The Best Baseball Movies

Last night I saw 'Million Dollar Arm' and I loved it more than any baseball movie I have seen in a long time. The baseball-Bollywood music mashup was a big hit with me, seeing that I am a closet Bollywood fan. The film inspired me to make a list of my favorite baseball flicks of all time. For the record, there are a lot of baseball movies I haven't seen, including what is regarded as the greatest of all time, Bull Durham, because it is rated R. Because of my values I try to steer clear of movies with course language and sex, which apparently are critical components of real-to-life baseball stories, so I miss some films here and there. This is by no means based on any cinematographic ratings system, just how much I enjoyed the movies.
10. Moneyball: This, apparently, was a masterpiece of the silver screen. I am a huge Oakland A's fan. You'd think I'd be more into this one, especially since I went to so many games that year. But in the end I didn't really need to see the movie, I was there.
9. Bad News Bears: I saw this when I was a kid and liked it, but it didn't really stick, it's just nostalgically funny.

6 (three-way tie). Rookie of the Year, Little Big League, Angels in the Outfield: I loved these movies. Here is the formula: 1. A kid makes an impact on a major league baseball team (RoY: pitcher, LBL: Owner, GM and coach, AitO: sees angels) 2. Cameos by real baseball players  (RoY: Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Pedro Guerrero, LBL: Ken Griffey Jr, Ivan Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, and many others, AitO: Carney Landsford--again, I'm an A's fan, so I loved this) 3. Use trickery in the final play of the game  (RoY: hidden ball trick, LBL: hidden ball trick, AitO: lie to Tony Danza about seeing an angel) 4. Win the Pennant. And you're done. I will always love these movies from my childhood.
5. The Rookie: I thought this was the best movie when I first saw it. I always have to fight off tears when he tells his son that he got called up to the big leagues. Perhaps the best part, however, is when he enters the Devil Rays' locker room and sees the jerseys of Boggs, Canseco and McGriff, then looking online and finding out that on the roster only Boggs and Julio Franco were older than him, then realizing how awful that team must have been that they signed a 35 year old lefty and brought him all the way up to the bigs for five appearances in September.
4. Million Dollar Arm: I just saw it, so I'm still living in the moment, but I thought it was an exceptional movie. I've seen more Indian films than the average American, and I loved the India part of the movie and the A. R. Rahman influence. There's something about seeing someone get a chance to play in the big show that gets me all emotional, I'm such a wuss.
3. Field of Dreams: I love this because it pairs Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones as well as baseball with science fiction. Often called one of the all-time greats, usually behind only Bull Durham, it falls to 3rd on my list because I think so highly of the top two titles on this list.
2. A League of Their Own: First of all, I've always been a sucker for Tom Hanks. Second of all, this movie is hilarious, historical and heartwarming. And thirdly, "There's no crying in baseball!"

1. The Sandlot: I love this movie. So quotable from "You're killing me, Smalls!" to "You play ball like a GIRL!" to "For. Ev .Er." I remember watching it over and over again. Playing ball as a kid, I felt the truth in what James Earl Jones said at the end of the movie, "Baseball was life." If only I could still be a kid and baseball could still be all there was to life. Maybe after ten years of teaching I'll slip on an icy patch and be able to throw 90 mph, then get picked up to play for the Blue Jays...