My Baseball Movies DVD collection is now complete (I think)

[Buccaneer]

I love baseball movies (except for one) and in reading many of the top 5 or top 10 favorites list, I think I finally got mine completed (i.e., don't see any others I need). My favorites include Field of Dreams, 61*, The Natural, Pride of the Yankees (got this today for Father's Day) and Eight Men Out. I really don't consider those screwball comedies (e.g., Major Leagues, Angels in the Outfield, etc.) to be "true" baseball movies so I don't count those, even though I do like them. The one that is missing is Bull Durham, which I absolutely hate and consider one of the worse movies of all time. Other than that, I think the 5 that I listed does appear on many people's list. How about yours?

[Greyroofoo]

A League of their Own?

Who doesn't love the "There's NO crying in baseball!!!!"

[SunDevil]

For the Love of the Game?

[SunDevil]

Bad News Bears I and II?

[SunDevil]

Sandlot, the first one?

[bosshogg23]

Cobb is a good one.

[Desmond]

Cobb is excellent, excellent movie.
I know it's utter trite but I have always had a soft spot in my heart for The Sluggers Wife. Of course that could be Rebecca DeMornays fault.

[Crapshoot]

Cobb is a good one.


"". Great movie.

[AgustusM]

For the Love of the Game?

I really enjoyed this one and also "the rookie"

[Barkeep49]

I would agree that any "true" baseball movie collection should have the Sandlot, A League of Their Own and Cobb. To me The Sandlot captures that love of baseball as a kid, and indeed the feelings of childhood, better then just about any movie.

To disagree with Bucc, I loved Bull Durham but was so bored by 61* that I didn't finish watching it when I tried a few months ago.

[sabotai]

Eight Men Out is probably my favorite baseball movie, followed by Field of Dreams and The Sandlot.

[Bad-example]

A League Of Their Own was painfully bad.

[Philliesfan980]

Gotta agree on a League of Their Own, terrible.

Sandlot is one of my all time favorite movies in general. I don't think I've seen a movie more accurately reflect some of my summers when I was 8-13.

[bosshogg23]

Jon Lovitz cracks me up in A League of Their Own no matter how many times I see it.

"Hey cowgirls, see the grass? Don't eat it."

[Philliesfan980]

Summer Catch. Hey what can I say.. I like the cape cod league, and a certain cast member ;).

.. runs and ducks for cover.

[spleen1015]

What's wrong with Bull Durham?

[TazFTW]

Soul of the Game.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115631/

[Philliesfan980]

Soul of the Game.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115631/

Wow, looks awesome. I'm going to dig around and see if I can find a copy of this.

[bosshogg23]

Wow, looks awesome. I'm going to dig around and see if I can find a copy of this.

Its ok, not great IMO. Everyone plays their characters to the absolute extremes, particularly Josh Gibson.

[Buccaneer]

Sandlot, A League of Their Own and Cobb.

I think that's a good list. I have not heard about Cobb, got to check that one out. I think I saw parts of Sandlot but don't remember that one - is that the one with the giant dog? I have mixed feelings about League of Their Own. And don't get me started on Bull Durham, I've ranted about this too much at FOFC over the years.

[Hoya1]

Soul of the Game.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115631/
terrific movie. Probably in my top 3

[bosshogg23]

I think that's a good list. I have not heard about Cobb, got to check that one out. I think I saw parts of Sandlot but don't remember that one - is that the one with the giant dog? I have mixed feelings about League of Their Own. And don't get me started on Bull Durham, I've ranted about this too much at FOFC over the years.

Cobb is played by Tommy Lee Jones, so if you like him you will love Cobb.

Yes Sandlot is the one with the huge dog and James Earl Jones as the dogs owner.

[Arctus]

Bang the Drum Slowly

[Celeval]

Major League I think should count as a baseball movie. II and III - not so much.
For Love of the Game is one of my favorites.

[kcchief19]

Cobb is a bit of a disturbing movie. It's an an excellent psychological profile movie, but not terribly uplifting like some of your classic baseball movies. Baseball is somewhat incidental to the story too.

The Sandlot goes in the category of screwball movies to me. Bucc's list is pretty complete for me, although I think any list of this sort must have Bull Durham. I'm a sucker for almost any baseball movie that doesn't star some pansy ass pretty boy -- i.e. Summer Catch -- so I'll even enjoy a movie like Fever Pitch. For dark horse choices, I'd go with Bang the Drum Slowly, The Rookie and The Bingo Long Travelling All Stars.

[panerd]

Long Gone is one of my favorite baseball movies, not sure if I would want to own it though.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks kc, I think you hit on something. I just saw the preview for Cobb and it certainly is different (more on salvaging/rewriting his legacy). Baseball movies, imo, has to be about baseball, not a romantic/psychological/sociological movie that happens to use baseball as the prop.

