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
New washing machine came in. The hose for the new machine is too small to fit the outflow pipe, so if we turn it on water is going to spray everywhere.
Mrs. Horatio just announced she is “going grocery shopping” and I’m pretty sure she meant “killing several hobos”
“small hose the sprays everywhere” and now you’ve insulting your dwarf nice going jerk
Even as I was typing that out part of me was thinking “Why? You know what’s going to happen. Why?”
Yeah, sorry. Just relax and listen to this randomly-selected song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrRmgbchiGY&ab_channel=RockwayBeach
“I really should start a franchise business”.
I remember watching this and thinking it was good, but I couldn’t tell you any other thing about it.
Ah, the “Trent Green Seal of Approval”
It was wonderful
I know no one’s picking this, so I’m just going to go ahead and draft it.
And, before you ask, yes, there is a Field of Reams!
Of course there is.
Probably, like, a twelve part series…
um, paper is from trees not fields.
Not Field of Creams?
That exists too!!
why not “feeled”
The Godfather II
“I’ve loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series,”
?w=768
RIKKI: Derek, did you want to get a pick in?
DEREK CARR: Whatever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhDPJ7ozL6s
If you haven’t seen No No, the Dockumentary [intentional] about Dock Ellis pitching a no hitter while on LSD, I highly recommend it. But you can’t have it in this draft because I’m picking it now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqvlrJQVAP4
And I had forgotten he had 8 walks and a HBP in that no hitter, which is fucking amazing. I also assume he’s Hippo’s favorite player given this quote: “I pitched every game in the major leagues under the influence of drugs.”
Great flick. Doc was bad ass.
Next pick: Beer League
The one with Artie Lange?
That’s softball, sir, and there’s a difference.
Also Beer League was surprisingly not shitty, which left me absolutely stunned.
Close enough?
Inglorious Basterds.
Twas on my board.
I love this movie, can’t believe I’d forgotten about. The ’69 World Series figures prominently in Frequency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6VQxn6HK_c&ab_channel=FilmTrailersChannel
That’s excellent value, well done.
Oh shit, that’s a nice pull.
TWDWS!
(That’s What Deshawn Watson Said)
Was anyone in that movie named Kenneth?
Nice.
Boogie Nights.
“You guys wanna play some baseball?”
https://youtu.be/bZRzeUrVy1o
I have a separate board of Eli Manning’s picks. Let’s take one now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xk9Odoze8g
I take it I can still take Major League 2?
I think so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epAkymGtKKE
Okay, then I’ll wait for my next pick
I have a hunch my next pick could make it a few hours but all of you are surprising the hell out of me, so i’ll take The Scout, a wildly underrated Brendan Fraser as crazy pitcher movie that i haven’t watched in over a decade but assuredly holds up without casual racism or any other problems.
https://youtu.be/C-5zRAhVLGo
4. For genres I’ve got inspirational (The Natural), coming of age (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), comedy (The Naked Gun)…now to round out my roster with something unexpected: HORROR!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsYSrjtGWEY
It’s been a half-hour, so 3. Pride of the Yankees
Pickins are slim, so let’s celebrate this ol racist crank. Also, I worked with a guy who got to be an extra in this flick. Old-timey baseball player extra. I was kinda jealous.
The Rookie.
I think I’m out of baseball movies now.
I’ve got one more that’s pure baseball but according to Rotten Tomatoes it was absolutely terrible (even though in my memory it was moderately enjoyable), so I probably won’t bother with it.
I had The Rookie on my board but I couldn’t find the clip I wanted (where high school player Rudy faces his nemesis and strikes him out after his team gets behind him). Also, I’ve never seen the movie.
There are a couple I have in mind that fit that bill. Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon may figure prominently in this decision.
Oh god I forgot about that abomination. Fuck the both of them for being on the field celebrating the ’04 series
Oh I’ve never seen it either. I just knew it existed.
