Grab your peanuts and Cracker Jacks as we step up to the plate with cinema's finest baseball classics! From heartwarming tales of childhood summers to inspiring true stories that changed the game forever, we're counting down the films that captured America's pastime in all its glory. These unforgettable movies celebrate the spirit, drama, and magic of baseball both on and off the diamond.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00calendar delivers here's a swing and a high fly ball to center field
00:04he's under it hey makes a basket catch willy mays style
00:08welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the most entertaining
00:13and iconic movies about the american pastime
00:22we'll be excluding documentaries as there are enough of those to make up their own list
00:28if you're on the hunt for more sports content get in the game with watch mojo's official sports
00:32channel the lineup from legendary dunks and playoff highlights to infamous brawls and
00:37nasty controversies the lineup has a little something for any sports fan
00:41check the link in the description to subscribe
00:44number 10 the sandlot you bob grapples in the toilet and you like it you play ball like a girl
00:54the early 90s saw its share of wholesome family-friendly baseball flicks make their way
00:59into our hearts we still have a soft spot for big league fantasies like angels in the outfield
01:05and rookie of the year but the mvp of the bunch is as far removed from the majors as it gets
01:11the sandlot isn't necessarily concerned with the mechanics of baseball but it thrives in
01:17celebrating the game as a formative experience man this is baseball you gotta stop thinking
01:23you just have fun i mean if you were having fun you would have caught that ball
01:28even with its 1960s setting the nostalgic blast of watching a group of neighborhood boys
01:34pass the time is enough to make anyone cling on to their own youthful memories
01:40it's one of modern cinema's most authentic portrayals of childhood adventure and it's
01:45always a pleasure when a new generation discovers it remember kid there's heroes and there's legends
01:53heroes get remembered but legends never die blow your heart kid you never go wrong
02:00number 9 42 there are few figures who changed american and sports history the way jackie
02:08robinson did and this biographical treatment does justice to both the athlete and the man
02:14you want a player doesn't have the guts to fight back
02:19no no i want a player who's got the guts not to fight back following robinson's transition to
02:30the brooklyn dodgers 42 shines in capturing robinson's reluctance as someone who's about
02:37to alter the world as he knows it the humane performance of the late chadwick boseman
02:42provides incredible insight into robinson's moral character his commitment to non-violence
02:49and most importantly his love of the game i didn't come here to make friends
02:56i don't even care if they respect me i know who i am
03:02got enough respect for myself with every achievement and jeer from the unrelenting
03:06crowd 42 is a complicated piece of history unfolding before our eyes never talking down
03:13to the audience the modern cinematic touch provides robinson story with lessons we can
03:19still learn from decades later playing ball maybe tomorrow we're all wearing 42
03:27that way they won't tell us apart number eight pride of the yankees as long as we're discussing
03:33terrific movies about baseball's all-time greats how could we forget about the one that built the
03:38foundation for the sports biopic he lives for his job he gets a lot of fun out of it and 50 million
03:44other people get a lot of fun out of him watching him do something better than anybody else ever
03:48did it before arriving just a year after his untimely passing this cinematic epitaph of
03:55lou garrigue stars gary cooper alongside a handful of real-life yankees as themselves
04:01as such the determination to recapture his monumental career can be felt in every frame
04:08from the team's athleticism on the field to cooper's quiet humility off it people have to
04:14live their own lives nobody can live it for you nobody could have made a ball player out of uncle
04:18otto and nobody can make anything but a ball player out of me between the pride of the yankees
04:23and 1949's the stratton story director sam wood knows how to make us feel like we're witnessing
04:29greatness and cooper's headstrong delivery of garrigue's farewell address ensures that even
04:35the saddest stories can give us something to feel good about today i consider myself
04:43the luckiest man on the face of the earth number seven major league steeped in silliness and loads
04:52of heart major league is one of the funniest and most quotable sports movies ever made and for good
04:58reason i took one of those in the eye last year i'm not about to lose my sight i'm deeply moved
05:03every time you play one off your hips you owe me 40 sit-ups what following the poorly assembled
05:08cleveland indians as they mount a playoff run despite their greedy owner it's not at all shy
