Hollywood All Time Baseball Team
Recently I was reading Entertainment Weekly’s book Guide To The Greatest Movies Ever Made. In that book they listed a Baseball Movie Hall of Fame by position. They listed nine performers from Kevin Costner in Bull Durham to D.B. Sweeney in Eight Men Out.
This got me to thinking….could I come up with an entire 25 player baseball roster using baseball movies? Well since you are now reading this…the answer was yes….I could.
Luckily Hollywood has been making baseball movies for a very long time. So I had many possibilities when it came to filling out my roster.
I did follow some rules while picking my roster. I wanted 15 position players and 10 pitchers. I only could use one person per movie. And finally any Oscar® winning performer would get preferential treatment.
The Starting Lineup….By Batting Order
Batting 1st CF – Tommy Lee Jones as Ty Cobb in 1994’s Cobb
Ty Cobb: Ty Cobb would be the perfect leadoff hitter. This Hall of Famer was one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. When he retired he was the career leader in hits and stolen bases. Cobb was probably not the nicest person off the field….but he sure could play baseball.
Tommy Lee Jones: Jones played Ty Cobb in the little seen movie, Cobb. Jones made Cobb the year after he won an Oscar® for his role in 1993’s The Fugitive. So the first player on our team is perfect…..as we get an Oscar® winner actor playing an all-time baseball great.
Batting 2nd – 3B John Cusack as Buck Weaver in 1988’s Eight Men Out
Buck Weaver: Weaver played for the Chicago White Sox from 1912 to 1920. He was one of 8 players banned from the Major Leagues for his connection to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Weaver was not one of the players that got paid to throw the World Series….but was banned because he did not come forward when he knew the fix was in. Weaver seems like he would be an outstanding pick to bat 2nd in our lineup. He was a great bunter….leading the league in sacrifice hits in 1916 and 1916.
John Cusack: This was a perfect role for Cusack. Cusack is a lifelong Chicago baseball fan (as he grew up in Chicago). If you get the chance to see Eight Men Out you will see that this actor is bringing some real baseball skills to the movie. One of the few players to make this team…that not only does not have an Oscar®…but he has sadly never even been nominated for one.
Batting 3rd – RF Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in 1984’s The Natural
Ray Hobbs: Ok…Hobbs is a fictional player….but parts of the movie are from the true story of the bizarre shooting of former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus by a woman in Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. Hobbs and his “Wonderboy” bat would make a great number 3 hitter. Plus in a pinch we could throw him on the mound to face a tough left handed hitting batter.
Robert Redford: Redford played Roy Hobbs in the 4 time Oscar® nominated movie, The Natural. The Natural was actually heavily influenced by the writings of Homer and Greek mythology. Redford was playing the Odysseus part. Redford has two Oscars® in his trophy case. One for directing 1980’s Ordinary People and a Honorary Oscar® that he got in 2002. When watching The Natural…check out Redford’s sweet baseball swing.
Batting Cleanup – DH James Earl Jones as Leon Carter in 1976’s The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
Leon Carter: Carter is a fictional character…but he is based on a real player named Josh Gibson. Due to the color barrier, Gibson never got a chance to play in the Major Leagues….but his powerful swing was said to be even more powerful than Babe Ruth’s swing. Carter is the perfect cleanup hitter.
James Earl Jones: Jones is perfect as Leon Carter in the Bingo Long movie. I can easily imagine how intimidating it would be to pitch to Jones when he is standing in the batter’s box. Jones was given an Honorary Oscars® in 2011.
Batting 5th – 1B Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in 1942’s The Pride of the Yankees
Lou Gehrig: Gehrig is another all-time great baseball player. Gehrig earned his nickname “The Iron Horse” by playing in 2,130 consecutive games. This Hall of Famer would be one seriously dangerous number 5 hitter.
Gary Cooper: Cooper played Lou Gehrig in this 11 time Oscar® nominated movie. This is one of the few sports movies to earn a Best Picture Oscar® nomination. Cooper won two Oscars® (1941’s Sergeant York & 1952’s High Noon). Cooper was not much of a baseball fan….so his real baseball skills would probably not help out my team. But we get another Oscar® winner actor playing an all-time baseball great.
Batting 6th – LF John Goodman as Babe Ruth in 1992’s The Babe
Babe Ruth: Probably the greatest baseball player to play the game. Retired as the all-time career home run champ. And before he became an everyday player he set records as a starting pitcher.
John Goodman: Babe Ruth had to be in this lineup. Over the years many people including the Babe himself have played Babe Ruth in movies. The final decision came down to Goodman’s Babe and William Bendix’s Babe. I went with the most recent Babe movie…..but since the movie is so bad…I dropped him in the batting order and have him playing a different position in the field.
Batting 7th – 2B Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in 2013’s 42
Jackie Robinson: Robinson is another all-time great Hall of Fame baseball player. Famous for breaking the color barrier in baseball…Robinson was also one of the fastest players to ever play baseball.
Chadwick Boseman: Boseman played Jackie Robinson in 2013 and James Brown in 2014. Based on those performances it seems like it is only a matter of time before Boseman joins the ranks as Oscar® nominated performers.
Batting 8th – C Robert DeNiro as Bruce Pearson in 1973’s Bang The Drum Slowly
Bruce Pearson: Another fictional character. Pearson was mostly a backup catcher in the movie….so I guess he got to the majors based on his outstanding defensive skills….well we can use that on this team
Robert DeNiro: The fact that DeNiro can bring not one but two Oscars® to the team gaves him the edge over Kevin Costner’s Crash Davis from Bull Durham. As for DeNiro’s baseball skills? Well…it least he is a great actor.