With my first ( and last ) pick, I pick a better draft as baseball sucks
I’d do a “Movies About Lacrosse” draft but….
/crickets chirp mournfully in the distance
Is there a documentary about the Duke lacrosse trial yet?
there are 2 or 3 movies that I’m aware, so ya a bad draft. But the sport is still better than baseball.
Having played both (badly) I would agree that lacrosse is much more fun to play.
Pfft. Try playing lacrosse with a hangover. You can’t!
can and personally have.
I’d also argue that baseball is just half-court cricket.
A “Best Cricket Movie” draft would kill on Indian DFO…
lol, or you could just draft the “Million Dollar Arm” and get a two-fer
The Blues Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM-9hoUzjng
That’s a stretch, but I think I have to allow it.
Using Wrigley Field for Elwood’s address puts it over the top.
You said the Untouchables would count…there is a scene in front of Wrigley Field in this movie so it obviously counts.
The ending of Traffic hurt me in The Feeling department.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNgvVVjgK68&ab_channel=paulmerz
The Great Escape.
Comedy time: Brewster’s Millions
http://www.the80smovieclub.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/brewsters-milllions-1985-3.png
AS I WAS TYPING! BASTARD!
That was on my board as well.
/fetches dry erase
Happy to share my draft board when we’re done
Ah, I can see that your scout team has done their homework.
Summer Catch. Prime Jennifer Biel in a bikini. And I’m pretty sure it has something to do with baseball.
Fun fact, Freddie Prinze apparently went on to become a writer for the WWE.
I should have snagged this one for the Cape Cod League setting alone. Those games are a ton of fun to go to.
A friend of mine’s son played for Chatham a couple of years ago. My friend was bummed out when the kid was waived part way through the season. I pointed out that his kid was good enough to play for a league where waivers were even a thing.
https://youtu.be/4sRr6o8YdZY
Doesn’t she turn into a serial killer/cult leader by the end of her story? She really was great in that.
She also runs for Governor, so yes.
Who winds up leading the group stuck underground when the ants attack?
And there’s a leading contender for ‘Most Unlikely Sentence Written In 2023’
I think the underground uprising post fracking induced earthquake is before she runs for Governor with the slogan “Change you can Jessica-lieve in”
3rd pick: For Love of the Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSz1KqZZvpc
I find that movie insufferable. Costner’s thumb injury in the movie is no match for the injury he must have suffered jamming his head that far up his own ass.
3. The Naked Gun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-S-eeInJVk
That’s some good value, right there!
We have failed as a nation when this movie falls this far.
I thought of it while walking the dog and was on pins and needles wondering it would still be on the board by the time I got home.
/RTD’s dog, trying to take a dump
RTD: (hauling dog out of the woods). OH NO YOU DON’T!!! I’VE GOT A PICK TO GET IN!!!!
Second pick: Little Big League, complete with technically antagonist Ken Griffey, Jr.!
And Randy Johnson!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEv1q0ECTZM
I’ll take “Good Morning Vietnam”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T29bT8uHHw
Better Off Dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUxeXePUBMo
Fear Strikes Out!
The obvious picks are gone, so I’ll go with Everybody Wants Some!
I can never find that movie to watch it. Heard good things and liked Dazed and Confused.
(which could be read as a hint…)
It’s very good. I really liked it.
I assure you that there are plenty of very good picks remaining
People are going to the “loosely connected” movies sooner than I’d hope so I’m reworking my draft board on the fly and taking
The Warriors
Glad I looked in the thread first. So since it was found anyway…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrEmF4SK3T4
Since LemonJello scooped me on Baseketball, I’ll take 42 next. Chadwick Boseman was phenomenal, and bonus points for casting Steve the Pirate as a racist.
RIP Chadwick
I really enjoyed The Battered Bastards of Baseball-the story of an independent Single A team owned by Kurt Russell’s dad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA76b5Hhvxg&ab_channel=Netflix
Great pick, and one I didn’t think would come off the board for a few hours
Dammit, I was hoping to sneak that one in late. Fascinating story.
