Top 10 Baseball Movies

Bull Durham- the meeting on the mound.

Baseball is loaded with drama and great stories, and for many years Hollywood has been aware of this. There have been many good (and plenty of terrible!) baseball movies, and today I give you my Top 10- well actually 11.  Not included is The Naked Gun, because it is not really a baseball movie, but which features a hilarious baseball scene including the brilliant Leslie Nielsen as an umpire.  Anyway, here we go:


10)  Rookie of the Year (1993) - The guy who would go on to be Tara Reid's boyfriend in American Pie pitches the Cubs (how's that for fantasy!) to a World Series as a 12 year old.  Gary Busey plays a role model.  And yet somehow it works!
10)  The Bad News Bears (1976) - The original is a classic.  Tatum O'Neal had a mean curve, and Walter Matthau was my kind of manager.
  9)  The Rookie (2002) - A movie which proves that anyone could pitch for the Devil Rays in 2002.
  8)  Major League (1989) - The climatic scene when Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) comes out of bullpen and they play Wild Thing always give me chills.  "Give him the heater, Ricky..."
  7)  Eight Men Out (1988) - The story of the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal.  A great cast and a brilliant telling of a great story.  Every movie is better when John Cusack is in it.
  6)  Pride of the Yankees (1942) - The Lou Gehrig story.  And no, Jason Huffman- I didn't see it in theaters on opening night.
  5)  A League of Their Own (1992) - "There's no crying in baseball!"
  4)  The Natural (1984) - Robert Redford and his homemade bat "Wonder Boy" give us an insight into the the supernatural side of baseball.  One of my favorite movie scores as well.
  3)  Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) - One of Robert DeNiro's early films about a catcher with a terminal illness.  I actually saw this for the first time in a theology class.  This movie also taught me the card game TEGWAR (The Everlasting Game Without Any Rules), which later Alan Brown and I turned into the classic Triple JimBob.  :)
  2)  Bull Durham (1988) - Crash Davis, Nuke LaLoosh, Annie Savoy and the gang. Funny, moving, touching and inspiring, with lots of great baseball, including this inspired meeting on the mound:  "Okay, well, uh... candlesticks always make a nice gift, and uh, maybe you could find out where she's registered and maybe a place-setting or maybe a silverware pattern. Okay, let's get two!  Go get 'em."
  1)   Field of Dreams (1989) - "If you build it, they will come..."  Not only my favorite baseball  movie, but one of 5 favorite movies ever.  Period.  I still miss having a catch with my Dad...


I hope you enjoyed my baseball weekend- I did!  My dear friend Ashley Goad Broadhurst left her own Top 10 baseball movies list in a comment on yesterday's post.  Feel free to leave yours today.  I'll get back to my regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.  Blessings!