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Top of the Eighth
“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th
Imagine being back in middle school, one of the most uncomfortable phases in life. Your name is Henry Rowengartner. While hanging around the baseball field at school, one of the kids publicly makes fun of you for embarrassingly throwing a ball over the fence for a home run…for the other team! (tunnel vision can be a killer). He then instantaneously challenges you to catch a high soaring fly ball he hits into the sky in your direction. The girl of your dreams is watching in anticipation to see if you’ll redeem yourself. You start sprinting to make the heroic catch, but instead wildly trip on a stray baseball in the grass and land awkwardly, breaking your arm.
Ouch! In more ways than one…
This is the beginning of the movie, “Rookie of the Year.” After having a cast on into the beginning of summer, the day has arrived to remove the white hot compression box (speaking from personal experience).
“I’m looking for Henry Rulenfurter.
Henry Rowengartner?
Yeah.”
When I broke my arm and had to wear a cast during the summer of 1996, I didn’t subsequently pitch for the Chicago Cubs. Instead, I got the entire Mexican Olympic soccer team’s autographs, along with several other Olympians while in Atlanta for the XXVI Olympiad. However, the most treasured signing of all was “Carl the Scalper.” Why? He sold my Dad and me Dream Team tickets versus Lithuania!
“Starting at guard, number 6, Penny Hardaway!”
The lesson from all of this: Awkwardly break your arm, wear a cast in the summertime and amazing things will happen!
(Just kidding, but only kind of…)
Bottom of the Seventh
“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th
The very nature of a 162-game baseball season can be exhausting. What’s odd is that a 3-game winning streak will not always be perceived as a tremendous accomplishment. The same goes for a long string of losses. There is a numbing element and until something drastic happens, the status quo can persist. Some cases literally require a divine intervention.
People will have their opinions on what they deem as the greatest movie made about baseball. “Field of Dreams” immediately comes to mind. Why? The reason is one of the components for a great movie about sports is that the game serves as only the visual vehicle of a much more profound story. The 1989 major motion picture meets this criteria, as does a 1994 Disney major motion picture that involves two foster kids, who are best friends, and the struggling Anaheim Angels. This is one of the greatest (if not possibly the best…?) baseball movies ever made.
It has heart, lots of laughs and emotional highs and lows that make it a timeless classic for all ages. It’s deservedly earned the gold standard of an amazing family movie. Plus, here is a rundown of the primary cast. Do any of these names look familiar?
-Christopher Lloyd
-Danny Glover
-Joseph Gordon-Levitt
-Tony Danza
-Adrien Brody
-Neal McDonough
-Dermot Mulroney
oh, and this guy named Matthew McConaughey
As mentioned earlier, sometimes things have to get really bad before they get better.
The Seventh Inning Stretch
“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th
The story behind the Seventh Inning Stretch is not absolutely known. Here is an excerpt from an April 30, 2007 Yahoo! Voices article written by Beth Anderson Goldman, “The Origins of the 7th Inning Stretch,” as part of the Yahoo! Contributor Network.
As far back as 1869 there is a letter from baseball pioneer Harry Wright of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings saying, “the spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches.”
Urban legends also surround this ritual, even including former President William Howard Taft. Despite the fact the precise moment when this tradition began cannot be pinpointed, fans and casual observers alike are familiar with this celebratory pause in action. Perhaps the most famous of all baseball announcers, within the realm of popular culture, was Harry Caray of the Chicago Cubs. Caray himself was almost as well-known as his trademark glasses, with that large, thick black frame. Will Ferrell perfected that impersonation for SNL viewers.
Harry Caray was iconic. As a tribute to the man and legend, I encourage you to travel back in time, stand up and stretch for a minute, while enjoying his rendering of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
Top of the Seventh
“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th
As noted earlier regarding the absence of a third inning, the bottom of the sixth has also turned out to be rather monotonous. Onward we continue to the top of the seventh.
There is an “it” factor with Kevin Costner. People are instantly drawn to him on the silver screen and are naturally curious about the characters he plays. Costner is convincing whether portraying an ex-Secret Service agent who was assigned to protect the President of the United States or a farmer in the cornfields of Iowa. Speaking of the latter, be sure to go see, “Man of Steel” on June 14th as Costner portrays Jonathan Kent. One of the first trailers released even featured a voice-over by Mr. Kent, in which he gives a few words of wisdom to his super son.
Click below and experience the pure power of the now famous, albeit perplexing, seven words that forever changed Ray Kinsella’s life. A “Field of Dreams” indeed!
James Earl Jones added his timber with a grand speech of his own.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 