When Baseball and Reality Television Collide
March 3, 2008 by Geoff Young
Filed under Books and Movies
Friend of Knuckle Curve John Fitzgerald, producer/director of The Emerald Diamond (movie about the Irish national baseball team), is at it again. He’s moved to the small screen for his latest project, Playing for Peanuts, which is… well, I’ll let him describe it:
“Playing for Peanuts” is a new TV show about minor league baseball. The show uses reality TV and documentary techniques to follow the South Georgia Peanuts in their inaugural season. The Peanuts are made up of a mix of rookies and veterans, all hoping to get back into affiliated minor league baseball. The Peanuts are managed by former Major League second baseman Wally Backman.
Mike Caruso, who will show up in a future installment of our look back at Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects of 1998 (he was #34), plays on the team, as does the ultrafast Curtis Goodwin. You can learn more by visiting the show’s web site or accompanying blog.
Useless Factoid: Wally Backman lives in Oregon.
Thank you, and good night!
ding! ding! ding! We have a winner!
I actually just booked a flight out there - we have one final interview for the show in a few weeks.
RD, deliverin’ the goods.
Peanuts - It helps that I live in said state. Though I can’t remember exactly when the Oregonian ran a huge story on Wally which talked about the D-Backs debacle, and his managing the Peanuts. And having issues with the league - which if I remember correctly led to him leaving the team for a while.
Yes, you’re correct. There were several issues with the league.