Baseball Movies That Hit a Home Run

The MLB World Series is heating up as the San Francisco Giants take on the Kansas City Royals for 2014 bragging rights.

Royals and Giants loyalists are already all keyed up. But if your team struck out on making it to the finals and your baseball enthusiasm is running low, these five baseball movies are sure to rekindle your love of the game so late in the season.

"42" (2013)

The story of legend Jackie Robinson from his 1945 signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers through his historic 1947 rookie season, and the racial integration of professional baseball. Chadwick Boseman ("Get On Up") stars as the number 42 jersey-wearing Robinson and Harrison Ford as MLB executive Branch Rickey who helped smash the color barrier by signing him. Robinson's wife Rachel was involved in the production, telling Fox Sports, "It was important to me because I wanted it to be an authentic piece. I wanted to get it right. I didn’t want them to make him an angry black man or some stereotype, so it was important for me to be in there." 

"MILLION DOLLAR ARM" (2014)

Cricket is akin to baseball in that it is the national summer pastime in countries such as England, Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan and New Zealand. Taking that comparison one step further is this feel-good biopic from Disney based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh Patel (Madhur Mittal), cricket players from India who were discovered by sports agent J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) through a talent contest called "Million Dollar Arm." Hamm received critical praise for his turn in this underdog tale. Also starring Allan Arkin, Lake Bell and Bill Paxton.

"MONEYBALL" (2011)

This baseball biopic is based on Michael Lewis's 2003 nonfiction book of the same name, which chronicles the Oakland Athletics baseball team through their 2002 season. The team is in a dire financial situation and manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) employs a sabermetric approach to scout possible players. attempts to assemble a competitive team. So successful is the method the team goes on to claim an American League record with 20 consecutive wins. The film received six Academy Award nominations including best picture, actor (Pitt) and supporting actor for Jonah Hill.

"BULL DURHAM" (1988)

Any list of baseball flicks has to include at least one movie starring Kevin Costner and many would argue that one should be 1989's "Field of Dreams." But "Durham," starring Costner as star catcher Crash Davis whose waning career takes a turn when he is brought in to coach major league-bound rookie pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), works not only as a great baseball tale, but as a stand-alone comedy movie and love story as well. The latter involving Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy, a fan who has one affair each season with a minor league player. In 2003 Sports Illustrated ranked "Bull Durham" number one on their list of Greatest Sports Movies.

"THE NATURAL" (1984)

An adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, "The Natural" was directed by Barry Levinson and stars Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, a player who arrives seemingly out of nowhere with a divine gift for playing America's greatest pastime. Beginning in 1923 the movie spans decades as it chronicles Hobb's successes and failures. It also stars Robert Duvall as sports writer Max Mercy and Glenn Close as Iris Gaines, the protagonist's sweetheart from childhood. Nominated for four Academy Awards, it earned sixth place on ESPN Page 2's Top 20 Sports Movies of All Time list in 2009, with the number one spot going to "Bull Durham."

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