(Pop up)
“Fear Strikes Out”
(director Robert Mulligan, 1957)
The story of outfielder Jimmy Piersall’s mental breakdown has always gotten a resounding thumbs-down from Piersall himself. And who could be a better judge? The pre-“Psycho” Anthony Perkins doesn’t cut it as an athlete — Piersall was a great one — but Perkins does a convincing job climbing the backstop during his meltdown.
(Home run)
“Eight Men Out”
(John Sayles, 1988)
Simply a great period piece detailing the 1919 Black Sox scandal. A fascinating story wonderfully told, with convincing performances from John Cusack, John Mahoney, Charlie Sheen, David Strathairn, D.B. Sweeney, Christopher Lloyd, et al.
(Single)
“Major League”
(David S. Ward, 1989)
“Citizen Kane” it isn’t. What it is is a lot of mindless laughs. The movie is full of cliches, crude situations, predictable plot turns . . . but hey, it’s fun. And Bob Uecker is a hoot.
(Double)
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“Bull Durham”
(Ron Shelton, 1988)
This seems to be about life in the minors, but it’s actually about life, period. Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are the stars, but even the supporting actors and actresses are excellent. A bonus: an appearance by Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball.
(Weak grounder)
“The Babe Ruth Story”
(Roy Del Ruth, 1948)
William Bendix portrays Ruth — unconvincingly, at that — as a big, overgrown kid in this highly fictionalized deification. Granted, this was released when Ruth was in the final stages of his battle with cancer, but, really — skipping a game to rush an injured dog to the hospital? Bellying up to a bar and drinking milk?
(Double)
“Bang the Drum Slowly”
(John Hancock, 1973)
Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty are outstanding in this story of a catcher (De Niro) who is dying.
(Double)
“It Happens Every Spring”
(Lloyd Bacon, 1949)
Ray Milland may be a bigger rag-arm than Anthony Perkins, but he’s perfect as a chemistry professor who discovers a substance that makes bats and baseballs repel each other. In addition to some nice ’40s baseball nostalgia, this film offers a who’s who of character actors: Paul Douglas, Ed Begley, Ted de Corsia and Alan Hale Jr. are all on the roster.
(Fielder’s choice)
“The Babe”
(Arthur Hiller, 1992)
When this was released, Tribune baseball writer Jerome Holtzman said it was “fleshed with fable, afloat in a tub of marshmallow sentimentality.” He also pointed out inaccuracy after inaccuracy. But he also said it was good fun.
(Single)
“Pride of the Yankees”
(Sam Wood, 1942)
The compelling story of the life, career and early death of Lou Gehrig, a true American sports hero, gets a first-rate treatment from a first-rate cast — Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan as well as real Yankee stars Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey and Bob Meusel.
(Strike out)
“Safe at Home!”
(Walter Doniger, 1962)
Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, trying to exploit their home-run exploits of 1961, proved themselves to be better ballplayers than actors. The producers could have hired Choo Choo Coleman and Zoilo Versalles and gotten the same result.
(Single)
“A League of Their Own”
(Penny Marshall, 1992)
An enjoyable look at a nearly forgotten bit of baseball history, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which took to the diamonds during World War II. Great cast — Tom Hanks Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Jon Lovitz, Garry Marshall — and script.
ON DECK
`The Rookie’
Next up from Hollywood is “The Rookie,” a March 28 Disney release that hits the screen as the new baseball season opens. In the film, a 35-year old high school chemistry teacher, responding to a bet made to a team he coaches, tries out with a major-league club, gets offered a contract, and, before the summer is over, pitches in the big show.
“Unbelievable, isn’t it?” said actor Dennis Quaid, who, it should be noted, looks every bit like a real player in the film. “I’m not sure everyone who sees this will think it actually happened, but it did.”
The pitcher Quaid portrays, Jim Morris, gets the attention of Tampa Bay Devil Rays scouts with a surprising 97 m.p.h. fastball. His major-league debut is in the ballpark near his Texas home, where, naturally, he strikes out the first batter with his tearful wife and kids in the stands.
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Quaid and Morris chatted about the movie over lunch at Harry Caray’s Restaurant recently and it doesn’t take long to learn “The Rookie’s” improbable plot is, as much as anything, about second chances.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” said Morris, now 38 and out of baseball, “because this still seems like some kind of dream. I guess my mission is to let people know they should hang in there. Anything’s possible.”
Morris’ tryout with the Devil Rays came after he had failed in a minor-league stint in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization. “I had dominated everybody in a small Texas town and I thought I was better than everybody,” he said. “Then when I signed, I began finding out I wasn’t as good as anybody. I was young and thought I should have things handed to me. My head was as messed up as my arm at the time.”
By 1989, following several surgeries on his pitching shoulder and three unimpressive minor-league seasons, he was out of baseball. With few prospects, he enrolled in college and finally landed a teaching and coaching job in west Texas.
His new team, impressed by Morris’ batting-practice pitching, offered a challenge: If they made the state playoffs, he would have to try out for a big-league team. When his squad fulfilled its end, Morris tried out for the Devil Rays and got their scouts’ attention with his fastball.
“I don’t know how you can explain someone like that, unless it’s all that batting practice he threw,” said Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who was the Devil Rays’ manager then. “But it got our attention and, when he continued throwing that fast, we offered a contract.”
Morris, because of his age, got a crash course in the minors and was called up to the major leagues at the end of the ’99 season, when he made his debut against his hometown Rangers in Arlington, Texas. He was with the Devil Rays in 2000, too, and accumulated respectable statistics before finally calling it quits.
“I’m lucky,” he said. “I got to realize my dream. It just took longer than I expected.”
— Mike Conklin
Fred loved baseball
William Frawley, best known as the irascible Fred Mertz in TV’s “I Love Lucy,” was a huge baseball fan, a fact that’s reflected in the number of baseball-related roles he took during his 45-year film career. Among the baseball films Frawley appeared in were “Alibi Ike” (1935), “It Happened in Flatbush” (1942), “The Babe Ruth Story” (1948), “Kill the Umpire” (1950), “Rhubarb” (1951) and “Safe At Home” (1962); the last was his final film role.
— W.H.
Michael Wilmington’s favorite baseball movies
1. “Fear Strikes Out” (director Robert Mulligan, 1957): Anthony Perkins plays flaky outfielder Jimmy Piersall and Karl Malden is his domineering dad in this peerless baseball psychodrama.
2. “Bull Durham” (Ron Shelton, 1988): Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins heat up the North Carolina minor leagues in the sexiest sports triangle ever.
3. “Eight Men Out” (John Sayles, 1988): The Black Sox scandal from the inside, based on Eliot Asinof’s reportage. A gem of left-wing social history.
4. “Cobb (Ron Shelton, 1994): Ex-minor league prospect Shelton cracks the list twice with this acidic film on hall-of-fame legend and all-star S.O.B. Ty Cobb, as ferociously impersonated by Tommy Lee Jones.
5. “Bleacher Bums” (Saul Rubinek, 2002): Due out this spring on TV, this film of the well-loved play about Cubbie bleacher gamblers is the best movie ever on sports fandom.