5. Field of Dreams (1989): If there’s one movie that best gets America’s fascination with baseball, it’s this one. There is something almost magical about baseball, and Field of Dreams plays to that like no other. Baseball is a game that always looks to its past, which explains why a corn field in Iowa calls back the old-time greats. Then there’s also the generational feel for the game with Kevin Costner passing down his love of baseball to his daughter and also reconnecting to his father with a simple game of catch. I also really dig James Earl Jones in this movie, especially his “People Will Come” speech.
4. Bull Durham (1988): I can’t claim much knowledge about minor league baseball, but Bull Durham is my exact mental image of what it would be like. Comedy done that real can’t be beat. Crash, Nuke, and a super sexy Susan Sarandon—sigh—knock this one out of the park.
3. A League of Their Own (1992): This is one of those movies that whenever I catch it flipping through channels, I have to put down my clicker, settle in, and watch. The moment that gets me like no other is when Tom Hanks follows up the iconic “There’s no crying in baseball” by asking the umpire, “Did anyone ever tell you, you look like a penis with a little hat on?” Plus, I love me some Jon Luvitz.
2. Major League (1989): This filthy little underdog story is hilarious from start to finish. Charlie Sheen as the Wild Thing was great, as was Bob Uecker as the colorful commentator Harry Doyle and the future president of the United States (in 24) Dennis Haysbert as the Cuban voodoo doctor Pedro Cerrano. Tom Berenger gave this movie some real heart as the team’s veteran leader who also has to deal with his ex-girlfriend, Rene Russo, getting engaged. Only Caddyshack could best Major League for the title of “Funniest Sports Movie.”
1. The Sandlot (1993): This movie was one of the pillars of my youth, and for a movie all about nostalgia, I wax nostalgic and put it as my number one. Like the best of baseball movies, The Sandlot looks back. It harkens to a gentler America and to an innocent youth when chasing a baseball was all that mattered (if you were a Smalls or a Benny, or chasing girls if you were a Squints). I was certainly a Smalls growing up, and this movie came out at the perfect time for me to grab hold of it and make it my own.
Honorable Mention: Rookie of the Year, Angels in the Outfield, The Natural, The Scout, *61, Mr. Baseball, For the Love of the Game, Little Big League
Off: Eight Men Out, The Bad News Bears, Hustle
--from Eric
(in order, images came from bluray.ign.com, thedroidyourelookingfor.wordpress.com, flavorwire.com, edaveryreport.com, and readjack.wordpress.com)
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