The Best Baseball Movies

Despite the snow flurry last week spring is here in Chicago and the baseball season has begun in earnest. In recognition of that I’ve been thinking about baseball movies. Baseball movies have actually been made in three different centuries—in 1898 one of the early Edison pictures was a baseball movie and it’s about what you’d expect: two guys playing baseball. After that the earliest baseball picture I know about wasn’t until 1928 but I’d be surprised if there hadn’t been more silent baseball pictures.

There are enough baseball pictures that there are actually two distinct genres: baseball movies and baseball comedies. I’ll list them separately. Here are what I think are the best baseball movies.

The Pride of the Yankees

This film biography of Lou Gehrig based on the book by Paul Gallico is quoted so frequently it has a life of it own. One of the best baseball movies with multiple great performances by Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, and Dan Duryea. It’s also an historic record with appearances by a number of Gehrig’s teammates including Babe Ruth (about whom there have been at least three film biographies).

The Stratton Story

The late 40s and early 50s had a spate of baseball pictures and this biopic of Monty Stratton, who lost his leg in a hunting accident but returned to major league baseball is one of the best. It features performances by Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson who despite their Mutt and Jeff quality were something of a screen couple during the period.

Fear Strikes Out

This biopic of Jimmy Piersall is not just a baseball movie but features one of the relatively few serious treatments of mental illness in an American movie and a fine performance by Anthony Perkins which should convince you that he could do more than play a serial killer.

Bang the Drum Slowly

Sort of a baseball Brian’s Song. Solid performances by Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro.

The Natural

For my money the best of all baseball movies. I’m a sucker for mythic themes and this picture has plenty of them. It’s helped along considerably by Robert Redford’s natural athleticism and a fabulous supporting cast.

Eight Men Out

Baseball pictures don’t get a lot better than this one about the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Field of Dreams

This baseball fantasy is a favorite of mine. Kevin Costner does a solid job, I could listen to James Earl Jones read the phone book, and Burt Lancaster in a small supporting role lends gravitas and heart. “If you build it, they will come.”

A League of Their Own

This long-overdue albeit fictionalized account of the All American Girls Baseball League features good performances by just about everybody in the cast including Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Lori Petty, and Madonna.

Moneyball

This picture about the modern business of baseball features one of Brad Pitt’s best performances as Billy Beane.

42

An affecting account of Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in major league baseball.

And here’s a list of some of the best baseball comedies.

Alibi Ike

There haven’t been many athletes better than Joe E. Brown in the movies and he’s good in this picture about a baseball player with ready excuses for everything.

It Happens Every Spring

Screwball comedy meets baseball in this picture about a chemist who invents a substance that repels wood, puts it on a baseball, and becomes a pitching phenom. Features Ray Milland.

Angels in the Outfield (1951)

There’s a reason this baseball fantasy is beloved. Funny and touching it wouldn’t be the same without Paul Douglas as a baseball manager who, in a reverse of Faust, makes a deal with the angels for a winning season. Probably Bruce Bennett’s best supporting performance. Sex appeal provided by Janet Leigh.

The Bad News Bears (1976)

It’s hard to beat Walter Matthau’s turn as a washed-up and alcoholic minor league baseball coach who takes a job coaching a little league team of misfits. Frequently imitated, never beaten.

Bull Durham

This picture is as much a baseball satire as it is a romantic comedy. Superb performances by Kevin Costner as a nearly finished minor league catcher, Susan Sarandon as a baseball groupie, and Tim Robbins as a young pitcher on his way to the majors. It may well be the best baseball comedy.

Major League

Uproarious baseball farce with a trivial romantic subplot. Bob Uecker’s color commentary is hysterical.

Any other suggestions? What are your favorite baseball movies?

15 comments… add one
  • PD Shaw Link

    I think you’ve listed every baseball movie I’ve ever seen, except for the Sandlot, which is a decent coming of age type movie.

    Watched Bad News Bears with my kids a few years ago, and that movie has so much language and non-p.c. humor that it was a bit shocking. I remember seeing that movie at a drive-in when I was eight. The rating system changed at some point.

  • PD Shaw Link

    FWIW, I’ve only seen

    The Natural
    Field of Dreams
    A League of their Own
    42
    The Bad News Bears
    Bull Durham

    While I took those in the order Dave listed them, that might be the order of preference also. I can imagine myself re-watching the first three at least. I like John Sayles so I’ve been meaning to watch Eight Men Out, and don’t generally like the biopic film genre at all, so 42 left me a little cold, plus while Branch Rickey is a baseball legend, I think he was treated as a saint in that movie.

  • Your mentioning having seen The Bad News Bears at the drive-in brought back memories for me, PD. As I think I’ve mentioned before we went to the drive-in a lot when I was a kid and many of the movies we saw were not exactly kiddie fare. So, for example pictures I saw at the drive-in included

    I Want to Live
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Written on the Wind (and a lot of other Douglas Sirk soap operas)
    The Conqueror
    Night of the Hunter
    Dial M for Murder

    just to name a few. Yes, the Code was still in force but still. By the time I was 12 I had been exposed to quite a wide range of types of movies.

