Put me down as a big fan of the pitch clock. I'm older than you, and the net effect of the clock and the timer between innings is to get the total game length back pretty close to what it was in the Seventies. I'll probably watch or listen to at least a hundred BEISBOLCATS games this season, God help me. It's still the perfect radio sport and a great soundtrack to all sorts of other summer activities.
I know I’m showing my age by saying this, but ‘The Natural’ is #1 for me -- its pace and style make it seem today like it may as well have been made in the 40s/50s, but man I love it. “There’s the life we learn with, and the life we live with after that” -- one of the greatest lines ever.
I'll leave a vote for Field of Dreams (which traffics in the emotional terrorism that I see as this newsletter's speciality) and The Natural.
My guilty pleasure baseball movie is For Love of the Game, which has a really great premise when you think about it (even if it has some struggles with the flashback-told story).
I had a similar experience watching Atlanta in the late 90s, early 00s. Part of the deal for me was someone to watch baseball with. I watched months of games with my dad during that time. Neither of us watch a ton of baseball now, though we both follow it. My wife has no patience for it. Maybe one of these kids will become interested and I'll pick it back up again.
Btw- why is there no good movie about Hank Aaron? To me, he's one of the most compelling baseball stories ever
Hooo boy, I don't know if I have time for arguing about the best baseball movies, but all three of yours are great choices. Other good baseball movies:
-Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings is a FANTASTIC movie about Negro League stars barnstorming in the 1930s. It has Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones, and Billy Dee Williams.
-Sugar is a documentary-style movie about a Dominican baseball player who signs in the Minor Leagues, and the ways he has to attempt to adapt to a predominantly white culture(particularly in the Minor Leagues) and to baseball becoming a job.
-Also, there's an excellent baseball short in "For Love of the Game," if they remove every scene that Kelly Preston is in that takes place outside a stadium. Alas, they did not, and it drags the whole rest of the movie down.
I lived in the Cleveland area until I was six and went to a ton of games with my parents at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. One time, my mom pulled me out of Kindergarten early so she could take me to see Bo Jackson play while the Royals were in town for a day game. He unfortunately had the day off, but I was able to see him play with a yo-yo in the dugout (absolutely legend at that, too; Bo knows yo-yos).
The pitch clock would have significantly improved my pay when I worked for a short season A team in college. We got paid a flat fee for every game, regardless of length.
I think I ended up losing money on extra inning games...
I'm not really a baseball fan due to little league, although I enjoy seeing others enjoy the game or a team. It was fun to see the excitement of the Royals winning when I was in KC and how excited a lot of people in the metro area were.
I will say that if you have a local college, watching the college level games is a lot of fun especially if your team is having a good year. Then again I really enjoy seeing the current students, players and even the coaches have fun while trying to win.
And why is there no love for the Bad News Bears? Or maybe it was just that I was a kid when it came out, so it seemed good?
I watched a docudrama on Ty Cobb which was a good film, showing the man for better or worse. A quick google search shows the film is 'Cobb' starring Tommy Lee Jones and had a poor box office performance.
The Sandlot liker has logged on.
Put me down as a big fan of the pitch clock. I'm older than you, and the net effect of the clock and the timer between innings is to get the total game length back pretty close to what it was in the Seventies. I'll probably watch or listen to at least a hundred BEISBOLCATS games this season, God help me. It's still the perfect radio sport and a great soundtrack to all sorts of other summer activities.
The best baseball movie is The Naked Gun. The best baseketball movie is BASEketball. The best bowling movie is There Will Be Blood.
I know I’m showing my age by saying this, but ‘The Natural’ is #1 for me -- its pace and style make it seem today like it may as well have been made in the 40s/50s, but man I love it. “There’s the life we learn with, and the life we live with after that” -- one of the greatest lines ever.
I'll leave a vote for Field of Dreams (which traffics in the emotional terrorism that I see as this newsletter's speciality) and The Natural.
My guilty pleasure baseball movie is For Love of the Game, which has a really great premise when you think about it (even if it has some struggles with the flashback-told story).
My number one baseball move is Field of Dreams. The line "Dad-wanna have a catch" gets me every time.
My wife's worst take is "For the love of the game" is the best baseball movie. We have had fights over this.
"Avoid the clap, Jimmy Dugan!" and the 2-minute-long piss scene are why ALOTO is Tom Hanks' best role.
I had a similar experience watching Atlanta in the late 90s, early 00s. Part of the deal for me was someone to watch baseball with. I watched months of games with my dad during that time. Neither of us watch a ton of baseball now, though we both follow it. My wife has no patience for it. Maybe one of these kids will become interested and I'll pick it back up again.
Btw- why is there no good movie about Hank Aaron? To me, he's one of the most compelling baseball stories ever
Always enjoyed 61*, but your top 3 are unimpeachable
Knocked it out of the park (baseball term)
Hooo boy, I don't know if I have time for arguing about the best baseball movies, but all three of yours are great choices. Other good baseball movies:
-Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings is a FANTASTIC movie about Negro League stars barnstorming in the 1930s. It has Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones, and Billy Dee Williams.
-Sugar is a documentary-style movie about a Dominican baseball player who signs in the Minor Leagues, and the ways he has to attempt to adapt to a predominantly white culture(particularly in the Minor Leagues) and to baseball becoming a job.
-Also, there's an excellent baseball short in "For Love of the Game," if they remove every scene that Kelly Preston is in that takes place outside a stadium. Alas, they did not, and it drags the whole rest of the movie down.
I lived in the Cleveland area until I was six and went to a ton of games with my parents at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. One time, my mom pulled me out of Kindergarten early so she could take me to see Bo Jackson play while the Royals were in town for a day game. He unfortunately had the day off, but I was able to see him play with a yo-yo in the dugout (absolutely legend at that, too; Bo knows yo-yos).
The pitch clock would have significantly improved my pay when I worked for a short season A team in college. We got paid a flat fee for every game, regardless of length.
I think I ended up losing money on extra inning games...
I am a sucker for the washed up old guy baseball movie genre, i.e. The Natural, For Love of the Game, The Rookie, and so on.
I think I rate those more highly than they probably deserve.
I'm not really a baseball fan due to little league, although I enjoy seeing others enjoy the game or a team. It was fun to see the excitement of the Royals winning when I was in KC and how excited a lot of people in the metro area were.
I will say that if you have a local college, watching the college level games is a lot of fun especially if your team is having a good year. Then again I really enjoy seeing the current students, players and even the coaches have fun while trying to win.
And why is there no love for the Bad News Bears? Or maybe it was just that I was a kid when it came out, so it seemed good?
I watched a docudrama on Ty Cobb which was a good film, showing the man for better or worse. A quick google search shows the film is 'Cobb' starring Tommy Lee Jones and had a poor box office performance.