I Watched Every Baseball Movie and Ranked Them by How Well the Actors Played Baseball

[warlordofbritannia]

As someone with Asperger’s, I had no idea I could throw 100 mph; I’ve topped out at Tim Wakefield’s late-career heater, so clearly I’ve been misdiagnosed for the past 16 years

[islandtoisland]

I was an extra in Moneyball, and it was actually surprisingly dark during filming. Filming took place at the Oakland Coliseum 9pm to 5am. Maybe it was a city ordinance due to the hours filming took place, but only a few of the stadium lights were on. Other unrelated details:
1. It was COLD! We weren’t allowed to walk around, so having to stand/sit in one spot for hours made it worse.
2. Catering was actually just Coliseum food (which was awful)
3. There was a prop churro that obviously wasn’t seen on screen, but yes… there was a food vendor in the stands twirling a rubber churro between takes.
4. There was a standup comic doing his best to keep the extras upbeat during the shoot. It was cold, food sucked and filming is already tedious as is. He did a surprisingly good job.
5. Brad Pitt wasn’t a part of the shoot, but he was still there on-set for the first few hours in his normal clothes occasionally being social with extras.
6. This is gonna sound like BS, but I got to high-five Chris Pratt several times. One of the shots was him leaving the dugout heading towards the tunnel to the clubhouse. These are exposed walkways at the Coliseum. We high-fived in the first take and they wanted us to keep doing it for a few more takes.
7. The closest I got to being visible on screen was in a shot where Jonah Hill is in the stands and he stands up to react to something happening on the field. I was one row up, and one seat diagonal to him. However the shot was framed tight and alas… it was my Moonlight Graham moment.

[luckylag]

I watched an hour of this only for you to put airbud as #1 unbelievable finally someone gives it the recognition it deserves as a truly accurate and realistic baseball movie.

[kevinandrewsphoto]

Moneyball being dark during gameplay was one of my favorite choices in any baseball movie. You’re getting in the mind of the players being shown. Baseball players mention everything else being drowned out and being locked in. Looks as if they’re more on a stage. The baseball vernacular was great, and as someone who grew up in the bay they really nailed what the colosseum was like in those years.

[bmac]

I'm laughing at Ken Griffey Jr being the bad guy considering he might be one of the most beloved players of all time

[fearthebeardfootballchanne]

My grandfather's brothers bestie was actually a grounds keeper for the Yankees back in the day around that time frame. Wetting the fields was not a thing until somewhere in the mid 20's. It actually became a thing because someone who was a grounds keeper for a different organization got fired and decided to spray a field before game play out of spite and it actually made the play better. My grandpa always told me it was the chocolate chip story of baseball. Commenting on your debate for dust accuracy.

[oceanbluedoorjl]

I understand they're disqualified because of players age, but The Sandlot and origional B.N. Bears deserve honerable mention for capturing the joy of baseball as a kid.
My first little leauge team was all 1st & 2nd year players - we won a single game that season...4 years later - with almost all the same kids - we won the championship.

[billcook]

Never in history has anybody put in this much work to set up a joke. Well played sir, well played.

[hardyworld]

Glad to see Little Big League up so high. When I watched it as a kid, I loved that it actually looked like MLB gameplay (unlike Rookie of the Year). Thanks for putting this together, it has always been something I wondered in the back of my mind how well movies depict actual baseball.

[TheKiman]

Kamikaze Tanaka from Major League 2 was played by Takaaki Ishibashi and he was one of the biggest and most powerful celebrities in Japan back in the late 80s, all throughout the 90s and into the first decade of 2000s. He is one half of the comedy duo Tonneruzu (Tunnels) and they had major comedy/slapstick sketch shows back in the day, all the way up until their longest and what's become their only running show which was finally retired in 2017 after a 30 year run. He got the part in ML2 at the height of his career. What many may not know about him is that he is the biggest baseball fan, having played for the prolific Teiken High School in Tokyo, which was and is still a baseball powerhouse (tho he was not a starter), and have continued to demonstrate his affection for baseball during his shows, often inviting professional players as guests. Even though he does not have a show on broadcast TV anymore, he started a Youtube channel a few years ago which has 1.6 million followers and regularly talks of baseball, including a sports corner every Monday during the season, covering all kinds of sports, especially baseball. He regularly meets current Japanese baseball players and there's also footage of him meeting Shohei Ohtani in LA along with some of his Angels teammates, and most recently meeting Yu Darvish for a meal when Darvish was back in Japan.

[Nhamp]

The reason that Bull Durham was so realistic is because Ron Shelton (writer-director) played minor league baseball. You hit on one of my favorite points in the movie; how cruel baseball can be. Crash Davis, a switch-hitting catcher with power could never break through for more than those three glorious weeks. I loved his speech on the bus about how Nuke didn't respect the game despite the fact that The Gods gave him a thunderbolt for a right arm. Crash was a guy who loved the game that didn't love him back. I also like that his record-breaking home run wasn't a big dramatic moment to win a big game. It went out of the park and into obscurity. Ron Shelton had a great line about the theme of baseball in the movie: careers don't end with game-winning home runs, they end on two-hoppers to second base.

[Rak-jh]

1:08:42 "if you really look at the nuts and bolts" while zoomed in on Tim Robbins' cup was excellent, thank you sir.

[fearless]

Cheers for putting "Little Big League" at #3. Underneath the ridiculous premise of a 12 year old managing an MLB team, it is a very smart baseball film. It covers situational strategy, hot streaks and slumps, free agents, contract disputes, cuts, injuries. On top of that it has incredible action as you pointed out. It will always be underrated and overlooked, but it will always be one of my favorites.

[houstonpenguin]

You're legitimately hilarious. I spent the entirety of the Bull Durham segment, racking my brain to guess what you had as No.1...
😂

[andyf]

That line drive by Liotta in field of dreams actually happened and was not a choreographed stunt as you assumed, which is why Costner's reaction is so good, and he managed to stay in character

[jamesthomason]

The original “Bad News Bears” was always my favorite, most realistic and believable. The first 5 minutes immediately takes me back to the T-Ball, little league and Pony league years. Great flick.

[SpudSpudoni]

I legitimately had to pause the video at 32:40 after that sidebar about Mantle and Maris to just reflect on the sheer depth of information provided here. Such an incredible amount of detail that went into the editing, and the data collection for this video. It's always a joy to see sports channels take their knowledge to other subjects, which is clear by the vast understanding of film as a medium, showcased all over this video. Also, the scene of Maris and Mantle in Touch of Mink is great.

[ahhfakemonsters]

I f-ing LOVE that of all movies, the Naked Gun is a respectful in how they portrayed baseball. Theres a reason its one of the finest works of art in cinematic history. 😂

[mtettle]

I was at the game in Arlington when they shot the film The Rookie. They shot it after the real game, and fans were invited to stay to be extras in the stands. Watched Dennis Quaid jogging in from the home bullpen instead of the visitors, which was annoying. Overall a fun experience, they gave away a Dodge Ram truck to a random fan too

[itsmattagain]

Tthis is one of the few times I’ve actually been entertained for a full hour on YouTube without switching videos. Great explaining and great work. I completely agree with Air Bud being in the top that movie is incredible