Top 5 – Baseball Movies
As I write this, we are in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic. It has effected nearly every aspect of our lives, everything from commuting to work to sports and entertainment. Today, March 26th, 2020, was supposed to be opening day for Major League Baseball. Opening Day is one of the bigger days of the sports year, as it ushers in a new season of America’s pastime and lets everyone know that summer is near. Because of the Coronavirus, Opening Day has been delayed, which is depressing. Jonesing for that baseball feeling? Here are my picks for the best baseball movies, all of which will cure your Opening Day blues.
5 – A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (Penny Marshall, 1992)
A League of Their Own shows an era in baseball most people don’t talk about. During World War II, when all of the men were fighting overseas, women took the field to keep baseball going. This movie shows two competitive sisters (Geena Davis and Lori Petty) as they enter the league and try to make it popular while also having their own rivalry. We see how the war affected everyone back home, especially the women who had husbands fighting, and we see how these women overcame the odds and fought all the haters to make their league as exciting as the men. Led by a great cast, excellent baseball action, and a lot of heart, A League of Their Own is as important as it is entertaining.
4 – MONEYBALL (Bennett Miller, 2011)
Moneyball is as much of a baseball movie as any on this list, even if it doesn’t take place on the field. Taking a look at Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) as he tries to bring a World Series to Oakland by using sabermetrics, an unpopular system where a team picks it players based on in-game activity instead of big names. This was a fascinating look at the work at front office baseball, an aspect most people have no idea about. It features a career best performance from Pitt and showed Jonah Hill could actually act. Moneyball is probably the best overall movie on this list and is one of the best movies of 2010’s.
3 – FIELD OF DREAMS (Phil Alden Robinson, 1989)
Field of Dreams shows the effects of baseball on family. Following an Iowa corn farmer (Kevin Costner) who hears voices and interprets them as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields which causes the 1919 Chicago White Sox to appear and play on it. This film really shows the beauty of baseball’s simplicity. In a current era where players and teams are all about the money, Field of Dreams shows that it should always be about the game. We also see how baseball brings everyone together and why it is such a great sport. Field of Dreams is a funny, moving, great film.
2 – THE SANDLOT (David M. Evans, 1993)
Everyone loves this movie. The Sandlot shows us the shenanigans a group of kids get into in the summer of 1962. We watch as they cause chaos at a swimming pool, get into verbal spats, defeat a legendary beast, and of course, play baseball. Like Field of Dreams, The Sandlot is a film the defines the love of the game. These kids are talented and good players, but they don’t care about playing on a fancy field with matching uniforms. They want to play in their Chuck Taylor’s and jeans on an unkept field. They just want to play the game and will go through everything for it and for each other. Filled with legendary quotes, laugh-out-loud jokes, and incredible charm, The Sandlot is a certified classic.
1 – BULL DURHAM (Ron Shelton, 1988)
Bull Durham is the most authentic baseball film ever made. It touches on everything baseball, from the brotherhood of the team, to superstitions, to love, to the random conversations in the dugout and on the field. You feel like you’re part of this team. Kevin Costner is at his absolute best as an over-the-hill minor league catcher who takes a hotshot pitcher named Ebby ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) under his wing, while also being in a torrid and confusing love triangle with Nuke and team groupie Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon). Bull Durham is raunchy, gritty, hilarious, charming, quotable, and the greatest baseball movie ever made.
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