Top 25 Baseball Movies

With the announcement that MLB would host a Field of Dreams game between the White Sox and Yankees in Iowa to commemorate the movie, we got to thinking about our favorite baseball movies. We wanted to have fun with this, so the rules were simple: each of us would submit our ranked list (ballot) of baseball movies. There was no length requirement, and ballot submissions varied between 10, 15, and 20 entries, and yet we ended up with exactly 25 movies listed. The ranking is simple: it’s the average of each ballot’s rank, with any movie not listed on an individual ballot assigned a rank of 25 for purposes of calculating scores.

Before the rankings, some interesting observations: there were seven films named on only one ballot — of those seven, two were ranked as high as 6th. Five films were named on just two ballots; of those, one was listed 15th on both, and another was within one spot of the same rank (9th) on each. Of the 25 films total, only six were a consensus top 10 by average rank, and only two were listed in the top 10 on every single ballot.

In reverse order, the MLB Marathon team’s Top 25 Baseball Movies, displayed as “Rank: Title (Highest Rank, Average Rank)“:

25: Trouble With the Curve (17, 23.4)

One of a handful of movies named on only one list, its ranking at the bottom justified by its oversimplification of scouting, buoyed by a feel-good drama.

24: It Happens Every Spring (15, 23.0)

This classic comedy is guaranteed to bring some laughs, but likely hasn’t been seen by the majority of our voters — hurting its overall score.

23: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings (14, 22.8)

Like several films in this range, it suffers from not being seen by most of our balloters. Featuring an all-star cast and covering barnstorming throughout the segregated South, this film should be added to your watch list.

22: Mr. Baseball (9, 21.8)

The first of our solo entries to have its only vote in a top-10 spot, this one has a prime Tom Selleck demonstrating that baseball transcends borders and cultures and will prevail against the odds. Like many of our other solo vote-getters, it suffers from one-dimensional feel-good storylines carrying the baseball story.

21: The Scout (7, 21.4)

This solo entry is filled with heart and teenage fantasy fulfillment. There are some good laughs, but ultimately this film’s failure to receive more love comes from the same feel-good storytelling that plagues a number of these entries.

19t: Angels in the Outfield (6, 21.2)

With an all-star cast, this solo entry tied for the highest entry point of any solo film. It lost the tiebreaker because the other film, while not ranked, was at least mentioned on another ballot. This one barely missed the cut on my own ballot and is a cheesy-fun story of redemption.

19t: Sugar (6, 21.2)

This under-seen film about a Caribbean player working his way through the international and minor league systems on his way to the majors is the last film to appear on just one ballot. One of the other balloters mentioned it in passing: “I’ve heard Sugar is really good, but I’ve still not seen it.”

18: Fever Pitch (15, 21.0)

The first of our duo entries — both of its voters placed it at exactly 15th. The drama and humor can both be over the top, and if it didn’t center on baseball it would likely be forgettable, but the baseball elements documenting the 2004 Red Sox World Series run and the life of a true die-hard fan are tough to beat.

17: Bad News Bears (1976) (11, 20.0)

Classic redemption story that doesn’t sanitize the punches the way many of the films that followed its formula would, in order to be more “family-friendly.” Endearing characters — one of our balloters commented, “I wanted to be Kelly Leak when I grew up.”

16: The Natural (3, 19.2)

This classic had the largest discrepancy in ranks of any film, named on only two ballots and placed at #2 and #18 on those. Traditionally beloved, but it lands surprisingly low here.

15: Major League 2 (8, 19.0)

The only sequel to make the list, it follows true to the original with a believable reason for the team to need to redeem itself again so quickly after the first one.

14: For Love of the Game (8, 18.6)

The last of our two-ballot entries, this one suffers from weak storytelling and cheap drama in between some of the best baseball scenes ever filmed. As a movie, this wouldn’t rank — but from a purely baseball standpoint, it’s surprising it’s not higher on this list.

13: Rookie of the Year (12, 18.4)

A fun hero-fantasy coupled with a redemption tale, this one is filled with “high, stinkin’ cheddar” (cheese) and humor.

