Asking for opinions on the most realistic baseball movies. Clearly Field of Dreams is not one. Moneyball, Eight Men Out and Everybody Wants Some are three off the top of my head. Fear Strikes Out is another one. Opinions?
For me in the modern day it has to be Money Ball at least from the business side. But keeping it real, Bad News Bears is always great to remind us all of the kid in us.
Moneyball and Eight Men Out are at the top for “realism.” Other good ones that stretch credulity a bit but are entertaining are the obvious Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and The Natural. One that many of you may not have seen but my brother and I loved the film...The Big Leaguer from 1953. Hans Lobert (Edward G. Robinson) runs a training camp in Florida for the New York Giants. Every year, he evaluates about 80 or so 18- to 20-year-old hopefuls from around the country and some from the Caribbean to select the best of them for a minor league contract. All have dreams and talent, but the elimination whittles them down to a lucky few who will get a minor league contract and continue the dream... Nice film.
I think that Moneyball is real because it is all about the business of baseball and based on a true story. Eight Men Out is real because it depicted the reality of baseball at that time. Throwing games was common. Throwing the Series meant serious cash and the players that knew about that didn't throw the Series got played. Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson in particular. They knew that the fix was on and didn't participate but because they knew the fix was on and said nothing they were banned for life.
Well The Rookie was based on a true story. I liked the film but always wondered about how much of it was true. The bit with the radar on the side of the road was just too much.
The thing I really really like about Bad News Bears is depicting the jerks that were adults in Little League. It is a kids game. I played Little League one season and went back to my park league. I did great BTW in Little League. It was just more fun.
For me, I always feel myself pulling for the kids in Bad News Bears but The Sandlot was more about neighborhood baseball and reminds us we all have to grow up sometime. It's hard to find a better line than "You're killing me Smalls" but BNB has plenty like "Can we go swimming when we're done.... No, don't jump in Engleberg. You'll flood the valley."
2 of my favorites. And while it's not really realistic, For Love of the Game with Costner still sucks me in