10 best baseball movies

There are many films that celebrate one of America’s most beloved pastimes, but only the best baseball films capture the magic of the sport while providing great entertainment at the same time. Of all the sports movies, baseball stands above many others as one of the games Hollywood loves to tell stories about. With the modern version of the sport having origins dating back to the 19th century, there are countless facets of baseball for films to explore and the subgenre’s versatility is highlighted in the best baseball films.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars have been on the field or in the dugout in some high-profile baseball movies, like Kevin Costner, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt. The best baseball movies have told some of the most compelling true stories in the history of the sport, while others are pure fiction with a touch of fantasy. Some of these films are fun comedies, while others will bring tears to almost any viewer’s eyes. However, all of the best baseball movies excel at portraying the love of the game.

10

The Sandlot (1993)

1960s kids spend their summer playing neighborhood baseball

For those who grew up playing baseball with friends, The Sandlot’Annie’s story is a touching nostalgia that captures the thrill of walking onto a baseball field with childhood friends. The Sandlot is set in the 1960s and follows an unathletic young man named Scott Smalls, who moves to a new neighborhood and struggles to make new friends. However, when he is taken in by a group of young baseball lovers, he discovers his love for the game while also discovering a monstrous secret in the town.

While The Sandlot is not a true story, it is inspired by the baseball legend, with Babe Ruth’s legacy playing a big role in the story. It’s a charming and funny coming-of-age film that even non-baseball fans can appreciate as it recalls the summer days of their youth. However, The film is a love letter to those days spent on dusty fields with best friends and playing a game everyone loves.

9

Everyone wants some!! (2016)

College baseball players party before classes start

While The Sandlot explored baseball’s carefree approach through the perspective of young children, Everyone wants some!! It feels like a movie about that same kind of kid when they get a little older. By Richard Linklater, Everyone wants some!! follows a young baseball player who arrives for his freshman year of college and meets his new school teammates. In the days before school starts, boys party and meet girls as they begin this new and exciting chapter of their lives.

Everyone wants some!! is a spiritual sequence of Dazed and confusedfollowing an equally loose plot that is nothing more than spending time with these fun, young characters as they make the most of their youth. However, it’s also a specific look at this baseball culture, with the main character coming to terms with no longer being the team’s star and wondering about life after baseball.

8

The Natural (1984)

A mysterious player becomes a sports hero

The Natural is a film that wonderfully communicates the way some people see baseball as something truly magical and more than just a sport. Robert Redford stars in the film as Roy Hobbs, a middle-aged man with a mysterious past who comes to play for a struggling team in the 1930s, becoming the unexpected secret to their success.

Baseball movies seem especially suited to underdog stories and The natural is a perfect example of this. Roy’s inability to stay away from the game he loves helps him become a hero to fans everywhere. He takes on an almost mythical quality as he gains fame in the sport, particularly with his legendary bat carved from a tree struck by lightning. While it doesn’t go into fantasy territory like some other big baseball movies, The Natural it certainly has a magical quality.

7

The Bad News Bears (1976)

A weak ball player coaches a misfit little league team

With the game’s somewhat light-hearted approach and the big personalities that can be involved, there have been a few baseball comedy films over the years. However, it’s hard to find one as good or as funny as The bad news. Walter Matthau gives one of his best performances as Morris Buttermaker, a former professional baseball player turned alcoholic who takes on the task of coaching a ragtag Little League team just for the money.

Seeing Matthau’s drunk, mumbling coach interacting with these wild and strange kids is a hilarious comedy with The bad news more than earning its R rating. The film also has a lot of fun poking fun at adults who take Little League competitions more seriously than young players, giving Buttermaker an endearing quality for not caring. The film also includes great performances from child actors such as Jackie Earle Haley and Tatum O’Neal.

6

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

A biopic of baseball legend Lou Gehrig

Among the many biopics of some of baseball’s most famous and influential players The Pride of the Yankees is rated as the best and most moving. The film is a biopic about the life of famous player Lou Gehrig, following his childhood in New York, where he developed his love for baseball, to his career, where he played 2,130 consecutive games in the major leagues until retiring after being diagnosed with ALS.

