Shortstop Cole Tucker talks baseball movies and what to watch.
Cole Tucker loves movies. No, really. Like in an itmay-rival-baseball kind of way.
In the early portion of spring training, when days were done by early afternoon because games had not yet started, Tucker would hang out at AMC Bradenton 20, which was about a 10-minute drive from LECOM Park.
Cole’s older brother Quinn went to film school, the Tucker family huddled around the TV watching movies on HBO every weekend, and Cole always tries to predict Oscar winners.
So, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everyone to stay at home, it seemed like the perfect time to talk baseball movies with Tucker, the Pirates’ resident expert. But instead of a normal discussion, we present this look at a few baseball movies as a player and reporter answering a few superlative-style questions.
Most realistic
Tucker: “Little Big League” (where 12-year-old Billy Heywood manages the Twins). I know it’s unrealistic to have a kid as a manager, but the actual baseball scenes in this movie are unmatched. They casted actual baseball players and did a great job of portraying big-league life in the clubhouse, plane and hotels. A close second would be “Mr. 3000” (with Bernie Mac). Also a great and underrated movie.
Mackey: Tucker and I share the same opinion on “Little Big League” — we absolutely love it. Everything except for a 12-year-old managing is extremely realistic, down to the look of the clubhouse and, yes, the on-field product.
Best love story
Tucker: Probably “Bull Durham.” I may be forgetting something, but it’s hard to top Crash and Annie’s chemistry. I love how they bicker back and forth all movie but end up together in the end. “Fever Pitch” was a close second. I watched that movie for what felt like every day one summer at my grandma’s and grandpa’s house.
Mackey: I’ll take Ryan Dunne and Tenley Parrish from “Summer Catch.” The differences in families, the onagain/off-again nature, the fact that it’s Jessica Biel … easy one here. The “Major League” love stories always bothered me. Calling your estranged wife from the same restaurant? Showing up where she works? Creepy. And Ricky Vaughn should’ve known Flannery was trouble in “Major League II.”
Most underrated
Tucker: “Everybody Wants Some.” A lot of people have heard of [director] Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused” but not as many have heard of this movie. It came out a few years ago and was dubbed the “spiritual sequel” to “Dazed and Confused.” The movie is based on a college baseball team the last weekend of summer before school starts. It’s got everything — parties, baseball practice and settling into college life. I love it. My agent found out how much I liked this movie and had a poster made of the “Everybody Wants Some” characters and had all my friends’ faces photoshopped on it.
Mackey: “Cobb” isn’t the most well-known, but it’s tremendous. Love Tommy Lee Jones as crazy, old Ty Cobb. Also maybe in the same vein — that I feel like enough people don’t talk about it — is Billy Crystal’s “61,” examining the home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle during the summer of 1961.
Most overrated
Tucker: “Field of Dreams.” I just never really got into it. I know so many people like this movie, but it just never really did it for me. And it’s weird because I really like Kevin Costner. I know I’m gonna get a lot of flak for this, but I’m just not really on the train.
Mackey: “Bad News Bears.” Similar to Tucker, I never got it. I am a big “Field of Dreams” fan, although I’ve yet to watch it since my dad passed away. Way too sad. But apparently “Bad News Bears” is supposed to be hilarious. I never found it all that funny.
Best for kids
Tucker: “The Sandlot.” This movie reminds me the most of what it’s like to be a kid and just want nothing more than to play ball with your friends. As we grow up and baseball becomes a job, it’s important to look back and remember how fun it is to just play the game.
Mackey: Same. It’s the first baseball movie I showed my kids. I feel like every baseballloving person in the world can relate to that crew.
Have never seen
Tucker: “The Natural.” I’ve never seen it, and I don’t have that much of a desire to actually sit down and watch it. I’ll get around to it one day, but I’m not that excited about it yet. I know a lot of people love this one, too. But it’s all good.
Mackey: “Eight Men Out.” It’s bad, I know. It could probably change some of my answers on this list, but I just never sat down and gave it a chance. Shame on me.
Favorite
Tucker: Picking a favorite is tough. I think “Little Big League” may be my all-time favorite. It’s just so well done. But for sentimental reasons, I’ve always liked “Summer Catch.” Cheesy romantic comedy, I know, but my mom and dad fell in love over the summer in 1982 while my dad was playing baseball in Cape Cod. And that movie is about a guy and a girl who fall in love there during the Cape Cod Baseball League. I’ve always thought that was sweet, but I could go on forever about all my favorites. “Sandlot,” “Bull Durham,” “Rookie of the Year,” “42,” “Hardball,” “Summer Catch,” “Bad News Bears,” “Moneyball,” “Mr. 3000,” “Everybody Wants Some” are my go-tos.
Mackey: Probably the Major Leagues (I & II), honestly. Watched them pretty much every college bus ride. Quotes from those movies have become just a normal part of conversation, and one of the catchers on my college team (Ricky Straw) was a dead ringer for Rube Baker in “Major League II.” “Bull Durham” made pretty frequent appearances, too, with “The Rookie” ranking pretty high as well.
Most needs a sequel
Tucker: My friend Luke is a filmmaker and diehard Cubs fan, and he was actually telling me the other day that he has a great idea for a “Rookie of the Year” sequel. So I’ll go with that. If you have any Gary Busey contacts, give me a shout.
Mackey: I feel like if they could ever pull off a legitimate “Sandlot” sequel with the original cast — like they all wind up coaching their kids on a travel ball team or something — and they sort of re-do some of those adventures through the lens of 2020, that might be funny. I also feel like a “Bull Durham” sequel, perhaps with Crash as a manager, could play.