The 10 Best Baseball Movies Ever (From a Dedicated Baseball Fan) by Mike Prochaska

I am going through baseball withdraw right now. I am already daydreaming of spring training. While we wait I was wondering, what is everyone’s favorite baseball movies? 

Here are my top 10 baseball movies:

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• Rookie of the Year: There really is no surprise that this is my favorite baseball movie. I watched it a million times as a kid. If you've never seen “Rookie of the Year,” it’s about a boy who pitches for the Chicago Cubs and helps them go to the playoffs. Henry breaks his arm in a freak accident and when he gets his cast off he becomes such a powerful pitcher that the Chicago Cubs sign the junior high student to a contract. Henry falls apart until he is guided by aging fastballer Chet Steadman, who teaches him how to play in the big leagues. I loved this movie as a kid and it was the first baseball movie I watched with my kids!

• The Sandlot: “The Sandlot” is not only a baseball movie, but also a movie about children growing up, exploring the great outdoors and kids being kids. When Scottie Smalls moves to a new neighborhood, he manages to make friends with a group of kids who play baseball at the sandlot. Together they go on a series of funny adventures. The boys run into trouble when Smalls borrows a ball from his stepdad that gets hit over a fence that belonged to the great Babe Ruth. The boys spend most of the movie trying to figure out how to get the ball back from the angry dog that lives in the yard called “The Beast.” I love this movie because it has so much more meaning than just baseball. It's about growing up playing outside with your friends.

• Fever Pitch: This movie is about a teacher who is obsessed with the Boston Red Soxs and his love of baseball. I love this movie because I can relate with the main character – because that is how I feel about my Chicago Cubs. In “Fever Pitch,” Ben, played by Jimmy Fallon, is a high school teacher who happily explains his priorities on ESPN: the Red Sox, sex and breathing. His house is decorated in Red Sox decor and he even has Yankee toilet paper. I love that this movie was also filmed in 2014 when the Boston Red Soxs won the World Series and broke the great curse of trading Babe Ruth.

• A League of Their Own: “A League of Their Own” is about the first women’s baseball league. It’s a movie based on the real-life 1940’s All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – the girls played baseball while the men were away at war. I watched this movie with my daughter to remind her that girls can like baseball, too.

• Major League: Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her deceased husband. She receives a lucrative offer to move the team to Miami, but she must first trigger the escape clause in the team's contract with the city of Cleveland. To do this, she decides to replace existing players with aging veterans and inexperienced rookies in the hopes that a bad team will cause attendance to decline. The team of misfits learn of her evil plan and work together as a team to take the Indians back to the playoffs!

• Fields of Dreams: A farmer in Iowa cuts down his crop to build a baseball diamond. “If you build it, they will come.” The ghosts of great players start emerging from the crops to play ball, led by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. He ends up playing catch with the ghost of his dad near the end of the movie.

• Moneyball: This movie is about the great Billy Beane. Billy was the general manager of the Oakland A's. He has to reinvent his team by outsmarting the richer ball clubs. He recruits bargain-bin players whom the scouts have labeled as flawed, but have game-winning potential just like Theo Epstein has used in Chicago to build the Cubs.

• 42: The Jackie Robinson Story: “42" tells the story of Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers GM Branch Rickey, whose brave stand against prejudice forever changed the world by changing the game of baseball forever.

• The Rookie: It’s about second chances on making your dreams come true. Based on a true story, Jim Morris is a high school chemistry teacher and coach who never got out of the minor leagues. He makes a deal with his team – if they win the district championship he will try out for the MLB. He struggles in the minor leagues and is about to give up when he is given his chance in the big leagues and proves you should never give up on your dreams.

• The Bad News Bears: This classic movie is about misfit kids playing baseball on a team coached by a cranky man. Their coach gets his act together and teaches his team how to come together.

These are my favorite baseball movies! Which ones are yours and why?

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