As opposed to the Buttered Briskets of Branson, the story of Andy Reid’s weekend getaway.
Damn Yankees
FUCK! I wanted that – I haven’t actually seen the story but I read the original book (The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant) and I really loved the story.
They really take you High Enough huh.
Fuuuuck, that was my next pick on account of being the first musical I ever played! (My junior year of HS, Applegate was played by a senior girl, and she was fantastic. The girl who played Gloria Thorpe has actually done stuff on Broadway, including Hodel the last time Fiddler was on Broadway.)
Moneyball isn’t already taken?
I’ll take that film.
I think Blair Witch Goes To Fenway might still be on the board.
Oh ok.
I meant the bootleg edition recorded in Europe.
I’m going to skip best available, needs of the roster and take a hybrid that could potentially fill a lot of holes on my team:
BASEketball
GODDAMMIT
I figured Balls was the only one who might possibly beat me to it.
Also, I love the Reggie Jackson interaction at the end
https://youtu.be/KPowlurwWzU
There’s a NY Times story this Sunday about Parker and Stone having taken over some defunct pink restaurant in Denver and spending $40 million bringing it back. Apparently out of a sense of nostalgia more than any sort of sound business plan.
“Some defunct pink restaurant,” I shall not have you besmirch Casa Bonita that way, sir. Watch the Casa Bonita episode of South Park and then pick a day in August and I’ll meet you there.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/us/casa-bonita-restaurant.html
Here’s the story. ‘Casa Don’t Eata’. Sounds like a hell of a place.
2. In keeping with the broadening of the draft class, I’ll go with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Baseball has an important role in the move, from a ballgame being a component of their day (including almost getting spotted by Ed Rooney on the TV in the bar) to the actual ball being used to turn off the stereo playing the phony sleeping noises.
I was fascinated by the story of Moe Berg so I was gonna like The Catcher Was A Spy* no matter what.
*great title, coke-addled Hollywood exec.
I mean, if you all aren’t going to do it, then I will. Field of Dreams.
https://youtu.be/MELFuYpwsts
If you and I ever meet we’re going to have to have a catch.
I can’t tell if this is nice or a threat.
Eight men out.
Also Fuuuuuuuuuuuck return to work days after vacation
I’m at the other end, just starting. I reminded all the sales reps and then was promptly inundated with texts and phone calls. Lovely.
Scotchy’s Out of Office: “If you bother me with one. single. solitary. issue. while I’m on vacation, I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish! Press 2 for Spanish.”
Ha. Sounds like a “them” problem
“Long Gone” is easily the best of the genre.
I watched this movie several years ago because someone on this blog — maybe you? — recommended it and it is really well done. William Petersen before he helped foist CSI Vegas (the original) and its 45 other cities on us!
Second pick
?1502465959
The Bad News Bears
Anyone who takes the remake with Billy Bob Thornton gets banned for life.
In fairness, I like the part where he’s plastered and BP just turns to him throwing at the kids. You know, in a Peyton Manning United Way sort of way.
I’m a terrible person, aren’t I? (Link added for reference)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwfZYNFfEfM
Interrupting the draft to note that the Italian Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, has died.
June 2023, I like where your head’s at.
Well my first two picks are off the board, so Rookie of the Year it is!
https://youtu.be/r4BD6vHLP2g
Also, I love this topic and have a full draft board ~20 picks deep already
Bull Durham is still available? Bull Durham.
https://youtu.be/diX4myfR6vU
I’ve watched this movie more times than I’d like to admit. Also, “He gets on base.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MjxoaynCmk&ab_channel=SceneCity
“That’s Pete”
“Don’t make me point at Pete again!”
Gotta get it in: The Sandlot.
1. The Natural.
The one. The only.
Major League
Point of order: Taka is in Major League II
Yeah, but I mainly did it for the Balls gif.
Fine choice. Very strong opening sequence in that movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0gDLwfKjw