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BASEBALL
MOVIES
Baseball movies have been around longer than the World Series.
The first World Series was played in 1903 while the first baseball movie was
made in 1898. The first movie, The Ball Game, was produced by Thomas
Edison. The movie was about two amateur baseball teams from Newark, NJ.
Below is a listing of some of the baseball movies that have been made.
Many are available for purchase through our partnership with Amazon.com.
If you have a favorite movie that is not listed or wish to share your opinions
about any of the movies listed below please feel free to e-mail
me. Click here to view my TOP
10 baseball movies.
61* (2001) - VHS, DVD - 61* is an endearing ode to the baseball days of yore when the press was the enemy, salaries were in check, and breaking records with bat and glove took on Ruthian proportions. In 1961 baseball expanded its season from 154 games to 162, allowing weaker pitching into the major leagues and two New York Yankees teammates--the colorless Roger Maris and golden boy Mickey Mantle--to make an assault on the sport's ultimate record: Babe Ruth's 60 home runs.
BULL DURHAM (1988) - VHS,
DVD
- Smart, sassy film about minor-league North Carolina baseball team and its
attentive, intelligent groupie (Susan Sarandon) who feels it is her mission
to live with one young player per season and help him mature. Also stars
Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins.
MAJOR LEAGUE (1989) - VHS
- A baseball comedy and slob comedy rolled into one, this one actually works
as entertainment, if not as a piece of cinematic mastery. James Gammon is the
has-been manager hired to lead the last-place Cleveland Indians whose owner
wants them to lose so she can sell them. But the team of has-beens and never-wases
that he assembles (including Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, and
Wesley Snipes) develops a sense of pride and turns the team around. The best
one of the trilogy.
MAJOR LEAGUE 2 (1994) - VHS,
DVD
- The Indians are back for another season. With several new players to the team,
like a crazy japanese fielder, and a Playboy fanatic catcher, plus star pitcher,
Rick Vaughn, has went clean cut and lost his powerful arm. Add to this with
a host of other problems, the Indians are in for another struggling season of
baseball.
MAJOR LEAGUE 3 (1998) - VHS,
DVD
- Ex-ballplayer Scott Bakula hires on as manager of a minor league team, transforming
it from loser to contender. Also stars Ted McGinley and Corbin Bernson.
LONG GONE (1987) - VHS
- William L. Petersen is a player-manager for a 1950s minor-league team
whose fortunes and hopes turn around during their battle for a championship.
This comedy has the feeling of taking place in a world larger than that of baseball,
and thus provides useful perspective into why the game is so central in people's
lives each spring. Also stars Virginia Madsen and Dermot Mulrooney.
This movie was a made for HBO movie and is the webmasters personal all-time
favorite baseball movie.
THE SANDLOT (1993) - VHS
- Probably one of least known baseball movie but by far the most charming.
About a 60s sandlot baseball team, their acceptance of the new kid on the block,
and their ongoing battle with a ferocious neighboring dog.
THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976) - VHS
- This likable 1976 comedy gently skewers the whole post- Rocky mania
for movies about losers who find their mettle or salvation or purpose in life
in competitive sport. Walter Matthau stars as a drunk who becomes manager of
a pathetic little-league baseball team. When he brings in a talented girl pitcher
(Tatum O'Neal), the crew have an actual chance at winning some games and maybe
a championship. This movie is an absolute joy. Spawned two horrible sequels
and and even more horrid TV series.
BINGO LONG... (1976) - VHS
- Bright, original comedy about baseball player Williams trying to buck owners
of Negro National League in 1939 by starting his own razzle-dazzle team.
Stars James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams.
FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) - VHS
, DVD
- Kevin Costner plays a novice farmer in Iowa who hears ``a voice'' that inspires
him to build a baseball diamond on his property, in the hope of bringing the
legendary baseball star Shoeless Joe Jackson back to life. A story of redemption
and faith, in the tradition of the best Hollywood fantasies, with moments that
are pure magic. Also stars James Earl Jones.
