(as selected by e! entertainment magazine)

#1 - The Natural (1984)

Just like Willie Mays, who could run, hit and throw, this classic starring Robert Redford is a complete player--the greatest of them all. Windows Media Player | Quicktime

#2 - Bull Durham (1988)

Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins turn in a triple play in this ode to A-ball. Sarandon has never been sexier as the self-proclaimed High Priestess of the Church of Baseball. Windows Media Player | Quicktime "Strikeouts are fascist..." Real Audio "He hit the bull..." Real Audio "You're all a bunch of lollygaggers..." Real Audio Meeting on the mound Real Audio "Anything that travels that far should have a stewardess on it" Real Audio Crash Davis "I Believe" speech Real Audio

#3 - Fear Strikes Out (1957)

"Ninety percent of baseball is half mental," noted the game's great sage, Yogi Berra. But for unfortunate outfielder Jimmy Piersall, baseball is 100 percent half, uh, mental. Jimmy's got problems in the head, and who better to play the psyched-out slugger than Anthony Perkins, Mr. Psycho himself? Quicktime

#4 - Bad News Bears (1976)

If you've ever booted a grounder, dropped a fly or struck out swinging at ball four, this is one baseball movie you'll definitely relate to. Yes, we're talkin' Little League baseball, and it's never been more honestly portrayed than in this junior classic from the 1976 season. Quicktime

#5 - Field of Dreams (1988)

"If you build it, he will come," whispers the voice in the cornfield... Windows Media Player | Quicktime "The one constant has been baseball..." Real Audio "Ty Cobb wanted to play..." Real Audio "Wanna have a game of catch?" Real Audio "If you build it, they will come." Real Audio

#6 - Pride of the Yankees (1943)

Lou Gehrig gets the full Hollywood treatment in the quintessential sports biopic. Quicktime

#7 - Angels in the Outfield (1951)

No, not the saccharine Disney remake! The original, beautiful, black-and-white version stars Paul Douglas as the cantankerous Pittsburgh Pirates manager who's touched by an angel, not to mention by a perky, young Janet Leigh. Sweet but not sappy, smart but not cynical, this Angels is a winner because it executes the fundamentals without dropping the ball with a dumbed-down script or flashy special effects. It's how the game used to be played. Quicktime

#8 - Eight Men Out (1988)

Director John Sayles' complex morality play shows how players on the Chicago White Sox team conspired with gamblers to fix the 1919 World Series. Say it ain't so! Sorry, sports fans, this is a true story. Windows Media Player | Quicktime

#9 - Damn Yankees (1958)

Gwen Verdon as Lola, the irresistible groupie sent by Satan to tempt Tab Hunter's "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO," is the MVP in this exuberant Hollywood version of the Broadway classic. Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets--except good ol' Tab. But it's a kick watching her go down swinging. Windows Media Player | Quicktime

#10 - The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)

The year before super-duper-star Reggie Jackson signed his first free-agent contract with the New York Yankees, this rollicking road show--about a group of players who mutiny against the Negro Leagues to form their own barnstorming club--hit theaters. Windows Media Player | Quicktime

Other Good Baseball Movies

Major League (1989)

A baseball comedy and slob comedy rolled into one, this one actually works as entertainment, if not as a piece of cinematic mastery. James Gammon is the has-been manager hired to lead the last-place Cleveland Indians whose owner wants them to lose so she can sell them. Windows Media Player "Just a bit outside" Real Audio "I cannot hit the curveball" Real Audio "You may run like Mays, but you hit like..." Real Audio "What league you been playing in?" Real Audio

Bang The Drum Slowly (1973)

This is the baseball version of "Brian's Song," only better. It started a period of great modern baseball movies and is still regarded by many as the best of the bunch. The movie helped launch the careers of Michael Moriarty as the star pitcher and Robert DeNiro as the dying catcher.

A League Of Their Own (1992)

Penny Marshall's popular 1992 comedy sheds light on a little-known chapter of American sports history with its story of a struggling team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was formed when the recruiting of soldiers during World War II resulted in a shortage of men's baseball teams. The movie also gets extra credit for adding the line "There's no crying in baseball" to the vernacular. Windows Media Player

The Sandlot (1993)

When Scotty Smalls moves to town just before the summer vacation of 1962, his first priority is to make friends. He heads to the nearby sandlot only to humiliate himself before the local kids, but star player Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez befriends the boy and welcomes him to the team. Then Smalls hits a home run that sends his stepfather's "Babe Ruth" autographed baseball into a neighboring yard that's patrolled by a snarling, slobbering monster called "The Beast." Creativity reigns and hilarity ensues when the boys risk everything to retrieve the ball. Windows Media Player

Your favorite baseball movie not here? Send e-mail to fjordan21@attbi.com and I'll add it to this page.

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