This is a list of films about baseball, featuring notable films where baseball plays a central role in the development of the plot.
Title | Year | Type | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
The Ball Game | 1898 | Documentary | Short film depicting an 1898 baseball game between Reading Phillies and Newark Bears. |
Baseball and Bloomers | 1911 | Short | An all-girl baseball team uses two Harvard boys in disguise. |
Right Off the Bat | 1915 | Drama | A bio-pic of sorts starring professional baseball player Mike Donlin |
Casey at the Bat | 1916 | Drama | A lost five-reeler based on Ernest Thayer's poem and starring DeWolf Hopper |
Somewhere in Georgia | 1917 | Drama | Ty Cobb as a ball-playing bank clerk in a story by Grantland Rice. |
Baseball Madness | 1917 | Comedy | A silent film starring Gloria Swanson. |
The Busher | 1919 | Comedy | Small-town ballplayer gets a big head after joining the St. Paul Pink Sox. |
Headin' Home | 1920 | Biographical | A silent film about young Babe Ruth, who stars as himself. |
Life's Greatest Game | 1924 | Drama | Chicago Cubs pitcher Jack Donovan refuses to throw a game. |
The Battling Orioles | 1924 | Comedy | A barber enlists the help of his father and his old professional baseball teammates to solve a problem. |
The New Klondike | 1926 | Comedy | A pitcher and his manager clash over a Florida land purchase. |
Casey at the Bat | 1927 | Comedy | Wallace Beery in slugger's fable based on Ernest Thayer poem. |
Slide, Kelly, Slide | 1927 | Comedy | A cocky newcomer thinks he's the New York Yankees' new star. |
The Bush Leaguer | 1927 | Comedy | |
Warming Up | 1928 | Romance | New player competes with team's star for owner's daughter. |
Fast Company | 1929 | Comedy | Elmer Kane (Jack Oakie) hopes the Yankees and an actress are interested in him. |
Hot Curves | 1930 | Comedy | Pittsburgh pitcher finds romance with manager's daughter. |
They Learned About Women | 1930 | Musical | Two pals play ball by day, perform in vaudeville by night. |
Up the River | 1930 | Comedy | A game behind bars brings Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart out of the pen. |
Fireman, Save My Child | 1932 | Comedy | Joe E. Brown as a small-town fireman who is also the town's star ballplayer. |
Elmer, the Great | 1933 | Drama | Joe E. Brown as an egotistical Chicago Cubs baseball star. Remake of 1929 film. |
Death on the Diamond | 1934 | Mystery | Ballplayer (Robert Young) tries to find who's killing his fellow St. Louis Cardinals. |
Alibi Ike | 1935 | Comedy | Joe E. Brown as a pitcher with a million excuses. |
Girls Can Play | 1937 | Mystery | A women's softball team owner murders a player (Rita Hayworth) by poisoning her catcher's mitt. |
The Pride of the Yankees | 1942 | Biographical | The life and career of Lou Gehrig, with Gary Cooper as Gehrig and Babe Ruth as himself. |
It Happened in Flatbush | 1942 | Comedy | Hard-hearted manager (Lloyd Nolan) falls for Brooklyn team's owner. |
Ladies' Day | 1943 | Comedy | Sox pitcher Wacky Waters (Eddie Albert) is distracted by a hot Hollywood movie star, Pepita Zorita (Lupe Vélez). |
The Babe Ruth Story | 1948 | Biographical | The life and career of Babe Ruth, starring William Bendix. |
It Happens Every Spring | 1949 | Comedy | Ray Milland as a scientist whose secret formula turns him into a great pitcher. |
The Stratton Story | 1949 | Biographical | The career and fateful accident of pitcher Monty Stratton, starring James Stewart. |
Take Me Out to the Ball Game | 1949 | Musical | Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly as singing, dancing ballplayers. |
The Kid from Cleveland | 1949 | Drama | The '48 World Series champion Cleveland Indians come to the aid of a young fan. |
Kill the Umpire | 1950 | Comedy | William Bendix as a baseball fan who becomes an umpire. |
The Jackie Robinson Story | 1950 | Biographical | Baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson as himself, with Ruby Dee as his wife. |
Angels in the Outfield | 1951 | Comedy | A Pittsburgh Pirates manager (Paul Douglas) gets some help from above. |
Rhubarb | 1951 | Comedy | Ray Milland in a cute tale about a cat who inherits a baseball team. |
The Pride of St. Louis | 1952 | Biographical | Dan Dailey as the colorful pitcher Dizzy Dean. |
The Winning Team | 1952 | Biographical | Based on pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, played by Ronald Reagan. |
The Kid from Left Field | 1953 | Comedy | The son of a peanut vendor (Dan Dailey) becomes the leader of a big-league team. |
Big Leaguer | 1953 | Drama | Hans Lobert (Edward G. Robinson) runs a training camp for baseball's New York Giants. |
Roogie's Bump | 1954 | Comedy | A mysterious bump somehow gives a boy a big-league arm. |
The Great American Pastime | 1956 | Comedy | A man (Tom Ewell) decides to coach a Little League team, then regrets it. |
