Great Scenes in Major League Baseball Stadiums

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.
-A. Bartlett Giamatti, “The Green Fields of the Mind”

I’ve always loved that quote from former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti (as a movie fan, you probably know his son, Paul). The quote rings so very true. From April through the end of October, baseball is with us every single day. For more than half of the year, it is your most loyal, most reliable friend. You can always count on it to be there. And then, just when everything turns cold and gray, it’s gone. The other night, I watched The Town, which features a really excellent heist scene in Boston’s Fenway Park. It made me miss baseball most of all, but it also made me think of all of the great scenes that have happened at Major League Baseball stadiums in non-baseball movies. The full complement:

2010: The First Annual TDYLFies

A quartet of what would've been 2008 TDYLFie Award Nominees

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I can’t recall every single movie I’ve seen this year. I do know, however, that probably 75% of the movies I’ve seen have been via Netflix. And having no record of the other 25% (which Netflix used to have with the use of a chronological ratings history slider, but I don’t want to get back into the whole Netflix thing again), I’m forced to make my year-end awards selections strictly from the rentals I’ve gotten through Netflix. Using only the list of things I’ve seen via Netflix in 2010, let’s hand out some film awards, which I’m calling TDYLFies (phonetically: ta-dill-fees). Why call ’em that? Why not? 

Ten Killer Bits from The Great Stoneface, Buster Keaton

I won't pull any punches here. Buster's comedy is timeless.

More Fake Criterion Covers

Here are some more “What if Criterion released…” fake covers that I’ve created.

Bride of Frankenstein is probably my favorite. Three of the  four Keaton films were intended as part of a fictional Keaton Box Set. Sleepaway Camp is obviously a lark (and I hope that someone, anyone gets it). The intention on the two Night of the Iguana versions would be to have the pink printed as a metallic pink with a spot gloss on the  iguana. The Spirit of the Beehive is already a Criterion release (with great artwork, I might add). Enjoy! 

The Damfino Addendum

Last night while enjoying a couple of beverages in my local watering hole, I realized that I’d neglected to mention a few more reasons that Buster Keaton is dripping with awesomenocity in my previous entry. Thaaaaat’s right, I sit around in bars thinking about movies. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Here are three more keys to the Keaton charm.

Why is Buster the best? Damfino.

Keaton posing for "The Cameraman"

The last year has been a major revelation for me with regards to the work of Buster Keaton. A good friend of mine encouraged me to watch Keaton’s The General about a year ago.