Baseball and film have a long history of creating movie magic. From A League of Their Own (1992) to The Sandlot (1993) to Field of Dreams (1989), something about a baseball movie adds a cozy, American flair to Hollywood movies. But what makes this combo so special?
A part of baseball and cinema’s successful combination is due to how perfectly the sport fits into the outline of a movie. Baseball has a built-in narrative of nine innings, holding the perfect beginning, middle, and end. Not only is one game long enough to fit into a screenplay, but the average season of baseball spans over seven months if you include the postseason. It’s because of this that many films that follow a team are able to easily incorporate baseball into the narrative of the film.
Baseball, however, adds another layer of nostalgia and glory to the story because the game is known for its symbolism of the American Dream.
Also known as “America’s pastime,” baseball is one of the few sports mainly played in the U.S. It has a history of bringing escapism and happiness to otherwise depressing times. Take World War II, for example. Penny Marshall’s film A League of Their Own is a prime example of a film utilizing contextual history to create a comedic and rewarding sports film. The premise is based on the fact that so many men were deployed to fight in the war that the women created a baseball league to fill the sports gap in the meantime.
Nowadays, athletes from all over the world come to the U.S. to play ball. Quite literally representing the American Dream. You have athletes like Shohei Ohtani representing the game of baseball in Japan, whilst playing for the back-to-back World Series champion team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, or Teoscar Hernandez, who is from the Dominican Republic. The game has grown into such a widespread, internationally-watched sport that they created the World Baseball Classic, where MLB players represent their country’s team. This year, Venezuela took home the trophy in the tournament.
The history of the game, combined with the complex history of the U.S., adds an element to the game in which the stories write themselves. The film 42 (2013), which starred the late Chadwick Boseman, is a prime example of how a great sports drama can tug at your heart like no other. This film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and the pivotal role Robinson played in the civil rights movement in the U.S. and the desegregation of baseball.
But what makes baseball films so successful is their ability to combine the visual aesthetic of the game with the emotional through line of the film.
From loud, night games to the quiet at-bat moments, these add an emotional level to the story. You do not even have to be a fan of the sport to enjoy a film centered around it because of the layers of emotion behind every moment. There are so many parts that make the game nostalgic and special, one being the announcers. In the film Parental Guidance (2012), Billy Crystal plays a minor league baseball announcer who loves his job more than anything. Although the film is not centered around baseball, the emotional through line is his love for the game while balancing his love for his family, which creates a story filled with love.
Baseball and film both have the unique ability to change people’s lives. Put them together, and it creates an emotional, unbeatable match of story, spirit, and heart.