Infographic: Where are Baseball Movies Made?

To commemorate baseball’s Opening Day (which really should be a national holiday), Todd at Forgotten Films is hosting the Big League Blogathon- a series of articles by multiple contributors, all themed around baseball in cinema. If you know me at all, then you know there’s no way I could pass up the opportunity to contribute. Since I used to work for a minor league baseball team that played where A League of Their Own (1992) was filmed, it seemed like a natural fit to focus on filming locations for baseball movies. Specifically, I’ve created a map visualization showing where baseball films have been made through the years. Enjoy!

Baseball at the Movies: A Timeline

Spring is right around the corner. And that means that the best sport in the world, baseball, is right around the corner. Over the next few weeks, baseball movies will flood your TV. To enhance your enjoyment of those movies and to put it all in perspective, here’s a timeline of baseball movie events. Enjoy!

Fun With Netflix Viewer Reviews: The “I’m on Vacation in Florida Watching Baseball” Edition

It’s time yet again for the article that’s easy for me and fun for you- Fun with Netflix Viewer Reviews! By the time you read volume fifteen of people writing really funny Netflix viewer reviews, there’s a good chance I’ll be in Jupiter, Florida watching my first baseball game(s) of the year. As such, these are all films related to vacations, Florida, baseball, and flights. Also, Burt Reynolds, because the Burt Reynolds Museum is in Jupiter. These are presented completely unedited. Even when you think I might have edited something in or out of the copy, I assure you that I have not.

Baseball Movie Tropes

Every film genre has a series of tropes, or clichés. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with the films. It just means that they like to employ some relatively predictable devices from time to time. Baseball movies are no exception. When you’ve seen as many baseball movies as I have, it’s impossible not to notice the clichés piling up. Here are nine. Because the number nine is pretty sacred when it comes to the game of baseball:

The coarse, grouchy, elderly manager
Seemingly every baseball team in Hollywood is helmed by multiple variations of the same guy. He’s almost (but not) always old. He swears a lot. He’s always grouchy about everything. In the parlance of people in the game, the manager “has the red ass”. He’s pissed off and you’re always going to know it.
Examples: Morris Buttermaker (The Bad News Bears); “Skip” Joe Riggins (Bull Durham); Lou Brown (Major League); Pop Fisher (The Natural); George O’Farrell (Little Big League); Jimmy Dugan (A League of Their Own)

Twelve Movie Characters I’d Want to Drink With

There are a lot of admirable movie characters out there. But there are different kinds of admiration. I think it’d be hilarious to hang out with, say, Fielding Mellish from Bananas. But over drinks? Not so much. You see, some people are simply more fun to be around when in a social environment, with alcohol involved. Here are twelve movie characters I’d like to drink with:

Tom Powers, The Public Enemy

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As someone who’ll give a beatdown to bar owners who won’t sell his hooch, he’d obviously know all of the best taverns. Moreover, how great would it be to listen to all of those references to “dames” and “molls” and such?

Scouting Reports of Movie Baseball Players

There are a lot of unsung heroes in baseball but there are few who are more unsung-ier than scouts. They get paid expenses and not much more. They work long hours in hot conditions with nothing more than radar guns, stopwatches, clipboards, and low-grade hot dogs at their disposal, day after day after day for the bulk of the year. And they’re paid next to nothing, all while being asked to predict the future. Other than a week-long drunken orgy at MLB’s winter meetings and getting to do what they love for a living, there aren’t many perks. Today, I’m honoring them by doing some legwork on movie baseball players.

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Pitchers and Catchers Report (to My List of Best Movie Pitchers and Catchers)

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All around baseball, teams have an official Spring Training report date for pitchers and catchers. They all fall between February 13th and February 18th, with the bulk of teams asking their pitchers and catchers to report to camp on February 14th this year. In appreciation for pitchers and catchers reporting, here’s a complete pitching staff made up of the best pitchers from the movies. I’ve even thrown in a handful of movie catchers for good measure. First, the starting pitchers:

Toting the Totem From “Inception” into Other Films

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This year, Inception inserted the word “totem” into our vernacular. Here’s the dialogue that defined the totem in the film:

100 Things I Love About the Movies

I passed a milestone recently here at TDYLF. Thanks to the help of the editors over at IMDB, I passed the 100,000 Hits milestone on Sunday (with a whopping 80,000+ of those hits coming just since September 30th). To celebrate, I’m beginning a brand new series called “100 Things I Love About the Movies”. To be sure, there a LOT more than 100 things that I love about the movies. As such, this has the potential to become a series- 100 Things I Love About Horror Movies, 100 Things I Love About Foreign Movies, and on and on. I present to you the first edition of “100 Things I Love About the Movies”.

Great Movie Performances by People in Animal Costumes

Occasionally, a film is changed completely by the presence of something really astounding. Sometimes, it can be a tour de force acting performance (see, Daniel Day Lewis in There Will be Blood). Sometimes it’s a deft directorial touch (see P.T. Anderson’s work in There Will be Blood). Other times, it’s the cinematography (see the work of Robert Elswit in There Will be Blood). And still other times, it’s someone wearing an animal costume. Here are ten great performances by people dressed in animal costumes in movies.