Adley so far: 0-8, 1 walk, 5 Ks

[Going Underground]

15 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

I'm with Tony on The Natural, but feel the same way about Field of Dreams. They're not about anything that I (recognize as baseball.

For me, the best baseball movie (that I've seen) is Bang the Drum Slowly. Great acting (De Niro, Michael Moriarty, Danny Aiello; Vincent Gardenia steals the show though I guess De Niro reclaims it by the end), unforgettable characters and subplots, and a story that is sometimes heartwarming, other times heartbreaking. And the baseball is real baseball. But you don't have to take my word for it. Reviewing it in 1973, Roger Ebert said, "It’s mostly about baseball and the daily life of a major league club on the road." Ebert called it "the ultimate baseball movie," and for me it still is. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bang-the-drum-slowly-1973  

One of life's great unsolved mysteries is why no one has made a film, or a TV mini-series, of Mark Harris's other baseball fiction, especially The Southpaw, in which Harris introduced the characters in Bang the Drum Slowly. 

They thought at the time that Moriarty was going to be the  big star. Better looking and taller then De Niro. Actually did a TV version in 1956 on something called the

"United States Steel Hour . Paul Newman and Albert Salmi were the stars. George Peppard was also in it as Piney Woods. 

First published in early 1956, Mark Harris's baseball novel Bang the Drum Slowly was swiftly adapted for television; on September 24, 1956, a streamlined 60-minute version of the Harris novel was telecast live on The US Steel Hour. Paul Newman plays Henry Wiggen, a slang-happy, unabashedly self-promotional pitcher for the fictional New York Mammoths. Wiggen spends a great deal of his free time protecting his dimwitted roomate, catcher Bruce Pearson (Albert Salmi), from being dropped from the team. It's not that Henry is overly fond of Bruce; it's simply that he knows (but the rest of the team doesn't) that Bruce is dying of Hodgkin's disease

This TV adaptation remains faithful to the first-person singular style of the novel by having Henry periodically step "out" of the drama to address the audience: this device is most effective at the finale when, after tearfully recalling the "ragging" he often gave his now-deceased teammate, Henry sobs "From here on, I rag nobody." A very young George Peppard appears as Piney Woods, the country-boy ballplayer who sings the ballad from which the drama's title is derived

 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bang_the_drum_slowly_1956

 

 

Also changed the end of the Natural from the book. People like happy endings and if Redford struck out like in the book,no big ending.

 

[AuburnAL]

How about the 2016 movie "Undrafted"?  I'm not saying it's Bull Durham, but it's a sleeper (or, out of left field).  Interesting take on summer league ball, what do you do if your dream doesn't quite happen.  And, one of the executive producers is Tony Romo.

[Frobby]

40 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

Also changed the end of the Natural from the book. People like happy endings and if Redford struck out like in the book,no big ending.

Read the book and loved it.    Somehow, it didn’t bother me that they had the opposite ending in the movie.    Would’ve been a real bummer to leave the movie theater with a sour taste in your mouth.     The movie is quite faithful to the book to that point and then just heads in a totally different direction.    But I love the way the movie captured the times, the use of music, and portrayal of the the big moments in the games.     For me it’s pitch perfect moviemaking.    It’s about baseball but bigger.   

Back on topic, I’m fully expecting Rutschman to destroy a light tower with one of his homers.    
 

[DrungoHazewood]

22 hours ago, Frobby said:

I took it for granted.   I took a lot of things for granted in those days.    The late ‘80’s were a total shock to my system.     I’d just assumed the Orioles would contend forever and everything would continue to go right for them.     Imagine being an Orioles fan after the 1983 season.    You’ve had a great team for 20+ years, won three World Series and had eight playoff appearances in that time, and you have a 27-year old Eddie Murray and a 23-year old Cal Ripken.     Why in the world would you expect anything other than that the team would continue to be great?    But as Drungo pointed out, the ship was rotting below the water line.   

