What's the greatest baseball movie of all time?
With the film industry's biggest stars set to parade down the red carpet Sunday for the 88th annual Oscar Awards, it seems like the perfect time to assess history's best baseball movies - a subgenre that, by and large, has struggled to gain institutional recognition from the notoriously supercilious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Despite their lack of esteem among the Hollywood elites, films about the national pastime are undeniably awesome (even when they're not), and, in the last half-century, we've seen filmmakers head down to the ballpark to tell stories about perseverance and strength, the strength of the family, even the national struggle for racial equality.
Anyways, without further ado, here are the definitive rankings of the top baseball movies ever:
13. Trouble With the Curve (2012)
The same tired shtick from a curmudgeonly-but-ultimately-redeemable Clint Eastwood, except with baseball this time. The only thing more objectionable than the hackneyed story was the film's seemingly willful inattention to detail. Not only did one Atlanta Braves executive suggest a "draft-and-trade" - reminder: that's not a thing in baseball - but the player he so desperately sought with the No. 2 pick was this dude, who doesn't so strongly resemble a five-tool talent.
12. The Rookie (2002)
Possibly the sportsmoviest sports movie of all time, this insipid tale dramatizes the unlikely MLB career of left-hander Jim Morris, a high school flameout who somehow gets an extra 13 mph on his fastball as he trudges toward middle age and ends up making the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at 35.
11. 42 (2013)
Harrison Ford's portrayal of Dodgers architect Branch Rickey was too cartoonish to take seriously, but "42" does earn points for offering uncomfortable depictions of the racism Robinson encountered from those both outside and inside the Dodgers' clubhouse.
10. For Love of the Game (1999)
Not the most memorable effort from Kevin Costner's baseball canon, but supporting roles from a pair of venerable veterans, JK Simmons and Vin Scully, make it fun to watch Billy Chapel navigate the best start of his career between the copious amounts of running time devoted to a romantic subplot.
9. 61* (2001)
It was made for television, and it often shows, but Billy Crystal did a fine job depicting the wildly divergent experiences of two Yankees legends chasing history's most hallowed record at the same time. Really, it's a great story, even though the production value of "61*" is more Roger Maris than Mickey Mantle.
8. Fever Pitch (2005)
"Fever Pitch" is cute (and relatable for too many fans, probably), and an authentic portrait of baseball's place in Boston. The circumstances surrounding the film's production are pretty awesome, too: the script originally called for a downer ending - Boston's forte for more than eight decades prior to 2004 - but after the Red Sox reversed the curse, the Farrelly brothers called an audible.
7. Field of Dreams (1989)
It's not the most conventional cinematic marriage, baseball and the supernatural, but the movie blends them together just deftly enough for baseball fans to suspend disbelief. Costner, playing the Iowa farmer who upends his crop to build a ballpark, benefits from a strong supporting cast and a surprisingly tempered, often wry script that sobers up a fairly hokey story.
6. Bull Durham (1988)
Costner's refusal to star in any movie not about baseball reached its pinnacle with "Bull Durham," which offered a realer, raunchier, pseudo-existential look at the minor-league condition for future stars (Nuke LaLoosh) and future nobodies (Crash Davis) alike. Mix in a seductive performance by Susan Sarandon, more than a few laughs, and some pithy kernels of baseball wisdom and you've got a classic.
5. Moneyball (2011)
In fairness, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill impressed in their portrayals of the intrepid, cash-strapped A's executives who popularized the now (mostly) ubiquitous analytics-based approach to player evaluation and roster construction. With that said, the screenwriters were too busy glorifying Billy Beane et al to actually, y'know, accurately depict how awesome the A's were in 2002. Remember Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez? Or that ridiculous rotation of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito? You probably don't. According to the film, the Athletics' 25-man roster in 2002 was comprised entirely of Scott Hatteberg, David Justice, and Chad Bradford.
4. The Sandlot (1993)
Nothing makes you more nostalgic for an era you never lived in than this story about a lovable bunch of ragtags who passed their summer days in nondescript middle America on a charmingly dilapidated baseball diamond. Littered with the usual coming-of-age tropes, "The Sandlot" endures not merely because of its nods to baseball history or "You're killing me, Smalls," but because no film has ever so authentically articulated that, when you're growing up, nothing matters more than baseball and your friends.
3. Major League (1989)
Unequivocally the funniest baseball movie of all time, Major League's nefariously assembled Cleveland Indians roster - which, between Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Wesley Snipes, and Charlie Sheen, featured some half-decent star power - pumped out so many laughs and memorable quotes that two mediocre sequels ensued.
2. Little Big League (1994)
What baseball-loving kid didn't pop this gem into the VCR three times a week to live vicariously through Billy Heywood, the 12-year-old who's bequeathed the Minnesota Twins by his late grandfather and names himself as manager? Even now, 22 years after the film's release, any baseball fan worth his/her salt can still rattle off the names on that Twins roster - Remember Bowers' hijinks? McGrevey's big, sweeping hoop? "Blackout" Gatling? Mickey Scales' epic blast? - and still squeals with glee at any mention of "Runaround Sue" or the underappreciated Bill Wedman.
1. A League of Their Own (1992)
At a time when that Costner fellow seemed to have a monopoly over lead roles in baseball movies, Geena Davis offered viewers something new and exciting, much like the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League did for the depressed, war-weary American public in the 1940s. "A League of Their Own" crammed so much good stuff into its hilarious tribute to one of history's most under-recognized sports leagues: a competent comedic performance from Tom Hanks; inversion of heteronormative gender roles; a predictably hilarious cameo from Jon Lovitz; the most memorable line of any sports movie; and, of course, some legitimately awesome baseball sequences. Don't even pretend like you didn't try (and fail) to pull off Dottie Hinson's unforgettable splits catch. And how about that Marla Hooch? What a hitter!