{"id":4640,"date":"2011-08-26T19:53:01","date_gmt":"2011-08-27T00:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=4640"},"modified":"2011-08-29T10:25:30","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T15:25:30","slug":"the-sandlot-vs-bull-durham-heroes-get-remembered-but-legends-never-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/4640","title":{"rendered":"The Sandlot vs. Bull Durham: Heroes Get Remembered, but Legends Never Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While flipping through the channels last night around 10:30 PM, I came across one of the all-time classic baseball movies\u2026The Sandlot.\u00a0 For me, and hopefully anyone with a soul and an ounce of love for baseball, this movie is a go-to.\u00a0 No matter what is happening, or what else is on the boob tube, if I see this movie on I have to stop and watch it.\u00a0 Sometimes I will watch for ten minutes.\u00a0 Other times I will plant my rump on the couch to enjoy the cinematic masterpiece in its entirety.\u00a0 The story, the characters, the Beast\u2026it is all just so enthralling.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even get me started on Benny \u201cThe Jet\u201d Rodriguez.\u00a0 What kid didn\u2019t want to be him?\u00a0 Anyways, it got me to thinking about where this movie ranks on my list of Best Baseball Movies of All-Time.\u00a0 Automatically it surpasses movies like, The Natural, A League of Their Own, Major League, The Bad News Bears, and Eight Men Out.\u00a0 After eliminating these movies (which are all great movies) it came down to my final three: Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and The Sandlot.\u00a0 No matter which way I looked at these three movies, no matter how many times I tried to convince myself otherwise, Field of Dreams kept finishing with the bronze.\u00a0 Now left with only Bull Durham and The Sandlot to duke it out for the belt, I had to dig deep into the depths of my own being to declare an out and out winner.\u00a0 There would be no ties.\u00a0 No sitting on the fence here, as one movie had to be a homerun and another would only have warning track power.<\/p>\n

Now before I delve in to the particulars of each movie, it needs to be understood that each movie appeals to a different side of the baseball fan inside of me.\u00a0 Obviously The Sandlot is geared to the young child in me and Bull Durham is for the older, slightly more adult side (if that even exists) of me.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I was compelled to find a something in one movie or the other that would allow a champion to be crowned.<\/p>\n

Let us first start with the main characters, the protagonists if you will.\u00a0 Sandlot has the aforementioned Benny \u201cThe Jet\u201d Rodriguez.\u00a0 This kid was Joe Cool.\u00a0 He was obviously the best player of the bunch.\u00a0 He was the leader of the team and whatever he said went.\u00a0 He was also a first-rate guy.\u00a0 When Scotty Smalls moves in, Benny goes out of his way to befriend the new kid.\u00a0 He invites him to the yard.\u00a0 He puts the kid on the field without hesitation or reservations.\u00a0 He makes the rest of the team accept him as one of theirs.\u00a0 He even gives Smalls an old cap of his so that Scotty no longer has to wear that ridiculous fishing hat to the ball field.\u00a0 The Jet also does the unthinkable and pickles The Beast (more on that later).\u00a0 To top it all off, the Jet turns out to have a long enough career for him to lose a step or two and still steal home, all as Smalls does the color commentary from the booth while wearing that ridiculous hat he starts the movie off wearing.\u00a0 I still wish I could be that guy when I grow up.<\/p>\n

Bull Durham\u2019s answer to The Jet is Crash Davis, an old, washed up catcher, clinging to life as a pro ball player in the minor leagues.\u00a0 Crash is great, and Costner does a great job of portraying the jaded side that I can only come along with someone in Crash\u2019s shoes.\u00a0 The way he handles Nuke LaLoosh is classic.\u00a0 It\u2019s the old story of one generation begrudgingly passing the torch to the younger, star-in-the-making, bonus baby.\u00a0 Along the way, Crash teaches the guys all kinds of lessons, ranging from how to handle an interview, to how to get a rainout.\u00a0 The love triangle that he, Nuke, and Annie find themselves in provides plenty of laughs as well.<\/p>\n

As much as I enjoy Crash\u2019s character, Benny the Jet wins this one hands down.<\/p>\n