I know Bull Durham belongs on the list and I respect that for others but for me, I am repulsed by it (mainly because of the expectations I had for it after spending a summer watching Single-A games there before they went big time).

[ISiddiqui]

I consider Bull Durham to be, by far, the best baseball movie of all time, and therefore, Bucc's list is deeply flawed :p.

[Joe]

Summer Catch. Hey what can I say.. I like the cape cod league, and a certain cast member ;).

.. runs and ducks for cover.

Freddie Prinze Jr.?

[Izulde]

Squince is the pimp.

'Nuff said.

[Dutch]

I really enjoyed this one and also "the rookie"

Was "the rookie" about the minor league pitcher who finally got a shot in the majors? If so, I loved that movie.

61* was absolutely great and is one of the true "baseball" movies.

I didn't care for 8 men out so much, but I might watch it again now that I'm older.

[ISiddiqui]

Was "the rookie" about the minor league pitcher who finally got a shot in the majors? If so, I loved that movie.

Yeah, based on a real life story too, good stuff.

[jbmagic]

Some others.

The Babe
Little Big League
Mr. Baseball
The Natural
Rookie of the Year
Hardball
Pastime

[bob]

Don't forget Tigertown.

IMDB review: "Man I loved this movie when I was a little kid. It had everything I thought was important at the time: baseball, faith, and humor. I know it's pretty sad, but this movie left an indelible mark on my young life, which I doubt I've shaken to this day. Roy Schneider (don't ask me what he was doing in this!) of "Jaws" fame, plays an aging all-star for the Detroit Tigers, who are seriously slumping. He thinks he's lost his magic touch as a hitter, and in fact it seems he has. All of Detroit has given up on him except for one young kid, who somehow manages to restore Schneider's faith in the game and in himself. The trick: he shows up at every game and whenever he gets up to bat, the kid closes his eyes and squeezes his hands really tight together in some sort of possessed prayer to the Baseball God. And it works. Soon, the Tigers have moved from last place to first and the whole town has "Tiger Fever", of course there comes a time towards the end when the kid can't make it to the game on time and it's up to Roy to do it on his own...but it's a Disney movie, come on, what do you think happens? Anyways, it's an enjoyable movie, focusing on baseball , childhood faith and an aging athlete's redemption. Give it a chance (if you can find it anywhere!)"

[Joe]

Some others.

The Babe
Little Big League
Mr. Baseball
The Natural
Rookie of the Year
Hardball
Pastime

some of those really, really suck

[Hammer755]

Any Favorite Baseball Movie lists without A League of Their Own and The Sandlot are not complete!

[OldGiants]

Everyone always leaves out the 'other' Dennis Quaid baseball movie, FREQUENCY. This is an excellent flick, and the 1969 World Series is key to the plot. One of the more clever baseball fantasy movies with its use of a kid/grownup listening to the Mets.

Best part is, your wife will love it, too.

[oykib]

Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings

Long Gone

You can't say The Sandlot too many times

[Bradley]

"It Happens Every Spring" is great if you can find it. Really fun to watch with your kids.

[ISiddiqui]

Everyone always leaves out the 'other' Dennis Quaid baseball movie, FREQUENCY. This is an excellent flick, and the 1969 World Series is key to the plot. One of the more clever baseball fantasy movies with its use of a kid/grownup listening to the Mets.

Best part is, your wife will love it, too.

Though I wonder if it fits the 'baseball movie' defintion as giving above that baseball can't be incidental to the plot, as it is in Frequency.

[Buccaneer]

Though I wonder if it fits the 'baseball movie' defintion as giving above that baseball can't be incidental to the plot, as it is in Frequency.

I love Frequency but imo, it is not a 'baseball movie', so I agree with your sentiment.

[OldGiants]

I don't consider it 'incidental' at all. The boy/dad find each other while listening to the Mets, they play softball throughout the movie, the 1969 WS is ongoing in the background, and the dad's prediction of the Cleon Jones shoe polish incident is central to the saving the mom's life. The theme of baseball as holding the family together permeates the movie. Its more about baseball than Bang the Drum Slowly, which is essentially about a man dying of cancer who happens to be wearing a baseball uniform.

That's a lot more real baseball than some of the other movies cited earlier in this thread.

[ISiddiqui]

I've never, ever, considered Frequency a 'baseball movie'. I've always thought it was incidental to the plot. Hell, they could have taken baseball out of the entire movie and replaced it with something else and still had a movie. The central plot was the 'time travel' with the Ham radio. Baseball was just what was used as a bridge. Hell, before I saw the movie, I had no clue baseball was going to be in it.

