TOP FIVE: Favorite Baseball Movies

[00:00:00] Hey guys, Ben here with a little bit of a preemptive apology.

[00:00:05] If you remember from my last Top 5 episode, the Presidents' episode,

[00:00:09] Top 5 Favorite Fictional Presidents,

[00:00:11] I gave you a little bit of... I gave you one of these then about how my settings were off.

[00:00:16] My microphone was not the proper microphone.

[00:00:19] It was recording from my webcam and not my studio microphone.

[00:00:23] So the audio from myself sounded weird. doing this for over a decade should have known better but lessons learned technology sucks sometimes I will be checking my settings full-on every time I record going forward but I just wanted to give you guys another little apology that my audio sounds different not nearly as good as Alex's well done on Alex for using a studio microphone you know for this episode and well done for

[00:01:43] Alex this was the first ever podcast he had ever done and you'd never know it he back.

[00:03:05] Welcome to well home I am your once the World Series ends, you start counting down the days. That's almost the immediate reaction once the Super Bowl ends. Unless your team is the one that made it to the Super Bowl and wins, every other football fan is like, well, there's only so and so days until pictures and catchers report. Everybody's automatically turning the baseball. And in the meantime, I'm like,

[00:04:20] uh, guys, there's pucks moving back and forth on the ice. What are you complaining for?

[00:05:25] of the playoff games and one of the World Series games, which was amazing opportunities. So and you're right, there's just something about it's great watching it on television.

[00:05:32] But man, there's just nothing like being at the ballpark.

[00:05:35] I couldn't agree more.

[00:05:37] So one of my one of my other friends, Ken Erman, he let us use his seats this year,

[00:05:42] which top top of the depth of the of the game is played, it's just better when you can zoom in and you're not standing 300 feet away from all of the action that matters. Yeah. But there's something about baseball and being at a

[00:07:02] live game that even if you don't get the to root for. So I'm a Carolina Panthers fan neither do I. Cool so you get it you get it. Yeah so but I can watch any random game fantasies helped a lot with that same with basketball if it's a good

[00:08:20] matchup I'll watch it but baseball honestly I don't care if Shoe Oh Tani is

[00:08:23] going up against Mike Trout I couldn't seen yet that I got the opportunity to see for the first time. As a matter of fact, one movie, I'm not going to say which one it is, one of the movies

[00:09:41] that I watched for the first time is in my top five.

[00:09:44] That's fantastic. Get the football out of here. Fantastic. I love it. But what do you say? Let's dive into this list because I'm very excited to get into these. So for any of you listening right now, whether it's the first time or not, just to give you the heads up that there's always a possibility of spoilers because we will be discussing these movies a little bit.

[00:11:00] Not only that, but as per usual, neither Alex or myself have revealed our top fives to each

[00:11:06] other as to not influence a way in a way. Yeah, yes. And that was one of the movies that I was kind of compare it. The mighty ducks meets the wire and you have hard. Well, yeah, because

[00:12:22] coach Bombay wasn't in Lee wasn't a bookie. 100%. You got DB Sweeney coming back to the old baseball world. DB Sweeney who's actually been a guest on this podcast. Really? Yeah. I gotta tell you, so he's a great actor because I wanted to punch him. He's so bad.

[00:13:40] So bad when he's just, he's being such a rules miser

[00:13:43] and he's such an asshole.

[00:14:42] you my rewatch of baseball movies and I'm going to start with our ball.

[00:14:43] It's so good. You can watch it on Amazon through freebie. I

[00:14:45] learned that yesterday. But but my MVP, I picked an MVP for

[00:14:52] everybody because it's a sports movie. So gotcha. My MVP has to

[00:14:55] go to G baby. I watched this with my partner Kara and I

[00:15:02] struggled with doing this but I didn't tell her about what

[00:15:05] happened at the end because there are some twists and some an honorable mention and top five and it was between this movie and another movie as to which one was going to take the number five. I kept and I kept going back and forth because they both have stuff in common with each other and I was like it just finally came down to okay if I had to choose one to watch right now which one am I going to watch and the one I chose

[00:17:23] in that he has the accident, the muscles tighten in his shoulder, which allow him, in his rotator cuff,

[00:17:25] which allow him to pitch at high speeds.

[00:17:28] And he lives the dream, you know?