12: Hardball (7, 15.2)

Not named on every ballot, but it made the top 10 of every ballot it did appear on. This Keanu Reeves film is another redemption tale, based on a true story, and doesn’t pull any punches as it deals with real problems in its baseball-centered story.

11: Eight Men Out (2, 14.0)

A classic tale about one of the most intriguing stories in baseball history. It gets several facts wrong, but fills the viewer with a high-level understanding of the motivations that would lead players to throw a series — and the drama of who did the throwing and who didn’t.

10: The Rookie (3, 12.0)

Another with a wide range — this true story and family-friendly redemption tale was placed as high as 3rd and made two other top 10s, but also didn’t make one ballot at all.

9: Little Big League (5, 11.6)

This movie made the top 10 on the first four ballots received, and then didn’t rank at all on the final ballot. With MLB cameos from star players of the day, there’s not much to dislike about this one.

8: 42 (5, 10.4)

Our first movie named on every ballot, 42 had four placements in the top 10 and one at #20, with our one dissenter commenting: “I thought 42 was good in that it covered an important story, but it did it boring. There was a much better way to tell this story, and I might be under-rating it because I feel so strongly about it not being told as well as it could’ve been.”

7: Bull Durham (2, 9.8)

The first consensus top-10 movie on our list, Bull Durham is a highly regarded classic that managed this rank despite not being named on one ballot. Unfortunately, our dissenter didn’t share why they left this one off their list.

5t: 61* (2, 9.4)

This made-for-TV movie covering the home run race between Mantle and Maris also made this rank despite being left off a ballot. It really gets the history right and makes you feel like you know the players involved.

5t: A League of Their Own (2, 9.4)

Even though this was also left off of a ballot, it wins the tiebreaker over 61* because all of its balloted ranks were top 10, while 61* had one placement as low as 13th. This is one of the most quotable baseball movies, and possibly Tom Hanks’ greatest character, as it covers the women’s professional baseball league that sprang up during World War II.

4: Field of Dreams (3, 7.2)

Three top-five votes (a barely-missed #6) and the film that inspired this whole series. It also had one of the lowest votes, at 19th — that voter commented: “If I really thought about it, I’d probably put Field of Dreams at 13th or 14th, but that means I’d have to shuffle my list. And since even bumping it to 14th wouldn’t have changed its overall placement here, it didn’t matter.” The other dissenter, at #19, said they felt “the things people love about this movie are the same things they hate about For Love of the Game, except this one did it with worse continuity — all it has is the tear-jerker moment.”

3: Moneyball (1, 7.0)

A rare look at the front-office side of the game, with an all-star cast. Makes you think about the sport in ways you may never have before. It barely edged out Field of Dreams, and only had two top-5 votes, but it earned this rank on the strength of its consistently strong ballot placement.

2: Major League (2, 4.2)

The first consensus top-5 film. Surprisingly, it didn’t top any ballot, but it also never dropped below 6th. This comedy is highly quotable and has aged well, inspiring a whole new generation with its humor and baseball focus. As one of our balloters put it: “Easy team of characters to rally behind.”

1: The Sandlot (1, 1.6)

A near-unanimous vote, with four of five ballots putting this at #1, and the only dissenter placing it at 4th. This coming-of-age tale had it all — the redemption/underdog story, romance, adventure, humor, history (even if some of it is blatantly wrong) — but mostly it’s just pure fun, centered around baseball and a great cast of characters.

Closing thoughts

There were definitely some surprises in here, especially with a small sample aggregate, but I think that made this whole adventure more fun. We can agree on a couple of choices, ask “WHAT!?” to our fellow voters on some others, and need to check out films like The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars, Motor Kings, and Sugar that some of us missed in our movie watching.

Most importantly, though, we’re excited to see MLB celebrate this side of the game and bring in fans who might not otherwise get to see an MLB game (and at places that might have special meaning to them from connections to these films above). One of the things MLB has gotten right this year in their revamped marketing strategy.