Bob Costas will be hosting a series of baseball movies.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130110&content_id=40913774&vkey=pr_mlb_network&c_id=mlb_network

I would have made a different list and included some baseball insiders for the interviews. But it is still baseball.

Maybe Costas will lecture all the viewers on his political agenda again. Other than Costas, I look forward to the baseball shows.

It's a shame that most baseball movies completely suck. Major League is probably the best, most realistic baseball movie ever made, and it's hilariously funny.

Moneyball was unrealistic. The Natural sucked. Field Of Dreams featured Kevin Costner, so that's out.

The Sandlot is the only baseball movie I've ever felt the need to own. I usually make my girlfriends watch A League of Their Own when they start asking baseball questions.

Agree with Marktown on Costas.

I've never been a fan of sports movies in general. I liked Field of Dreams, A League of Their Own, Angels in the Outfield and Sandlot but I've never even seen Cobb, The Natural, Bull Durham, 8 Men Out, the Rookie, Major League or any others that I'm aware of.

Eric,

Please help. How is Major League realistic?

@MeHater

I bought the actors as actual baseball players.

Glad you don't have a vote for th Golden Globes

One of the more overlooked baseball movies was a little film called, "Sugar". It's part baseball movie, part immigrant tale and part portrayal of the pursuit of the American dream.

That said, I think Bull Durham is probably the best baseball movie ever made.

As baseball, movies are entertainment. Reality? Get a life off BBTIA.

Bull Durham struck me as more realistic than Major League, even in terms of buying the actors as players. I liked both a lot, though.

I even liked Moneyball. Didn't love it, but I liked it. What was so unrealistic about it, eric?

Bad baseball movies. Try watching FEAR STRIKES OUT, Tony Perkins, of Psycho fame, portraits the life of Jimmy Piersall, one of baseballs all time unique players, or William Bendix in THE BABE RUTH STORY, which does have a nostalgic feel to it, but then again it was shot 65 years ago.

ps: how unique was Piersall, he once hit a homer and actually did run the bases backward !!!

Best baseball movie ever...A League of Their Own. Deal with it.

I even liked Moneyball. Didn't love it, but I liked it. What was so unrealistic about it, eric?

The narrative. They put all the focus into the conflict between Beane and Howe (which was a misrepresentation; they didn't actually have a bad relationship) on who should start at 1st base between Scott Hatteberg and Carlos Pena, when the reality is they won so many games because they had Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito -- three players who weren't even mentioned in the film.

Baseball-related film greatness, in no particular order...

For Love of the Game.
Bull Durham.
The Sandlot.
Major League.
Cobb.
The Scout. (makes a great companion to the legendary SI article on Sidd Finch)
Bad News Bears.
Damn Yankees.
Eastbound and Down (cable TV series)

Pride of the Yankees, if only for the retirement speech, is worth a visit. Eric makes a good point of having actors who look like they can play ball. Bang the Drum Slowly ruined a great book of the same title by casting Michael Moriarty as an ace pitcher. His awful throwing ruined the film.

Signs. Baseball bats, Aliens, Joaquin Phoenix and God all rolled into one...

it sucked.

Rookie of the Year!

"The Story of Eric " acted by the Elephant Man

"I'm not an animal..."

@eric: you're right, they did neglect mentioning the A's having 3 excellent pitchers. That wasn't the focus of the movie, though, and yes, they dramatized the relationship between Beane and Howe. But they did really win 20 games in a row. So it was somewhat fictionalized, but I'm not condemning it based on that. It's still more plausible than most baseball movies (Rookie of the Year, Major League, etc.) are.

"The Story of Ruth".
I kept waiting for "The Babe" to enter into his own movie, but it became
certainly more Biblical than baseball. Very period dated too. A lot of robes,
camels & donkeys. They should have had at least a few scenes in NYC!
Very odd baseball movie. Title didn't fit the expectations at all. Never again.
I can't recommend this sports movie at all.