With the red carpet ready to be unrolled, Oscars being polished, and movies the topic of conversation, baseball deserves its place. The category, best baseball movie of all time. And the nominees are…
10. Cobb @ Amazon
Tommy Lee Jones’ performance as the great Tyrus Raymond Cobb has no equal. A must watch for baseball and non-baseball fans alike.
9. Pride of the Yankees @ Amazon
This movie was actually nominated for 10 Academy Awards, but even without those “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth” on the big screen is hard to top.
8. The Bad News Bears Matthau version
The Walter Matthau version, not the Billy Bob Thornton version. Grumpy, alcoholic, former minor-leaguer coaches a team of little-league misfits. Classic comedy.
7. A League of Their Own @ Amazon
“Are you crying? Are you crying? There’s no crying. There’s no crying in baseball!” Tom Hanks plays a character modeled after Jimmie Foxx, managing a team in the first ever All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
6. Eight Men Out @ Amazon
The story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Chicago “Black” Sox, who were accused of throwing the World Series and were forever banned from baseball. All-Star Cast to boot.
And the top 5 baseball moves are…
5. Major League @ Amazon
Lovable losers never had it so good. Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Tom Berenger, and a great cast suit up to represent a team built to lose. An instant baseball classic.
4. Field of Dreams @ Amazon
This Kevin Costner film, based on the W.P. Kinsella novel Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes To Iowa, was also nominated for numerous Academy Awards including Best Picture.A little trivia – Archibald “Moonlight” Graham was based on an actual baseball player by that name.
3. The Natural @ Amazon
This film starring Robert Redford is also based on a novel, Bernard Malamud’s The Natural, and was also nominated for various Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close). I bet Rick Ankiel wishes his story was more like this one.
2. Baseball by Ken Burns @ Amazon
If you have not yet seen this work, you are missing out. Every Tuesday night at 8pm, the newly created Major League Baseball Channel – available on every cable network – airs an episode of Baseball. Worth the investment.
1. Bull Durham @ Amazon
Greatest baseball movie ever. One of my favorite parts is when Crash Davis describes the 21 greatest days of his life. “You know, you never handle your luggage in The Show, someone else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.”
To me, these top ten are easy. Tell me if you think otherwise.
Related posts
{ 4 comments }
