The sports in movies can be a tricky one to depict on the big screen. After all, there is so much built-in drama when it comes to major sports games and events that it can be hard to replicate that in a fictionalized capacity. Many times, viewers are left wishing they watched an actual baseball game, rather than a movie about baseball with actors playing the roles.
That leaves a tricky balance to strike. Fans want to see baseball depicted on screen, but they also want a heightened reality that just doesn't exist on a professional level on the diamond. Sometimes, baseball movies are able to nail down the true spirit of the game while abiding by the rules. Other times, they're patently ludicrous. But at least they're entertaining.
10 Right: Passionate Fandom
Baseball may not be the most popular professional sport, but those who are fans of it are truly devoted fans. The adoration a baseball fan has for the game is forever, while something like football fans seem to come and go with the seasons.
This is best depicted in Fever Pitch, when Jimmy Fallon's character dedicates his life to the Boston Red Sox. Even the end of the movie sees him celebrating a Boston championship, despite the arc of the movie revolving around his letting go of his fandom for Drew Barrymore's character. That's how passionate baseball fans are.
9 Wrong: Pace Of Game
There are very few movies that are longer than the average baseball game, let alone baseball movies. And baseball movies are often tasked with chronicling an entire season's worth of stories in just a short window of time.
As such, the pace of the games featured in baseball movies is patently absurd. No baseball game has ever hummed along as quickly as those in, say, The Sandlot do. Often times, if one watches a baseball game, they make a night of it. They're not expecting to be in and out in a cool hour.
8 Right: Walk-Up Music
Walk-up music has been around in baseball for over fifty years now. Nothing can get a group of fans more excited than when the bases are loaded and a slugger strides to the plate with the most hype-inducing tunes behind them.
This is mirrored expertly in Major League, which crafts a memorable set piece out of "Wild Thing" jogging in from the bullpen to the song of the same name. It's a calm-before-the-storm moment and it's accurate to how many fans feel in real games. Just compare Wild Thing's entrance to Shane Victorino's reggae step-up before hitting a grand slam in the 2013 postseason.
7 Wrong: Crying
Few baseball movies are as famous as A League of Their Own and few baseball movie quotes are as famous as, "There's no crying in baseball!" The Tom Hanks utterance has become a part of the cultural vocabulary at this point.
However, it couldn't be more wrong. There has always been crying in baseball. Some of the game's best moments have contained crying. Think about moments like Lou Gehrig's speech or David Ortiz's final game at Fenway Park. It's a sport that brings out the emotions in everyone.
6 Right: Integration
One of the best baseball movies is the biopic of Jackie Robinson, 42, starring Chadwick Boseman. This film gets a lot right about the sport, but what it gets most right is the history of the game, specifically the period of integration that brought Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier.
One of the infamous scenes of the movie is when Robinson is harassed and abused by Ben Chapman, the former Phillies manager. This was incredibly, devastatingly accurate to what actually happened when Robinson made his way in the league. It's a horrible part of the game's history, but 42 was unflinching in its depiction.
5 Wrong: Ghosts
On a lighter note, there are no ghosts in baseball. This might be like selecting an Air Bud movie and questioning the logic of it. But it should be pointed out because Field of Dreams is often regarded as one of the best baseball films ever.
However, baseball diamonds have never had ghosts play on them before. They certainly have not had the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson play on them either, even though the real Jackson is one of the most infamous stars of all-time. No matter what Kevin Costner is capable of, he can not be a medium of baseball. Just not possible, folks.
4 Right: Talent Isn't Everything
An underrated baseball movie is 2008's Sugar, starring Algenis Perez Soto and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It tells the story of a pitcher from the Dominican Republic trying to make it big.
However, Sugar becomes an accurate baseball movie by not giving a storybook ending to "Sugar" Santos. It's really hard to make it to the big leagues and one cannot coast on talent alone. It takes discipline and tenacity and sometimes, the best ball players in the world don't have it.
3 Wrong: Dance Numbers
No baseball scene is as iconic as the one in High School Musical 2. Here, Ryan and Chad go head to head in a baseball game at the country club they're staying and working at for the summer.
While they play, a musical dance number of "I Don't Dance" breaks out. In real baseball games, if the third baseman started shimmying in a synchronized fashion with the shortstop, the game would likely be put on hold. And the batter would not mirror the rhythm, certainly. High School Musical 2 definitely gets the amount of dancing in baseball wrong.
2 Right: Anyone Can Win
If an NBA team has a thirty point lead with three minutes left, a comeback is just not possible. But there's no clock in baseball. If a team is down forty runs with just one out left, they still have a chance at victory. That's the beauty of the game.
In addition to this notion, anyone can truly win in baseball. The aforementioned Major League depicts a team of nobodies steamrolling their way to victories, for example. But the shimmering pillar of this notion is in Moneyball. Arguably the best baseball movie, Moneyball builds its climax around a washed-up utility player going yard. Nothing is better than that and no other sport has something like it.
1 Wrong: Ageless Wonders
One of baseball's most famous moments is when an aging, injured Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off home run in the playoffs for the Dodgers. This was a miracle moment because it never happened before and it has never happened since.
That is because a love of the game cannot defeat age. When players get older, they lose what made them special and electric. Apologies due to The Natural, but Roy Hobbs probably wouldn't even be given a chance, never mind become a hero. In real life, the aging stars go overseas and raise ticket prices, like Manny Ramirez in Australia. But the movies are a little more magical.
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