World Series: Baseball Classics

A baseball sits inside the chalk lines of a batter's box, with red seam showing prominently.

It’s almost time for baseball to finish for the year, crowning a new World Series winner. (Next year, Orioles!) But if you feel the need to keep America’s Pastime in your life a little while longer, you can always borrow one of these classic movies (in no particular order):

The Natural
Starring Robert Redford, based on an equally excellent, although rather different, book by Bernard Malamud, The Natural tells the electrifying story of Roy Hobbs as he returns to baseball after a mysterious disappearance. This is a story of true loves, the consequences of choices, and living your dreams, whether it’s about baseball or finding your family. Rated PG

42: The Jackie Robinson Story
The number 42 belonged to Jackie Robinson and has remained the only number to be retired across all of Major League Baseball. This biopic, starring Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford, follows Jackie Robinson as he breaks the color barrier to become the first Black man to play in the major leagues. It pulls few punches about the difficulty of the situation. Rated PG-13

Field of Dreams
If you build it, they will come. If you’ve never seen this Kevin Costner classic, featuring James Earl Jones and Ray Liotta, among others, what have you been doing with your life? Mysterious voices tell Costner’s character to plow under some of his corn and build a baseball field, and then entire squads of dead (and disgraced) ball players appear each night. It’s Iowa, not heaven. Rated PG

Bull Durham
Kevin Costner stars in this one, too, along with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Set in the minor leagues, baseball and romantic entanglements combine for a fun, quotable movie that’s mostly about baseball rivalries. Rated R

A League of Their Own
There’s no crying in baseball! This beloved movie about the women who played baseball during WWII features Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, among a star-studded cast. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Rated PG

The Rookie
Dennis Quaid carries this family-friendly Disney movie about being the oldest rookie in baseball. After making a deal with his minor league team that if they win their season, he will pursue a major league career, Jim Morris has to make good on his end of the bargain. Rated G

Trouble with the Curve
This romantic comedy, starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake, uses scouting the minor leagues before the draft as the background story. Amy Adams’ character has to leave her high-powered law career to make sure her grumpy dad (Eastwood) is healthy enough to continue scouting. She falls for the game and the guy, having to make some tough decisions along the way. Rated PG-13

Million Dollar Arm
Based on a true story, an American baseball talent agent travels to India to see if he can discover the next big pitching arm in their cricket leagues. Jon Hamm plays the desperate sports agent who goes out on a limb to save his business and, maybe, himself. Rated PG

Leave a comment