Best baseball movie I've ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2002)

I'm also rather partial to 8 Men Out, the only other baseball movie that I like without reservations. Movies about baseball usually fall short, particularly in the way the baseball games themselves are portrayed. You have absurdly metaphorical, fairy tale games (The Natural), or unnecessarily exaggerated action (Bull Durham - I mean does the kid have to be so ridiculously wild?). This movie actually feels like the baseball I've played (though not as well) and watched.
Make no mistake this is a Disney movie. It's a sentimental story. Thankfully it doesn't play the sentimentality in a sentimental way, avoiding that getting-hit-over-the-head lessons trap that so many Hollywood movies fall into. All the secondary characters are clearly drawn. And Dennis Quaid does first class work, making a multi-dimensional character that also serves the story quite clearly. A very satisfying flick.