1.) Little Big League Summary: A 12-year-old boy is named manager of the Minnesota Twins and tries to turn them back into a contending team, all while still trying to be a kid. My Take: Little Big League is and forever will be my favorite baseball movie. Most people I know have either never seen it or never heard of it, which I’m not shocked by because there aren’t any well-known popular actors/actresses in the film like other legendary baseball movies, but it will always have a soft spot in my heart. Even though the idea of a kid managing in the Major Leagues is complete fantasy, the movie itself is a friendly reminder of why I love the game of baseball. Billy Heywood, the kid manager of the Twins, has his adversity tested throughout the movie, and he and his team lose sight of what baseball is all about: fun. When he and the rest of his team start having fun again, they start winning. Having a kid manager reminds the Twins players that baseball is a kid’s game, and the team’s antics keep things loose inside the clubhouse. I get emotionally attached to all the main characters when I watch, which only happens with good movies. Baseball is an emotional game, and Little Big League does a great job of showing the ups and downs that surface throughout a long baseball season. The movie also has an awesome sound track. Nothing beats “Centerfield” by John Fogerty, and the scene in which the song is played is spot on. See and hear for yourself. 2.) 42 Summary: The inspirational story of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the Major Leagues, told through his darkest moments and greatest triumphs. My Take: There are a handful of movies and documentaries about Jackie Robinson out there, but 42 hits the nail on the head in terms of defining his legacy. Jackie Robinson was more than just a baseball player; he was an American hero. I never saw him play and I never will see more than just pictures and some video footage, but Jackie has been an inspiration to me since I fell in love with baseball. His uphill battle to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball is proof that you can do anything with hard work, perseverance, ambition and the right mindset. 42 captured that perfectly, regularly showing scenes in the movie that Jackie lived through in which his character and courage were tested. One that stood out to me the first time I saw the movie was when Jackie was spiked in the back of his ankle by an opposing player. He went down to the ground in pain and when his teammates came over to help him, they offered to retaliate. Jackie told them not to, got back up, and was ready to keep playing. Legendary Dodgers’ general manager (played by Harrison Ford), who signed Jackie to a contract in 1945, once said he picked Jackie to be the one to break the color barrier because he wanted a player with the will power to not fight back in the wrong way when the going got tough. Jackie was that guy, and 42 did an awesome job of showing why he was a legendary person on top of being a fantastic player. 3.) Field of Dreams Summary: An Iowa farmer builds a baseball field in his backyard after a voice tells him that the ghosts of legendary baseball players will come to play on it if he builds it. My Take: Believe it or not, I watched Field of Dreams for the first time just last year. For as big of a baseball fan as I am, people were always shocked when I told them I had never seen it. But after watching it once, I understood why it’s one of the best baseball movies ever made. The idea of someone building a baseball field for the ghosts of baseball’s past to come back and play on is insane, but the concept is magical if you appreciate how far-fetched it is. The notion of a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield is weird, but it’s equally awesome. “If you build it, he will come” is arguably the most popular baseball movie quote of all time, and it gives me chills when I hear it. I can't explain it, it's just that powerful. Throughout the movie, Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner), is laughed at when word spreads that he’s building the field for old players to come back and play on. He’s mocked and ridiculed because only he can see these players that play on the field. When they finally appear out of the cornfield and start to playing games at night, everything changes, and Ray realizes that all the time and work put into building the field was worth it, because he gave these “ghosts” of old players a chance to play the game they love one more time. Field of Dreams is a classic film that shows how powerful a creative imagination and a willingness to go against the crowd can go a long way. 4.) The Rookie Summary: A true story of a high school science teacher and baseball coach who, at age 35, reaches his dream of pitching in the Major Leagues after taking an unexpected path to get there. My Take: The Rookie is another one of those movies that I think people overlook. Nothing about the story is flashy, but the emotion behind it is genuine. Jim Morris (played by Dennis Quaid) was a former big-time baseball pitching prospect that never panned out. He makes a bet with the underachieving high school team he coaches that if they win their district championship, he will try to make a comeback. Lo and behold, they win, he gets signed by the Tampa Bay Devils Rays, and ultimately makes his Major League debut in front of his family and friends in his home state of Texas. I’m a sucker for an underdog story, and nothing beats this one. I’m a huge believer in chasing your dreams and letting nothing stop you along the way, and the story behind The Rookie is an inspiring reminder that it’s never too late to realize your dreams. I can’t say enough about the emotion behind this story; it’s real. Quaid and the other actors in major roles do an unbelievable job of bringing that to life. A small-town guy pitching in the Major Leagues having overcome a lot if something that puts The Rookie in my top five over a handful of other good baseball movies. 5.) The Sandlot Summary: A group of kids get together and play baseball throughout the summer, and are tasked with retrieving a priceless baseball from a grumpy neighbor with a scary dog when one of them hits a homerun into his yard behind a tall fence. My Take: The Sandlot is a true classic. You can’t call yourself a baseball fan if you don’t watch it a million times a year and can’t spit out the movie’s best lines. What I love about The Sandlot is that the plot is so simple, and in turn it reminds us all of simpler times when nothing else mattered but having fun when we were kids. The group of kids in the movie are the most rag-tag bunch out there, but that’s what makes them so funny and relatable. They wear blue jeans and Chuck Taylor’s to play ball, which is an awesome old-school touch to the movie and is a perfect representation of what baseball on “The Sandlot” is like. Nothing is more American than fireworks and baseball on the Fourth of July, which makes that scene in the movie truly heartwarming and nostalgic. If you don’t like the storyline, you at least have to like the characters. Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is one of the best movie character names ever, “Squints” (he wears glasses) is a legend in his own right, and who could forget about Hamilton Porter?! “You’re killing me Smalls!” and “You play ball like a girl!” will forever live on in baseball infamy. Although it’s only number five on my list, it’s number one on a lot of other people’s for a reason. It’s that one movie that even non-baseball fans have seen and probably enjoy watching, and that says something in itself.
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March 2020
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