Last summer we ranked the greatest sports movies of all time.  This summer, we’ve decided to take the next few weeks and discuss the worst and most underrated movies in each sport.  Our first sport to tackle is baseball.

Perry:

Worst Baseball Movie of all Time – The Babe (1992 - 47% Rotten Tomatoes, 5.7 IMDB)
This was probably the easiest lead actor role ever played since Marlee Matlin played a deaf girl.  John Goodman plays an overweight alcoholic baseball player.   Besides being a baseball player, John Goodman didn’t have to reach far into the actor’s talent bag.  Throughout the movie I swear you can actually watch John Goodman expand like heating a marshmellow in a microwave.    I believe there are give or take 28 scenes with him eating.  Don’t get me wrong I love the legend of Babe Ruth.  During his time he was more popular than the president and perhaps the most famous sports personality in American history.    However this film did not do Ruth justice.   John Goodman hogged the camera.  He was in every scene because he was too fat to not be in camera’s view.  If James Cameron directed this movie it would have taken years, like Avatar, because he would have had to invent a camera to fit John Goodman’s entire body.  There are a plethora of historical inaccuracies:  Ruth was never an enemy of “Iron Horse” Gehrig, never an overhead pitcher, and he did not hit a home run at his last at bat (he grounded out).  John Goodman, stick to movies like Arachnophobia and King Richard.  Thank you for almost ruining Babe Ruth for me.

Most Underrated Baseball Movie of all Time – The Fan (1996 – 40% Rotten Tomatoes, 5.6 IMDB)
Let me start this off by saying I have no clue how this movie got terrible reviews.  It’s got a great cast in Bob De Niro, Wesley Snipes, John Legui-I-don’t-speak-Mexican-so-I-can’t-spell-his-name-amo, and Benicio Del Toro.  Granted De Niro was a little past his prime filming this, but he was not quite in the Little Fockers terrible spectrum.  De Niro plays the same typecast character he played in Taxi Driver and Cape Fear.  How can you not like that?  Wesley Snipes acts like himself; an overzealous, self absorbed douche, but hey, that’s why we love him, especially the IRS.  Who cares if John L is a fast talking Puerto Rican (see Rosie Perez and every other Puerto Rican actor), he’s still a likable guy.   This movie has it all: suspense, action, thrill, baseball, violence, passion, and oh yeah a kick ass soundtrack featuring Nine Inch Nails.    It cost approximately $55,000,000 to film but only grossed $18,000,000.  America, I am ashamed of you.    I do believe that this is one film that people will look back in 50 years and call it a masterpiece.  However, I’m probably very wrong, and I may only like this movie because it was one of the first R-rated movies that I was allowed to watch.

Jason

Worst Baseball Movie of all Time – Major League: Back to the Minors (1998 – 21% Rotten Tomatoes, 4.1 IMDB)
There’s a lot of really bad baseball movies to choose from when it comes to selecting the worst baseball movie of all time. High on the list are the Freddie Prinze Jr. sappy chick flick Summer Catch, and Ed, starring Matt LeBlanc and a monkey who pitches (Note: any time that an animal brought in to compete against humans in a sports movie, that movie will more often then not end up on these lists). Mr. 3000 killed Bernie Mac and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan was just awful. However, the ultimate title must go to the movie that killed the best baseball movie franchise to date, Major League: Back to the Minors. The creators took the sellout approach making the 3rd movie, choosing to continue the series despite losing many of the familiar stars (Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger) and keeping around the really annoying ones (Tanaka, Corbin Bernsen). As a result, the movie was horribly acted, unbelievably predictable and filled with levels of cheesiness unseen in other two movies of the series. Also, they couldn’t have picked a more awkward actor to play the player who is supposed to be the best on the team. Every time he swings a bat you say to yourself there’s no way in hell that he could actually hit anything.
 
Most Underrated Baseball Movie of all Time – For Love of the Game (1999 – 54% Rotten Tomatoes, 6.2 IMDB)
Kevin Costner is obviously known for his work in Field of Dreams and Bull Durham, two appropriately rated and very well received baseball films. However, his other baseball movie, For Love of the Game is a great film in it’s own right. The movie follows an aging superstar pitcher during his quest for a perfect game. While pitching, the pitcher reflects on the emptiness in his life and his recently failed relationship with Kelly Preston. Although the film’s exceptional baseball scenes steal the show, the romantic storyline adds to the plot and Costner does a good job of letting us know what the pitcher is going through. While not the greatest baseball movie by any means, For Love of the Game holds up over time and should be talked about more often when it comes to capturing the emotion of baseball on film.