[00:17:30] He plays for the Cubs and it's,

[00:17:33] God, there's so many great lines in this movie.

[00:17:38] Yes.

[00:17:38] The rest of the team, oh God, I can't remember.

[00:17:43] He's the janitor in Scrups.

[00:17:45] Neil Flynn. Neil Flynn.

[00:17:47] Thank you. Neil Flynn. John Candy, so you get John Candy in a movie. I'm gonna watch it Second off. Oh, that's right. He's the announcer. He's the announcer. Yeah, he's the commentator Yeah, so him and Daniel Stern hooking up again first time home alone But I knew that if I put it on for my daughters who are 9 and 5 I knew for a fact

[00:19:00] They would enjoy it they would laugh and that they would be invested in the ending and holy shit. They were

[00:19:06] You know whether it's the the the him. So here's here's a fun little bit of trivia that I got from from IMDB because I thought it was really interesting. But Daniel Stern was inspired to direct this movie because it deals with kids who have to deal with fame and being controlled by adults as managers who make all their decisions for them, which he experienced a lot of on the set of Home Alone and Home Alone 2, observing how Macaulay Calkin was dictated by his

[00:20:23] domineering father and wanted to direct a movie that paralleled

[00:21:24] And when he found out that Chris was writing and directing Home Alone, he was taken to that scene and said, I think I have somebody who might be your star.

[00:21:30] And he recommended Macaulay because of that mailbox scene.

[00:21:34] That's awesome.

[00:21:35] Yeah.

[00:21:36] I don't know how my mind went to that.

[00:21:38] You started talking about like Home Alone and Macaulay-Caulkins.

[00:21:41] I was like, oh, I got to bring this up.

[00:21:43] I did not know that.

[00:21:44] So that was fantastic.

[00:21:46] Yeah. I'm so damn proud of you. Oh, I love it. Yeah, I mean, and actually you talk about like, again, another familiar actor from both a rookie of the year and Home Alone 2 is Eddie Bracken. Yes. Yes. He's the owner of the Cubs in Rookie of the Year and in Home Alone 2, he's the owner of

[00:23:06] the toy chest.

[00:23:07] Duncan's toy chest. I think it's Field of Dreams. It is indeed Field of Dreams. I had a feeling it was Field of Dreams. Go for it. And you know what's so funny about this too is Kevin Costner, he's done four baseball movies over the course of his career. You know, you've got Boldorum, you've got Field of Dreams for the love of the game, and there was one other one. I can't remember what the fourth one was. I always forget the name of it, but yes, he does have another one.

[00:24:23] And it was the last one that he did. I think 2013, I think, is when it happened.

[00:24:28] Right. Like, I know what happens, but it's weird. Like, why do so many people love this movie? And then as it gets more into it, and he starts going on the journey, and he goes to find Terrence Mann, played by James Earl Jones, and Terrence Mann starts hearing the voices and seeing the visions, and all the ballplayers start coming out.

[00:25:40] I'm like, okay, I get this now.

[00:25:43] I get what this is. to me is, why the hell would you give up half of your profits to satisfy a voice in the back of your head? You're so irresponsible. And that's why I love him. But I feel like it's a little, it moves a little slow for me in some spots. And it doesn't have, I see it more as a life movie

[00:27:01] than a baseball movie because there is no baseball game

[00:27:05] being played.

[00:27:06] There are no stakes.

[00:27:07] There are no.

[00:27:07] I understand that. It's because when they're at that game at Fenway, it's the cameras on them. It's not on the game. And then even when you get to the farm and you find out like Shoeless Joe Jackson brought out more players so that it wasn't just practice anymore and they can actually play a game, you just heard about the game. You don't see the game. You don't get to watch the game happen.

[00:28:20] You're looking at Kevin Costner and Amy Mannegan

[00:28:24] and the daughter more than you're looking at anything else.

[00:28:27] I will say though,light Graham plot line. That one gets me every single time. Yeah. You know just really having to look in the mirror and say okay what is more important to me is it that dream of of playing that game

[00:29:41] that I've had since I was a kid or is it making an impact and

[00:29:45] truly saving lives and being more than just a ball player

[00:30:42] fell head over heels with it's Major League.

[00:30:43] Okay.