Now on to the stories themselves.\u00a0 The Sandlot gives us a story about a new kid in town who doesn\u2019t fit in.\u00a0 He is a nerdy, unathletic, kid, who knows nothing about baseball.\u00a0 He and his stepdad don\u2019t get along.\u00a0 Smalls finally earns the respect and friendship of the group only to ruin his summer by making the hugest mistake anyone could ever make.\u00a0 He brings his stepdad\u2019s Babe Ruth autographed ball to play with and ends up hitting a homerun into the yard behind the field that is protected by The Beast.\u00a0 The whole gang schemes as many different ways as they can to retrieve that ball only to fail epically each and every time.\u00a0 Finally Benny pickles the beast, gets the ball back, only to find out that they should have just gone to the front door of the house to ask for it back.\u00a0 Nothing complicated here.\u00a0 Just a good old story for the kids.<\/p>\n

With Bull Durham, we have a much different story.\u00a0 Not only is it much, much more adult oriented, it also revolves around professional baseball.\u00a0 The comedy is hilarious.\u00a0 I especially love the way that the team groupie, Ann, sees the game of baseball.\u00a0 She has nuke wearing a garter belt and breathing through his eyelids.\u00a0 Truly comical.\u00a0 Or how about when Nuke hits the bull with a wild pitch?\u00a0 The love triangle between the three characters creates such complexities in the different relationships though.\u00a0 It is these relationships that allow for the viewer to truly love those characters.\u00a0 And when you truly love the characters, the story, in and of itself, becomes great.\u00a0 And with that, I have to take Bull Durham here.<\/p>\n

For all other matters, I feel like the movies are on pretty equal playing fields.\u00a0 There is however, one aspect that sends one movie over the wall for a homerun, while the other falls just short at the warning track.<\/p>\n

Think about all of the memories you have that involve baseball.\u00a0 Now answer this question.\u00a0 What is it about baseball that keeps you so passionate about the game?\u00a0 For me that answer is simple.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s so damn fun.\u00a0 There is nothing better than being with your friends on a baseball field, or in the bleachers catching a game, or just sitting at home watching a game on TV.\u00a0 Fun is the reason anybody keeps playing baseball long enough to become a professional.\u00a0 Fun is the reason guys are willing to sacrifice so much to make baseball the job.\u00a0 Fun is why guys like Nolan Ryan or Mariano Rivera play for so long.\u00a0 Fun is why people despise cheaters.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about the win and losses.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the joy that fills your heart, gets pumped through your veins, and lifts you high above the clouds.\u00a0 It\u2019s why I dream of having a son to play catch with in the front yard.\u00a0 Baseball is the most fun I can imagine having, especially when I am partaking in some form of baseball with all the people I love.\u00a0 As my pops always told me, \u201cYou know why an umpire says play ball to start a game?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s fun.\u00a0 Never forget that.\u00a0 When it\u2019s not fun anymore, that\u2019s when you know something\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is exactly what the Sandlot represents.\u00a0 No disrespect to Bull Durham, but it really does not hold a candle to The Sandlot, or the way The Sandlot makes me melt emotionally.\u00a0 Playing ball.\u00a0 With your buddies.\u00a0 Not for money.\u00a0 Not for fame.\u00a0 Not for the glitz and glamour and spotlight.\u00a0 But playing because it\u2019s fun.\u00a0 It\u2019s the reason why any of us still care today, no matter what age you are.\u00a0 And with that, I emphatically declare The Sandlot to be the Best Baseball Movie of all-time.\u00a0 You might even say that his movie is legendary.\u00a0 And like the Babe said, \u201cHeroes get remembered, but legends never die.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Author\u2019s note: As I put the finishing punctuation on this article, The Sandlot came to an end.\u00a0 The scene where Smalls and Benny go inside the house of Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones, who oddly enough also starred in Field of Dreams) played out in front of me. You know the one, where upon finding out the boys\u2019 dilemma, Mr. Mertle decides to trade them baseballs and give them one signed by the 1927 Yankees.\u00a0 I willingly admit that I became choked up.\u00a0 No tears, but embarrassingly close.)<\/p>\n

(Second Author\u2019s Note:\u00a0 While reviewing and editing this article The Sandlot 2 came on.\u00a0 I had never seen this movie before.\u00a0 Within 5 minutes I violently threw up in my mouth, turned the TV off, and went to bed.)
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While flipping through the channels last night around 10:30 PM, I came across one of the all-time classic baseball movies\u2026The Sandlot.\u00a0 For me, and hopefully anyone with a soul and an ounce of love for baseball, this movie is a go-to.\u00a0 No matter what is happening, or what else is on the boob tube, if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1300,17,6,13],"tags":[2649,2651,2647,2650,2639,2648],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4640"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4643,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640\/revisions\/4643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}