Celluloid Diamonds

My Top 3 baseball movies.

Man, that title makes me feel old. No one shoots movies on celluloid film anymore. It’s all digital. But considering that I’m writing a nostalgic newsletter about 30 to 40-year-old baseball, I suppose I should just lean into the fact that I’m not getting any younger.

With that in mind, I wanted to rank my top three baseball movies of all-time. I didn’t set any strict parameters for my choices. For instance, I didn’t mandate that they had to have been made during the period covered by this newsletter (1985-94), but by happy coincidence, they all fit that criteria. Perhaps not surprisingly, given that those were my formative years.

As with any time I do rankings, I expect there will be a fair amount of disagreement. It’s a subjective topic, and I don’t expect us all to be in lockstep. Feel free to share your favorite baseball movies in the comments below.

Before we dive in though, I have to make a quick confession. I’ve never seen The Natural. Yes, I consider myself a film buff and a baseball fan, but for whatever reason, I’ve never sat down and watched that movie. I get it, it’s a major blind spot, and if that makes you not want to read any further, I guess I understand. But I promise it’s on my watchlist.

By the same token, I haven’t seen Bull Durham since I was a kid, and considering the mature content of the film, I don’t think I properly appreciated it at the time. Definitely one I need to revisit. But on the whole, I think I have pretty solid catalog of baseball movies in my viewing history.

That made it extremely difficult to cut it down to three, but regardless of critical standing, box office success, or any other outside pressure, I managed to select the three baseball movies that I love the most.

Hard calls were made. I hated to leave out A League of Their Own or the underrated The Scout from 1994. Every time the Mexican guy in the stands generously offers Albert Brooks his ham hock (or whatever it is) the first time he sees Steve Nebraska pitch in that movie, I lose my mind with laughter.

So don’t limit yourself to just these three movies, by any means. But that said, let’s get to the rankings.

3. The Sandlot, 1993

As expected, since this was number three of three, this was the hardest decision I had to make. It came down to The Sandlot and the original Bad News Bears, two movies about kids playing baseball. By the way, I’m not going to give any detailed plot breakdowns here. Most of you have seen these movies, and if you haven’t, check out IMDB. These are just my feelings on the flicks.

Part of me was surprised I landed on The Sandlot, to be honest. I’ve never made any secret that I tend to prefer rebellious characters, and as mischievous as the sandlot kids can be, there’s no one like Kelly Leak or Tanner Boyle in The Sandlot. And even though Denis Leary is in The Sandlot (in a remarkably restrained PG role), my inner curmudgeon can’t help but be drawn to Walter Matthau’s Morris Buttermaker.

Truth be told, The Bad News Bears is the superior film. It’s even set closer in time (the 70’s) to my own childhood in the 80’s. (The Sandlot takes place in the early 60’s.) But this isn’t an objective ranking. This article is about the movies that meant the most to me, and in that respect, The Sandlot holds the slight edge.

I played little league baseball, but I’ve written many times about how I preferred the games I played with my cousins in my grandparents’ yard and the games we played with the neighborhood kids at the local school. Those are my favorite childhood baseball memories, and The Sandlot taps directly into that. Plus, it was the one I actually owned on VHS. I must have watched it dozens of times over the years, and it always takes me back to that place.

So, just this once, I’ll choose the more wholesome path.

2. Field of Dreams, 1989

This might be the baseball movie, especially those who prefer a more dramatic storyline, though it’s certainly not lacking in humor. It’s Kevin Costner’s masterpiece, and it has stood the test of time.

The actual Field of Dreams in Iowa has now become a tourist destination, and in 2021 it hosted its first MLB game. In what turned out to be a rousing success, the White Sox walked off the Yankees (both decked out in retro uniforms) with a shot into the corn.

The following year’s matchup of the Cubs and Reds wasn’t quite as good, but still entertaining. Currently, the site is undergoing renovations, though I imagine MLB will return when they’re completed. But you can watch the movie any time you like.

And you should, it’s great. If your eyes don’t get at least a little bit watery when Moonlight Graham walks off the diamond or Costner “has a catch” (still sounds weird to me) with his deceased dad, you might be a robot. And as a writer, I definitely like the whole Terrence Mann storyline. How can you not like James Earl Jones? His speech about baseball has become iconic in its own right.

Truth be told, when the movie first came out, I was probably more interested in Tim Burton’s Batman. I saw Field of Dreams and enjoyed it, but my dad was never a big baseball fan, so I don’t know how much that part resonated with me at the time.

It wasn’t until I rewatched it a few years ago with my own baseball-loving son that its full power became apparent to me. Damn, I’m getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. Perhaps we should move on.

1. Major League, 1989

1989 was a good year for baseball, especially on film. (And the fall of communism too. Is there a connection? I can’t rule it out completely.) And there was never really any doubt in my mind that Major League was my favorite baseball movie ever.

Sure, it doesn’t have the same kind of substance to it that Field of Dreams has, but it’s just freakin’ hilarious. I’ve probably seen it a hundred times, can quote it backwards and forwards, and yet I still won’t turn it if I come across it on TV. (Unless it’s been severely censored— that takes a lot of fun out of it.)

That’s got to the true test of a great movie. Or at least a beloved one. I even like its inferior, but still entertaining sequel. I’ve never watched the third one.

At its core, it’s your basic, almost cliched tale of a group of underdogs who rally together and go from worst to first, in spite of the obstacles their evil team owner is laying in front of them. But it’s the jokes and performances that sell it.

Every time I watch it, I have a new favorite character. Wesley Snipes as Willie Mays Hays. Tom Berenger in probably his most likeable role as Jake Taylor. Charlie Sheen’s Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn. Like many people, I can’t hear that song without thinking of this movie. Roger Dorn, Pedro Cerrano, Lou Brown, the best manager in baseball movie history, and of course, the legendary Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle, the Indians’ play-by-play man. All of it is gold.

Though perhaps my current favorite character is Chelcie Ross as the cantankerous veteran pitcher Eddie Harris, who delivers one of the greatest lines in film history, “Are you trying to tell me that Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?” It’s so perfect. Not just the line, or the context of it, but his pitch perfect delivery. That’s the kind of thing we should be giving out Academy Awards for.

In fact, I think I might go watch it again right now.

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Thanks for reading Powder Blue Nostalgia. Feel free to tell me what I got wrong and list your top three baseball movies in the comments. Or, if you think I got it right, tell me how smart I am.