My Seven Favorite Baseball Movies
This was an Instagram thread from January, 2025
January, 2025
One Man’s Opinion:
My Seven Favorite Baseball Movies
In mid-January, I did an Instagram series, ranking my favorite baseball movies. Here it is.
#7 - Moneyball
Everyone loves a good baseball movie. I’ve seen most of them (even the awful Little Big League and Angels in the Outfield). I’ll rank them from #7 to #1 this week. Others may disagree. It’s just my list.
Moneyball (2011)- There is a hidden game of baseball, and it’s the front office. This movie, based on Michael Lewis’ excellent book, details the A’s in the early part of the century. A must watch for numbers’ geeks. We watch it in our stats classes at school. Oh, and Brad Pitt is the lead.
#6 - The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees (1942). Def not a Yankees fan, but the Lou Gehrig story is a good one. One of the first biopics, it tells how Gehrig rose from Columbia University to become the Iron Horse. It’s 1942, so take that in consideration when watching. (Babe Ruth plays himself, how awesome). Regardless, everyone tears up when Gehrig utters his historic line when being honored: “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
#5 - The Bad News Bears
The Bad News Bears (1976). Of course, I had to include the baseball film with my childhood crush, Tatum O’Neal. And a team sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds (“Let Freedom Ring”). We could talk about this movie for a while. Friends will say that so much has changed since it was released 49 years ago. I see so much that hasn’t- meritocracy and parental drive in youth sports (like most things, it’s about family $) and inherited racism. The subtitle on the poster above should have “adults” replace “kids.” As we know about sports movies, the climactic scene revolves around a particular contest. The Bears lose, but they appear to win. Gotta love Buttermaker. My favorite quote- “you didn’t come into this life to just sit on a dugout bench. Now get out there and do the best you can.”
#4 - Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out (1988). You may recall I wrote about this story in book form by Eliot Asinof. It shares the sad account of some of the best baseball players of the era (including Shoeless Joe Jackson, the best hitter in the game) and how they played to lose in the 1919 World Series. They thought they would get paid by the gamblers who orchestrated the fix, but most never saw a dime. And all were banished from organized baseball. The book and film are sympathetic toward the players, who were vastly underpaid for their regular-season work. After I learned about this team from Asinof, they became a favorite. Even today I can recite the ‘19 Black Sox lineup. Favorite quote- an easy choice, “Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so.”
#3 - Bull Durham
Bull Durham (1988). Some might call this their fave. I love it. So good. Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. There are different themes here, all well done. Baseball-wise, life in the minor leagues is truly a chore. There are endless quotes that I could highlight, many of them humorous (Candlesticks make a great gift.) I’ll choose two that mean the most to me. From Crash: “Just one more dying quail a week and you are in Yankee Stadium.” And Annie the Sage: “The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in and day out, is the church of baseball.”
#2 - Bang the Drum Slowly
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). In the early 1970s, a string of movies were made about athletes dying young. Brian’s Song and Something for Joey were two football ones. This movie fits that profile. After I see a movie, I know it’s a good one if years later I still think about it. Here, I’ve never really stopped thinking about the relationship between the pitcher and catcher, Henry (called Author by his teammates because of his brilliant mind) and Bruce (diagnosed with a terminal illness, his brain power is limited). Especially the scene when Henry negotiates his contract to include Bruce. The best line closes out the movie: “From here on out, I rag nobody”
#1 - The Natural
The Natural (1984). I had this movie poster up in my dorm room, and had my senior photo taken with it. Directed by Barry Levinson, who also directed one of my all time favorite under-the-radar sports movies, Diner. The Natural is based on an acclaimed 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, which has a 180-degree ending from the film. People have asked my thoughts on this. And it’s difficult to balance. The book is well-done. But so is the film. There are many good quotes from this movie (“Pick me out a winner, Bobby” and “My mother always told me I ought to be a farmer…My dad wanted me to be a baseball player.”) The quote that really explains the movie is spoken by Iris. In the hospital, Roy bemoans his situation, “some mistakes you never stop paying for.” Iris provides the essence of the film, “you know, I believe we have two lives, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that.” And a perfect ending, Roy playing catch with his son.
Postscript
So, let’s talk the movies that were left out. The one that most guys point to is Field of Dreams. In ‘82, I read Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe, the novel FOD is based on. Previously I stated that the 1919 White Sox are one of my favorote teams. So shouldn’t I go nuts over anything with that team? The book did nothing for me. Maybe it was too much fantasy, a genre I tend to avoid. When FOD came out in 1989, I refused to see it, because of my feelings toward the book. Finally, two years later I watchd it, on VHS.
Some of the Honorable Mentions: The Sandlot, A League of Their Own, The Final Season (took all three of my kids on Saturday night, and they enjoyed it), and I’m not sure it qualifies, but Ken Burns’ “Baseball” is a series I considered adding. I mean who couldn’t just lie on the couch and watch all 9 episodes that document the greatest sport ever invented?