Best actors in a baseball role

[Meadowlark]

If we're using the definition from the worst actors thread it has to be D.B. Sweeney as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Eight Men Out who was of minor league standard in real life.

[Los Bravos]

I bought all of those guys as ballplayers, especially the always great David Straithairn as Eddie Ciccotte.

I also really liked Costner in For Love Of The Game.

[highpockets]

I bought all of those guys as ballplayers, especially the always great David Straithairn as Eddie Ciccotte.

Always great, yes. Great villains in that film: Michael Rooker, Michael Lerner, and the ineffable Kevin Tighe.

How were diNiro, Moriarty, and all in Bang the Drum Slowly? I've never seen the film, partly because I didn't want my memory of the book trashed.

[Los Bravos]

Always great, yes. Great villains in that film: Michael Rooker, Michael Lerner, and the ineffable Kevin Tighe.I love that guy who plays Abe Attel, too. His conversation with Bill Burns and Billy Maharg at the track is just classic

Abe Atell: You, you were a ball player.
Bill Burns: Bill Burns.
Abe Atell: 'Sleepy' Bill Burns! Strictly bench material.
Bill Burns: I won a few games.
Abe Atell: Yeah, but you lost a few more. And you, my friend, did not get that nose bobbing for apples.
Billy Maharg: I was a fighter; sort of.
Abe Atell: Sort of. Let me see; Maharg. Billy Maharg!
Billy Maharg: Yeah. You seen me fight?
Abe Atell: Yeah, I seen you fight. You were a bum.

Sayles always has a sports angle, no matter how small, in his films.


How were diNiro, Moriarty, and all in Bang the Drum Slowly? I've never seen the film, partly because I didn't want my memory of the book trashed.I haven't seen that for a few years, but I remember them being okay. It was early in Bob's career, right before his breakout performance in Scorsese's classic Mean Streets. He hadn't quite developed into the effortlress powerhouse he became from the mid 70's onward, but he was still pretty solid.

[chinese home run]

One TV movie that I haven't seen in years was "It's Great To Be Alive" with Paul Winfield playing Roy Campanella. I seem to remember that he did a pretty good job in it, but I haven't seen it since it was a "Movie of the Week" on ABC in around 1974 or so, and I don't know if it's aged well or not.

BTW, the actor who played Walter O'Malley- a fellow named Ramon Bieri- also played Babe Ruth in the TV movie from years ago called "Eleanor and Lou", with Edward Hermann as Lou Gehrig and Blythe Danner as Eleanor Gehrig.

The same actor playing Babe Ruth and Walter O'Malley?- that would be like the same actor playing Santa Claus and Hitler (lol)

[OleMissCub]

I bought all of those guys as ballplayers, especially the always great David Straithairn as Eddie Ciccotte.

I also really liked Costner in For Love Of The Game.

???

Straithairn is a TERRIFIC actor, but his pitching style was donkey dong in that movie. You need to watch that film again or something because he pitched so poorly that it was distracting.

Costner is definitely good in all of his baseball movies, having been a former minor leaguer and all that.

[KevinWI]

I also really liked Costner in For Love Of The Game.

The only movies I've ever cried while watching are For Love of The Game and Field of Dreams. Costner is the best baseball actor as far as I'm concerned (didn't care for Bull Durham).

Wesley Snipes in The Fan probably had one of the closest 'real' impersonations of a 'real' major league player.

[Los Bravos]

Straithairn is a TERRIFIC actor, but his pitching style was donkey dong in that movie. You need to watch that film again or something because he pitched so poorly that it was distracting.I don't "need" to do anything. I've seen that film dozens of times, I own it on DVD and I don't have a problem with his performance.

[chinese home run]

The only movies I've ever cried while watching are For Love of The Game and Field of Dreams. Costner is the best baseball actor as far as I'm concerned (didn't care for Bull Durham).

Wesley Snipes in The Fan probably had one of the closest 'real' impersonations of a 'real' major league player.

I have to agree about "Field of Dreams"- I've probably seen it a dozen times over the years and I still have tears well up in my eyes towards the end. I've always kidded, however, that I might be one of the few straight males in America to cry at the end of both "Field of Dreams" and "An Affair To Remember."

