Tomorrow marks the start of spring training games and it seemed only appropriate to talk about my favorite part of America's past time: The baseball movie. As you have probably heard me say I am going to try and love baseball this year. My main reason for wanting to care about the game so much, aside from having something to do between the NBA finals in June and the kick off of college football in September, is baseball movies are just so good. They have a way of romanticizing the game in ways I can't even understand. Even if you don't care, or want to care, for baseball, you can appreciate the game through these movies (all of which are much shorter than a true baseball game, I promise).
Moneyball was just nominated for Best Picture and is no doubt one of the influences on my decision. The reason Moneyball worked was they spent such a little amount of time showing the baseball itself, and instead focused on the team and general manager with everything working against them trying to change the sport forever. In fact, most of the baseball scenes in the film are of a single player in a blackened stadium taking pitches while the announcer is discussing the rest of the game. The movie's moral "He hit a home run and you didn't realize it" is something that speaks to everyone.
On the other end of the spectrum is The Natural, which spent almost the entire run time on the diamond. This helps the movie feel that it's going at a much faster pace than it really is. While it is a movie with many flaws, they are all forgiven because of an incredibly pure and well executed ending. There is just so much hope for the one who was supposed to be the best ever to succeed so late in life with his trusty Wonder Boy bat.
Want a baseball movie that is very little about baseball? Well that just happens to be the story of a minor league team called Bull Durham. (For the record it took a lot of work to not name a Kevin Costner movie about baseball until now.) The story of a washed up catcher and an up-and coming pitcher who's lives cross as they both fall in love with the same woman (played by Susan Surandon). A highly entertaining dramedy that very well may be the best on this list.
in 1998 Mark McGwire broke the home run record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961. During the race to 62 between McGwire and Sammy Sosa HBO decided to cash in and produced a movie about the season Maris set the record called 61*. A more accurate film than those previously mentioned, the plot centers on Maris and his Yankee teammate trying to both break a record considered unbeatable at the time set by Babe Ruth. The most interesting take on the story is seeing the New York public take sides and root against Maris even though he plays for the right team.
Back to Kevin Costner, this time in For Love of the Game as a major league pitcher who has had a storied career that is now coming to a close as he turns 40. The film is probably the weakest of his baseball movies but the end has always stuck with me. Costner is pitching his final game of his career and it just so happens to be a potential perfect game. Sam Raimi, who also directed the Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies, puts his touch on the film in the moment when he continuously shows Costner standing on the mound in deep thought and allows us to hear his inner thoughts (I don't remember if it's voice over or Costner talking to himself) as he is throwing against a rookie who is dangerous because he is too dumb to know what he's up against.
Sticking with old pitchers, The Rookie is about Dennis Quad coaching an inner city high school team that never wins. He ends up making a deal with the team if they go to the playoffs, he will try out for the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. As luck would have it, the unlikely scenario played out on screen just as it did in real life allowing him to not only try out, but make the team. He has limited playing time but the story is still inspiring and impressive.
To end the list it has to be Field of Dreams. Was there ever any doubt? The story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Chicago White Sox where if you build it, he (not they) will come. The reason I point out that it isn't they is two-fold. One is it is one of the most misquoted lines of all time and two, the movie doesn't make sense unless the line is he. The reason this movie is the epitome of a great baseball movie is that it's about a dream and a longing for a past that you don't think you can ever get back. Sure, seeing Shoeless Joe play was important to Ray Kinsella (Costner) but the true climax of the film is the moment Ray gets to reconnect with his deceased father over a game of catch that will send the strongest of men reaching for the tissues.
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