[00:30:48] You know, to those that don't know, Major League is in a lot of ways a spiritual predecessor to Ted Lasso, or at least

[00:30:51] season one of Ted Lasso.

[00:30:53] I guess in that when I first started watching Ted Lasso, I

[00:30:58] thought the same exact thing. I was like, Oh, this is Major

[00:31:01] League just with soccer.

[00:31:03] Right, right. Because in that aspect, it was, you know, the

[00:32:02] God love him. But he's a surprisingly earnest character,

[00:32:06] even with the haircut and the earrings and just,

[00:32:09] he doesn't have a bad scene in the entire flick.

[00:32:11] And you can say the same exact thing for Wesley Snipes.

[00:32:14] Yes.

[00:32:15] Stephen Will...

[00:32:17] He's so much fun to watch.

[00:32:19] Every single line he has and every delivery he has,

[00:32:22] it leads to a gut-busting laugh.

[00:32:24] He is top-notch. always. But when I saw that Corbin was playing the dad, I was like, all right, I gotta see what the hell this show is all about. Because I just, he really won me over and I love him so much. Yeah, Corbin is, you know, Roger Dorn is I've never seen Major League three. So I've never seen Back to the Miners.

[00:33:40] Oh, well, for Goggins in it.

[00:33:42] It's got Walton Goggins in it. It does. Oh, now I need to watch

[00:33:47] it.

[00:33:47] Him and Scott Bakula. Come on.

[00:34:46] Like they made him more moronic and slapstick in the second movie, which I feel like really took away

[00:34:51] from the character of Roger Dorn. I think that's a great point, actually. You're right. They definitely neutered him for the for the second film. Yeah, I'll be honest. It's been a long

[00:34:55] time since I've seen Major League Three. I don him. Yeah. Pedro Serrano, I think is one of my favorite characters both in one and two. Yes, because he does have a number of great quotable lines. I think more so in two actually than in one but he definitely has some, you know, like when he's like,

[00:36:21] you know, help me now, Jobel, or no, you know, help me now.

[00:36:24] Fuck you, Jobel, like it's a baseball manager. That's what I want out of a baseball manager. 100% I don't give a shit. You know, it's so good. And and you know, I, I'm not gonna say anymore. I'm gonna save it for when it gets to your spot. Okay. I have a few more, but I don't want to take you know, all of it there.

[00:37:41] Okay, no, that's fine.

[00:37:42] That's what's your number three?

[00:38:45] really know how much I can kind of dive into this movie. There's just something about this movie

[00:38:54] that while it's great seeing a movie, a baseball movie where you get to see the game, you know, Major League or Hardball or Rookie of the Year where you're seeing a lot of the on-field stuff.

[00:38:59] This was just a very interesting kind of twist or take or viewpoint in seeing baseball from that is digestible and in a way that makes sense to a viewer that that doesn't really have too much familiarity with it. But the way and that's part of what I love the most about Jonah Hill is his ability to deliver those saber metric breakdowns in such a way that is so relatable. You feel like you're getting an

[00:40:20] inside look, you feel like you're going behind the scenes

[00:40:23] of what actually happens, you know, the conversation that

[00:41:23] tiniest bit superstitious or even a little stitious, you know, you understand what Billy's going through and you

[00:41:25] understand like no he he's already blaming himself for them

[00:41:29] giving up this lead for them not being in this position and I

[00:41:35] just I love this movie it is it is one of my favorite straight

[00:41:39] up movies not just baseball movies. I could watch it any

[00:41:43] time of the year.

[00:41:44] And you mentioned you know you mentioned the superstition

[00:41:46] aspect of it all too about how you know, with, with such, like, I have not more, so much more respect for that now, and a little bit more understanding.

[00:43:03] Yeah, when it comes to that, to, to really figure out and understand in a way that wasn't being done yet. And not for nothing, though he never did win that final game of the season. I think it's so important that he brought sabermetrics into the fold, and that we all look at baseball in a different mindset and with a different hat on. I love that.

[00:44:20] Well, not only that, but then when you saw Chris Pratt in? I think so. It was for me as well. I think it was. You know, it's the first time I was watching. I was like, all right, when's Jonah Hill gonna do the funny thing? When's he, that's true. That's true. He had a much meatier role. He had a much meatier role. Chris Pratt was really a minor player in this movie. That's true. So, yeah, I think Jonah Hill's performance is really,

[00:47:03] I think was a bigger performance than Chris Pratt.

