Baseball Movies

Baseball Movies and Murder Most Foul

If the theme of a manager losing his team unless it wins the pennant sounds familiar, then you have certainly seen one of the most highly regarded baseball movies, The Natural (1984). While there were certainly seedy characters in The Natural, it is Death on the Diamond (1934) that turned baseball into a crime drama. Thirty–five years before he became television’s most famous doctor, Robert Young was cast as Larry Kelly, a star pitcher who finds time to romance his manager’s daughter, catch the killers, and foist the plot to take the team away.

Murder and baseball, however, haven’t been too much of a winning combination ever since. While Death on the Diamond is considered a fine film, its premise was only somewhat duplicated once, a few years later, in Girls Can Play (1937), where a young Rita Hayworth is the victim of a crooked woman’s softball team owner.

Is There a Doctor in the Locker Room?

The most typically defining moment in baseball games is winning the big one in the bottom of the ninth. Not all baseball moments, however, are the stuff of mythic proportions. There are a number of films that chronicle more significant and personal struggles of ball players. Pride of the Yankees (1942) was a biopic of New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig. Gary Cooper starred as the Iron Horse in the movie that was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Best Actress for Teresa Wright. Gehrig’s career and life were cut short by ALS, a disease that now carries his name.

The great pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander suffered both from alcoholism and epilepsy. His struggles and successes were chronicled in The Winning Team (1952). The star of the movie was Ronald Reagan. In Fear Strikes Out (1957), Anthony Perkins portrayed Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Piersall, who suffered from bipolar disorder. The movie, an adaptation of Piersall’s own book of the same title written in 1955, was ultimately disavowed by Piersall. It remains, however, a highly regarded baseball movie and, as Piersall’s life itself, a cautionary tale for those who would pressure their children to succeed at all costs.

Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) is a fictionalized account of two professional ballplayers, one of whom is diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease. The movie chronicles young Bruce Pearson’s (Robert DeNiro) last season and how his teammates rally around him.

Transcendental Baseball

The epic nature of sports conflicts make it a perfect medium for elevating the human experience. The bottom of the ninth inning, everything on the line, and the batter launches a Ruthian shot that redeems him, not just as a baseball player but as a human being. In The Natural (1984), it was Roy Hobbs’ (Robert Redford) last turn at bat. As the ball streaks to the heavens, our final image is of a retired Hobbs, his wounds from the unfortunate encounter of his past having ended his career as a baseball player. But it is his on-field heroics provided the vehicle to reunite him with his girlfriend (Glenn Close) and, as it turns out, the son he didn’t know he had. Redemption is just a homerun or, as the case may be, a strikeout away.

In Angels in the Outfield (1994), which was more a tribute to cross-marketing than to its predecessor filmed in 1951, it was the pitcher who, with divine intervention, takes his team to the pennant. The divine intervention, however, did not extend to the pennant clinching closer for the Angels, whose pitcher Mel Clark (Tony Danza) finds it in himself to win the big one for the team but did not have the strength to defeat cancer.

Field of Dreams (1989) is a baseball movie that takes us down a spiritual base path. An Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears voices urging him to build a baseball field in his corn fields. What follows is a journey that leads us all through the fields of innocence that grow among happy memories and epic dreams.

Redemption of a different type is also a theme in Field of Dreams and Eight Men Out (1988). In both of these movies, the tale of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson figures in prominently. Jackson was a member of the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox team that earned the name “Black Sox” for throwing the World Series. A scandal ensued, and by 1921, eight members of the team were banned from baseball for life – including Jackson. While Jackson was not found responsible by the courts, he was nevertheless given a lifetime ban from the sport he loved. To this day, supporters of Jackson are trying to get the ban lifted, and baseball movies like Field of Dreams and Eight Men Out add to the sense that Jackson, who died in 1951, should be honored among the great baseball immortals.

How far would the devil go to claim another soul for his collection? Washington Senators fan Joe Boyd (Robert Shafter) puts that premise to the test in Damn Yankees (1958). Ray Walton, as the satanic Mr. Applegate, wickedly snarls his way through a clever plot that enlists the aid of the sexy Lola (Gwen Verdon) to make sure the handsome, young Joe (Tab Hunter) doesn’t renege on his bargain to defeat the much-hated Yankees for the national pendant. In the end, Joe comes to learn that the love of a good woman, his faithful wife, is ultimately more important to him than his love of baseball.

Comedy on the Diamond

Baseball also lends itself to a wide range of comedic interpretations. Rhubarb (1951), features a cat inheriting a baseball team. Bull Durham (1988) is a far more sophisticated romantic comedy, starring Kevin Costner, that is counted among the best baseball movies for its on screen chemistry. The movie works on many levels as a rookie (Tim Robbins), a seasoned veteran who will never make it to the big leagues (Costner), and a groupie attracted to them both (Susan Sarandon) go through a season of A-ball and life.

A more raucous comedy is Major League (1989). The ensemble cast of misfits, including Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Tom Berenger, and Corbin Bernsen leave no page of slapstick or cliches unturned as they go through a pennant clinching season. It all frustrates the exotic dancer turned team owner (Margaret Whitton), whose late husband didn’t survive their honeymoon, and who wants to move the Cleveland Indians to Florida.

Baseball movies ebb and flow in close response to the times. The decade of the 1960s produced only one baseball movie – the less than memorable Safe at Home! (1962) that featured a number of New York Yankee players. The 1980s produced several of the most memorable baseball films of all time – The Natural (1984), Bull Durham (1988), and Field of Dreams (1989). Baseball movies such as Fever Pitch (2005) continue to be made, but while America’s pastime remains a proven vehicle for broader themes, without the necessary elements that cause an audience to laugh, cry, or transcend their lives, it is just be another highlight reel.