Baseball/Drama

Boyhood dreams, a bat made from a tree struck by lightning and most importantly, a never-ending passion for the game. Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable that begins when 14-year-old Hobbs (Redford) fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs' career.

"The Jackie Robinson Story" - Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues. "It's Good To Be Alive" - The story of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella, whose career was cut short in 1959 when he lost the use of his legs in an auto accident. "Heading Home" - The "true story" of baseball great Babe Ruth; Ruth plays himself.

Legendary Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) has always been better at baseball than at love. Just ask Jane (Kelly Preston), his on-again, off-again girlfriend. At the end of a disappointing season, just before what may be the last professional game of his life, Jane tells Billy she's leaving him. Now, with his career and his love life in the balance, Billy battles against his physical and emotional limits as he plays the game of his life. And now with every pitch, Billy comes closer to making the most important decision of his life.

If you build it, he will come. With these words, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife Annie (Amy Madigan), Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true, a baseball diamond. Along the way he meets reclusive activist Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), the mysterious "Doc" Graham (Burt Lancaster) and even the legendary "Shoeless Joe" Jackson (Ray Liotta).

Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Filmmaker John Sayles worked on his script years before the 1988†film (or before he had the rights to make the film) as a labor of love. Sayles's adaptation proves one can make a historically accurate film in the day and age of artistic license. And what a story. Although many know about the "Black Sox," made famous--again--in the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams, the details of the saga are far less known.

Fear Strikes Out tells the courageous story of Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall, who played seventeen seasons in the majors--with a lifetime batting average of .272-- while battling mental illness. Anthony Perkins' trademark intensity brings the ballplayer's nightmare to life and Karl Malden gives a strong performance as his overbearing, perfectionist father.

John Goodman ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?") brings the legendary Babe Ruth to life in this triumphant film "Entertainment Weekly" calls "a crowd pleaser." Co-starring Kelly McGillis ("Witness"), The Babe chronicles Ruth's phenomenal story--from his hard knock beginnings at a Baltimore orphanage, to his meteoric rise to baseball superstardom and his poignant retirement from the game. His amazing career included seven American League pennants, four World Series championships, two tempestuous marriages and a wild lifestyle that earned him numerous suspensions.

Robert De Niro stars as Bruce Pearson, a baseball player stricken with Hodgkin's disease. During his illness, he befriends the team's star pitcher Henry Wiggin (Michael Moriarty), who not only helps Bruce hide his illness from the materialist owners, but also emotionally supports his dying friend. Moriarty and DeNiro's performances, as well as coach Vincent Gardenia's, are the high points of this tearjerker based on Mark Harris's 1950's novel. Academy Award Nominations: Best Supporting Actor--Vincent Gardenia.

Set in New York City in 1961, 61* is a film directed by Billy Crystal for baseball lovers. Zooming in on Yankee players Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, the film follows these two opposites as they attempt to break Babe Ruth's 1927 home run record. In heated competition, the two players each try to score over 60 home runs and set the new world record. While the fans align themselves with one player to be the winner, the players choose the other, igniting the playing field with tension, excitement, and anticipation.