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The 10 best baseball movies of all time

By
Social Links for Kyle Smith
Published May 14, 2014, 2:39 p.m. ET

Jon Hamm is spitting on his hands and preparing to swing for the fences with “Million Dollar Arm,” the “Jerry Maguire”-style story of a tarnished sports agent who tries to redeem himself while opening up new possibilities for Major League Baseball by holding a contest to find the most talented potential pitchers in India. Let’s look back at my picks for the best baseball movies ever, with No. 1 being best.

  1. 1. 'The Bad News Bears' (1976)

    Walter Matthau perfects his curmudgeon act in this hilariously cynical story of a Little League manager who reconnects with a tomboy daughter (Tatum O’Neal) of an ex-girlfriend on the ballfield.

  2. 2. 'The Pride of the Yankees' (1942)

    Gary Cooper was the ideal choice to play the tough, stolid Lou Gehrig, who along with Babe Ruth (who plays himself) anchored some of the greatest teams in baseball history before being forced into retirement at an early age.

  3. 3. 'The Natural' (1984)

    Completely out of place for its time, Barry Levinson’s telling of the legend of Roy Hobbs is big, emotional old-school entertainment about a slugger (Robert Redford) who loses most of his career to injury after being shot by a mysterious Dark Lady — but then returns in middle age to tear up the league and right some wrongs.

  4. 4. 'Bull Durham' (1988)

    Sexy, clever and larkish, the movie cemented Kevin Costner’s stardom and made minor league baseball look like a place protected from the ruthless realities of professional sports. Costner’s sentimental and hokey “Field of Dreams” couldn’t compare.

  5. 5. 'Bang the Drum Slowly' (1973)

    The then-unknown Robert De Niro — who would win an Oscar in ’75 for his role in “The Godfather Part II” — was touching as a catcher coping with terminal illness in this expertly calibrated tearjerker about his friendship with a pitcher (Michael Moriarty).

  6. 6. 'Moneyball' (2011)

    Turning the camera around to show how what you see on the field could have been predicted from the maneuverings in the back office, this adaptation of the Michael Lewis best seller was rousing and smart without lapsing into “magic of baseball” clichés.

  7. 7. '42' (2013)

    Everyone knows how Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play in the big leagues, but the movie did a service by illustrating how he did it: By refusing to be drawn into a fight by racists. As played with strength and restraint by Chadwick Boseman, No. 42 shows greatness even when he’s not on the field.

  8. 8. 'A League of Their Own' (1992)

    In the war years, with many of baseball’s best men off fighting in Europe and the Pacific, a women’s league took their place. Tom Hanks is amusing as the alcoholic manager and Geena Davis, Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell bring the feminist energy.

  9. 9. 'Fear Strikes Out' (1957)

    The story of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Piersall (Anthony Perkins) refocused the attention from athletic accomplishment to character, with Piersall suffering a nervous breakdown but then enjoying a remarkable recovery.

  10. 10. 'Eight Men Out' (1988)

    The “Black Sox” scandal of the 1919 World Series, when several Chicago players paid off by gamblers decided to throw the series and lose to the Cincinnati Reds, inspired John Sayles’ film about the clash between boyish spirit and grim reality.