I was eight years old in 1979.  So my formative years of sports fandom involved the Orioles being among the best teams in baseball every year until I was about 15.  I had no clue the farm was barren, or that the Orioles' business model was firmly planted in 1955.  Every radio and TV broadcast talked about the Oriole Way being the model for all other teams to emulate.  Then the whole thing fell apart, and it's only been sporadically good since.  But they hooked me when I was 9-15, and there was no going back.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

Read the book and loved it.    Somehow, it didn’t bother me that they had the opposite ending in the movie.    Would’ve been a real bummer to leave the movie theater with a sour taste in your mouth.     The movie is quite faithful to the book to that point and then just heads in a totally different direction.    But I love the way the movie captured the times, the use of music, and portrayal of the the big moments in the games.     For me it’s pitch perfect moviemaking.    It’s about baseball but bigger.   

Back on topic, I’m fully expecting Rutschman to destroy a light tower with one of his homers.    
 

I've long thought that someone like Tim Burton (or even better, Werner Herzog) should reboot The Natural and stay much more faithful to the book.  Dark, bitter, with the lesson being that no matter how promising things look, it will probably go very wrong.  Maybe the Orioles should be the team instead of the Knights!

[Big Mac]

Adley expected to start the season at Frederick, per Roch's blog a few minutes ago.

Quote

The Orioles are expected to assign Rutschman to Single-A Frederick to start the season.

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/03/orioles-return-bailey-and-rucker-to-their-former-organizations.html

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

It does get better once JEJ appears. Love the scene when Costner turns the van around after dropping him off and he's standing in the road! Gives me goosebumps every time!

[Going Underground]

27 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I've long thought that someone like Tim Burton (or even better, Werner Herzog) should reboot The Natural and stay much more faithful to the book.  Dark, bitter, with the lesson being that no matter how promising things look, it will probably go very wrong.  Maybe the Orioles should be the team instead of the Knights!

Christopher Nolan directed then they would be the Dark Knights.Batman as Roy Hobbs. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Read the book and loved it.    Somehow, it didn’t bother me that they had the opposite ending in the movie.    Would’ve been a real bummer to leave the movie theater with a sour taste in your mouth.     The movie is quite faithful to the book to that point and then just heads in a totally different direction.    But I love the way the movie captured the times, the use of music, and portrayal of the the big moments in the games.     For me it’s pitch perfect moviemaking.    It’s about baseball but bigger.   

Back on topic, I’m fully expecting Rutschman to destroy a light tower with one of his homers.    
 

I preferred the book to the movie for Field of Dreams as well.

[Frobby]

36 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I preferred the book to the movie for Field of Dreams as well.

Never did read that book, though I read a book of short stories by Kinsella called The Thrill of the Grass that’s quite good. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Never did read that book, though I read a book of short stories by Kinsella called The Thrill of the Grass that’s quite good. 

I also enjoyed this one from him.

https://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Baseball-Confederacy-W-Kinsella-ebook/dp/B07XD75QJM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=wp+kinsella&qid=1583530490&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I also enjoyed this one from him.

https://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Baseball-Confederacy-W-Kinsella-ebook/dp/B07XD75QJM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=wp+kinsella&qid=1583530490&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

I can’t remember if I read that.    I might have it at home.    

[weams]

2 hours ago, Going Underground said:

Christopher Nolan directed then they would be the Dark Knights.Batman as Roy Hobbs. 

[DrungoHazewood]

14 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I preferred the book to the movie for Field of Dreams as well.

I may have liked The Iowa Baseball Confederacy better than Shoeless Joe.  But it's been 20+ years since I read either.  Maybe 30.  Something about a 6,000 inning game that lasted for months though epic storms and supernatural events.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I may have liked The Iowa Baseball Confederacy better than Shoeless Joe.  But it's been 20+ years since I read either.  Maybe 30.  Something about a 6,000 inning game that lasted for months though epic storms and supernatural events.

Same for me honestly.