Great Baseball Movies

[Locutus of Bored]

The Natural
Major League
Bad News Bears
61*
Field of Dreams
The Rookie
The Pride of the Yankees
Bull Durham
A League of Their Own
Eight Men Out
Bang the Drum Slowly
Fever Pitch
The Sandlot

And of course:
The Naked Gun

 

[Spot's Meow]

The Sandlot is my favorite.

I have to ask, what does the NH mean?? I keep thinking New Hampshire but I know that's not where you are.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Spring is here in the NH and that means in America that baseball season is underway and rolling.

I have to ask, what does the NH mean?? I keep thinking New Hampshire but I know that's not where you are.

Northern Hemisphere. It started getting full of itself, thinking it was on top of the world, and just started going by the initials NH to be pretentious.

 

[TrekNut87]

The Sandlot
Major League
Eight Men Out
Angels in the Outfield
The Rookie
Rookie of the Year

 

[Mistral]

My top five, err, six:

The Natural
Field of Dreams
A League of their Own
Pride of the Yankees
Eight Men Out
Bull Durham

Two baseball books I would love to see adapted into movies would be Ring Lardner's You Know Me, Al and Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings.

I don't know the books but these are the movies-with the original Bad News Bears thrown in. 61* was pretty good, too.

 

[JustKate]

I think all of my favorites have been named, except Damn Yankees, which isn't on most people's list of all-time greatest musicals, but I just love it. Not as much as I love Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and The Sandlot, but a lot.

 

[Data Holmes]

Mr Baseball.

 

[Mistral]

Mr Baseball.

Woops. Forgot that one. Maybe this should have been a poll. Or even an Italian.( )

 

[ToddPence]

Now that some great baseball movies have been listed, how about some memorably BAD baseball movies? The "Plan Nine From Outer Space" of baseball movies, is, without question, "The Babe Ruth Story" starring William Bendix. This absurd biopic doesn't miss a cliche, and had me laughing more than most comedies when I first saw it. Highlights are Babe Ruth miraculously healing a crippled child (Jesus had nothing on this guy) and being serenaded on his deathbed by a throng of carolers singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Another ridiculous baseball film is the 1970's remake of "The Kid From Left Field", starring Gary Coleman as a little kid who somehow manages to inherit ownership of the San Diego Padres (hey, maybe they figured he'd be at least a step up from Ray Kroc.) Being a major league owner doesn't stop him from being hassled by child protective services, who's worried about the kid's home life.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Two baseball books I would love to see adapted into movies would be Ring Lardner's You Know Me, Al and Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings.

I don't know the books...

Lardner was a popular writer during the 1910s and 1920s. He got his start as a sports reporter in Chicago, and he covered the 1919 World Series. (John Sayles plays him in Eight Men Out.) Lardner wrote a number of stories about baseball, and his most famous stories deal with a Chicago White Sox pitcher named Jack Keefe. The first sequence of stories, about Keefe's signing by the White Sox, his first spring training, and his tenure in the minors until he's called up to Chicago, are collected in You Know Me, Al. Later stories took Keefe to the Western Front (he was drafted), and in a series of stories that were uncollected until a few years ago, Keefe played on the 1919 White Sox team. Interestingly, Lardner had Keefe traded away to the Washington Senators (or maybe it was the Philadelphia Phillies) near the end of the season.

Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings is about a minor league team in Georgia during World War II. It's also a sequel to Frankenstein.

but these are the movies-with the original Bad News Bears thrown in. 61* was pretty good, too.

Oh, I love 61*.

 

[Vanyel]

I completely forgot about The Bad News Bears. That was a great movie. The original one that is.

Can I also add that my favorite baseball scene from a movie is from The Naked Gun.

 

[Super Grover]

Major League
Major League II only for the scene of Omar Epps jumping over the catcher to tag home plate.
For love of the Game, Costner does two kinds of movies well, Westerns and Sports movies. Still can't believe this was a Sam Raimi film.
61*
Bull Durham

 

[Data Holmes]

Mr Baseball.

Woops. Forgot that one. Maybe this should have been a poll. Or even an Italian.( )

How can you forget Mr Baseball.

 

[RoJoHen]

Mr Baseball.

Woops. Forgot that one. Maybe this should have been a poll. Or even an Italian.( )

How can you forget Mr Baseball.

I've never even heard of it.

 

[Data Holmes]

Woops. Forgot that one. Maybe this should have been a poll. Or even an Italian.( )

How can you forget Mr Baseball.

I've never even heard of it.

For shame... It's a classic.

 

[Mr. B]

Eight Men Out was the first movie that came to mind. Field of Dreams was pretty good too.

 

[tomalak301]

Just heard that today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Field of Dreams. I can't believe it's been 20 years. Starting to feel old.

 

[SlyCardie]

No love for "The Scout" with Brendan Fraser.

 

[UssGlenn]

Remember that "Angels in the Outfield" is a remake of a movie from 1951, the original is good too. By the way, I could swear that "Rookie of the Year" was also a remake, but I can't find anything on an original.

 

[Vanyel]

I know it's not a movie but Homer at the Bat has to be on any list of great baseball films or TV show episodes.