Fear Strikes Out | 1957 | Biographical | The life and career of Jimmy Piersall, played by Anthony Perkins. |
Damn Yankees | 1958 | Musical | A man sells his soul to the devil on behalf of Washington's baseball team. |
Safe at Home! | 1962 | Comedy | With Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as themselves. |
Bang the Drum Slowly | 1973 | Drama | A pitcher's friendship with a catcher (Robert De Niro) who has a terminal disease. |
It's Good To Be Alive | 1974 | Biographical | TV movie about former Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, whose career was cut short when he lost the use of his legs in an auto accident in January 1958. |
The Bad News Bears | 1976 | Comedy | Walter Matthau's bad Little League team gets help from a girl pitcher (Tatum O'Neal) and a motorcycle-riding slugger (Jackie Earle Haley). |
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings | 1976 | Comedy | A barnstorming team of Negro leagues players, with James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor. |
Murder at the World Series | 1977 | Drama | TV film starring Karen Valentine and Janet Leigh. |
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training | 1977 | Comedy | Sequel to 1976 film, with William Devane as the team's coach. |
One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story | 1978 | Biographical | TV film on the life and career of Ron LeFlore, starring LeVar Burton. |
A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story | 1978 | Biographical | TV film on Yankee immortal's marriage and tragedy, featuring Blythe Danner and Edward Herrmann. |
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan | 1978 | Comedy | Second sequel to 1976 film, this time starring Tony Curtis. |
The Kid from Left Field | 1979 | Comedy | TV film, remake, with Gary Coleman. |
Aunt Mary | 1979 | Drama | A disabled women sets up a baseball team of street kids to save them from juvenile delinquency. |
Squeeze Play! | 1980 | Comedy | Sexy women form a softball team. |
The Comeback Kid | 1980 | Comedy | Former minor leaguer (John Ritter) begins coaching underprivileged kids. |
Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige | 1981 | Biographical | TV film with Louis Gossett Jr. as the ageless 1940s pitcher. |
Only The Ball Was White | 1981 | Documentary | A tribute to the topflight players of the Negro leagues. |
Blue Skies Again | 1983 | Comedy | Denver Devils' potential second baseman isn't a man, it's a young woman. |
Tiger Town | 1983 | Comedy | Early Disney Channel film about an aging Detroit Tigers (Roy Scheider). |
The Natural | 1984 | Drama | Robert Redford in a fable about an unlikely, unlucky hero, Roy Hobbs. |
Brewster's Millions | 1985 | Comedy | Richard Pryor as a minor-leaguer with a chance to inherit 300 million dollars. |
The Slugger's Wife | 1985 | Romance | An Atlanta Braves player tries to break Roger Maris' record and make a marriage work. |
A Winner Never Quits | 1986 | Biographical | A television film on one-armed pro ballplayer Pete Gray, played by Keith Carradine. |
Long Gone | 1987 | Comedy | Early cable television film about a minor-league ballclub starring William Petersen. |
Trading Hearts | 1987 | Comedy | Has-been player (Raúl Juliá) and his romance with a Florida single mom. |
Amazing Grace and Chuck | 1987 | Drama | A Montana boy refuses to pitch Little League until the world bans nuclear weapons. With Gregory Peck as President of the United States. |
Bull Durham | 1988 | Rom-Com | Ron Shelton's screwball comedy of a woman's (Susan Sarandon) summer with two minor-leaguers (Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins). |
Eight Men Out | 1988 | Biographical | Based on the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. |
Stealing Home | 1988 | Drama | Mark Harmon and Jodie Foster in a fictional tale of lost love. |
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | 1988 | Comedy | Someone's out to kill the Queen of the United Kingdom during an Angels baseball game, and it's up to bumbling detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) to foil the plot. |
Field of Dreams | 1989 | Drama | Voices tell an Iowa farmer (Kevin Costner) to build a baseball stadium in his cornfield. |
Major League | 1989 | Comedy | Fictional story of a team of misfit Cleveland Indians. |
Night Game | 1989 | Crime drama | A ballpark murder mystery starring Roy Scheider. |
Mr. Destiny | 1990 | Comedy | A man (James Belushi) blames his misfortune on a long-ago baseball game. |
Taking Care of Business | 1990 | Comedy | A man (James Belushi) escapes jail to see the Chicago Cubs play in a World Series. |
Pastime | 1990 | Drama | A pair of minor leaguers, one 17, one 40, form a bond. |
