Baseball has long been viewed as the Great American Pastime, so it is no
surprise that the sport has inspired many Hollywood films and television
series. But how do these works depict the game, its players, fans, and
place in American society?
This study offers an extensive look at nearly one hundred years of
baseball-themed movies, documentaries, and TV shows. Film and sports
scholar Aaron Baker examines works like A League of their Own (1992)
and Sugar (2008), which dramatize the underrepresented contributions
of female and immigrant players, alongside classic baseball movies like
The Natural that are full of nostalgia for a time when native-born
white men could use the game to achieve the American dream. He further
explores how biopics have both mythologized and demystified such
legendary figures as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and
Fernando Valenzuela.
The Baseball Film charts the variety of ways that Hollywood presents
the game as integral to American life, whether showing little league as
a site of parent-child bonding or depicting fans' lifelong love affairs
with their home teams. Covering everything from Bull Durham (1988) to
The Bad News Bears (1976), this book offers an essential look at one
of the most cinematic of all sports.
