Top 50 Baseball Movies: The Bench Players

Even the bad baseball movies are kinda good

So my ranking of the Top 50 Baseball Movies of All Time is finally complete. I enjoyed the exercise, even if my self-imposed deadline of the publication date for my book Baseball: The Movie proved a little daunting. It felt a bit like writing a sign to hold up at a game when you’re a kid. You write the first word in big letters, and then you realize—too late—that you don’t have enough room for the second word. In other words, I had to rush a bit for the last few entries, but I think they came out all right.

I have a short addendum to the list, which I’ll share momentarily, but until then, a few notes:

Right now, I’m on the Texas leg of my book tour. I had a wonderful event last night at Interabang Books in Dallas, and I’m sticking around today to catch a Rangers game at Globe Life Stadium. Tomorrow, I’ll be in Houston, where I’ll do a signing at Barnes & Noble and try to catch an Astros game. It’s not a bad life.

I’ve also been doing a ton of press for the book from home. Look up a baseball podcast, and I’ve probably been on it. The highlight was my appearance on Effectively Wild, the best baseball podcast ever made. Its co-host Ben Lindbergh wrote a wonderful blurb for my book (comparing me to Jacques Barzun!), and was kind enough to have me on for a segment. In a strange twist of fate, Rays pitcher Zack Littell was also interviewed on the episode. He’s the only person I’ve ever known whose last name rhymes with mine!

I also completed a fun project for Shepherd Books, a site where they ask authors to come up with a list of five books that have something to do with their book. I picked books that tell the true story of baseball, which was really just an excuse to post some books that I thought other baseball fans would like. One of them is by Lindbergh, actually, and another is by Luke Epplin, a writer I’ve connected with on social media, was extremely generous to me during my writing process, and penned a great book about Satchel Paige and Larry Doby called Our Team. Check out my full list here.

Finally, I’ve been thinking about all the films I left off my Top 50. Yes, there are some I left off. I watched over 80 baseball movies for the book. Obviously, the ones I ignored are not great, as even some of the ones I included are not great. A few are still worth noting. These films have contributed something to the genre, or at least captured the hearts of people who saw them at the right time in their lives. It only feels right at they get some space here. Without further adieu, I give you The Bench Players.

Hardball (2001)

This weirdly beloved drama is another sports film that owes its entire concept to The Bad News Bears but doesn’t do it nearly as well. Keanu Reeves plays an inveterate gambler whose brother agrees to help him out of a jam with a bookie. He’ll fork over the catch is Keanu will agree to coach a Little League team that his brother’s company has sponsored. The film doesn’t really work, mostly because Reeves, for all his talents, is not great at playing human beings. Its cast of youngsters is pretty solid, particularly a young Michael B. Jordan, and we can’t ignore the film’s most crushing moment, and perhaps the most crushing moment in any baseball film ever [SPOILER ALERT]: the death of G-Baby. You don’t expect a kid to get killed in a drive-by shooting, and despite an admirable effort by Reeves in the funeral scene, the film can’t live up to the shocking power of this moment.

The Scout (1994)

Originally conceived as a Rodney Dangerfield movie in the ‘80s, The Scout should have stayed there: both in the ‘80s and as a concept. It’s hard to know exactly what went wrong with the film, which concerns an on-the-outs scout for the Yankees who gets sent to Mexico as punishment and discovers a great white hope in the form of Steve Nebraska (Brendan Fraser). Brooks is usually unimpeachable, and the film was directed by Michael Ritchie, who helmed The Bad News Bears and a host of other terrific films. With its turn towards melodrama in the final third, maybe it would have made more sense in the 1980s, when late-film tonal shifts were common (it’s either melodrama or an action sequence). Or maybe it never would have been good. I’d bet on the latter.

Summer Catch (2001)

There are people who enjoy Summer Catch, but I don’t enjoy them. The film is a major missed opportunity. There’s a great baseball movie to be made about the Cape Cod League, where the top college prospects go every summer to play against each other on glorified Little League fields in front of a few dozen fans, stay with host families, and spend their evenings drinking and trying to screw local girls. Summer Catch ain’t it. Without knowing the story of its production, I’m guessing it was originally conceived as an R-rated baseball comedy a la Major League but somewhere along the line was sanded down to a PG-13. There’s nothing wrong with a PG-13 movie, unless it’s a subject designed for an R. Which this most definitely is. When you add in the godawful pitching mechanics of Freddie Prinze, Jr., Summer Catch is the cinematic equivalent of grounding into an inning-ending double play.

The Yankles (2009)
I actually regret not putting this one in the book. This indie blends the conventions of the faith-based film with the classic Bad News Bears arc. Charlie Jones (Brian Wimmer) is a former MLB player who goes to jail on a DUI. When he gets out, he needs to complete his community service, so he accepts an offer from an Orthodox Yeshiva to coach their newly-formed team. As one does. Easily the most Jewish baseball film ever made, The Yankles has the same flaws as many of the faith-based films I detail in my book’s final chapter; its low budget is evident, and it’s too reliant on cliches. It’s also much funnier than them, as you would expect.