05:15about painting these alleged pros as the most lovable losers the genre's ever seen despite its
05:21familiar setup major league soars due to its invigorating humor and the commitment of its
05:27ensemble cast including the late legendary bob euchre as the team's broadcaster watch this taylor
05:35is pointing to the bleachers he's calling his shot becoming an instant classic cleveland baseball
05:41coincidentally experienced a major resurgence in the years that followed we're not saying
05:46pedro serrano's voodoo rituals had anything to do with that but we're not not saying that
05:53i cannot hit curveball straight ball i hit it very much curveball bats are afraid
06:02i asked your boo to come take fear from bats number six the bad news bears baseball and
06:10raunchy comedy are kind of a perfect match and it's movies like the bad news bears that exemplify
06:16why you're not supposed to have open liquor in the car it's against the law so is murder angle
06:22now put that back before you get me into real trouble starring walter mathau at his curmudgeonly
06:28best this classic follows an ex-minor leaguer saddled with coaching a team of talentless
06:33foul-mouthed middle schoolers it's a no holds barred extravaganza whose side-splitting blend
06:39of offensive and endearing humor undoubtedly created the template for sports comedies to fall
06:45boys or maybe you haven't been watching what's been going on in this afternoon now get back to
06:51the stands before i shave off half your mustache and shove it up your left nostril while not every
06:56joke has aged particularly well the performances of mathau and his young co-stars are so natural
07:03that it's hard not to be won over by the movie's ingenuity its hard-edged exterior conceals an
07:10honest and thoughtful message about resisting authority and doing things your own way not to
07:15mention the all-important lesson that winning isn't everything and don't assume that way you
07:21don't make a well you know the rest of it and another thing just wait till next year
07:27number five the natural my dad wanted me to be a baseball player
07:34well you're better than anyone i ever had
07:36and you're the best goddamn hitter i ever saw in the eyes of its most passionate fans
07:42the american pastime is a romantic game if not a mythological one both of these attributes come
07:48to define this adaptation of bernard malamud's debut novel here robert redford stars as roy
07:54hobbs an aging slugger who returns to the pros after a lengthy hiatus and brings a fading team
08:01it took me 16 years to get here you play me you'll get the best i got i believe you although it takes
08:09significant risks by completely altering its source materials ending the natural is an earnest
08:15story of heroism with baseball baked into its dna with an iconic randy newman score
08:21turning roy's theatrics into a comedy it's a story about a man who has a passion for baseball
08:27with an iconic randy newman score turning roy's theatrics into the stuff of legend the fireworks
08:33it leaves in its path are bright enough to make any baseball hopeful turn their dreams into actions
08:39number four a league of their own this historical drama recounts an overlooked chapter of baseball
08:59history but one whose contributions saved the game when world war ii threatened its existence
09:05you ever hear walter harvey makes harvey bars you know all the candy yeah we feed them to the
09:10cows when they're constipated that's the guy he's starting a girl's baseball league so we can make
09:16a buck while the boys are overseas want to play a fictionalized tale of the all-american girls pro
09:23baseball league a league of their own is a gold standard in demonstrating what makes a sports
09:28team so rootable thanks to the chemistry of an all-star cast including gina davis madonna and
09:34tom hanks it's one of the sports genre's most purely entertaining offerings baseball is what
09:40gets inside you it's what lights you up you can't deny that it just got too hard
09:50it's supposed to be hard if it wasn't hard everyone would do it it's a dynamic portrayal
09:56of women in sports capped off by penny marshall's thrilling direction which gives each game a true
10:02sense of tension despite bigger battles being fought off the field need we mention it also gave
10:09us one of the most time-honored quotes in movie history are you crying no are you crying are you
10:18there's no crying there's no crying in baseball number three moneyball zeroing in on an
10:26underappreciated aspect of the game moneyball is arguably the best baseball movie for non-baseball
10:32fans this retelling of the oakland athletics 2002 season is bolstered by an intelligent script
10:38that turns mathematical analysis into first-rate arts okay people who run ball clubs that they
10:45think in terms of buying players your goal shouldn't be to buy players your goal should be
10:51to buy wins and in order to buy wins you need to buy runs brad pitt assumes command in more ways