  • Just did a little checking. My memories of watching movies at the drive-in go back to 1952.

  • Guarneri Link

    Thanks for the list and commentary. Maybe it will inspire me, as Moneyball is the only one I’ve seen.

  • ... Link

    A couple of years ago I had the realization that I had never seen any sports movies, excepting movies about boxing. I have seen bits and pieces of a few – for example, I’ve seen just enough of the ending of Major League to know I simply couldn’t watch a movie that incredibly stupid* (and I’m a bit shocked to see that Schuler enjoyed it) – but for the life of me I couldn’t think of any sport movie I had ever seen. Finally, I remembered that I’d seen Blue Chips. Ugh. And I just remembered Shaolin Soccer, but maybe that one doesn’t count?

    So, I haven’t seen any of these.

    But Schuler’s comment about Redford in The Natural reminded me of a comment I heard years ago, that the best leading men all tend to be gracefully athletic. Paul Newman & Robert Redford were mentioned explicitly. (Perhaps it was a George Roy Hill comment?) Anyway, that’s always stuck with me. It’s not quite 100% true, but it seems to have been a good observation. They are MOTION pictures, after all, and outside of comedies, who wants to seem some graceless goof wandering around on a giant screen?

    * There are movies that are supposed to be stupid, and then there are movies that aren’t supposed to be stupid, or aren’t supposed to be stupid in the way that they were. In real life, Corben Bernson’s character doesn’t cheer Charlie Sheen’s character on – he accidentally smashes Charlie’s face with a bat during warm-ups, or perhaps goes full-on Tonya Harding/Jeff Gooloolee on his ass.

    Too much stupid can just leave me steaming. For example, sitting through that pile of dreck that was Star Wars: Episode III left me seething for weeks, not least because I had seen it coming and still went to see the damned thing. Or seeing Almodovar’s All About My Mother, which has to be the most offensively stupid thing ever committed to film – and I’m including Presidential debates in that list. (Yes, even that one with Rick Perry.) Goddamn, thinking about that movie still pisses me off. That movie set off the worst fight my wife and I ever had, and we still avoid the topic of Almodovar & his movies – neither of us wants to go there.

  • They are MOTION pictures, after all, and outside of comedies, who wants to seem some graceless goof wandering around on a giant screen?

    I can list quite a few “graceless goofs” who have done pretty well in the movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to mind. The top grossing picture right now features a guy who can’t move: Vin Diesel. He’s a pretty fair actor so when he stops and delivers a line he’s fine. But he can’t move.

  • Guarneri Link

    “For example, sitting through that pile of dreck that was Star Wars: Episode III left me seething for weeks, ”

    Seething. Why do I believe that…….

  • PD Shaw Link

    @Guarneri , the odd thing about Moneyball for a St. Louis Cardinals fan like myself is what it meant for my team. A lot of the people Oakland got rid of to cut costs ended up in St. Louis and began what might be the most successful era for the team, both in management and players, and it was this group that signed Albert Pujols.

    I can see the appeal to the story to your line of work, but nothing beats an owner willing to spend money, but leave management to professionals.

  • ... Link

    I didn’t say it was perfect. And the guys you mention are both leading men in modern action movies, which ironically enough don’t require as much action from the actors. Things just need to go BOOM! (And I say that as someone that loves a lot of Arnie’s earlier work. I don’t think I’ve really enjoyed anything since the under-rated Last Action Hero, though.)

  • ... Link

    Seething. Why do I believe that……

    Hey, that steaming pile would leave the Dalai Lama seething, not that he’d ever admit it.

    George Lucas mentally raped me. Where’s my $135,000?

  • Some of today’s (or at least today-adjacent’s) action heroes move very well. For example, Channing Tatum moves extremely well. He’s a dancer for goodness sake. In his prime Mel Gibson moved beautifully. It’s one of the things that gave him the aura of menace that made the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon pictures work. About 50 lb. ago Steven Seagal moved well for a big man.

    I could also get into how clunky so many of today’s young actresses are but I guess that’s another subject. Among American actresses so many give the distinct impression they’ve never worn a dress or heels other than on screen. I guess that’s what happens when your normal duds are jeans and a sweatshirt.

  • ... Link

    I’m just saying that moving well isn’t as necessary when you’re in a Michael Bay film. “If you can, great. If not, we’ll add more cowbell explosions.”

    Lot’s of actors from the last 30 years have been pretty good, in terms of grace. That’s why I think it’s easier to pick out the clunkers.

    As for today’s actresses & American women in general: a lot of the younger ones move like linebackers when they’re in jeans & tennis shoes, too. Put ’em in heels & a skirt? Sheesh. (I actually made note of that over the weekend.)

  • PD Shaw Link

    I can’t help but think that Robert Redford’s natural athleticism is a fit for baseball in the period he played (1930s). I think today’s baseball players are bigger and spend more time with weights and year-round conditioning. Some of them do seem to have sacrificed speed and agility for muscle mass.

  • Guarneri Link

    PD

    I can’t believe my Sox let LaRussa go. And to your owner point, I had to suffer Yankee fans for six years when living out east. Call it character building……

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