Best Baseball Movies/Docs

[OGB]

I realize this is a smaller pool of stuff and not as accessible, but has anyone ever seen or read a really great baseball play? I've always been surprised that baseball hasn't had more of a place in theater given what I see as its inherent theatricality (the movement, some of the language), but I see or read just about every play related to baseball I hear of and very little has ever struck me. Take me out is a decent play with some lovely baseball-centered monologues, but it's not really *about* baseball. August Wilson's Fences is probably the best one that I know of. That's a pretty short list.

And no, I've never seen Damn Yankees. that's one that I missed.

Fences by August Wilson is kind of a baseball play and I believe it won both a Tony and a Pulitzer. James Earl Jones starred in it on Broadway

[M2]

Though it doesn't feature any actual baseball, Simple Men does have a character known as The Radical Shortstop.

[M2]

And what are people's opinions on Fever Pitch? The books is great, just not about baseball. I'm lukewarm on it because I like the book so much better, but I can see where someone might like it.

[RichRed]

And what are people's opinions on Fever Pitch? The books is great, just not about baseball. I'm lukewarm on it because I like the book so much better, but I can see where someone might like it.

I thought it was pretty weak and I liked the original with Colin Firth quite a bit, even though I'm not much of a soccer guy.

[RedEye]

And what are people's opinions on Fever Pitch? The books is great, just not about baseball. I'm lukewarm on it because I like the book so much better, but I can see where someone might like it.

Jimmy Fallon is a great late night host. Actor... not so much.

[JaxRed]

The third in the Kevin Costner trilogy, For Love of the Game is also fantastic. Half baseball half love story with Kelly Preston.

[RedEye]

The third in the Kevin Costner trilogy, For Love of the Game is also fantastic. Half baseball half love story with Kelly Preston.

Ugh. I loved Bull Durham and Field of Dreams to pieces, but that one was just deadly. Just couldn't get into it -- and it wasn't because of the love story, mind you. I just thought the whole thing was boring.

[dougdirt]

And what are people's opinions on Fever Pitch? The books is great, just not about baseball. I'm lukewarm on it because I like the book so much better, but I can see where someone might like it.

I watch it every year the night before opening day (along with a few others) to get me in the full on baseball experience.

[dougdirt]

Little Big League gets a nod from me as a movie that hasn't been mentioned yet (if it has... my bad).

[Chip R]

I realize this is a smaller pool of stuff and not as accessible, but has anyone ever seen or read a really great baseball play? I've always been surprised that baseball hasn't had more of a place in theater given what I see as its inherent theatricality (the movement, some of the language), but I see or read just about every play related to baseball I hear of and very little has ever struck me. Take me out is a decent play with some lovely baseball-centered monologues, but it's not really *about* baseball. August Wilson's Fences is probably the best one that I know of. That's a pretty short list.

And no, I've never seen Damn Yankees. that's one that I missed.

Back in 2006 we had a vintage base ball tournament as part of a festival in Winona, IN. It was a Saturday-Sunday deal and Saturday night, this woman named Bette Lou Higgins did a 1 woman show called, "You Can't Play Ball In A Skirt" which was the story of Alta Weiss who pitched professionally on a men's team in the early 1900s. She's actually based out of eastern Ohio and has a couple of shows coming up. http://edenvalleyenterprises.org/calendar.html

During the SABR convention here in 2004, this guy named Bob Kreidler did a 1 man show called "Perfect Season" where he told the story of the 1869 Red Stockings as told by Charlie Gould

[ervinsm84]

Little Big League gets a nod from me as a movie that hasn't been mentioned yet (if it has... my bad).

See Mac, now we'd have taken the bat out of our two best hitters if we bunted

[FlightRick]

Perhaps leading us astray, I'll ask if anyone else has read "The Universal Baseball Association," a novel from sometime in the 70s, I think?

It's from before I was born, before I was into fantasy baseball, and (I think) before Fantasy Baseball was even invented, but it's sort of a book that alternates between two narratives: (1) a guy who invents his own baseball league and (2) the story told from the perspectives of the players he creates. I thought it was really cool, especially by "Assigned Reading for High School English" standards.

I've re-read it twice since, albeit not in several years. I mention it because I've always thought it'd make a great movie, using a framework not unlike "The Princess Bride" (where you have what appears to be a main story, but you end up caring more about the story-within-the-story).

Hell, I'd even go ahead and say it could make a great play, too.

The production would require exactly one setting (a dingy apartment) and 1 main actor (and 2-3 extras) for the main "story," and the majority of the production would be within the fantasy baseball league. An omni-present narrator would probably be the best way to handle the transitions and exposition.


Rick

[RedEye]

This doesn't count, but I would like to nominate Knocked Up for the best fantasy baseball scene ever.

[Chip R]

Perhaps leading us astray, I'll ask if anyone else has read "The Universal Baseball Association," a novel from sometime in the 70s, I think?

It's from before I was born, before I was into fantasy baseball, and (I think) before Fantasy Baseball was even invented, but it's sort of a book that alternates between two narratives: (1) a guy who invents his own baseball league and (2) the story told from the perspectives of the players he creates. I thought it was really cool, especially by "Assigned Reading for High School English" standards.

I've re-read it twice since, albeit not in several years. I mention it because I've always thought it'd make a great movie, using a framework not unlike "The Princess Bride" (where you have what appears to be a main story, but you end up caring more about the story-within-the-story).

Hell, I'd even go ahead and say it could make a great play, too.

The production would require exactly one setting (a dingy apartment) and 1 main actor (and 2-3 extras) for the main "story," and the majority of the production would be within the fantasy baseball league. An omni-present narrator would probably be the best way to handle the transitions and exposition.


Rick

I've read it and frankly, I didn't think it was that good.

[reds44]

I loved Moneyball. Might be my favorite movie period.

I enjoyed Fever Pitch too, but I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy. Also seeing the Cardinals lose is about the best way ever a move could end.