Posted on 05/02/2015 4:38:18 PM PDT by PROCON
$212.46. That is what the average family of four spent at a major league ballgame last year. For the budget-conscious, that price tag makes it mighty tempting to stay home and enjoy the boys of summer on TV—either a live game or a classic baseball movie.
But watching some of the most fondly remembered films about the national passtime suggest that maybe both the game’s time and what made America great are passing. Here are five films that make the case.
5. Moneyball (2011)
Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill take the Oakland Athletics from a mediocre, going-broke franchise to a cash-cow winner by using analytical, evidence-based “sabermetrics.” The film garnered six Oscar nominations, critical acclaim, and box-office success. That’s terrible. Celebrating the “corporatization” of baseball is not a good thing. Sure, making money is a good thing. “Last season,” Forbes reports, “MLB saw gross revenues of over $8 billion, and the expectation is it will reach $10 billion within a year or two.”
But where is the gut, the intuition, the love of sport for sport’s sake that we learned from movies like The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Gary Cooper’s epic portrayal of the greatest star of baseball’s finest hour?
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Will do.
Check out my recommendations
Anyone who left Field of Dreams early missed the whole point of the movie. It’s all about lasting values and reconciliation.
I saw this film in the theater when I was young.
Bull Durham was a good portrayal pot life in the minors. The various incidents are taken from stories around the country, like fooding the field to get a rainout. I umpired in the minors and enjoyed it very much. The romance take it or leave it. The baseball good stuff.
I loved the stage version of Damn Yankee, but was always disappointed they dropped my favorite song, The Game, from the film. But, I am gratefol they kept Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston and Jean Stapleton from the original cast.
Reggie Jackson: "I must kill the Queen"
The Sandlot.
How about the original “Angels in the Outfield” with Paul Douglas and the drop dead gorgeous Janet Leigh, about 1950?
That was a really good picture.
LOL. I liked the queen doing the wave.
The only thing I couldn’t get over was why the Angles were playing in Dodger Stadium.
Money ball is about not having the money to buy players that anyone can win with so learning how to win with the right combination of players that everyone else passes up.
PRIDE OF THE YANKEES is the most over-rated movie of all time and a tragedy!
Gary Cooper was born for this role. The story is compelling. They had Babe Ruth as HIMSELF!
And half the damn movie was about Lou’s wife. UGH!
It should’ve been one of the greatest flicks ever.
To this day, my favorite baseball movie is PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS. Dan Daily stars as Dizzy Dean.
All these years later, I saw it again. And just like when I was 10 years old, the end just choked me up.
All of the movies referenced are actually good, not terrible at all.
The others he mentioned were great as well.
Kid from Left Field is awesome.
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