Category: Baseball Movie Month

Immediately after making Jayne sit through The Final Season, I decided to change my plans for baseball movie month. Instead of 29 movies in 29 days, I’m going to shoot for 15 in 29. At least 8 of which have to be non-documentaries. So today I had a doubleheader. After going to the Hawkeye basketball game, I watched Catching Hell and then Mr. Baseball.

Years ago I saw a little bit of it on TV, but you don’t really get the glory of Tom Selleck’s hairy ass until you watch the unedited version. I was a bit concerned when it was categorized under romantic comedy. I didn’t remember the romantic part of the movie when I saw part on TV. I do remember the comedy part which is interesting because they must have edited in the comedy for TV. This time around there wasn’t much to laugh at.

I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Tom Selleck’s more geared toward mother-in-laws. Although that is pretty good casting for a burly first basemen. I love that they addressed shaving his mustache once but then never again. I thought for a second we’d see a clean shaven Tom Selleck. I was forgetting this was his prime. I’m sure now he’ll shave anything for a job that’s not CBS Friday nights.

I don’t know what Japanese baseball or culture is really like, but if it’s like any other comedic film, I’m sure this was a racially-tinged exaggeration. Possible political incorrectness aside, I did again enjoy the baseball action. This time I especially enjoyed the stadium, surroundings and scoreboard. One of my (and I’m sure most’s) favorite elements about baseball is the different settings. I’m sure watching a baseball game in Stade Olympique wasn’t a super pastoral experience but it’s just cool to know that you could watch baseball there. No one ever strives to visit all the NBA arenas but tons of people would love to see a game at every baseball stadium. As a kid, I would draw up or imagine all sorts of places baseball could be played. Let’s be honest I still think about that. Maybe I’ll unleash my master plan to “save” Tiger Stadium someday. The Japanese games in Mr. Baseball looked totally different. The huge scoreboards were really cool and the whole set had one of those 70s-80s futuristic (but in retrospect, not-so-futuristic) feels.

Mr. Baseball – 1 for 4, hard-fought bunt single not breaking Uchiyami’s record (spoiler)

For my second movie, I started already chipping away at my documentary limit, but it was worth it. For a while now, Jayne and I have been wanting to watch Catching Hell, about the Steve Bartman incident and scapegoating. We are both fans of the 30 for 30 series on ESPN. The first one we ever saw was the one about the death penalty on the SMU football program. It must be good because I have no interest in SMU football and Jayne certainly doesn’t.

So I figured if we’re going to spend a disc it would be on a movie that Jayne would watch too. I think Catching Hell did its job because Jayne seemed really into it. The movie did a great job of conveying the living nightmare Bartman must have gone through with the entire stadium chanting “Asshole” at him.

The story of Bartman is fascinating because he is someone who did not want to capitalize or respond to the situation. The stories of him turning down six figure amounts for card shows or $25,000 to sign a picture of himself are pretty amazing. I mean if I went through that crap I’d be tempted to harvest it some.

Like most decently done documentaries, the score is a cakewalk. It’s hard to strike out with me if you’re a documentary. The only strikeout for this movie was when it tried to reach a little further and make further scapegoat connections including a minister who gave some sort of sermon on Steve Bartman and scapegoating. I understand the stress a minister must have of coming up with a topic every week but her story seemed pretty fluffy and not really needed for the movie.

Catching Hell – 3 for 4, strikeout, two singles and a homerun

As you’re probably aware this scoring system is already pretty weak. I’ll just say this was a good movie. It made me feel for Bartman and made me want the Cubs to win a World Series for him but to never win a World Series for the rest of the fans. The homerun was definitely for the selection of the topic. It was a great choice to get the ESPN Films treatment.

I wanted to kick off Baseball Movie Month with a movie that’s been on my list for a while. It’s not been on there because I anticipated it being awesome but it was one of those “I have to see it”s because it is based on a true story from Iowa and was shot entirely in Iowa. In fact, several scenes were shot down the road from my folks’ place along a road I drove down twice everyday for three years. It’s no Hollywood blockbuster but it’s cool to see things you know in the pictures.

That said, this movie was terrible. Baseball movies are bad, I think. One thing I typically hate is the action in baseball movies but this was actually The Final Season‘s strong suit. I felt like the action was more realistic and interesting. In fact, sadly, probably my favorite part of the entire movie was a montage of the team taking infield. It was beautiful. So there you have it, the rest of this movie was worse than watching a team take infield.

The rest of the movie was a huge cliche. I feel like I’m more sensitive to cliches but this one was way over the top. Just about every line of dialogue was just cliche responding to cliche. There’s a scene where Tom Arnold argues with his son about smoking and it has everything. The crumpling up of the remaining cigarettes, the “Mom did it too”, the “these things killed your mother”, the “your high stress job and lack of fathering has led me to these cigarettes.” This was all in like one minute.

The only other good thing I can say about this movie is it is the first one I’m reviewing which gives me the chance to unveil my scoring system.

Final Season, The – 1 for 3, walk, infield single

The walk was a gimme. The movie took place in Iowa and had shots of places I knew. The movie gracefully took this walk and while simplifying Iowans somewhat it was quite true to the look/feel of rural Iowa.

The infield single is really another gimme. But, I might say this is the best baseball action I’ve seen in a movie. What kept that dribbler fair down the 3rd base line was Rachael Leigh Cook. I guess I really haven’t thought about her since high school but she was a good bonus to keep me going through a shitty movie. I’m not saying she was spectacular and my reasoning’s pretty basic and patronizing but she looked cute in a baseball glove.

Up next: Mr. Baseball most likely.