Batting 9th – SS Gene Kelly as Eddie O’Brien in 1949’s Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Eddie O’Brien: O’Brien was the star shortstop for the Wolves. O’Brien can sing…he can dance….and along with Frank Sinatra made up a good double play team. This fictional baseball player can entertain the team on road trips.
Gene Kelly: Along with Fred Astaire…Kelly is one of the most famous dancers of all-time. Kelly was a very physical dancer…so he will have to assume he has some baseball skills…as his movie does not show much baseball action. Kelly received a Honorary Oscar® in 1952.
The Bench
The Starting Rotation
The Manager
The lead-off man is Ty Cobb.
Cobb appeared on an episode of I’ve Got a Secret in 1955 (available on youtube if you type in “Ty Cobb–I’ve Got a Secret). He turned out to be a pleasant looking old guy with a wide smile and very good manners.
Sort of different than the psycho of legend. It caused me to check youtube and I came across an address by Charles Leerham, the author of a recent biog of Cobb (Ty Cobb-A Terrilbe Beauty). Leerhan started his research thinking the popular view of Cobb as a monster was correct. He found Cobb was a victim of a drunken and unscrupulous sportswriter who simply made up stories–including about Cobb being a murderer, that are without any evidence at all.
Just one major point–Cobb as a racist. Well, Cobb was from Georgia, so it follows, right. But Cobb’s family were abolitionists and opposed the Confederacy. Cobb himself spoke out in favor of desegregating baseball and named Willie Mays his favorite player in the fifties. He often attended Negro League games and enjoyed sitting in the dugout chatting with the players. He was a very successful man who built a hospital in his home town for the poor and subsidized local black doctors so poor black folk could get medical care.
Doesn’t seem like the monster of legend. I thought I would bring it up as I, along with most, I guess, have heard so long how awful Cobb was that it was enlightening to find out he really wasn’t. A man with deep flaws. Sure. But also a man whose reputation had been dragged through the sewer by lies.
Slightly off the movie topic, but the same has happened to movie people like Wallace Beery (accused of murdering Ted Healy, who died of natural causes), Clara Bow, and others.
Hey John.
1. Good points about Ty Cobb.
2. History tends to remember the bad stuff so much more than the good stuff a person does.
3. If you have seen Cobb with Tommy Lee Jones…..seems he treated everybody regardless of color the same way…..which in many cases was roughly.
4. My favorite line in the movie is one at the end…Robert Wuhl’s character says….”They say Ty Cobb passed away quietly and peacefully in the middle of the night…..knowing Cobb pretty sure he went kicking and screaming.” or something close to that.
5. Got to say….I was not aware of the Beery rumors at all…..seems he is on the request list… will have to do some reach on Mr. Wallace Beery.
Thanks for the thoughts on Ty Cobb….greatly appreciated.
No Dan Dailey as Dizzy Dean in the Pride of St. Louis (1952).
Useless trivia, Ryan Phillippe is a distant relative of Deacon Phillippe who won 189 games in the majors back in the first decade of the 20th century. Michael Moriarty’s grandfather George played for the Cubs, Highlanders (Yankees), Tigers and White Sox 1903 to 1916 and managed the Tigers in 1927 & 28. Oscar winner Holly Hunter’s cousin is Tim Salmon who was the American League rookie of the year in 1993 and hit 299 homers in the majors all for the Angels.
He is the Angels career leader in homers, walks, runs batted in and slugging average and played his last game in 2006.
Hey Dan….Dan Dailey was considered…..but in the end he did not make our roster…..he is in the high minors and we are monitoring his performances very very closely….lol.
Very cool trivia on actors and their famous relatives….I was not aware of any of those combinations. Of the players you mentioned….I am only aware of Tim Salmon…..Salmon had some very good years for sure.
Thanks for the feedback.
Hard to tell if this team is supposed to be great baseball players or famous actors. If the latter, Gene Kelly & Sinatra should be the double play combination, with Jackie Robinson playing third (which he did also). By the way, Jackie Robinson played himself once rather well so I would let him play himself on your list.
Hey John….I only had a few rules for putting this together….”I wanted 15 position players and 10 pitchers. I only could use one person per movie. And finally any Oscar® winning performer would get prefential treatment”. By following that rule I could not use the double play combination in Take Me Out To The Ballgame.
I thought about using Jackie as himself…..but since I did not want to use Babe Ruth as himself….so I went with Harrison Ford Robinson movie.
This was a fun page to do….surprisingly I was able to stay away from stats….that happens but not too often. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
This might be my favorite page on your website. Shocked it has so few comments. I love the detail and knowledge of the game in the page. I love the batting order too. This would make a great team. Simply awesome!
Hey Stein….Wow….thanks for such nice words…glad you liked this one…..it was a fun one to do…including doing the entire 25 man roster. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Two huge mistakes. Gotta go with Lou Brown of the Cleveland Indians as manager. Cool, collected, sense of humour and access to a good price on a set of whitewalls. AND I’d take Jake Taylor of the Indians over Bruce Pearson any day! A leader and and all star with Boston before he had trouble with his knees.
@Dave….you make a good point. One of the rules I used in making up this team was to use as many Oscar winners as possible. Berenger got a nomination for Platoon…..but Davis and DeNiro knocked him out since they are both Oscar winners. Lou Brown was my third choice behind….Hoffman and Tom Hanks….but Lou Brown would make a great bench coach….thanks for checking out this page.