[00:47:06] There's two surprise cameos. Yes. So the Spike Jones one was the one I always knew. And then doing research for this, I found the other two. I'm like, oh, that's fantastic. That's fantastic. That's great. I didn't even know those cameos were in there. So, all right, cool.

[00:48:24] I didn't know where that was at. You have Rube coming in as the catcher, taking over for Tom Berenger's character. And it's still that underdog feeling because the owner comes back and rebies the team from Roger Dorn and is putting them through their bases again. But this time we see them go a little bit further.

[00:49:41] But what I did like about Major League to Major League 2

[00:49:45] is the fact they kind of he's seeing a woman who doesn't respect him and he's Rekindling a relationship that he had the only thing that confused me is when did that relationship happen? You know, I've always wondered that I'm I'm guessing I Have I have no idea maybe it happened in the background of season one Maybe it happened in the offseason, but I've often wanted that as well. I think it's in between

[00:51:04] one and two because like when

[00:52:03] But you mentioned a lot of these actors and who they play. You mentioned Dennis Haysbert,

[00:52:04] mentioned James Gammon,

[00:52:05] Corbin Burnson, Tom Barrens, and Charlie Sheen.

[00:52:07] There's one character though,

[00:52:10] that I don't think these movies would have been the same without.

[00:52:14] This is the one I held back on.

[00:52:16] That is Bob Uygur.

[00:52:19] Jerry Doyle.

[00:52:20] A bit outside.

[00:52:21] It is his calling of the first one, as I mentioned, like with the commentary, he's trying so hard to make it seem like they're really trying their best. And then in major league two, he there's one point where he basically just gives up. Yep. He's like, I can't see this, this part of the game is sponsored

[00:53:40] by who gives a shit. Like he's just he's he's so damn funny. just when they started doing that, I was like, all right, this is my team. I mean, if it was ever in question before. And he survives for the third movie as well. Tanaka and Pedro come back for the third movie. Oh, Pedro comes back for the third movie too. Yes, he does. I know Harry Doyle is also in the third movie. I know Bob Yooker reprises the role in the third movie,

[00:55:00] but I didn't know that Pedro and Tanaka are also in three.

[00:55:05] Yes.

[00:55:05] I might have to watch it.

[00:55:06] I'm gonna sell you on that movie at some point. One of the biggest culturally significant things to happen from this movie, at least from the first one, was because of Wild Thing Vaughn walking out to Wild Thing, starting in the early 90s, MLB closers started walking out to closer music. That wasn't a thing before Major League. And that is so cool. That's fantastic. And the audience sings along with it just the same way they do in Major League. It's great. Nice. Nice. I'm glad that you included both Major Leagues because I thought about doing that and I was like, no, I'm just going to stick with one. So I'm glad you gave us an opportunity to talk about. Well, because like, off initial thought about it, and I was like, well,

[00:57:43] like Major League 2, I think I like better than Major League 1.

[00:57:45] And then the more I started thinking about it, I'm like,

[00:58:59] Yeah, I had Omar on a couple years back when that TV show when the TV adaptation of the movie shooter was on USA. He came on to promote that. So I got to talk to him about about Major League. Major League two said and he was he was very engaging. He actually really he actually enjoyed talking seen it. It has been a while since I like I want I honestly want to say I don't know if I've seen it since the time it came out. Okay. But I do know like I know it's it's Kevin Costner. I know it's Kelly Preston, John C. Riley. And weirdly enough, it's directed by Sam Raimi. It is directed by Sam Raimi.

[01:01:23] a Yankees game and he is just enamored with her. And while he's pitching this perfect game, it's telling the story of their

[01:01:27] relationship and all the different times that that he

[01:01:31] chose baseball over her or that she had an issue with his level

[01:01:36] of fame, his level of notoriety and just how it did not work for

[01:01:40] so long for them until they finally are able to be in a

[01:01:43] position where it can work. And it, as always, is great in baseball movies. Kelly Preston aces her role. John C. Riley, as the catcher, he was just funny enough without trying to be funny that his character is phenomenal. John C. Riley has some really good dramatic acting chops

[01:03:02] that he doesn't show off enough.

[01:03:04] Absolutely.