The one thing about "The Fan" that makes it tough for me to watch- just one?- is when Wesley Snipes is running the bases and you can see the disc with Orlando Cepeda's retired number 30 on the cyclone fence.

The movie was made in 1996. Cepeda's number wasn't retired until 1999. Wishful thinking on the director's part? Or am I just being anal?

[Meadowlark]

Straithairn is a TERRIFIC actor, but his pitching style was donkey dong in that movie.

Wasn't he supposed to be playing a player with a dodgy arm? ;)

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Pride of the Yankees' Gary Cooper is up there for me...

[Los Bravos]

Wasn't he supposed to be playing a player with a dodgy arm? ;)Yes, he was.

[OleMissCub]

Yes, he was.

Oh c'mon. Even with an outstanding arm, his mechanics were just absurd looking and distracting.

[Los Bravos]

Obviously not for everyone.

[Allie Fox]

Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane in "61*."

Thomas Jane was fantastic considering he never picked up a ball and bat prior to being cast.

[SteveJRogers]

Can't think of the guy's name right now, but the fellow who played Babe Ruth in Pride of The Yankees. He freaking NAILED The Bambino! Almost like I was able to watch Ruth as it happened! :cool:

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Costner is definitely good in all of his baseball movies, having been a former minor leaguer and all that.

I can't find any reference of Costner ever playing minor league baseball. He's not listed on the Baseball Cube website and his wikipedia page makes no mention of Costner playing minor league baseball.

[AutographCollector]

Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane in "61*."

Thomas Jane was fantastic considering he never picked up a ball and bat prior to being cast.

It's weird how they both really looked like Maris & Mantle too.

[Los Bravos]

Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane in "61*." Those guys were both excellent.

[Hysteria]

Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane in "61*."

Thomas Jane was fantastic considering he never picked up a ball and bat prior to being cast.

Yeah i would have to say that was a great movie and great acting. They both looked like Maris & Mantle.

[Tampa Bay Giants]

Wesley Snipes in The Fan probably had one of the closest 'real' impersonations of a 'real' major league player.

But one of the worst movies, sports related or otherwise, I have ever seen.

[westcoastbuckeye]

Tom Selleck Mr. Baseball

[Roundin' third]

My first thought was Kevin Costner, but the more I thought about it, I really liked Dennis Quaid in The Rookie.

[Tampa Bay Giants]

Tom Selleck Mr. Baseball

I agree. Selleck did a fine job.

[sonofkirby]

Tommy Lee Jones was awesome in 'Cobb'. It would be interesting to see you could play a young Ty.

[bhss89]

Costner never played MiLB; don't know where that came from in a previous post. I do believe he is an outstanding baseball actor though. Quaid and Selleck were very good as well. I know they weren't playing, but Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth as "Pop" and "Red" were pretty great as manager an coach in The Natural.

[chinese home run]

Costner never played MiLB; don't know where that came from in a previous post. I do believe he is an outstanding baseball actor though. Quaid and Selleck were very good as well. I know they weren't playing, but Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth as "Pop" and "Red" were pretty great as manager an coach in The Natural.

Oh, I thought both of them were terrific, also. It's amazing, though- when the movie was filmed, Brimley was only 49 and Redford was 46. Brimley just looks like one of those guys who was born thirty-five years old. Even Sibby Sisti- the old Braves' utility player who played the Pirates manager towards the end of the movie- was nearly fifteen years older than Wilford Brimley and STILL looked younger than he did. I guess baseball does really keep a player young (lol)

[Captain Cold Nose]

Perhaps Costner has been confused with director Ron Shelton in regards to playing Minor League ball. Shelton did play, indeed, and drew from his experiences in the movies he cast Costner in. I can't explain Tin Cup. Some cable exec loves it, though.

[parlo]

Tommy Lee Jones was awesome in 'Cobb'. It would be interesting to see you could play a young Ty.I really like that movie and think that Tommy Lee Jones did a great job.
The one problem I have is that Tommy Lee Jones is too likable of an actor for the role. It is more my fault than his, but I sometimes had trouble getting past his appeal. Because of that, Cobb comes across more as a likable old crank who is mean at times, but we all have a soft spot in our heart for him.
Like Paul Newman in Hud, the actors appeal makes it hard to root against the character as much as the author or director had probably intended.