Baseball DVDs for Christmas Gifts
Your Baseball Fan Will Love The Natural, Bull Durham and Many More
Here are ten great DVD baseball movies to buy for that special baseball fan this holiday season.
During the cold winter months there is nothing more comforting and grounding than a baseball movie. Let's face it: with six inches of snow on the ground and with the wind chill dropping below zero, not even the most hardcore baseball lovers wants to have a catch or shag fly balls.
But movies are a great substitute. They remind baseball-philes of all that was once good and will be good again come spring time. So give your fan a baseball movie DVD. It will help him or her her get over those miserable dark cold months, when the shadows come too early and the darknes outstays its welcome. Here are ten baseball movie DVDs worth buying:
Field of Dreams. Starring Kevin Costner, it's about an Iowa farmer who hears voices of long-dead baseball players in his corn field, and decides to do something about it. At times it's a little schmaltzy, at other times its a bit historically inaccuracte. But overall, it is a joy to watch, and it will make even the hardest of the hardcore agnostics entertain the possibility of an infinite universe and a glorious life in the beyond.
The Natural. Robert Redford, Kim Basinger, Robert Duvall, Wilford Brimley, and Darin McGavin bring Bernard Malamud's classic novel to life -- and more than do the book justice. It's a good movie to watch during the bleakest hours of the long, cold winter.
Eight Men Out. John Sayles' excellent telling of the true story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who threw the World Series that year in excange for money. Sounds despicable, right? Well, by the end of the movie, you might just be rooting for the cheaters.
Pride of the Yankees. The heartbreaking story of the last days of the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig. Gary Cooper stars as the quiet slugger who was almost as good as the Babe, but whose career ended prematurely when he was felled by a terrible disease that took him from baseball at age 35 and took him from the world at just 38.
Bull Durham. This movie captures not just the baseball player's dream to one day make the majors, but is also a wonderful commentary on the dignity and bittersweet joy that comes from struggling too long in the minor leagues. Costner and Susan Sarandon also have one of the most romantic scenes in recent film history. It's not to be missed.
Bang The Drum Slowly. This 1973 independent film tells the tale of a catcher who's struggling to make it in the majors but discovers that he is dyng of cancer. Robert DeNiro plays the stricken protagonist with such beauty and understatement that I guarantee you will shed a few tears.
Major League. It's still funny, almost twenty years later.
A League of Their Own. This film shows that girls are supposed to play baseball. And these ladies play it very, very well. Tom Hanks steals the movie as the team's drunken manager, Jimmy Doogan ("there's no crying in baseball!"), but the athletic performances of these women on the diamond is nothing short of spectacular. I bet Geena Davis could get a hit off some of those pitchers from the Devil Rays.
For Love of the Game. Yeah, it's Costner again, but it's good. This guy was clearly made to portray ballplayers. The movie follows the life of a veteran pitcher who, while in the midst of hurling a potential perfect game, reflects upon his life, his many friendsips, and his near perfect love for the super-adorable Kelly Preston.
*61. Billy Crystal's homage to the 1961 home run race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris is among the most authentic and enjoyable baseball movies ever made.
