In isolation and missing MLB? Binge on baseball movies

Bill Knight column for 4-2, 3 or 4, 2020         

Monday was sunny and mild, which made missing the Cubs’ home opener almost as disappointing as having the pandemic cancel the game where my son and I had planned to take my granddaughter to her first Wrigley Field visit. Home-opener memories there are as warm as those days were cold.

Frigid temps meant scurrying to the gift shop to find gloves – even batting gloves – sold out, so we resorted to buying kids socks to wear on hands gripping coffee or hot chocolate. Another time, our group from a downstate newsroom were the only fans left in our section by the 6^th inning. And there was the day where we turned around in Joliet when the game was SNOWED out.

Our fingers aren’t frozen sheltering at home watching decades-old games on the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network, but our hearts are cold. To soothe such letdowns, fans can appreciate cooperating with the effort to stop the virus’ spread, and also binge on baseball cinema, which I’ve written about for years, in journals, newspapers and books. My favorites have meandered through my mind like an errant throw missing the cut-off man, but here are my current Top 20:

“42” (2013). Before “Black Panther,” Chadwick Boseman starred as Jackie Robinson, with Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, who had the memorable line, “Someday you're gonna meet God, and when he inquires as to why you didn't take the field against Robinson in Philadelphia, and you answer that it's because he was a Negro, it may not be a sufficient reply!”

“61*” (2001). Billy Crystal directed Barry Pepper as Roger Maris and Thomas Jane as Mickey Mantle in the 1961 home-run chase.

“Angels in the Outfield (1994).” Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd and Ben Johnson? Splendid!

“The Bad News Bears” (1976). The Little League comedy needed no sequels and better than also-rans like “Little Big League.”

“Bang the Drum Slowly” (1973). A young Robert DeNiro stars in the film based on Mark Harris’ classic novel.

“The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (1976). Richard Pryor is billed behind Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones, but the movie, like the game, is a team endeavor.

“Bull Durham” (1988). The best of Kevin Costner’s trilogy of Seamhead gems, it has another great baseball-movie line, Annie Savoy’s “the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.”

“Cobb” (1994). Tommy Lee Jones is terrific as the Tiger Hall of Famer and all-time jackass.

“Damn Yankees” (1958). Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston star, with Tab Hunter believable as a ballplayer; this musical’s songs are great.

“Eight Men Out” (1988). Director John Sayles also appears as sportswriter Ring Lardner in this look at an early scandal in the game. Chicago journalist Studs Terkel also has a small role.

“Fear Strikes Out” (1957). Jimmy Piersall's struggles are exaggerated, but the tone is as memorable as leading man Anthony Perkins is miscast. Still worth watching, with Karl Malden.

“Field of Dreams” (1989). Another Costner BB film (far better than the other, “For Love of the Game”), it’s highlighted by James Earl Jones’ speech that in part reminds us, “this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again.”

“A League of Their Own” (1992). Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna star in an overdue appreciation of Midwest women playing professional baseball.

“Major League” (1989). Another fine, fun comedy that shouldn’t have had sequels.

“The Natural” (1984). Filmmaker Barry Levinson revised Bernard Malamud’s dark novel to create a happy ending for star Robert Redford, and it works anyway.

“Pride of the Yankees” (1942). Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but besides contributing to the ailment’s common name (“Lou Gehrig’s Disease”), the Hall of Famer was a nice guy. Gary Cooper stars, with real-life players including Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey and 13-year MLB veteran Babe Herman occasionally standing in for Cooper.

“Rookie of the Year” (1993). Thomas Ian Nicholas stars in this boyhood fantasy, an OK movie I’ve always liked because I was in the stands when they filmed some Wrigley Field scenes.

“The Sandlot” (1993). Sort of the baseball equivalent of the holiday beaut “A Christmas Story” or the coming-of-age standard “Stand by Me,” this family picture is nostalgic without being saccharine.

“Scout” (1994). Pre-“Mummy” Brendan Fraser and reliable comic Albert Brooks star in this fable about a hard-hitting pitcher who’s emotionally fragile.

“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1949) Busby Berkeley directed Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in this outstanding musical that’s as good as the actors’ other, better-known team-ups (“On the Town” and “Anchors Aweigh”).