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | 1990 | Drama | Andre Braugher in TV biopic of Robinson's court-martial in U.S. Army. |
Talent for the Game | 1991 | Drama | A fictional Los Angeles Angels baseball scout (Edward James Olmos) finds a fantastic young pitcher. |
The Babe | 1992 | Biographical | Based on the life and career of Babe Ruth, starring John Goodman. |
The Comrades of Summer | 1992 | Comedy | A television film about a manager (Joe Mantegna) asked to take over a Soviet ballclub. |
A League of Their Own | 1992 | Comedy | A fictionalized account of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League of the 1940s, starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks. |
Mr. Baseball | 1992 | Rom-Com | Tom Selleck as a baseball star who ends up in Japan. |
Rookie of the Year | 1993 | Comedy | A boy develops a magical right arm and becomes a big-league pitcher for the Cubs. |
The Man From Left Field | 1993 | Comedy | A television film about a homeless man (Burt Reynolds) coaching a Little League team. |
The Sandlot | 1993 | Comedy | A man reminisces about his childhood friends and the games they played. |
Cooperstown | 1993 | Drama | A former pitcher is visited by the ghost of his catcher. |
Baseball | 1994 | Documentary | Comprehensive history of the game, 18 hours-plus, as chronicled by Ken Burns. |
Angels in the Outfield | 1994 | Comedy | Disney remake of the 1951 film of the same name. |
Cobb | 1994 | Biographical | The career and last days of Ty Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones. |
Little Big League | 1994 | Comedy | A child becomes owner of the Minnesota Twins. |
Major League II | 1994 | Comedy | Second film in the Major League series about the Cleveland Indians. |
The Scout | 1994 | Comedy | A New York Yankees scout (Albert Brooks) finds a phenomenal but psychologically troubled prospect. |
Baseball Girls | 1995 | Documentary | A history of women's baseball |
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream | 1995 | Documentary | Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's all-time homer record, directed by Michael Tollin. |
Dorf on the Diamond | 1996 | Comedy | Direct-to-video short film in the Dorf series starring Tim Conway. |
Ed | 1996 | Comedy | Matt LeBlanc befriends a baseball-playing chimpanzee. |
The Fan | 1996 | Thriller | A deranged San Francisco fan (Robert De Niro) kills a player, kidnaps another's son. |
Soul of the Game | 1996 | Biographical | Story of baseball trailblazers including Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson. |
Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way | 1997 | Biographical | Paul Sorvino as the former New York Yankees manager. |
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg | 1998 | Documentary | The life and career of a former Detroit Tigers star and war hero. |
If the Sun Rises in the West | 1998 | Drama | South Korean story of an umpire. |
Major League: Back to the Minors | 1998 | Comedy | Third film in the Major League series. |
For Love of the Game | 1999 | Drama | In possibly his last start, a Detroit pitcher (Kevin Costner) goes after a perfect game. |
Perfect Game | 2000 | Comedy | Television film starring Ed Asner. |
Angels in the Infield | 2000 | Comedy | Patrick Warburton in second made-for-TV sequel to the 1994 film. |
61* | 2001 | Drama | HBO film directed by Billy Crystal about the 1961 season of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. |
Hardball | 2001 | Drama | Keanu Reeves as a young man who takes charge of an inner-city team. |
Summer Catch | 2001 | Romance | Fictional love story starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. |
Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch | 2002 | Comedy | Fourth entry in the Air Bud series. |
The Rookie | 2002 | Biographical | Based on true story of a high school coach, pitcher Jim Morris, portrayed by Dennis Quaid. |
Bleacher Bums | 2002 | Comedy | TV version of the 1970s stage play about diehard fans in the outfield bleachers. |
Battlefield Baseball | 2003 | Action | Japanese film. |
Day of Independence | 2003 | Drama | Short film |
Hustle | 2004 | Biographical | ESPN dramatization on success and scandal of Pete Rose, starring Tom Sizemore. |
Mickey | 2004 | Drama | John Grisham story about a Little Leaguer and his father. |
Mr. 3000 | 2004 | Comedy | A potential Hall of Famer (Bernie Mac) is told he's actually three hits shy of 3,000. |
Nine Innings From Ground Zero | 2004 | Documentary | How the 2001 World Series helped America cope with 9/11. |
This Old Cub | 2004 | Documentary | Chronicles life of Ron Santo, focusing on his struggle with type 1 diabetes. |
Up for Grabs | 2004 | Documentary | A battle over who owns ball hit in 2001 by Barry Bonds for his 73rd home run. |
