Teaching someone the game of baseball through movies
I was having a discussion with my wife the other day about what film I should look at for my baseball movie series. While batting around ideas and talking about what individual films brought to the table and how to break them down, she asked a great question: What movies would show someone who doesn’t know the game and why?
Now, the exact question may have been more along the lines of Australians and their love of saying they know nothing about baseball, looking at my buddy Joel and a few others in Phnom Penh for that one, but the idea remains the same. There are movies that are about the game on the field, some that are mostly about the players, and most somewhere in between.
After thinking long and hard about it, I have come up with the five films that I would sit down to watch with someone who has no idea about the game and the reasons why.
Major League
First out of the dugout is the 1989 classic Major League. I can almost see the puzzled looks by many out there who may be reading this. The borderline slap-stick baseball comedy about a horrible baseball team is not one many would expect to be in the leadoff spot, but I think it’s the perfect primer for what’s to come.
There is a risk of straight out boring someone if you try to dive in too deep right away when it comes to baseball. The intricacies and unwritten rules are just as complex as understanding the infield fly rule and it’s best to keep it light. But seeing Major League as just a comedy would be a great disservice to the movie and the game.
What the film does is take us through the process of fielding a team, spring training, player evaluations and coaching, player relationships with one another and team management, as well as a bevy of others including team chemistry. What we are shown is a light-hearted, but relatively comprehensive, insight to an entire baseball season which lays the foundation for understanding the game.
Bull Durham
I have made the argument that Bull Durham is the best baseball movie of all time and is one of the best all around films out there. There should be no doubt why this movie shows up on this list.
While Major League gives one a better understanding of the ins and outs of the actual game itself, Bull Durham allows us to take a less superficial glimpse at the players themselves and the mental fortitude needed to play the game. Rather than just passing over the emotional drive of players like in the previous film, Bull Durham dives deep into the motivations that push players through self-doubt in the toughest of times. This is the “why” to Major League’s “what”.
On top of that, it gives us the opportunity to discuss the minor league system and the role it plays in the game. Baseball is unique in the expansive nature of its feeder system, with layers and layers of minor league teams intertwined with big league teams. And the way that players move up and down the system constantly brings another facet to the game like no other.
Moneyball
So far we’ve covered players at both the major league and minor league level and we should have a pretty good grasp on how the game is played and most of the rules. We’ve seen what traits make players successful and the processes that they go through to become big league players. What about the people having to decide the futures of those players?
Moneyball takes us behind the scenes of baseball front offices and shows us about the world of player evaluation. There is a plethora of statistics available for just about everything in the game and the importance of any of them at a given time could mean the difference between a player languishing in the minors or finding a permanent spot on a big league roster.
While Moneyball is primarily about how the evaluation system changed, it also gives us insight into how it was set up before. We are also privy to the hard decisions general managers and team management have to make when fielding the best team possible and the disappointment it will spell for many. It’s finding out how the sausage is made, but it’s important to understand how and why certain players are chosen.
The Rookie
I will admit that this position of the list was the hardest to fill. I went back and forth for what seemed like hours trying to decide what film would best serve to educate someone on the game. While there are many about player relationships, record chasing, and cultural norms bumping up against the game, for me the influence and role of baseball in the lives of people seemingly not in the game seemed like the natural next step.
The Rookie is a true story about former baseball player Jim Morris, who teaches high school science in Texas. The 35 year-old head coach of the school’s baseball team motivates the plucky team by saying he’ll try out for a major league team if they make it to the state playoffs. The team succeeds and Morris lives up to his end, trying out for the then-Devil Rays.
Morris faces an uphill struggle and nearly quits after making the minors, but his love of the game and the memories he had of playing the game as a child push him forward. Eventually making it to the big leagues, Morris’ story is one about perseverance and the lengths that someone will go through just to get a small taste of their dream. Baseball is that childhood friend that you see after many years apart and pick right up where you left off.
Field of Dreams
There is no other film that could have possibly been the final one on this list. For all that The Rookie is about love of the sport and one’s bond with it, Field of Dreams is incomparable for the levels that it takes it to. There is a very good reason why the film is considered the definitive love letter to the game.
Field of Dreams touches on many of the aspects of the sport in the previous films while adding what may be the most important one of all: the role the game plays in our personal lives. There is little actual gameplay in the movie, but we are immersed in the various types of relationships people have with the game.
There’s Moonlight Graham, who played in one game but never got to bat and retired from the game to become a doctor. He didn’t regret leaving the game, but just wished to have faced down a big league pitcher and wink at him; to feel the sun on his face as he rounded the bases.
Then there’s Terrence Mann, the famous author who dreamed of playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers before they relocated to Los Angeles. His speech at the end of the movie encapsulates the love people have for the game:
“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.”
But, the relationship that is the largest basis for the movie’s inclusion on this list is that of Ray Kinsella and his father. The film ends with Ray playing a simple game of catch with the apparition form of his father, an act bonding generations of Americans for over a century. In the end, you don’t need a big ballpark with huge jumbotrons and overpriced hot dogs; all you need is two gloves and a ball and the sport is yours.
Final Thoughts and Honorable Mentions
There are many great films that I left off this list for various reasons, which I’m sure many will say I’m wrong about.
The Natural, an undeniable classic, was left off because it uses baseball more as a metaphor for personal and romantic struggle than actually informing about the game. Plus, I can’t watch the movie without seeing everything as phallic symbols thanks to my 11th-grade English teacher, who ruined the book and the film for me.
For Love of the Game falls into this category, as well; because of the romance, not the phallic symbolism.
A League of Their Own tells us about an often overlooked part of baseball history, but it’s a film that is to be explored after watching the five already on the list. Same thing with 61* and 42; great for learning history, not the game.
I think the one I struggled the most with leaving off was Mr. Baseball. I’m sure quite a few people just audibly yelled out “What?!”, but hear me out. Baseball is not just an American sport; in fact, the Japanese take fandom to levels most Americans would never. It’s a great movie about the sport crossing cultural lines and how it influences a game that is basically the same, but with different intricacies and traditions.
What film did I include or leave off that you disagree with? Can someone learn enough baseball to appreciate it with just these five films?
