10 Baseball Scenes in Non-Sports Movies Proving Everyone Enjoys America’s Pastime (Even a Tiny Bit)
Pardon my humble brag for a second, but I know a thing or two about baseball. From the Clarion County Little League All-Star Team to Rookie of the Season in Beer League Softball, I’ve come to love and respect the game. But as a boy who grew up dreaming of playing in the MLB, that was never going to happen. I had the body stature of John Mulaney through most of high school, so let’s just say the writing was on the wall.
But my passion for sports and movies has brought me full circle. Every once in a while there’s a flick that — for seemingly no reason whatsoever — throws in a baseball scene. As you’re about to find out, it could be a kids movie, it could be a musical, hell it could be a film based on a book about vampires. Whatever the case may be, these scenes prove that America’s Pastime holds a special place in everyone’s heart.
High School Musical 2
Aesthetically speaking this might be the most impressive performance to ever occur on a baseball diamond. But let’s put all our cards on the table here, the game itself is an absolute disaster. Horrible fundamentals, sloppy base-running, a starting pitcher covering home and getting laid out. Ironically ‘I Don’t Dance’ is perhaps the most dance-heavy number of the iconic HSM sequel. For those who haven’t seen it, Corbin Bleu (Chad) wants NOTHING to do with dancing. He just wants to ball out. But Ryan has other plans. With little to no convincing at all, Chad accepts that dancing and baseball can coexist.
Problem Child
“We’ve adopted Satan.” They just don’t make movies like they used to. This 1990 cult classic features one of the most insanely chaotic baseball scenes in cinematic history. Problem Child follows the titular character, Junior and his journey to fit in after being adopted by John Ritter. Spoiler alert; he’s an absolute demon. But can we really fault him for listening to his adopted father/coach? “Whatever you do, hold onto the bat.” As you wish.
Heavyweights
Ah, the classic ‘rival camp’ trope. Because every summer camp had to have a more expensive, prep-school, athletic camp that they faced in some sort of inter-camp tourney. Heavyweights does a great job of making fun of itself as ‘Camp Hope’ faces off against ‘Camp MVP’. After getting blown out most of the game, Gerald Garner takes one for the team and interrupts MVP’s perfect game. Keenan Thompson’s character, Roy also gets in a cheap shot on MVP’s catcher reminding us that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
The Princess Diaries
Revenge is a dish best served cold — or as movies from the late ‘90s/early ’00s proved — served right in the nuts. After Mia finds out that she’s literally royalty, Josh (the super cute boy from Brink!) decides to take advantage of her feelings for him, and poses for the paparazzi trying to get in his 5 minutes of fame. Fast-forward to Mia’s legendary at-bat where she clearly gets the best of Josh. RIP to that dude’s testicles.
Hook
“Run home Jack.” Those three words nearly rattled young Jack Banning. But after some dismal base-running and a runner caught stealing, the catcher signals for Mr. Smee’s curveball. Unfortunately Smee hangs it up like a wet rag, and Jack smacks it into another galaxy. I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the iconic ‘Pirates’ uniforms they’re sporting. Shoutout to the late costume designer, Anthony Powell for giving us these threads.
It Takes Two
Name a better opening scene to a movie. Mary-Kate Olsen aka Amanda Lemmon aka “The Belter from the Shelter” steps up to the plate. With a nickname like that, you know she’s hit more than a few dingers in her day, plus she has the trash talk to boot. “Shut up, Frankie! At least I got an interview”, the borderline racist orphan shouts toward the pitcher. With an even better dig at Staten Island, this is an insult scene that may only be rivaled by The Sandlot and that’s an absolute feat.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Every high-schooler dreams of pulling off the perfect skip day. Ferris Bueller lived it. Catching a foul ball at Wrigley Field when you should be in gym class? The jubilation that must overcome you as human and a baseball fan… Cameron’s chirping combined with the pure buffoonery of Ed Rooney (Dean of Students) builds the perfect baseball scene in an otherwise non-sports movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Why am I crying in the clubhouse right now? I never realized an animated character based on a children’s video game would have me in my feels, but here we are. It’s awfully lonely at the top, and Sonic figures that out the hard way. Being the best at something typically means you don’t have many friends. So when the iconic hedgehog takes the field and hits an inside the park home run, reality begins to set in when he has nobody to share the moment with.
Twilight
In all fairness I’ve never seen the movies, and I certainly haven’t read the books. But this iconic baseball scene lives rent free in my head. I’ve watched this clip more times than I care to admit. I’m fully aware that I need more context, but it feels like these vampires are releasing some sort of dark, sexual tension through the game of baseball. Am I close?
Either that or they are truly exhausted from the daily trials and tribulations that come with being a vampire, and this is their escape from it all? That’s all I’ve got. Enjoy this masterpiece.
Richie Rich
Richie Rich has got to be one of the most underrated Macaulay Culkin films, hands down. Aside from all of his wealth, Master Richie is clearly a born ballplayer. He’s got Reggie Jackson as his hitting coach, and he’s literally 13 years old. But being the richest kid in the world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When Richie gets up the nerve to try to make some friends in the ‘shady’ part of town, it doesn’t go as planned. The rag-tag pitcher, Gloria decides to bet her (and her crew’s) money that she can dust Richie at the plate.
LOL okay, girl. First pitch is high and inside, but Richie’s a pro and he gets back in the box. Second pitch is a sailing fastball. Richie proceeds to send it into neighboring Wisconsin and that ball probably still hasn’t landed nearly 30 years later.
Money isn’t everything, and even though he’s the best baseball player amongst the group, slugging homers doesn’t necessarily equate to friendship. We’ve all learned something.