Vincent

Worst: The Benchwarmers (2006 –  12% Rotten Tomatoes, 5.4 IMDB)
Take your classic nerd revenge comedy, mix it with the Bad News Bears, and add in the least funny cast on earth and you have the basic premise of The Benchwarmers. This warmed over turd of a concept is about three nerd buddies who were picked on and terrible at baseball as children. Now adults Jon Heder, Rob Schneider, and David Spade feel bad for a group of kids cast off from the local little league field so they help them take the field back. Nice, you think these guys are going to coach this rag tag bunch from mediocrity to superiority right? Of course they aren’t. One of the boys on the team’s dad, played by Jon Lovitz (whose lack of funniness is only matched by his unlikability), turns out to be a billionaire who is going to donate a new state of the art field to the best little league team in the area. So in all of their wisdom the three adults create a team to play against little leaguers. Even as I type this I still think that kind of sounds funny. Trust me it isn’t. For the next hour or so of movie time there are some unfunny scenes, probably an unfunny montage of men beating up children; I don’t remember, the main conflict of the movie arises and is settled in about 2 minutes (Schneider used to be a bully and apologizes to the person he bullied), and the adults let the crappy kids play and get their asses kicked by 41 runs in the finals. The feel good moment is that they scored one run against the super team, who let them score by the way. Everyone celebrates and good has triumphed over evil. What bullshit. If I was the writer of this movie I would’ve had the kid who was going to score the lone run stop and take a shit halfway between home and third. It could’ve had a dual purpose of saying this movie is a gigantic turd and if you really want to show up a bully shit on him. How does getting beat by 41 runs and being allowed to score a mercy run make anyone feel like a winner. I’d feel much better losing 42-0 than 42-1. David Spade should have retired after Chris Farley died, Jon Heder has yet to say one funny thing in any movie he’s played in (which are all comedies), and Rob Schneider wouldn’t even exist if Adam Sandler didn’t need someone to play Asian women or Iranian delivery men in his movies. At least there was one redeeming thing to come from The Benchwarmers. Hollywood learned that if you are trying to make a major comedy and your three anchors are Jon Heder, Rob Schneider, and David Spade you might as well take your money and burn it in a trash can. At least a bum can warm his hands over that.

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Underrated: A League of Their Own (1992 – 82% Rotten Tomatoes, 7.0 IMDB)
Is it possible that the most underrated baseball movie all time is about women’s baseball? Not only is it possible, but it’s true. A league of their own takes us back to the time of World War II, when the men were off fighting, and the movement to empower women was just taking root powered by the famous image of Rosie the Riveter. With not enough talented men around to play America’s favorite game, a candy magnate (best descriptive title ever) decides to start a woman’s league. Enter the Rockford Peaches, the coolest team of skirt wearing, baseball playing women around anchored by their star catcher Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis). With a cavalcade of stars including Tom Hanks, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, and even pre Tank Girl Lori Petty (you know when she still had the promise of being a good actress in her future). The sign of a good movie is characters with depth that people can grow to care deeply for. This movie certainly has that. From the drunken ex-big league manager with a brilliant mind and poor attitude who learns to overcome his self-loathing and appreciate his team (Hanks) to the immensely talented, but uninterested star player (Geena Davis). Even fat, annoying super lesbo Rosie O’Donnell is an entertaining supporting character in her pre soap box ranting days. They even got Madonna to pull off playing a character with whore-like qualities. In addition to having characters you get invested in, A League of Their Own gave us one of the great pop culture references of all time. If you’ve never heard anyone saying “There’s no crying in ______”, you are either: a liar, deaf, or an illegal immigrant hanging out in the Home Depot parking lot who can’t speak English and has never seen A League of Their Own. Actually scratch that last one cause even they know Hanks’ iconic, “There’s no crying in baseball!” Finally all great movies need great endings, and what beats did the ball get knocked out or did she drop it on purpose? I personally think Dottie realized how important baseball was to Kit, and she knew that was the only way her kid sister would ever emerge from her shadow, but then how do you explain why she told the pitcher to throw high fastballs to strike her out? It’s very rare for a movie with an ambiguous ending to do it successfully, but in the case of A League of Their Own I think it really enhances the movie. In the end this movie is great because it has moments of levity balanced with serious topics and sad scenes all while following characters you care about, and not throw aways like the shitheads in The Benchwarmers.