Baseball is America’s greatest past time. Who doesn’t love a classic baseball movie? Throughout the 80s, 90s, and 200s there were many great baseball movies made that have been a staple of many people’s childhood.
With opening day this week, the BluePrint compiled the three best baseball movies of all time.
3. Moneyball (2011)
Moneyball is a great movie about the MLB and the unfair game without salary caps. Moneyball has some great actors, including stars like Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Chris Pratt.
This film talks about the true story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their attempt to win while being handicapped with the lowest salary constraint in baseball. During this season, the Athletics were able to break a record and win 20 games in a row.
This movie shows great determination, and it is very motivating to watch.
2. Field of Dreams (1989)
Field of Dreams is simply a classic baseball movie. The film stars actors like Kevin Costner and Ray Liotta.
In the movie, Ray Kinsella lives on a farm with his wife and daughter. One night he heard a mysterious voice saying, “If you build it, he will come.” He also saw a vision of a baseball diamond as well as the ghost of baseball legend “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. After this, Ray built a baseball field on his land, even with threats of getting it all taken away from the bank. Once the field was built, the ghosts of many baseball legends would appear through the crops and walk onto the field to play baseball again.
Field of Dreams is just a fun and relaxing movie to watch with family, and it adds a sense of magic to baseball.
1. The Sandlot (1993)
The Sandlot is the greatest baseball movie ever made. It is one of the biggest staple movies in a lot of people’s childhoods.
The movie starts out with the story of a kid named Scotty Smalls who just moved into a new town and hasn’t made any friends. He tries to play baseball with a group of kids at a baseball field he found called the Sandlot. Everyone quickly realizes that this kid is terrible at baseball, and they all start making fun of him. Everyone except Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez. Benny gave Smalls an extra glove and would let him play baseball with them. One day while playing ball, one of the kids hit a homerun and lost the ball. Smalls was about to go and get it before he was warned about the “beast” on the other side of the fence. He said he had another baseball at home and went to get it. This ball was his stepdad’s and was signed by baseball legend Babe Ruth. Smalls hit his first homerun while using this ball, not knowing it’s value. After the other boys found out, they spent the rest of their summer trying to get the ball back in every way possible.
The Sandlot is a funny, lighthearted movie that is great to watch anytime.
Honorable Mentions:
There have been so many good baseball movies that I couldn’t fit all of them into this list.
On is 2013 movie, 42. This is the story of Jackie Robinson and how he worked to be the first African American to play Major League Baseball, despite all the hate and challenges he faced.
Another honorable mention is the 2006 movie, Benchwarmers. This movie stars some great actors, including David Spade and Rob Schneider. This movie is about a group of grown men who are awful at baseball and have to play a team of 12-year-old bullies in a game of baseball. In my opinion, this is the funniest baseball movie ever made.
Two others come from the 1980s. The first is Major League (1989), the story of the hard-luck Cleveland Indians and the owner who does everything to set them up for failure in order to move the team out of town. Starring Tom Berringer and Charlie Sheen, Major League is a feel good story of the underdog coming out on top, and it provides iconic movie moments, like Bob Ueker’s call of “Just a bit outside.”
Finally there’s Bull Durham. There has been controversy over the years whether this is a baseball movie or a romance, but there is so much good baseball action it’s crazy that such talk even exists. The movie follows the minor league Durham Bulls and rookie sensation Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh, a gifted pitching prospect needs only to improve his maturity and mental approach to make it to the big leagues. He is paired with journeyman catcher Crash Davis, who who pushes and pushes LaLoosh to improve his game. Both players have earned the interest of town intellectual Annie Savoy, which is where the love story begins. It’s a fantastic baseball movie with amazing quotes like, “Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls – it’s more democratic.”