[Bad-example]

Not a baseball movie, but the first Naked Gun movie had some of the funniest baseball stuff of all time.

[JeeberD]

The original Bad News Bears is freaking classic...

[ISiddiqui]

If we are going beyond the Top 5....

I may get stoned (as in by rocks, not weed) for this, but I liked "For Love of the Game".

[OldGiants]

...I had no clue...

I could not possibly agree more with those words.

[saldana]

i somehow missed this thread when it was up orginially, but since it reappeared, i thought i would way in on it....many of the movies in everyones lists are awesome, but i have a huge issue with one movie in particular.

Field of Dreams SUCKS!!!

allow me to elaborate.....if a movie is supposed to be fictional, such as The Natural, writers can write whatever they want, but when a movie, even if it is purely fiction, has characters that are based on real people, those people should be accurately portrayed...hence the facts that the Joe Jackson character bats right handed, and when the rest of the Black Sox come out of the corn field, they have their catcher with them in Field of Dreams, it infuriates me.

Joe Jackson was left handed.

Ray Schalk was not part of the Black Sox group, was not banned, and is in the HOF.

all it would have taken was about 5 minutes of research to make the Historical aspects of the movie correct, but since the people that made the movie didnt care to do that, i dont care to watch their movie.

[kcchief19]

Well, if you didn't watch the movie then I don't think you can really have a valid opinion of the movie. Sorry, but I think that's fair.

But for what it's worth, the book Shoeless Joe was one of the most beautifully researched novels I've ever read. I read that thing with the Baseball Encyclopedia by my side and loved that all the characters from the novel were true to life in every way.

The writer WP Kinsella was a consultant during filming, and the producers made it very clear up front that they knew that Jackson was a left-handed batter. This was a case where they chose art over a pretty small detail in the grand scheme of things. Ray Liotta was wonderful in the part and he was a righty. Sure, they could have flipped the print like they did for Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig, but they chose not to. But if you want an intimate detail like that spelled out, then Jackson should have been played by an illiterate southerner.

As for Schalk being part of the movie, if you had seen the movie it would have made sense. "If you build it, he will come" was for Jackson. Once Jackson shows up, he later brings his teammates. If you want to play a game, you gotta have a catcher. Later, other teams from the era come to play as well. In the book, full games were played and Ray tracked the stats. It was very cool.

See the movie -- you'll get over it.

[saldana]

Well, if you didn't watch the movie then I don't think you can really have a valid opinion of the movie. Sorry, but I think that's fair.

But for what it's worth, the book Shoeless Joe was one of the most beautifully researched novels I've ever read. I read that thing with the Baseball Encyclopedia by my side and loved that all the characters from the novel were true to life in every way.

The writer WP Kinsella was a consultant during filming, and the producers made it very clear up front that they knew that Jackson was a left-handed batter. This was a case where they chose art over a pretty small detail in the grand scheme of things. Ray Liotta was wonderful in the part and he was a righty. Sure, they could have flipped the print like they did for Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig, but they chose not to. But if you want an intimate detail like that spelled out, then Jackson should have been played by an illiterate southerner.

As for Schalk being part of the movie, if you had seen the movie it would have made sense. "If you build it, he will come" was for Jackson. Once Jackson shows up, he later brings his teammates. If you want to play a game, you gotta have a catcher. Later, other teams from the era come to play as well. In the book, full games were played and Ray tracked the stats. It was very cool.

See the movie -- you'll get over it.

i guess i should have been more clear...i did watch the movie, and decided it sucked after watching the entire thing.

and as far as the if you build it he will come thing....after jackson shows up, iirc, i thought it was kind of apparent when he tells Ray "there are others, you know", that he is talking about "others" that were no longer allowed to play, meaning the other 7 black sox. i realize it was a creative license thing because you have to have a catcher, i just think it was dumb, because schalk would never have played another inning with those guys.

maybe in the context that you put it in as far as the book goes, it would be less annoying, but it just irked me that they couldnt get those details right....also, as far as picking liotta to play the part, i did like his portrayal, except for the swing....jackson's left handed swing is arguably the best in the history of baseball, so to have him hitting righty is just plain wrong. would it have killed liotta to swing from the other side of the plate? Jon Goodman learned to hit and throw left handed to be in the Babe.

[JeffNights]

No list is complete without Mr. Baseball.

[Cap Ologist]

I think that the "Wanna have a catch" more than makes up for the fact that someone bats/throws with the wrong hand.

[Galaril]

Don't forget the 1958 classic "Those Damn Yankees" kind of like angels in the outfield but instead the Devil helps a team.