Magical Baseball

The stat revolution has become a new orthodoxy bent on enforcing models over anything resembling enjoyment of the game. But it was at one time the only respite from an ocean of sportswriter-filed bullshit insisting that Jim rice and al Oliver were the giants of the game.

I didn’t hate The Rookie or Bull Durham, that’s about it. Field of Dreams might be the single most cynical movie in the history of cinema.

The only baseball movie, and in fact maybe the best damned movie of the 1970s, was The Bad News Bears.

These are all objective facts.

I also used to really enjoy The Pride of the Yankees and Bang the Drum Slowly as a kid.

Another favorite baseball film of mine was a small movie called Long Gone (1987), starring William Pertersen, Virginia Madsen, and Durmot Mulroney. It was about a southern minor league team in the ’50s, headed by an aging veteran (Petersen) who may have seen his last shot at the Show come and go as the new crop of hotshots come up.

For all you Netflix-ers, you should put it in your ques. If nothing else, there is a great shot of a young Virginia Madsen’s ass that caused the destruction of both the rewind and pause buttons on our old VCR. Sorry, mom.

A bit disney-esque, but Kurt Russell was good and it had great sports action. I’d say the Natural has it beat, though.

why? because the end scene when he asks his dad “to have a catch” hit’s me hard and I can relate to it fully. Great movie. The Sandlot is a very close 2nd. Possibly 1A and 1B.

Utterly preposterous eye candy that is a total distraction during the climactic emotional moment.

 Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) is fictional but inspired by the life of reclusive author J.D. Salinger

Hobb’s BABIP is due for some serious regression…

The scene at the end of the game, when Jake fakes the Babe Ruth bit and lays down the bunt, barely beating it out, on his bad knees.

Field of Dreams isn’t nearly as much about baseball as it is about at least 2 other fundamental questions/aspects of life;

1) Father/son relationship – One of the 4 key potential relationships of a nuclear family, the other 3 being father/daughter, mother/son, and mother/daughter. As Angelskid2210 wrote above, the film delivers an emotional wallop when Kevin Costner’s character has the opportunity to play catch with his father. And not his much, much older father. A father that was "preserved" from his youth…as Costner’s character put it, "…before he’d been beaten down by work and life". Haven’t any of you wondered what your Dad (or Mom) was like in their youth? Don’t you wonder how they spent their time…that is, the time before you appeared on the scene? Perhaps this is a question that doesn’t come to mind as much if your father is still around. My Dad has been gone for 20 years (he actually died almost one year to the day after the release of this film). Field of Dreams makes a whole lot more sense now than it did 5 years ago, and it made more sense 5 years ago than it did 10 years ago, and so on. I get it now, much more than I did in previous viewings.
2) Pursuing your dream/goals – Especially at this time, there are a lot of small business owners that are feeling extremely challenged due to economic circumstances. I know many vendors that have maxxed their lines of credit, credit cards, and their home equity to keep in business. Why? Because they are still pursuing their dreams and goals. They are attempting to stay in business because…well, among many reasons, they never wanted to and/or got tired of working for some other a**hole. In that sense, they are not much different from Ray Kinsella…guys putting their asses on the line with some crazy hope in mind. These are the type of people you’d find profiled on "Dirty Jobs". Salt of the earth types. They pursue their goals in spite of the hardships, with the hope that the future will bring better opportunities.

"Field of Dreams" is about some fundamentals of life. Baseball just happens to be the vehicle. Cynical? I don’t know where or how the movie is cynical. Maybe I just missed it. To me, it is the essence of magical, in life and baseball.

get an A+

The movie, that is. Actually, let me clarify. As a movie, it’s OK. But it shouldn’t be called “The Natural” any more than a romantic comedy in which the star-crossed young couple lives happily ever after should be called “Romeo & Juliet.”

SPOILER ALERT!

In the book, Roy Hobbs is a tragic figure. He takes the bribe. And he strikes out.

That’s why I find the movie so disgusting. It isn’t “The Natural.” It’s just something else entirely that happens to have characters with the same names as those in Malamud’s book.

No love for Mr. 3000? That was an instant classic!

/sarcasm

Two scenes I really like…

1.) Nuke is finally gaining control of his mighty fastball and Crash Davis goes out to the mound and tells him to hit the bull. Nuke lays one up side the Bulls head and starts to smirk and giggle on the mound. The batter tells Crash ‘This guy is crazy’… Crash responds by saying he never knows where the pitch is going to go. Next pitch is strike three on the outside corner as the batter swings at the plate looks like John Kruk in the all-star game against The Big Unit.
2.) The Durham Bulls have lost yet another game and the coach comes into the shower and throws a bunch of bats across the floor. He has a fit and says, “You lolly gag around the infield, you lolly gag in and out of the dugout… What’s that make you?” The assistant coach responds and says “Lolly gaggers”

Runner up: Rosie to Madonna “You think there are men in this country who ain’t seen your bosoms?”

yet another vote.

Pride of the Yankees..yep.

I have to call out “The Winning Team” with Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander.

And how can we ever forget Reggie Jackson trying to kill the Queen of England at the Big A in an Angels uniform in The Naked Gun?