Movies And Baseball

An associate faculty at Mission College in Santa Clara, California, Robert Fettgather Ph.D. teaches general psychology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and psychiatric interviewing.  Robert Fettgather has co-authored several papers on social issues including disability and elder rights. In his spare time, Robert Fettgather enjoys our National Pastime. 

As the Academy awards pass, it signals the start of another baseball season. So why not consider some movies that feature America’s National Pastime?

A forgotten lead-off flick might be the Warner Brothers produced, The Winning Team. Loosely based on the life of Hall of Fame pitcher, Grover Cleveland Alexander, it stars Doris day opposite…Ronald Reagan. It is said that Reagan trained with Cleveland Indians star pitcher Bob Lemon for the part. Reviews were solid if not stellar, calling the performances “sincere and moving”. You be the judge.

For contrast, consider a popular film that tells (and sells) the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. Of course, that’s A League Of Their Own. It features a great comedic performance from Tom Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugan. Famous for the line “there is no crying in baseball”, there is a more profound bit of ballpark lore that begins with a player complaining about how very hard baseball is…to which Hanks responds (here paraphrasing)…”of course it is hard; if it was easy anybody could do it; its hard and that's what makes it great”

Enough said. Action! Play ball!