How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball (Movies)? (Series #9)
America's two greatest cultural contributions: baseball and movies
“Baseball was, is, and always will be to me the best game in the world.”
Thus spake George Herman “Babe” Ruth, perhaps the best to ever play the game. He captured in words something that legions of baseball fans have thought throughout the storied history of America’s pastime: baseball is as close to a perfect sport as can be found this side of heaven. There’s something about baseball which sets it apart from other sports. It’s a team effort; indeed, in perhaps no other sport is the team more important than in baseball. Nine players must work in concert to win the game; no one superstar can play every position, or get a hit to bring himself in to score from second base. Some of baseball’s greatest legends languished away on teams that never one championships. Whereas one player can drag his team to victory in soccer or basketball or football, baseball requires a whole team working in concert to have success.
On the other hand, baseball is entirely a game of individual effort and achievement. The game comes down to a long series of duels between two players: the pitcher and the hitter. As the pitch comes in, those two players are the only ones who can affect the outcome; will the pitcher’s craftiness or speed overpower the batter, or will the batter’s eye, quick hands, and strength crush the pitch into the next county? The pitcher and batter face off, one on one, to everlasting glory or eternal infamy, locked in a deadly duel only one can win.
This tension between community and individuality makes baseball a metaphysically Christian game. We all must work out our salvation in fear and trembling as individuals, our own personal faith and sins determining our everlasting fate. And yet, we journey together as brothers and sisters in Christ, all members of the church responsible for each other, sharing in each other’s joys and sorrows, carrying each other’s burdens and striving together to reach our heavenly home. Every player in baseball has the potential to become a hero through his actions in just one moment; every Christian has the potential to show heroic virtue in service of his neighbor. Baseball, like the Christian life, is the story of the little man, rising against all odds to immortality by accomplishing the impossible. It is a game of beauty, grace, and intelligence where players with vastly different approaches and styles all make their mark, just like the communion of saints. There’s a deep sense of reverence and tradition built up around the game, an appreciation for its childlike joy and the intense emotions which it can build for players and audience alike. Baseball, in short, is the most human of games, and therefore it is the best game ever conceived of by man.
Baseball is also a uniquely cinematic sport. First captured on film in 1898 by William Heise, baseball movies would become a genre unto themselves. The sport is uniquely suited to film because of its pacing, inherent drama, instantly recognizable action, and larger-than-life characters. From the silent era onward, baseball movies would be among the most commercially successful and beloved films in America. From screwball comedies about wannabe ball players to biopics about America’s sporting heroes (sometimes actually starring those very heroes), baseball movies were extremely popular in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Films such as The Pride of the Yankees, The Babe Ruth Story, and The Pride of St. Louis brought the all-stars to Hollywood, while comedies such as Angels in the Outfield and It Happens Every Spring delighted audiences of all ages. We had baseball musicals like Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Damn Yankees, and even baseball noirs like Death on the Diamond and Girls Can Play. The 1940s and 50s were truly a golden age for baseball films.
The 1960s and 70s, on the other hand, have something of a dearth of baseball cinema, indicating a malaise in American culture. Although some of the best baseball ever played was played in this era, Hollywood pivoted to smaller stories, grittier dramas, more “realistic” films that had no patience for the childlike glee and wide-eyed wonder of baseball. Rules, traditions, rituals—all were being thrown out by Hollywood in this era and baseball was thrown out with it. Perhaps the most emblematic baseball film of this era (and really the only one of note at all) is 1976’s Bad News Bears, a film about a little league team of foul-mouthed misfits coached by a drunk. Baseball had lost its mystique, a relic of a less cynical time fated to ride off into the sunset like the Western.
But then, in the 80s, Americans were feeling more optimistic and waxing nostalgic, and what’s more optimistic and nostalgic than baseball? Baseball came roaring back into cinemas with a vengeance, and some of the best baseball movies of all time are from this era: The Natural, Eight Men Out, and perhaps the most quintessential baseball film of them all, Field of Dreams (#83). As the 80s turned into the 90s, biopics of baseball legends returned, such as The Babe and Cobb, as did the baseball comedies such as Major League, Mr. Baseball, and the always ridiculous Ed. Kids were playing baseball (The Sandlot, Rookie of the Year); girls were playing baseball (A League of the Own); even the angels were playing baseball again (Angels in the Outfield)!
As the millennium turned, the quantity of great baseball movies slowed, but some all-time greats were still being produced. The Rookie was the first baseball film I remember seeing and remains my favorite to this day. Moneyball and 42 proved baseball was still a winner even into the 2010s. Clint Eastwood would bring his signature gruffness to the genre in Trouble with the Curve. Baseball would become a favorite of independent, small-budget filmmakers, with movies such as The Perfect Game or Eephus. Baseball films are still alive and well, and will be as long as this beautiful game continues to captured the hearts and minds of Americans.
There are many classic themes that recur in many great baseball films. The underdog story is perhaps the most common: a scrappy player or team that most folks have written off fights their way to the top through talent, grit, and heart. This could be a rookie out to prove himself, a perennially losing team coming together to make a championship run, or an old-timer coming back for one last shot at glory. People love seeing an underdog win against all odds, beating the favorite and proving themselves winners through fortitude, hard work, and perhaps a little bit of luck. Everyone wants to see themselves in the underdog. No matter how intimidating the opponent or how fixed the circumstances seem against him, the underdog still has the guts to go out and slay Goliath, win the day, and prove himself a hero. These stories provide hope and catharsis to the common man, facing his own struggles and trying to slay his own giants. Baseball as a sport and in the movies provides those vicarious victories, remaining a favorite of the regular Joe.
Another theme baseball movies often explore well is fatherhood. Indeed, some of the best baseball films out there are centered around the relationship between a man and his father. The love of baseball as a sport is often passed down from father to son. Boys go to the ballgame with their dad, listen on the radio while working or resting together, play catch and hit batting practice together with dad, and seek to prove themselves with him in the audience during games. These common experiences of baseball as a child make it a powerful symbol for fatherhood in the movies. Even in non-baseball movies such as Hook baseball is often used as a shorthand to portray how the relationship between a father and son is either healthy or strained. Sometimes baseball is the link that reunites a son who has strayed from his father, or helps to overcome a difficult past in a moment of catharsis. By playing catch, all of the adult disagreements between a man and his father melt away, and they are once more a boy and his dad, enjoying each other’s company and love. This powerful moment of reconciliation and catharsis is the perfect climax to a great film, leaving few dry eyes in the audience.
Baseball, in short, is life. And the best movies are true to life, meaning that baseball movies are uniquely primed to make us cry, make us cheer, and make us look deeply at the truths of humanity and come away knowing something a little more clearly about ourselves. Our joys, our sorrows, our heroic moments, our inevitable failures, our potential to be a part of a team greater than the sum of its parts: baseball, like cinema, is a mirror for humanity, and when the two are joined together truly great art and storytelling combine for an experience which can be transcendent.
Along with Billy Beane, I ask you once again:
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?”
my husband and I agree completely with "the pride of the Yankees" and we liked that you included field of dreams but one that I love still is the Sandlot