“Dad . . . you want to have a catch?’’
You don’t need anybody to tell you what classic baseball film that line is from because you already know the answer. Just like you do in the cases of “Jusssst a bit outside,” “God, I love baseball,” “There’s no crying in baseball” and a whole lot of others.
In this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — we focused on baseball flicks, inspired by the Cubs’ trip to the “Field of Dreams” site in Dyersville, Iowa, to take on the Reds.
So, which baseball movie is your favorite?
“For sheer character variety and entertainment value, ‘Major League’ is the GOAT,” @TFroehlig commented. “It’s got everything an amazing story and script needs.”
You’ll see how we split up 12 baseball movies below. It was harder than we thought it would be to figure out which ones to include and how to group them for these polls, but, hey, that’s why we make the big bucks.
On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: You can pick only one, Heyday Division:
It’s a baseball-movie edition of “Polling Place” this week. Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in Saturday's paper.
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) August 11, 2022
Q1: You can pick only one, Heyday Division:
Upshot: Anybody else surprised by the ease with which “Major League” took this one? Some of us voted for “Bull Durham” and aren’t about to apologize for it. A great comment from @CubsSalty: “Putting ‘Bull Durham’ against ‘Major League’? Gonna ask me which kid is my favorite next?” We’d never put you on the spot like that, Salterino.
Poll No. 2: You can pick only one, Open Division:
Q2: You can pick only one, Open Division:
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) August 11, 2022
Upshot: “The Sandlot” is charming and delightful, but is it really the best of these four or is it just the most recent? “I can’t believe ‘Sandlot’ is winning over ‘Bad News Bears,’ ” @MrSeanRoper wrote. “I will blame it on the Twitter generational divide.” That divide is real, people. Meanwhile, @ShawnaP79 tells no lies when she calls “A League of Their Own” “arguably one of the best baseball movies of all time.”
Poll No. 3: You can pick only one, Historical Division:
Q3: You can pick only one, Historical Division:
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) August 11, 2022
Upshot: Our print audience — a bit older than the average tweeter, we reckon — might disagree with the meager showing for a touching tribute to the great Lou Gehrig. These other stories, revolving around the 1919 Black Sox, Billy Beane and Jackie Robinson, were memorable watches, too. Why are there so many good baseball movies? Not that anybody’s complaining.