The Winning Season | 2004 | Drama | A child from 1985 wakes up in 1909 and meets hero Honus Wagner (Matthew Modine). |
Fever Pitch | 2005 | Rom-Com | Loosely based on Nick Hornby soccer story, in this case a Boston Red Sox fan (Jimmy Fallon). |
Game 6 | 2005 | Drama | A playwright (Michael Keaton) has a wild night during a Red Sox playoff series. |
Bad News Bears | 2005 | Comedy | Remake of 1976 film of same name, starring Billy Bob Thornton. |
The Sandlot 2 | 2005 | Comedy | Direct-to-video sequel to The Sandlot. |
The Benchwarmers | 2006 | Comedy | David Spade and Rob Schneider as middle-aged nerds who want to play ball. |
Everyone's Hero | 2006 | Animation | Cartoon family film with baseball theme. |
Beer League | 2006 | Comedy | A town drunk plays in a big softball game. |
Off the Black | 2006 | Drama | An umpire (Nick Nolte) befriends a high school player who hated him. |
Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball | 2006 | Documentary | Broadcast on the U.S. PBS series POV. Explores the phenomenon of high school baseball in Japan. |
The Final Season | 2007 | Drama | Based on 1991 season of Norway High School in Norway, Iowa, before it was closed and consolidated into its county school district, starring Sean Astin. |
The Sandlot: Heading Home | 2007 | Comedy | Second direct-to-video sequel to The Sandlot. |
The Bronx Is Burning | 2007 | Biographical | A docudrama of 1977 New York Yankees, with John Turturro as Billy Martin. |
Black Irish | 2007 | Drama | Boston teen tries to escape family problems through his pitching. |
American Pastime | 2007 | Drama | Based on true events, depicts life inside internment camps, where baseball was one of the major diversions from the reality of the internees' lives. |
City Without Baseball | 2008 | Drama | Chinese film. |
Signs of the Time | 2008 | Documentary | Hour-long film which focuses on the origin of hand signals in baseball. |
Sugar | 2008 | Drama | Story about a Dominican prospect and his adjustment to life in the U.S. |
Touching Home | 2008 | Drama | Brothers with pro-ball ambitions deal with their homeless father (Ed Harris). |
The Perfect Game | 2009 | Drama | Based on true story of Mexico team that won 1957 Little League World Series. |
The Open Road | 2009 | Drama | Minor leaguer Justin Timberlake has issues with baseball-legend dad Jeff Bridges. |
Calvin Marshall | 2009 | Comedy | Talentless baseball player Alex Frost tries to make Steve Zahn coached college team. |
4192: The Crowning of the Hit King | 2010 | Documentary | Reviewing the achievements, controversies of all-time hit leader Pete Rose. |
Chasing 3000 | 2010 | Drama | Two boys go a long way to witness 3,000th career hit of Roberto Clemente. |
Fernando Nation | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Chronicles impact of Fernando Valenzuela's 1981 rookie season with Los Angeles Dodgers. |
Four Days in October | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. On the Boston Red Sox' comeback from 3–0 series deficit against Yankees in 2004 ALCS. |
Hero | 2010 | Drama | Christian film about fathers and sons. |
How Do You Know | 2010 | Rom-Com | A romantic triangle involving a softball player (Reese Witherspoon) and a Washington Nationals pitcher (Owen Wilson). |
The House of Steinbrenner | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Explores the legacy of George Steinbrenner's ownership of the New York Yankees. |
Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story | 2010 | Documentary | Documentary film on the connection and history between American Jews and baseball. |
Jordan Rides the Bus | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Explores Michael Jordan's brief career in minor league baseball after his first retirement from basketball. |
Little Big Men | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. On a Kirkland National Little League team's stunning victory in 1982 Little League World Series, and players' lives in the decades that followed. |
Silly Little Game | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. About the New York City writers and academics who created Rotisserie fantasy baseball, and how their creation eventually left them behind. |
Catching Hell | 2011 | Documentary | Made for TV as a follow-up to ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Explores relationship between Steve Bartman and other Chicago Cubs fans since foul-ball incident in Game 6 of 2003 NLCS. |
A Mile in His Shoes | 2011 | Drama | A minor-league manager stumbles on a hidden talent who throws apples on a farm. |
Moneyball | 2011 | Drama | Based on a true story, the Michael Lewis best-seller about Oakland A's exec Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, and assistant general manager Peter Brand (based on Paul DePodesta, played by Jonah Hill). |
