Okay. A bit of background before my questions.

I have lived in the UK all my life, so getting coverage of US sports without a way expensive satellite subscription can be tough. As a youngster though, i was lucky that channel 4 started to broadcast the NFL. I picked up the rules, and to this day enjoy a good ruck on the football field - it's miles better than rugby anyway. Then basketball and ice-hockey followed. So i now enjoy all 3 much more than any UK/Euro sport. Baseball only started to get terrestrial TV coverage over here about 3 years ago (thankyou late night channel 5) but i am still struggling to get into it. (another debate for another time i'm sure).

But this brings me to the point i wanted to make.

Why do i love baseball movies SO much? I mean sure there's "The Longest Yard" and "Slap Shot" for football and hockey respectively, but that seems to be about it in good sports movies. Oh and "Hoop Dreams" for basketball.
Baseball however......

"Bad News Bears" is one of my all time favourite movies. Willy Mayes Hayes (sic?) in "Major League" is hilarious! "Boiling Point" by Takeshi Kitano has some truly inspired baseball scenes. Tom Selleck was bearable in "Mr. Baseball". And i'm almost certain "League of Their Own" is the only Not Crap movie featuring Madonna.

So what are everybody's favourite baseball movies?
Any other good sports movies in general?
And again i ask, given my sports preferences, why do i love baseball movies SO much?

Thanks

xx

I finally watched Bull Durham after a lit professor told me that it was his favorite movie.

I thought it was pretty great, which kind of surprised me.

Connor

Eight Men Out is probably the best baseball movie ever. Rookie Of The Year is another classic baseball flick.

One of my favorite baseball movies is a made-for-cable gem called LONG GONE.

Check it out

Agreed about Eight Men Out.

I think this one often gets overlooked, but The Sandlot is excellent as well.

The best thing about Bad News Bears is that Walter Matthau doesn't really change much at all. Holding a beer and the beginning, holding a beer at the end.

Part of what makes the good baseball movies so good is that they throw in a lot about the in's and out's of baseball: the spitting, chewing, superstition, philosophy, etc. That, and they often throw out great quotes (e.g., "You may run like Mays, but you hit like shit!" "Man that ball got outta here in a hurry. I mean anything travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?", etc).

Ah, baseball movies. They are a guilty pleasure of mine, in that most of them are terrible movies (Bull Durham is OK, and Eight Men Out was a fine film, if I remember). They're like "chick flicks" for men. Full of sentimentality and dirty emotional tricks.

So here are a few:

The Rookie
Field of Dreams
The Natural
Ken Burns' Baseball
That 'Traveling Negro All-Stars' one -- I forget the name
Cobb (never saw it but plan to)
The Babe (ditto)
Naked Gun


There are more.

Have fun.

Ditto The Natural. I pretend that other baseball movies do not exist.

Did anyone mention Brewster's Millions? Although not explicitly about baseball it is a good film in which the main characters are baseball players. I love this film.

no one is going to mention Major League? Not the sequels though.

oops, sorry Surfrider, I didn't see that you mentioned Major League already. do you know that Cerrano is the same guy that plays/played the president on 24?