It's been about four months since we had our last vote for the Best Baseball Movie ever. I can't believe time has flown so fast! Thanks to the good Mr. Gates over at Daily Norseman for stealing my idea, and therefore reminding me to get back on the horse.
For those of you new to this, be sure to check out the series introduction which will give you a pretty good idea of where we started from and what all this is about.
So far we've had two quarter finals votes, with Field of Dreams just barely squeezing out a win over Bull Durham in the New Classics division and The Sandlot dominating Bad News Bears (the Matthau version) by a margin of more than three votes to one (361 of the 469 votes) in the kids division. That brings us to our third round of the quarter finals, where A League of Their Own takes on Eight Men Out from the drama entries.
A League of Their Own (1992) - "There's no crying in baseball!" is nearly as mainstream as "Play it again, Sam"...except Bogart never actually said "Play it again, Sam". Anyway, this one is set during WWII, and it's just as much about the relationship between the two sisters as it is about a drunken Tom Hanks. Porky Pig Rosie O'Donnell is there, you get Geena Davis at her best, some british chick named "Madonna" is in it and Lori Petty also stars. And oh yeah, Jon Lovitz is always hilarious. You're a real sport, Dottie! You really make it seem like you and your sister truly ARE in "A League of Their Own"...
Eight Men Out (1988) - Basically this is the story of the day America realized her perfect daughter was a whore. The legend of the Chicago Black Sox stands as one of the game's most iconic scandals, right up there with Pete Rose betting on baseball, the steroid era and the moon landing. Essentially a number of White Sox players take bribes to throw the 1919 World Series, making life difficult for the few contributing players who play honestly. You might know the story by now: eight players are suspended for life, Buck Weaver spends his life trying to clear his name, and Charlie Sheen sleeps with Dorn's wife before marrying Hottie of the Year 1997 Denise Richards, and then lets his brother move into his beach-front house where the nephew occasionally stops by to make fart jokes.
Brackets after the jump!
Eliminated in the first round:
For Love of the Game
The Natural
Angels in the Outfield
Little Big League
The Fan
61 *
BASEketball
Mr. 3000
Bracket for Round 2:
New Classics Division
Field of DreamsBull Durham
Kids Division
Bad News BearsThe Sandlot
Drama
A League of Their Own
Eight Men Out
Comedy
Major League
Mr. Baseball