[01:03:05] You know, you look at, obviously, you look at some of the time he was partnered up with Sam Raimi before the Spiderman movie before the Spiderman movie. And he's a Lifetime Detroit Tigers fan, which is great. So I thought that was that was really cool. And then the thing that that really lends its credence and that to me pushes it over the top. And we've talked about Bob Euchre. We've talked about John Candy. I can't not bring up Vin Scully. Yeah, I swear to God I watched

[01:04:23] this movie so many times. And I think they just told him like,

[01:04:26] here's the general gist of He's got an 8 and 11 record in 30 games a 3.5 ERA and I'm thinking myself like alright, those aren't terrible stats 3.5. ERA over 30 games That's that's not terrible. And then you get to the 111 to 98 strikeouts to walk. So I'm like, okay

[01:05:42] This is this is why the 40 year old needs to needs to retire. I just I appreciated that

[01:06:41] You mean For Love of the Game? For Love of the Game.

[01:06:42] I sure do mean For Love of the Game.

[01:06:43] That's right.

[01:06:45] No, that's great.

[01:06:46] And I certainly don't have nearly that much information

[01:06:48] about my number one.

[01:06:50] But I love the fact that you brought a lot of that

[01:06:53] with you in the discussion.

[01:06:54] And For Love of the Game is one of those movies that,

[01:06:57] like, in all the movies that I re-watched,

[01:07:00] because I was with you, I re-watched a lot of baseball

[01:07:03] movies in preparation for this.

[01:07:04] Because just a little for the first time, afterwards I went and I watched Bull Durham because I was like, okay, I always loved Bull Durham, but now that I've seen Fields of Dreams, is it better than Bull Durham? I need to rewatch Bull Durham in order to get that. I watched both Major League, Major League 2 movies, you know, because of that. I watched

[01:08:20] Moneyball again. I watched Rookie of the Year. I watched The Sandlot. I watched so many movies.

[01:09:27] I mean, it's an incredible story of a minority coming in, you know, not in African-American like Jackie Robinson in 42, but in women coming up and playing baseball and, you know, taking

[01:09:34] the place of baseball players while husbands were overseas at war.

[01:09:38] And all of the things that they had to go through in overcoming the adversity that they're

[01:09:43] going through as well. But again, I didn't bring as much to my number one as you did with your number one. But there's so many, I mean, obviously, the whole there's no crying in baseball is such an iconic line now when it comes to anything. When it comes to baseball in general, it is a line that so many people use, whether it's

[01:11:00] referencing the movie or referencing somebody just being a little baby when it comes to

[01:11:05] this sport. based on true events. My cat is meowing because my cat agrees with me. So yeah, this was again, this was a solid number one on my list. So because it's your number one, I feel like I can ask this question, you'll have an interpretation, but did daddy drop the ball? She dropped the ball. No, she did it on purpose.

[01:12:23] Okay, she gave it to kit. She gave it to kit. Yes is that. There is that. No one. No one is still well. I don't know. And I love that Gina Davis has never answered it. I think that is so perfect because there are so few true debates like that in cinema that having that one's a really good one. I almost with in the 90s with Griffin Dunn I love that movie I think she's great in that movie but the older she got and the more she got into her Buddhism religion and like like I'm like no like no but I agree with you she is actually really great

[01:15:03] in this movie she is but I agree she definitely gets way too drunk on her old all the fame or two places that are on my list to go. Nice. Yeah, I've never been yet. Bucket list. So yep. But that was my number one. That was a great number one. That is such an all timer classic that I'm glad one of us brought it up because it had to be brought up. So yeah, nice. Great. So let's get into some of

[01:16:21] our honorable mentions then that we have. And I'll turn it

[01:16:24] over to you. What are a for arguably the bad guys. So I just, it's one of those I'm really happy I've seen. I'll watch it every now and then, but if I'm in the mood for a baseball movie, I'm not throwing this one on because it's so difficult

[01:17:41] and just so painful.

[01:17:42] Yeah, I gotcha.

[01:17:45] I'll throw out one of mine.

[01:17:46] You know, you know, my friend Danny Gerber, he's my

[01:19:04] Phillies ride or die guy. And with this Brendan Fraser. It's called the scout the scout the scout. It's Brendan Fraser

[01:20:23]