Ballplayer: Pelotero | 2011 | Documentary | A behind-the-scenes glimpse into the remarkably organized and well-managed system in the Dominican Republic that has produced an inordinate amount of elite athletes. |
Trouble with the Curve | 2012 | Drama | Clint Eastwood as a veteran Atlanta Braves scout whose vision is fading. |
Knuckleball! | 2012 | Documentary | A season following pitchers Tim Wakefield and R. A. Dickey. |
You Don't Know Bo | 2012 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series about baseball and football star Bo Jackson. |
Home Run | 2013 | Drama | A ballplayer dealing with substance abuse returns to his hometown. |
42 | 2013 | Biographical | Story of Jackie Robinson's (Chadwick Boseman) historic signing with Brooklyn Dodgers under guidance of team executive Branch Rickey (played by Harrison Ford). |
Gibsonburg | 2013 | Drama | Story of 2005 Gibsonburg High School team from Ohio, the first U.S. high school team in any sport to win a state championship with a losing record. |
Million Dollar Arm | 2014 | Drama | A sports agent (Jon Hamm) arranges a baseball tryout for two cricket players from India. |
The Vancouver Asahi | 2014 | Drama | Set in Canada during the 1930s.[1] |
The Battered Bastards of Baseball | 2014 | Documentary | Look at a Portland minor-league team, featuring Bing (the team's owner) and Kurt Russell (who played for the team and later worked in its front office). |
Henry & Me | 2014 | Animated | Guardian angel introduces an ill 12-year-old to New York Yankees of different eras. |
The Phenom | 2015 | Drama | A talented young baseball player struggles professionally as he deals with his abusive father. |
Everybody Wants Some!! | 2016 | Comedy | Film by Richard Linklater about immature 1980 college baseball players in Texas. |
Doc & Darryl | 2016 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Explores the lives, careers, and struggles with addiction of former New York Mets stars Dwight "Doc" Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. |
Fastball | 2016 | Documentary | With Kevin Costner narrating, lead a cast of baseball legends and scientists who explore the magic within the 396 milliseconds it takes a fastball to reach home plate, and decipher who threw the fastest pitch ever.. |
Spaceman | 2016 | Biographical | Josh Duhamel portrays a colorful left-handed pitcher, Bill Lee. |
Undrafted | 2016 | Comedy | After a college baseball star doesn't make the Major League Baseball draft, an intramural game with friends becomes hugely important to him as he tries to accept his broken dreams. |
World Beaters | 2017 | Documentary | ESPN Films production chronicling the Maine–Endwell Little League team that won the 2016 Little League World Series, becoming the smallest community ever to win that event. |
Heading Home | 2018 | Documentary | About the underdog Israel national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. |
Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams | 2019 | Documentary | US–Japanese coproduction exploring Japanese high school baseball, focusing on two schools trying to reach the 100th Summer Koshien national tournament and the differing approaches of their coaches. |
Bottom of the 9th | 2019 | Drama | After serving 17 years in prison for a violent mistake he made in his youth, a once-aspiring baseball player returns to his Bronx neighborhood. |
Baseball Girl | 2020 | Drama | Story of a high school student who tries to join a professional team with the help of her coach. |
Long Gone Summer | 2020 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. A look back at the 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. |
Once Upon a Time in Queens | 2021 | Documentary | Made for TV as a part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. A four-part exploration of the 1986 New York Mets and their enduring place in sports culture. |
It Ain't Over | 2022 | Documentary | Explores the life and career of New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra. |
Tomorrow's Game | 2023 | Children and family, Science fiction | On the day of his uncle's ascendance into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Daniel is forced to embark on a journey through time that sees him restore his family's legacy and rewrite baseball history. With Paul Rodriguez. |
Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the Dream | 2023 | Documentary | Documentary made by ESPN Films exploring Shohei Ohtani's rise from his beginning in Japan to becoming a two-way superstar in Major League Baseball. Starring Pedro Martinez as narrator. |
The Hill | 2023 | Biographical | The true-life story of Rickey Hill's improbable journey to play Major League Baseball. |
See also
References
- ^ Kevin Ma (December 24, 2014). "Yo-kai Watch breaks Toho record in Japan". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2014.