I watched a lot of baseball this weekend. The College World Series was good, mostly because Virginia wiped the floor with Duke. I think that means they advance to Omaha for a 4-team final play-off, but I’m not really sure.
I also watched some professional games. Turns out Bryce Harper is still alive and in Philadelphia. Who knew? And as I tap this out I have the Yankees-Red Sox game on. It’s 2-2 in the 9th and painful to watch. Without Aaron Judge the Yankees would have a hard time with a good D-1 program, but fortunately they’re playing the Red Sox tonight,
And we’re going to extras. Delightful. At least with the new rules we’re still barely at the 2.5 hour mark.
Anyway, this week we’re drafting movies concerning baseball. Ideally any picked move should center around baseball, but because I suspect that might limit the pool after a couple of rounds we’re going to expand it to any movie where something related to baseball plays a noticeable role. As a for instance, if you wanted to draft ‘The Untouchables’ because at one point De Niro’s character takes a baseball bat to someone’s head, you go right ahead. TV movies are OK, TV series are not. Mini-series or specials are OK as long as it’s Ken Burns’s documentary about baseball, otherwise just stop being a dick and find a movie.
With the first pick I will not, surprisingly, take Kelly’s Heroes, much as I would like to keep beating that dead horse. I spent a significant amount of time looking for any sign of baseball in the movie and came up empty. Instead I will take what I think is the best baseball movie of all time
and also one of the best movies ever anyway, ‘A League of Their Own’
The rest of you are on the (pitch) clock
Stealing Home.
Horatio is going to have some softball/baseball distinction comment, but this is a highly underrated Tom Hanks flick:
The Man With One Red Shoe
Oh shit! I thought of that early this morning and promptly forgot it after it was superseded by The Naked Gun. Nicely done!
Never seen it, therefore cannot comment.
No one has told me to stop so…..next pick! A Few Good Men. In addition to the Thinking Bat, Tom Cruise hits some balls.
Baseballs, you cretin.
https://youtu.be/fzz3ykZnebU
[pushes glasses up nose]
“You’re a lousy fucking softball player, Jack!”
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/c80049e2-6539-49a3-9e95-7d93855fa6b2
The thinking bat alone makes it count.
I could do this for days, so….do you want me to do that and keep going or should this documentary be my last pick?
Catching Hell. Yes, it’s the Steve Bartman documentary in case you didn’t have enough PTSD already as a Cubs fan.
I still maintain that we’re only in this hellscape reality because the universe couldn’t handle David Bowie dying and the Cubs winning the World Series.
Hey, go nuts.
If I’m reading this correctly, and any one of the dozens of law-talkin-types we’ve got here they can dispute this, but it’s still on the board:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy3MtznDeqg&ab_channel=ThatSceneFrom.com
The Untouchables’ because at one point De Niro’s character takes a baseball bat to someone’s head, you go right ahead.
No one has until now.
If you live on Jack Grealish’s street, please move your car off the road immediately. I repeat, please move your car off of the road immediately.
https://twitter.com/eurofootcom/status/1668317660721938433
This is not a drill!
Good Will Hunting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CVYGK1nH84
And obviously everything with Pudge
https://youtu.be/8SxE_NfUX6w?t=47
5. Shockingly, I managed to find a (good) science fiction movie that fits the draft criteria (at least in a late-round capacity). Men in Black!
https://www.bloggingmets.com/12986/shea-stadium-in-movies-men-in-black/
Baseball is even more central in the third MIB!
It certainly is, though the movie isn’t as good. Not a bad movie at all – but the first one is far and away the best of the bunch.
Fif pick: The Fan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPZZVwaQRwc
I tried to watch this when it came out on cable, and it was just awful.
I enjoyed it, but clearly I have a soft spot for baseball movies
Completely unbelievable. Like anyone would give that much of a shit about the Giants.
Soul of the Game, a dramatization of the breaking of the color barrier through the relationships between Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson. I watched it a bunch of times and have never met anyone else that has, but it’s apparently available for free on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiDULxPh0hU
The cinematic masterpiece: Battlefield Baseball.
?format=1000w
Is that guy OK?
This Batman reboot sucks.
61*
Is there room for one more in BFC’s head? (gross)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c2jp8WyXms&ab_channel=simsinca
Nope, I hate that movie with a fiery passion, so that is NOT on my board.
Me: “Hey, calm down, have a drink of water.”
BFS: [makes hideous noises]
Me: “Oh shit, you hated the movie because the good guys lost, right?”
This gem from the 70s was fun
That’s a solid pick.
Time to get creative-here’s Meatloaf: In Search of Paradise because he sings Paradise by the Dashboard Light and of course there is the baseball radio announcer (pervy!) liking that kid’s chances as he rounds third.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdJBMvGGFc8&ab_channel=TrailersandMovieclips
Horatio, did you name your dwarf Eddie?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gaedel
Goddammit.
It had to be done. My apologies.
Has no one heard the old saying, “What happens in Horatio’s locker, stays in Horatio’s locker”?
The Shining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtI0uG6tjew
THIS GUY BEEFREEFERLIVES I CALL HIM LEMONJELLO BECAUSE HE’S ALSO IN MY HEAD
https://youtu.be/Cu2gVjiE6Uw?t=99
Here’s my first only tangentially related to baseball movie, and then I’ll get back to core baseball movies.
Bad Boys! Tea Leoni is even hotter when she’s swinging a louisville slugger.
“THIS MOVIE HAS A MONKEY IN IT HOW ON EARTH WAS IT NOT THE #1 OVERALL PICK?” – Eli Manning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ns29dh4yok
Matt LeBlanc has a name, Rikki.
Co-starring Tom Selleck’s mustache: Mr. Baseball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNkigwmbUrg
Dammit, that was on my board (though probably not next). LemonJello, are you in my house?
The rug really ties the space together, man.
I remember liking this movie fine but man oh man did the critics disagree.
It was a ton of fun, and sweet. Fuck the critics.
“Oh, we did!” – the cast of The Girls Next Door when discussing how best to promote their show
I couldn’t have dropped a more obvious hint about this movie down below and no one’s taking it, sooooooo
Dazed & Confused. Yoink!
It was on my radar but I was too busy drafting movies about vampires and chimpanzees.
A baseball doc? Kinda, sorta. Long Shot is about that guy that proved his innocence because he was in a crowd shot from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDxISykYRc4&ab_channel=Netflix