DAMN YANKEES (1958) - VHS
- America's pastime gets a Faustian twist in this 1958 studio musical, which
recounts the ballpark bargain struck by an aging Washington Senators fan obsessed
with helping his team trump the Yankees.
STEALING HOME (1988) -
Mark Harmon is a washed-up baseball player who is call back home to handle the ashes of his childhood sweetheart/ first love who had committed suicide. As he searches for what to do with them, he remembers the past and the relationship they had. In doing so he finds himself again.
THE FAN (1996) - VHS,
DVD
- Robert De Niro plays a pathological baseball fan whose obsession is focused
on a San Francisco Giants all-star outfielder (Wesley Snipes).
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) - VHS,
DVD
- Penny Marshall's popular 1992 comedy sheds light on a little-known chapter
of American sports history with its story of a struggling team in the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League.
THE NATURAL (1984) - VHS,
DVD
- A young man (Robert Redford) emerges as maybe the best baseball player anybody's
ever seen. On his way to the majors, he is cut down by an enigmatic black widow
(Barbara Hershey) and vanishes for many years. When he reemerges, a silent mystery,
he lands a spot with the New York team and begins tearing up the league--he's
still the natural.
IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING (1949) - VHS
- Clever little comedy of chemistry professor (Ray Milland) accidentally discovering
a chemical mixture which causes baseballs to avoid all wooden surfaces, namely
baseball bats. He takes leave from academia and embarks on meteoric pitching
career.
LITTLE BIG LEAGUE (1994) - VHS
- When the owner of the hapless Minnesota Twins dies and leaves his grandson
(Luke Edwards) the team in his will, the 12-year-old decides to manage the team
himself. Aside from the obvious headline value of his move, no one seems to
like the idea and the kid finds himself battling for his fledgling managerial
career.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (1993) - VHS
- About a boy who, after breaking his arm, turns out to have an incredible fastball
pitch, which earns him a spot as the new star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.
ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1951, 1994) - VHS
(1951), VHS
(1994) - Cute comedy-fantasy with Douglas ideally cast as the Pittsburgh
Pirates' hot-tempered, foul-mouthed manager, whose hard-luck team goes on a
winning streak thanks to some heavenly intervention. Amusing cameos from the
worlds of baseball and show business. Remade in 1994.
MR. BASEBALL (1992) - VHS,
DVD
- Pleasant comedy about a washed-up big leaguer (Tom Selleck) who's traded to
Japan, where his smart-ass attitude almost does him in with his team, his manager,
and the young Japanese woman who takes a liking to him.
THE SCOUT (1994) - VHS - Albert Brooks as a hard-luck N. Y. Yankees scout who finds a powerhouse pitcher
and batter... with some serious psychological problems. Also stars Brendan
Fraser.
TALENT FOR THE GAME (1991) - VHS
- California Angels baseball scout Edward James Olmos, who discovers a superior
pitching talent on an Idaho farm.
FEAR STRIKES OUT (1957) - VHS
- Stark account of baseball star Jimmy Piersall and his bout with mental illness.
BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY (1973) - VHS - A terminal illness is the catalyst in this drama of two baseball teammates
struggling with the triumphs and tragedies of their lives. Stars Robert
De Niro and Michael Moriarty.
COBB (1994) - VHS
- Portrait of Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones)--widely regarded as the greatest baseball
player of all time--as an old, eccentric, embittered man, determined to tell
his sanitized life story to sportswriter Al Stump.
EIGHT MEN OUT (1988) - VHS,
DVD - Exquisitely detailed period piece about the infamous 1919 ``Black Sox'' World
Series, in which members of the Chicago White Sox agreed to throw the games
in return for cash. Stars John Cusack and D.B. Sweeney.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME (1999) - VHS,
DVD
- Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is having a bad day. His girlfriend Jane (Kelly
Preston) says she's leaving, and his boss (Brian Cox) says he's selling the
business and ace employee Billy may be out of job. Sounds like business as usual
for an old-fashioned veteran. However, the business is baseball and for Billy
Chapel, the 40-year old former all-star for the Detroit Tigers, it means his
career--and his life--is at a crossroads.
