Favorite Baseball Movies

What is your favorite baseball movie? The Purple Row facebook page had this as the question of the day on Wednesday and there were quite a few responses with multiple answers. I have compiled a list of the movies mentioned there as well as a couple that I enjoyed and were not brought up in the discussion.

For Love of the Game

Billy Chapel, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, is pitching in what could be his last game and as the game goes he reflects back on his baseball career and the people he interacted with. Did he really love and value baseball more than his life and the people who loved him?

The Natural

Roy Hobbs could be the greatest player in baseball, and he knows it from a young age. As he's about to get into the majors he suffers a setback and he never makes it. Sixteen years later he signs a contract to play for the New York Knights and shows that he still has the gift but the season is long and life and injuries come back to get him.

The Rookie

Based on true story about the life and baseball career of Jim Morris, this movie shows a high school baseball coach who agrees to attend a tryout for professional baseball after his high school team wins the district championship. He then progresses through the minors, surviving the long bus rides until he makes it to the show.

Field of Dreams

Ray Kinsella is a corn farmer in Iowa when he hears a voice telling him to build a baseball field where half of his crop currently sits. He builds the field and members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox come out to play including Joe Jackson. He then goes looking for his own past through the lives of others and discovers that baseball is timeless, when he meets his younger father on the field and asks "You wanna have a catch?"

Bull Durham

Crash Davis, a journeyman catcher is sent down to Single A Durham to teach an up-and-coming fireballer, Nuke Laloosh, how to pitch and play baseball the right way. Meanwhile Annie, a baseball fanatic in her own way, tries to work with Nuke and improve his pitching through other methods. This movie is funny and shows some of the struggles of minor league play, especially for players who have been around for extended periods of time.

Major League

The owner of the Cleveland Indians wants to move the team but she can't do it if they have a good season so she assembles the worst possible team and hopes they lose. Ricky Vaughn, a wild pitcher with the nickname "Wild Thing", takes the team and through their differences and inabilities they make a season out of it.

Rookie of the Year

Henry Rowengartner, the worst player on his little league baseball team and a large Cubs fan, breaks his arm tripping on a baseball. After having it in a cast for a few months the tendons in his shoulder are still too tight but there is not much the doctor can do. Henry catches an opposing team homeruns sitting in the outfield at Wrigley Field and, as tradition, throws it back but on a line to the catcher who tags the runner out. Cubs' management decide to sign Henry to a contract to pitch. This is the story of him leading the Cubs to one of their 3 World Series wins since 1908.

The Sandlot

Do you remember getting together with your friends playing baseball in the backyard or at he local school? Scotty Smalls is new to the area and he learns first-hand how to play baseball with the neighbor kids until he hits a baseball signed by Babe Ruth over the fence in with a dog called The Beast. How do they try and get the ball back and are they successful?

61*

The 1961 season was one to remember as both Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle try to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record.

Bad News Bears

A group of rich kids are forced to play baseball by their parents who are paying the coach. At first the coach doesn't care and is constantly drunk, but he turns himself and the team around. Watch how they go from messing around to having fun and playing baseball.

Fever Pitch

Drew Barrymore stars in this movie about Red Sox fans loving baseball and never seeing their team win. Can people really find love at a baseball field?

Bang the Drum Slowly

This movie is a heart-warming story about a great pitcher, Author Wiggen, and a catcher, Bruce Pearson, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Author does everything he can to help Bruce through what is likely his last season of playing. This is baseball's Brian's Song.

Eight Men Out

The 1919 Chicago White Sox were the best team in baseball hands down. They were going to win the World Series but they were not going to get any of the promised bonuses from their owner. This is the story that shows how they White Sox became the Black Sox by throwing the World Series against the Reds.

Long Gone

Story of the Tampico Stogies, a low minor-league baseball team, and its star player and manager, Stud' Cantrell, as they battle for the league championship amidst the corruption and racism of the American south.

A League of Their Own

World War Two is in full swing and the baseball greats are leaving to fight overseas. Some of the owners get a great idea to have women play baseball in a new American baseball league. This movie follows the Peaches, one of the teams, as they make a run for the championship in the first season of play.

So what is your favorite baseball movie? Please vote in the poll, and if I missed one that you would consider your favorite please let me know in the comments as I know I probably left out a couple good movies. Thanks.