Pass the popcorn

Because what else is there to do, baseball-wise, besides read and watch movies?

Via ScreenRant:

According to Rotten Tomatoes, these are the top ten baseball flics. Here’s the criteria:

It should be noted that only certified fresh movies are included, as some baseball films have high ratings but only a handful of reviews.

Definition of “certified fresh?”

The “Certified Fresh” seal is reserved for movies that satisfy two criteria: a “Tomatometer” of 75% or better and at least 80 reviews (40 for limited release movies) from “Tomatometer” critics (including 5 Top Critics).

Obviously, in this case, the rules were relaxed a bit.

In reverse order (since I don’t know how to do a countdown here):

1. A League of Their Own (78%)
2. 42 (80%)
3. Major League (83%)
4. The Rookie (84%)
5. Eight Men Out (86%)
6. Field of Dreams (86%)
7. Everybody Wants Some (87%)
8. Sugar (92%)
9. Moneyball (93%)
10. Bull Durham (97%)

Can’t quibble too much, especially since it’s based on a formula, but I’ve never even heard of Everybody Wants Some, so I can’t comment on how nuts people are. Sugar is the dark horse here. Wonderfully received but probably not well-attended.

Not wholly familiar with RT’s paradigm, so I don’t know how far back it goes. The oldest movie here is Eight Men Out, which premiered in 1988. But there are a lot of classics missing.

And now a list from IMDB on the same topic(also provided by ScreenRant). The site uses a 10-point scale.

1. Field of Dreams (7.5)
2. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (7.6)
3. Moneyball (7.6)
4. 4192: The Crowning of a Hit King (7.7)
5. The Pride of the Yankees (7.7)
6. Long Gone (7.8)
7. *61 (7.8)
8. The Sandlot (7.8)
9. Catching Hell (7.9)
10. The Battered Bastards of Baseball (8.0)

This is a much more eclectic group, since IMDB encompasses film and television. Plus, not all the selections were feature films, as were the RT selections. The top-rated Battered Bastards was a 2014 Netflix offering. *61 was an HBO production while Catching Hell, about the “Bartman Game,” was one of ESPN’s 30-for-30 programs. 4192 was a 2010 documentary that I also had not heard of previously. Shame on me.

NOTE: Since the time I began this entry, I hopped on Netflix and watched Battered Bastards. Its Number One rating is well-deserved and I highly recommend it.

Glad TPOTY made somebody’s best baseball movie list, and now that I see it, surprised that The Sandlot did not make the Rotten Tomatoes.

Tagged as: Bing Russell, Jim Bouton, Portland Mavericks