PASTIME (1991) - VHS
- Quiet character study set in the world of minor-league baseball, circa 1957,
focusing on a 41-year-old relief pitcher whose platitudes and gung-ho attitude
alienate him from his younger, cockier teammates.
THE PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS (1952) - VHS
- This is the story of baseball great Dizzy Dean, the Arkansas boy turned St.
Louis Cardinal. He emerged from poverty to become world famous for his pitching
and sense of humor. But his pitching career was brought to an untimely end.
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942) - VHS - Gary Cooper plays Lou Gehrig, the "Iron Horse" New York Yankee first
baseman who became a record-setting legend in baseball.
THE WINNING TEAM (1953) - VHS
- Biography of baseball pitching great Grover Cleveland Alexander focuses on
his relationship with supportive wife (Doris Day) whose ``teamwork'' helps Alexander
(Ronald Reagan) through problems with alcoholism and lack of confidence.
THE STRATTON STORY (1949) - VHS
- The story of Monty Stratton (Jimmy Stewart) who had just made his mark as
a major league pitcher with the Chicago White Sox. He had just completed a fabulous
year and was to be the Sox mainstay for years to come when an unfortuanate hunting
accident resulted in the amputation of his right leg. His courage and discipline
combined with the faith of his wife and family provide a marvelous and miraculous
result.
ALIBI IKE (1935) - Rookie pitcher makes excuses for every mistake giving
him a distinctive nickname.
THE BABE (1992) - VHS
- Agreeably sentimental, old-fashioned bio of the great Babe Ruth is largely
a vehicle for John Goodman, who's terrific in the lead. Though facts are tampered
with and often ignored, the essence of this larger-than-life character (and
his genuine love of baseball) still comes through.
KILL THE UMPIRE (1950) - An obsessed fan turns to an umpiring job to
save his marriage, but a bad call sends the fans after him.
SAFE AT HOME! (1962) - VHS - Kid is pressured into lying to Little League pals about friendship with Maris & Mantle. The stoic poetry of Jack Webb's acting pales beside that of Maris'
in this kiddie time-capsule; leads, cameos by Whitey Ford and Ralph Houk make
it a must for Yankee fans.
THE KID FROM LEFTFIELD (1953) - An ex-player peanut vendor sends strategy
ideas to the manager via his batboy son, and the kid is promoted to manager
when the tips pan out.
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME (1949) - VHS,
DVD - Contrived but colorful turn-of-the-century musical, with Ester Williams taking
over Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly's baseball team.
DEATH ON THE DIAMOND (1934) - St. Louis Cardinal players are murdered
and a two-time rookie target figures it out.
RHUBARB (1951) - Rich, eccentric T.J. Banner adopts a feral cat who becomes
an affectionate pet. Then T.J. dies, leaving to Rhubarb most of his money and
a pro baseball team, the Brooklyn Loons. When the team protests, publicist Eric
Yeager convinces them Rhubarb is good luck. But Eric's fiancée Polly
seems to be allergic to cats, and the team's success may mean new hazards for
Rhubarb.
TOUCHING THE GAME - The Story of the Cape Cod Baseball League (2005) - Order Here - There is no amateur baseball league more prestigious and more storied than the Cape Cod Baseball League. Now for the first time, the story of the league is told in a feature-length documentary complete with interviews from current and past players, coaches, fans and others who make Cape Cod the place to be for a true summer experience. There are currently over 200 Major League baseball players that have spent time in the Cape League, many of whom appear in this film.
WEBMASTER TONY'S TOP 10 FAVORITE BASEBALL MOVIES:
10 - LITTLE BIG LEAGUE
09 - MAJOR LEAGUE
08 - 61
07 - THE NATURAL
06 - FIELD OF DREAMS
05 - A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
04 - BULL DURHAM
03 - THE SANDLOT
02 - THE BAD NEWS BEARS
01 - LONE GONE
