Top 5 Sports Movies: Number 5

I know that this is tantamount to cheating, but I have a tie for number 5. I just couldn't decide, and since they're both baseball movies, I thought that it was better to have them together than apart.

Field of Dreams and Fever Pitch

Field of Dreams is a great movie. Based on the relationship between a father and a son, we actually never really see the two together on screen (I will not spoil the ending). Kevin Costner's farm is failing and he's haunted by a voice calling to him in the middle of his corn field. In what we eventually realize is the universe trying to make things right between Costner's character and his father (the pair had a strained relationship that was never repaired before his father's death), Costner builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn crop.



He then goes on a wacky road trip, "kidnaps" a reclusive writer, goes back in time, helps out a young baseball player/doctor, sees the Black Sox play, and makes things right with his father. I have never met a man who hasn't teared up at the end of this film, and I have never met a baseball fan who doesn't count this among their favorites.

Fever Pitch is a different kind of baseball movie. Instead of focusing on how baseball can build a relationship, it shows how it can destroy it. As a Red Sox faaaaaaaan, I love this movie, even with all its quirks and missteps. It comes down to loving the game, and being devoted to your team. Jimmy Fallon is adorable, Drew Barrymore gives a lovable performance, and the supporting characters are delightful.



No matter what, I'll always love this movie for memorializing the best baseball season in my life. I watched the stats all season and caught games when I could, sat on the edge of my seat during the run to the post season, and was glued to my TV for the greatest comeback in baseball history. For game 4 of the World Series, I was at Rhino Bar, a Red Sox bar in Georgetown, with my roommate Meredith and our friend Lisa, both of them Boston suburbanites. After that last out, there was champagne in my hair, my friends in my arms, and a number of strange men on my lips. Long live the Red Sox!