Few actors are better suited to capturing Gehrig’s heroic portrayal in the film than Gary Cooper. The film also features many real-life baseball players who played with Gehrig appearing as themselves in the film, including Babe Ruth. However, the most iconic aspect of the film is the climactic speech in which Gehrig says goodbye to the fans and the game he loves, declaring “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

5

Ocean’s 8 (1988)

A dramatization of the “Black Sox” controversy

While The Pride of the Yankees is a celebration of one of the game’s heroes, Eight men out is a look at one of the darkest controversies in baseball history. From filmmaker John Sayles, Eight men out is the story of the so-called “Black Sox”, eight members of the Chicago White Sox who conspired with criminal players to purposely lose the 1919 World Series. It is an event that caused baseball players to lose some of their mystique in the public eye. .

Although the players were made into villains by the press at the time, the film gives a much more nuanced view of the controversy, examining the financial realities of the players at the time, the greed of the owners, and the men who were unfairly implicated in the scandal. Of course, it also holds accountable the men who destroyed the illusion of baseball as something pure and good in American culture.

4

A League of Their Own (1992)

The True Story of a Women’s Professional League

A league of its own is another true baseball story that sheds light on an incredible period in the game’s history, forgotten by many. The film is another period piece as it tells the story of the movement in the major leagues during World War II when many of the male players were fighting in the war and a women’s league was created to replace them. The story focuses on two sisters (Geena Davis and Lori Petty) who escape their small-town life by joining the team, coached by failed player Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks).

The film is a fun, feel-good sports comedy that is further elevated by the charming ensemble, including Madonna and Rose O’Donnell in supporting roles. However, it is also a celebration of these women who have left their mark on the game of baseball even if they didn’t always get the credit or respect they deserved.

3

Field of Dreams (1989)

A farmer builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield

Field of Dreams is the film that proves that baseball stories can include fantasy elements while still feeling like grounded and emotional human stories. Kevin Costner stars in the film as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who begins hearing voices that lead him to build a baseball field in his cornfield. Miraculously, the spirits of the eight Black Sox players who were part of the infamous scandal appear to play.

This is just the beginning of the bizarre and magical story of Field of Dreamsthat somehow takes all these seemingly bizarre elements and turns them into a beautiful story. It’s a film that speaks directly to the power of baseball to bring people together and hits a deeply emotional chord with the simple, relatable feeling of a son playing catch with his father.

2

Money Ball (2011)

Statistics are used to reinvent baseball

money ball manages to be one of the best baseball films, despite spending little time on the actual games and being more focused on the people behind the scenes of major league teams. money ball is based on the true story of Billy Beane’s radical new approach as coach of the Oakland A’s baseball team. Unable to compete financially with the bigger teams, Beane hires a young expert (Jonah Hill) to build a winning team based on statistics alone.

Brad Pitt is a total movie star, delivering one of his best performances as Beane. It’s a look at people who loved the game, but adopted a new approach that made them enemies within the sport. Seeing Beane’s strategy go through his increasing difficulties and gradually begin to come together is a hugely fun ride, but the film also surprises audiences with some emotional moments that highlight how special baseball can be.

1

Bull Durham (1988)

A veteran player and a young rookie compete for the same woman

Kevin Costner has made several baseball films in his career, but Taurus Durham remains the best and is in contention for the best film of his career. The film stars Costner as a catcher for a minor league team whose love for the game remains even though he is gradually being pushed out. He is hired to mentor a talented but inconsistent young player (Tim Robbins), but both men team up with the same woman (Susan Sarandon), a seductive baseball fan.

Taurus Durham achieves the unlikely, combining a romantic comedy with a baseball movie. The film is hilarious and sexy, with the trio of lead actors playing off each other expertly. However, it is Costner’s Crash Davis, who is one of the best movie ballplayers of all timea man whose time in the game is coming to an end and he can’t bear to leave it behind.