Baseball Movies

So, the sports blogs here at b5media are all putting together lists of movies about their chosen sport. Baseball, of course, has a rich tradition of movies. I’ll group these into the ones I’ve seen and the ones I haven’t. This will help you know when I’m speaking from experience and when I’m just making stuff up.

Movies I’ve Seen

• Bull Durham. I was just leaving my teen-age years when this came out and I fell hard for Susan Sarandon. Beyond that, however, this is a fantastic movie. The writing is brilliant, as is the chemistry between Sarandon and Kevin Costner. Also, unlike many baseball movies, this one actually feels like baseball.
• Field of Dreams. This one came out shortly after Bull Durham, but for some reason I never saw it in the theater, having finally caught it on DVD just a few years ago. Costner’s in this one as well, as are the great James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster. Although baseball plays a prominent role, I don’t consider Field of Dreams a baseball movie. It’s more a life movie with baseball in it, and a very good one at that.
• Major League. I guess there were a lot of baseball movies in the late-’80s. This one is an over-the-top comedy with a ridiculous plot and exploitation of classic baseball cliches. Tom Berenger and Rene Russo are the Sarandon/Costner of this movie; the chemistry isn’t the same, but then again, neither is the movie. James Gammon is great as the manager of a beaten-down team, Corbin Bernsen will make you loathe his character, and even Charlie Sheen is tolerable.
• Bad News Bears. I’ve only seen the version from the ’70s with Walter Matthau and it’s a classic. Yes, I had a crush on Tatum O’Neal back in the day. Hey, I was a kid. Cut a guy some slack, would you? Anyway, this one is just wacky good fun.
• Eight Men Out. This is the story of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, part of the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal that shook baseball. As with Field of Dreams, I didn’t see this one until many years after its release. Debate rages on just how accurate this portrayal is, but the movie plays well enough.
• A League of Their Own. Tom Hanks is great — his character utters the now-famous line, “There’s no crying in baseball.” Some of the performances (Lori Petty, in particular) are very good, although I should warn you that Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Jon Lovitz are all in the film, so the potential to be annoyed at some point definitely exists. That said, this tells a story that needed to be told, about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League of the ’40s. If you can get past some of the aforementioned performers, this is a solid movie.

Movies I Haven’t Seen

• The Natural. I read Bernard Malamud’s novel and loved it. I’ve heard the movie is quite good, although I never could bring myself to watch it because I understand the movie’s ending is radically different from the book’s. Maybe someday I’ll get over that.
• The Rookie. This is the true story of Jim Morris, who quit his job as a high-school baseball coach in his mid-’30s to pursue a big-league career. Remarkably, he actually made it to the major leagues. Well, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Close enough.
• Fear Strikes Out. I really want to see this one because it tells the story of Jimmy Piersall, who is one of the most unusual characters ever to play the game, and because Anthony Perkins (Psycho) plays the part of Piersall in the film.

These are just a few of the many baseball movies that exist. Maybe you know of some others?

[Update: I've added a poll to the sidebar; feel free to cast you vote over there as well as leave comments below.]