What’s also “interesting” about The Fan is that there is a scene in a railyard that they shot just south of PacBell where the Giants play now (and which didn’t exist at the time of the filming)…
To add my list:
I just realized I never made my own.
Honorable Mention: A League of Their Own & The Fan
Never seen: The Natural (I know), Eight Men Out (I know, I know), 61*
What I loved about that was that Ruth comes off as a jerk.
Just coming in to say that The Sandlot gets mentioned a number of times, but doesn’t seem to have too much said about it. As someone who grew up without a baseball background, this movie shows me a lot about why it is such a loved game. My wife loves this movie for goodness sake! Just a lot of fun.
I am not 100% sure but I think you are wrong. He agrees to the payoff but decides to back out of the deal. And strikes out anyway
The movie version fits better with the style of the movie. To have that ending it would have to have acompletely different feel.
For me:
Field of Dreams
The Natural
Bull Durham
The Sandlot (a favorite because it reminds me of the stories my father told of sandlot baseball in the 30s.
Major League
League of Their Own (well done but the way Geena Davis swings wouldn’t get the ball out of infield)
Just about any baseball movie. I’ll watch them all.
Just a comment about two of the movies, one that comes up on most such lists and one that does so only occastionally.
I have never understood the praise for *Bull Durham *as a baseball movie. It may well be a very good movie, but it is not about baseball; it is a relationship movie that takes place in a baseball setting. Major League, on the other hand, is about baseball. The scenes of the games are a joy to watch.
61*, by a long way the best movie about baseball players.
Baseball, the Ken Burns documentary.
Damn Yankees, you’ve got to have heart.
Eight Men Out, say it isn’t so.
Cobb, Tommy Lee Jones plays legendary asshole.
Fear Strikes Out, strike three your insane.
Major League, even if you love it it’s a joke.
Pride of the Yankees, really sick baseball movie.
The Stratton Story, Jimmy Stewart gives this legs.
The Perfect Game, you’ll love it if it is ever released.
I disagree. *Major League *is about major league baseball, and *Bull Durham *is about minor league baseball. I think it wonderfully captures what it’s like to be a minor leaguer. Yes, there’s a huge helping of relationship in there, but there hasn’t been such an excellent peek into the lesser leagues since The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, and that was more about the Negro Leagues than the minors. The Rookie updates that glimpse quite well.
There is one that I liked in my youth, but I don’t recall the name or even the actors well enough to list it. It was black-and-white and the premise was that a man had developed a chemical that repelled wood. Naturally, he decided to become a baseball pitcher…
Google says that one is It Happens Every Spring
That’s it indeed. I remember it as a fun movie, but I was quite young, so maybe now I wouldn’t enjoy it as much.
I haven’t seen all the movies mentioned, but…
big drop off in quality
I hate, hate, hated Bull Durham.
Joe
Was The Fan set in SF? Was the team the Giants or a generic SF team?
I never saw it because it looks… not good. But I love seeing SF in movies…
Joe
I featured the real San Francisco Giants (and I believe the real Candlestick) and Wesley Snipes looked so much like Barry Bonds it was creepy.
I think the original Bad News Bears holds up very well. There are multiple levels of humor and commentary in the movie that appeal to different age groups and sensibilities. Sort of like the Simpsons.
I especially like the line where Matthau goes to the (State?) assembly to have a conversation with the sponsor (not in the financial sense…that would be Chico’s Bail Bonds) after the team loses its first game 26-0. The sponsor assumes they are going to have a conversation about disbanding the team.
Matthau: What if the kids don’t want to quit?
Sponsor: That’s not the point. That was very embarrassing. For me.
I also like the dialogue-free shots of the suburban American crowd singing the national anthem, with hands over heart, before a bunch of 12-year olds take the field. It’s clear the director is trying to make a point. I think it works well.
I was going to mention that one too, I have a very warm spot in my heart for it. In addition I was going to put forward Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Ester Williams’ Take Me Out to the Ballgame - it isn’t baseball in the purest sense, but its fun.
Just curious. How would players from area with 19th State Championships in 23 years be any less like likely to make a squad for a new school? Or for that matter, be underdogs?
Anyhoo, the best basebal movies are as follows.
Ken Burn’s Baseball, all 9 innings, is required viewing for any baseball fan.
Bull Durham and The Bad News Bears are so far ahead of the others, they hardly seem worth the mention. I like genuine sentiment in movies, but there’s nothing like a baseball film to bring out the unadulterated “manly” cornball out of a simple story. That said, honorable mentions to Eight Men Out, The Rookie and The Pride of the Yankees.
The Natural
Major League
The Bad News Bears
The Sandlot
For Love of the Game
Bull Durham
The school they’d be merging with was about 8-10 times larger, and the kids from Norway were all farm kids who had practices scheduled around their farm duties. Add in a 20 minute drive from Norway to the new school, and being on the team just doesn’t work.
There was a lot of hoopla over “we play the game right”, but I tried to ignore that David Ecksteinian hand-waving explanation.