10:58than one as general manager billy bean with help from his timid assistant bean sets out to overcome
11:04financial restraints by fielding overlooked players with values that other clubs don't pay attention
11:10to the thing is is uh you don't know how to play first base scott that's right it's not that hard
11:17scott tell him watch it's incredibly hard his real life approach undoubtedly changed baseball as we
11:23know it and moneyball honors its subject with a quietly rebellious tone that leaves us eager to
11:29see the a's succeed an underdog story told with vulnerability and courage it's also one that earned
11:36six oscar nominations but if we win on our budget with this team
11:42we'll change the game and that's what i want i want it to mean something number two field of
11:55dreams the otherworldly essence of baseball has produced some of the most iconic moments in sports
12:02history it's very easy to count the emotional highs of field of dreams among them as it literalizes
12:08the sport's spirituality to achieve something much bigger than itself what a mysterious voice
12:14instructs ray cancela to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield he soon plays host
12:20to ghosts of the game's checkered history the second chance ray provides his guests to make
12:26amends with the past allows him to do the same encapsulating the game's carefree yet life-affirming
12:33to a tee america has ruled by like an army of steamrollers
12:37it's been erased like a blackboard rebuilt and erased again
12:43but baseball has marked the time aided by one of the most touching endings in movie history
12:49it just goes to show that sometimes seeing isn't believing believing is seeing can i ask you
12:56something is this heaven
13:07it's iowa before we unveil our top pick here are a few honorable mentions everybody wants some
13:14baseball has never been as laid back as it is here this all of this this is why we're one of
13:20the best teams in the nation man you get a bunch of competitors together yeah and you're addicted
13:25to winning that's the championship team right there sugar baseball may be the american pastime
13:32but the american dream comes at a cost you started dropping your arm in the third i think that was
13:40the problem eight men out this take on the black socks scandal is a great companion to field of
13:47dreams you two made an agreement hey we lose one more game and it's over we dumped four games i
13:52haven't paid for one you don't know what these guys are like once you're in you're in for good
13:57you can't welch on these guys the bingo long traveling all-star and motor kings an entire
14:02generation of unsung heroes get their due in this road trip comedy one touch and you made yourself
14:10a handshake deal with the bingo long traveling all-stars and motor kings and ain't nothing more
14:15solomon binding under the law than an agreement of this kind you count me the rookie baseball
14:23magic and disney magic go hand in hand hey guess what what um your daddy is gonna be a major league
14:31pitcher really yeah really what do you think about that huh cool i can't believe it before we continue
14:40be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos
14:45you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them
14:48if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications
14:55number one twilight that's right twilight
15:03has there ever been a better pairing than vampires baseball and muse well yes there has
15:10we're totally kidding of course number one bull derham you have a fight yet oh yeah i'm having a
15:17blast thanks good god sucker teed off in there like he knew i was gonna throw a fastball he did
15:23know how i told him kevin costner and baseball go together like a hand and a glove as evidenced
15:32by his work in 1999s for the love of the game but his passion for the game is at its strongest
15:39in bull derham this rom-com finds costner as crash davis a veteran catcher assigned to prep
15:45pitcher nuke lelouch for the big leagues think classy you'll be classy if you win 20 in the show
15:52you can let the fungus grow back on your shower shoes and the press will think you're colorful
15:57until you win 20 in the show however means you're a slob with both vying for annie a groupie with
16:04their own teaching style their love triangle rings out as many swoon-worthy moments as it does
16:10hard truths bull derham laments the dreams that most ball players spend their whole lives chasing
16:16but never fulfill but its charming performances and hilarious on-field sequences also make it
16:22an empowering genre-defying salute to the magic that makes millions fall in love with baseball
16:29i've tried them all i really have and the only church that truly feeds the soul day in day out
16:35is the church of baseball what's your favorite baseball movie is there one we forgot to mention
16:41let us know down in the comments if you build it he will come all right that's it did you enjoy
16:48this video check out these other clips from watch mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
16:53to be notified about our latest videos