New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Not to be forgotten, of course, is Susan Sarandon’s turn as the baseball groupie whose sexual lessons are as integral to minor leaguers’ developments as are Costner’s tough-love words. This movie, of course, gave us Sarandon and Robbins as a thing. And while Robbins is purposefully forgettable, Sarandon showed from early on why she always is so memorable as a performer.

Predictably, of course, the troubled hero gets the girl, and the young newbie goes on into the ruthless world of the media, the fans, and the seemingly random results. It’s almost as if life off the field is better, in some ways, but one really can’t stop wishing to be on it.

3. The Natural

Perhaps the most bizarre of the movies listed here, The Natural is nevertheless worthy of a mention for the on-the-field dramatics that have since become staples in sports movie.

Starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, and Kim Basinger (in one of her earliest roles), The Natural tells the story of an aging star with a troubled past that stands in the way of his athletic glory (sound familiar?). Before it’s all said and done, The Natural lays forth themes inherent in baseball that will reverberate in future movies (the father/son exploration that appears in, say, Field of Dreams, comes to mind), all while actually making us care about the outcome of the games themselves.

And if one were looking for a truly American icon to play a part in America’s pastime, who better, then, than Robert Redford in his prime? Step aside, Mr. Costner.

2. Moneyball

Speaking of cinematic heartthrobs, Brad Pitt headlines my second favorite baseball movie of all-time. Like in other lists, I resisted making this my number one only out of the obvious derision that picking such a recent movie could cause. But, make no mistake about it, Moneyball will be hailed as a timeless movie, not just about baseball, in years to come.

Consider, first, the aspects of the movie that relate to the game itself. Whatever else you may think of sabermetrics, their appearance revolutionized the game of baseball for all time. To be able to capture their concept in an audience-friendly way like Michael Lewis did in his masterpiece book was nothing short of extraordinary. But to go from book to the big screen is a huge leap. Moneyball the movie however, succeeded brilliantly in capturing the essence of Lewis’ explanation of sabermetrics, while intertwining itself with a real-life story of human wit and wiliness.

Bennett Miller, of Foxcatcher and Capote fame, put together a solid, fast-paced and deliberate cut. But it is the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin’s script that really seals this one as a baseball great. Fresh off his experience in penning the hopeless-nature-of-life script in The Social Network, Sorkin was ready to deliver a brilliant, enthralling, yet despairing view into the world of obsession with a single, mostly hopeless goal. Moneyball, then, became a movie about so much more than just the game of baseball. It was, in a way, Sorkin’s companion piece to The Social Network - the same troubled hero, but this one actually good, if fated to the same destiny: solitary, destitute defeat. Indeed, Billy Beane’s defeat was more absolute than Zuckeberg’s, who at least had his riches. Beane, by contrast, faced the same exit from the playoffs he was doomed to when the movie began, despite his embrace of new methods, which later gave others success.

If there was a moment in movies to which “Never an Absolution” was a proper phrase, it is the iconic scene in which Brad Pitt sits in the empty Oakland As Coliseum. The saving irony of it all is the last scene, when he drives and listens to his daughter (who is singing the song she recorded for him, calling him a loser) and smiles. The Absolution, then, must come from within.

1. The Pride of the Yankees

Forgive me, however, if my homeboy fandom for the New York Yankees makes me pick the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic classic as my favorite baseball movie of all time.

Many icons have graced the game of baseball. Lou Gehrig stands out, of course, for the real life tragedy of the disease that bears his name and took his life. The phrase “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth” is endless in the game and also iconic in movies, if you ask a cinephile anyway.

Gary Cooper, in a brilliant turn, astutely depicts the troubles of the Iron Horse as he faces the debilitating and life-ending illness that is forever associated with him. The ubiquitous Teresa Wright (Mrs. Miniver), plays his eventual wife, and several iconic Yankees, from Babe Ruth to Bill Dickey, appear as themselves.

It was also remarkable that the movie was made just a couple of years after the events it portrayed. Today, most topics are considered off-limits (or uninteresting in the wake of their over-saturation on social media) to moviemakers, for years. Movies, to be successful today, have to provide escape. Back then, however, they depicted real life, and it is no coincidence that my top two picks in today's list depict real life baseball dramas.

In any case, The Pride of the Yankees received a then record-breaking 11 Academy Award nominations (the most by any sports movie, by far), and was widely acclaimed as faithful to the exact way in which Gehrig delivered the timeless words at Yankee Stadium. I would have to really think about it if I had to decide whether Pride is the best sports movie of all-time but, without a doubt, it is to me the best baseball movie ever to touch the silver screen.

Continued:       1       2       3