulls, a minor-league team in Durham, North Carolina, and its devoted groupie who brags, “There’s never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn’t have the best year of his career.” The Bulls billboard offering a “free steak” if it’s tagged by a home run was created for the film. Yet today, if a player hits the Bull on the fly with a home run, he wins a free steak from a local restaurant and, if the player hits the grass the Bull stands on, he wins a free salad.
“Damn Yankees” (1958), directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, adapted from the Broadway musical about a devoted, elderly fan who loves the Washington Senators so much that he agrees to sell his soul to the Devil (Ray Walston) to become the slugger (Tab Hunter) who helps them beat the Yankees. Gwen Verdon dazzles as Lola, a seductive siren at the service of Satan. Her dancing partner in “Who’s Got the Pain?” is Bob Fosse and when he exits, Tab Hunter exclaims, “Great work, Bobby.”
“Eight Men Out” (1988) by writer/director John Sayles, based on Eliot Asinof’s book, revealing the sordid scandal behind the accusation that the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series in return for cash, resulting in eight team members being banned from baseball for life. Sayles appears as sportswriter Ring Lardner. Sayles used cardboard cutouts to depict fans in the stands but, when he needed 1,000 extras for close-ups, Charlie Sheen ran a contest with the winner having lunch with him.
“Field of Dreams” (1989) by writer/director Phil Alden Robinson, who adapted W.P. Kinsella’s book “Shoeless Joe” about an Iowa farmer (Kevin Costner) who builds a diamond in his cornfield, believing: “If you build it, he will come,” referring not only to legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) but also to his late, estranged dad. Visitors are welcome from 9 am to 6 pm at the baseball field’s actual location: 28995 Lansing Rd. Dyersville, IA.
“A League of Their Own” (1992), a comedic drama directed by Penny Marshall, introducing the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which sprang up when most male ballplayers were off fighting W.W.II. Real-life player Dottie Collins pitched 17 shutouts during her six-year career. Tom Hanks plays the cantankerous coach with Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell & Tea Leoni on his Rockford Peaches team. In casting, they were told: if you can’t play ball, you can’t be in the movie. The most famous line is “There’s no crying in baseball.”
“Moneyball” (2011), directed by Bennett Miller, based on Michael Lewis’ non-fiction best-seller, adapted by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics general manager who reinvents professional baseball by hiring a savvy statistician (Jonah Hill) to advise him how to build a winning team. FYI: All but one of the ‘scouts’ were played by actual Major League scouts. And when Beane advises his players – “When your enemy is making mistakes, don’t interrupt ‘em” – it’s paraphrased from Napoleon Bonaparte’ advice to his generals during a battle in 1805.
“The Natural” (1984), writer/director Barry Levinson’s adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s novel with Robert Redford as slugger Roy Hobbs, who feels he can be the greatest baseball player there ever was, and a supporting cast of Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley and Richard Farmsworth. Hobbs’ breaking the scoreboard clock with a home run was inspired by Boston Braves’ Bama Rowell doubling off the Ebbets Field scoreboard clock on May 30, 1946 – for which Rowell got a free Bulova watch.
“The Pride of the Yankees” (1942), directed by Sam Wood. Gary Cooper became iconic as Lou Gehrig, the fabled first baseman who suffered from a crippling, incurable disease that came to bear his name. There’s a stellar supporting cast with Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan & Babe Ruth plays himself. Gehrig’s famous retirement quote – “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth” – was spoken on July 4, 1939.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1949), directed by Busby Berkeley, his final film, since Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly took over staging the musical numbers. It’s a frivolous, fun Technicolor M.G.M. musical, set between 1905 and 1915, when baseball was becoming known as the national pastime. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra & Esther Williams star. In the finale song, when the actors are named, there’s a reference to “Garland” and “Grayson” because both Judy Garland and Kathryn Grayson were originally considered for Esther Williams’ part.