WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BASEBALL MOVIE? This article in Salon finds a consensus choice—somewhat surprisingly because there are a lot of good ones. The winner is Bull Durham. I was pleased to see a few mentions of Major League and surprised to see no mention of The Bad News Bears, except in this letters section. All three movies, which would be my first three, are comedies based on truthfulness.
I still haven’t seen “The Natural.” I’ve seen “Major League”, “Bull Durham”, and “The Rookie.” Growing up, Annalisa and I watched baseball movies for children – “Angels in the Outfield” and “Rookie of the Year.”
I’m still convinced that “The Naked Gun” wins, even though the baseball sequence is only about 10-20 minutes.
My favorite three would be Bang the Drum Slowly, A League of their Own, and Bull Durham. Years ago I remarked to someone that Bang the Drum Slowly was the best baseball novel ever, and he shot back, “No, it’s The Shortstop, by John Tunis.”
I want to vote for “The Natural.” I know the movie isn’t exactly “true to the book,” in some essential ways. But it still conveys a lot. And that one line, when Redford is talking about a big game and he says, “I only wish my father. ..God, I love baseball.” He really nailed it. The whole movie could have built around that line. Maybe it was. Redford came to the plate and delivered, big time. (And you can put it on the board–yes!)