The 18 Greatest Baseball Movies Ever, Ranked
"Bull Durham" turns 30 (!) this week, and for baseball fans, it has aged very well as one of the best sports movies in the history of human events. In honor of the movie that turned Kevin Costner into a movie star celebrating its 30th anniversary, here are the best batter-up movies the medium has to offer. Not all hits, but very few errors.
18. 'Mr. 3000' (2004)
We miss Bernie Mac so much that we'll even go back and watch him in this comedy, where he plays a retired slugger who returns to chase the record that eluded him. For such a player, Mac's trademark blend of bluster and befuddlement seems just about right.
17. 'The Babe' (1992)
John Goodman stars in a much less whitewashed biopic of Babe Ruth than the one William Bendix starred in 40 years earlier. The wellspring of his gargantuan talent (and appetites) remains mysterious, but at least modern viewers get to see what the fuss was about.
16. 'Fear Strikes Out' (1957)
A pre-"Psycho" Anthony Perkins is at his twitchy best in this biopic of Jimmy Piersall, the Red Sox outfielder who had a nervous breakdown during a 1952 game. The greatest threat to his sanity proves to be his tyrannical dad (Karl Malden). It's the "Shine" of baseball movies.
15. 'The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings' (1976)
Billy Dee Williams is at his charismatic peak in this underrated drama. He plays a barnstorming ballplayer, whose team of upstarts (including James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor) flourishes on the fringes of both pre-integration minor league and Negro League ball.
14. '42' (2013)
Someday, a movie needs to tell the whole, incredible story of Jackie Robinson's life. This one just focuses on his harrowing first year as the first black player in Major League Baseball. That's still a great story, and Chadwick Boseman, in his star-making role, is more than up to the task.
13. 'Major League' (1989)
The Cleveland Indians, whose owner wants them to fail so she can move the team, are the underdogs in this underrated comedy. Silly but lots of fun, thanks to a cast of oddballs that include Charlie Sheen (who'd been a high school pitching phenom before going into the family business), Wesley Snipes, Dennis Haysbert, crusty James Gammon, and the knowledgeable and wonderfully exasperated Bob Uecker.
12. 'Bang the Drum Slowly' (1973)
Baseball's answer to "Brian's Song" is this male weepie about the friendship between two teammates (a very young Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty), the former of whom is dying of cancer.
11. 'The Rookie' (2002)
Dennis Quaid quietly commands this tear-jerking biopic of Jim Morris, a high school coach who gets one last, belated shot at big-league success on the mound. It's like "The Natural" but true, and without the magic bat or the sex.
10. 'Moneyball' (2011)
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian's script does a good job of explaining sabermetrics and other complexities of the front office, but it wouldn't have worked without Brad Pitt. The star delivers a lived-in performance as Billy Beane, the Oakland manager seeking redemption for poor choices he made during his brief career as a slugger.
9. 'Damn Yankees' (1958)
Tab Hunter isn't bad in this adaptation of the Broadway musical about a Washington Senators aficionado willing to sell his soul to help his team win the pennant. But the movie properly belongs to leggy temptress Gwen Verdon and fastidious Ray Walston as the Satan who bargains with the Faustian fan.
8. 'The Bad News Bears' (1976)
Director Michael Ritchie, whose cheerful cynicism about American institutions informed "The Candidate" and beauty-pageant satire "Smile," peaks with this comedy about a slobby Little League coach (Walter Matthau) and his team of foul-mouthed misfits. The 2005 remake's not bad, but stick with the original.
7. 'The Sandlot' (1993)
For Gen Y, this is your "Bad News Bears," your "Stand By Me," your "Goonies," all rolled into one warm, nostalgic look at the bonding that takes place among boys playing ball. And boys with fences separating them from scary neighbors with giant, slavering dogs.
6. 'The Natural' (1984)
Somewhere in Barry Levinson's crowdpleaser about an aging slugger (Robert Redford) with a magical bat -- and one last shot at glory -- there's a more interesting, downbeat tale of sin, redemption, retribution, and regret. That's because Bernard Malamud's source novel reads that way, but then, that probably wouldn't have worked as a movie.
5. 'Pride of the Yankees' (1942)
The granddaddy of all baseball tearjerkers is this biopic of Lou Gehrig, who goes from being the Yankees' most unstoppable player to being the namesake of the crippling disease that cuts short his career. Gary Cooper will have you misting up when he recreates Gehrig's famous "luckiest man on the face of the Earth" farewell speech.
4. 'Eight Men Out' (1988)
If you like "Field of Dreams," you owe it to yourself to check out the story of how Shoeless Joe Jackson and his White Sox teammates were banished from baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series, while the money men who exploited them went unpunished. The strong young cast includes John Cusack alongside Charlie Sheen and D.B. Sweeney, actors with real diamond skills. Bonus points to Sweeney for teaching himself to bat lefty in order to play Shoeless Joe.
3. 'A League of Their Own' (1992)
Aided by the invaluable Geena Davis and Tom Hanks, director Penny Marshall turns the inspiring story of the women ballplayers who kept the sport alive during World War II into a raucous comedy. As Hanks's character famously says, "There's no crying in baseball," but feel free to cry, laugh, and marvel at the exploits of these pioneering professional female athletes.
2. 'Field of Dreams' (1989)
When you're younger, James Earl Jones' speech -- about how baseball is the one thing that can make a torn America whole and bridge the generations -- may sound like sentimental hogwash. But when you're older you can't help but shed a tear for Ray Liotta's redeemed Shoeless Joe Jackson, Burt Lancaster's majestic old-timer given one last moment to shine on the diamond, or Kevin Costner's cosmic seeker reconciling with his long-gone father over a game of catch. Actually, you might not be able to resist tears when you're young, either.
1. 'Bull Durham' (1988)
Former minor leaguer-turned-filmmaker Ron Shelton crammed into this shaggy-dog story a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom about baseball, fandom, sex, and aging gracefully. Yet he still made it funny as hell. Of course, it's Susan Sarandon's poetry-spouting groupie who's the movie's soul. After all, most of us can't play like pros, but like Sarandon's superfan, we can all appreciate the mysterious grace of a slugger's swiveling hips as bat meets ball and hits it out of the park.
