Baseball has a lot of good movies

Dear Joel,

What a great question. My favorite sports movie of all time? I'm probably going to have to make a list, because I can't settle on one. I'll group them by their sport. That way I don't even have to pick the ones I like more. After making this list I realized that of the ten movies I have here, six of them are based on true events. Also interesting is that six of the 10 are baseball movies, but if I were to rank them, my top 3 would probably be non-baseball movies. They're all great stories, and although they have the expected Hollywood embellishments, they illustrate well some of the reasons I like sports.

HOCKEY

Miracle

Based on the true story of the US Olympic hockey team who defeated the Soviets in the 1980 olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It's emotional and patriotic. If I were ranking all of these sports movies, this one could actually be #1. It's certainly no worse than #3 on my list. I'm not even a hockey fan.

The Mighty Ducks trilogy

One of those too-rare sets of movies in which parts 2 and 3 rise to the bar set by the original. These are favorites largely because they were a beloved part of my childhood.

FOOTBALL

Remember the Titans

I think this movie is one of the first reasons I decided I was a Denzel Washington fan. This is another top-3 for me in the sports movies world. It's the story of the football team at a newly-integrated high school in Virginia in the early 1970's when racial tension's were incredibly high.

Rudy

I don't have any particular love or hate for Notre Dame football, but Sean Astin is great in this "true story" movie about a relatively small, un-athletic, un-intelligent young man whose dream was to play for the Fighting Irish. It's inspiring, and it has an excellent soundtrack.Probably the third of my top-3.

BASEBALL

The Rookie

The true story of Jim Morris, who retired from baseball after pitching in the minor leagues and having arm health issues in the mid-80s. Almost 15 years later, he was a high school teacher and baseball coach, and he made a deal with his team that if they won the district championship, he'd try out for the majors again. They won, unexpectedly, and he fulfilled his end of the deal, ending up playing for the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999 as a 35-year old rookie. It might not be the greatest of all sports stories (though still a good one), but it's really well made, and I think Dennis Quaid is excellent.

A League of Their Own

Another (sorta) true story of the All American  Girls Professional Baseball League, which put some all-female teams on the diamond during WWII when the men were at war. It's a really good movie, and Tom Hanks' Jimmy Dugan is one of my favorite movie characters of all time (along with Tom Cruise's Daniel Kaffee, Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday, Heath Ledger's Joker, and Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka).

The Sandlot

A group of kids who spend all summer playing baseball in the town's sandlot in the 1960s. This is a great movie, and it always makes me feel like a kid again.

For Love of the Game

This movie is at least 50% "chick-flick." I happen to like chick flicks enough that I still consider it a great movie -- especially since the baseball portion of the film is really good. But I could understand if someone who likes sports movies docked this one for not being sports-centered enough. I think this fictional movie is part of the reason why I have a tender place in my heart for the Detroit Tigers.

Little Big League

This is a light-hearted comedy for kids and families. It's about a 12-year old boy named Billy who becomes the owner of the Minnesota Twins when his grandfather passes away and leaves the team to Billy in his will. The boy is a sort of baseball savant, and appoints himself as the team's manager. Under intense scrutiny and disapproval from players and fans alike, Billy has to try to help his team be successful. Very enjoyable. Kind of a cool (albeit unrealistic) premise.

Eight Men Out

Of course we can't forget the true story of the eight members of the 1919 White Sox who conspired to throw the World Series and were, as a result, banned from baseball forever. I like historical drama, and I like baseball, so how could this movie fail?

Here are a few other sports movies I left off my list for various reasons. If you want to know my reasons, I guess you'll have to ask.

Field of Dreams

Major League (both 1 and 2)

Rookie of the Year

The Natural

42

 What do you think of my list?

Unrelated: What's your favorite kind of candy bar and why?