Moneyball: Where Does It Rank with These Other Great Baseball Movies?

The movie, "Moneyball" hits the theaters today. It's another in a long line of baseball movies that have come before it. But, where does it stand against the greatest Baseball movies of all time? Will you enjoy it more than say, "The Natural"? 

Here's a quick break down of the movie before you go see it. 

• If you enjoyed the movie "The Social Network" you will love this move. Aaron Sorkin did the screen play for this movie and it feels a lot like his Oscar winning script for "The Social Network."
• The movie does stick to the season that Billy Beane adapted the Saber-metrics theory to baseball.
• Brad Pitt does a great job as the A's GM. 
• People who chew tobacco will find a connection to this movie. 
• Baseball enthusiast will love this movie. 

It's a bit long coming in at two hours and thirty minuets, but it does go by quickly. But if you're a fan of a small market baseball team (like myself as a Pirates fan) this movie makes you angry; because you'll just sit there going, "why the bleep can't my team do this?!"

Alright enough trying to be Leonard Maltin, let's get to the list!  

10: A League of Their Own (1992)

Coming in at 10 on our list is one of Tom Hank's best performances in his long acting career. Not only did Hanks bring a solid performance, but so did the entire cast. 

The movie is set during the '40s when replacement players were needed since a majority of players were over seas fighting in World War II. It tells a great story of these ladies who filled in America's need for baseball. 

Famous Quote: Tom Hank's character Jimmy Dugan the manager of the Georgia Peaches, "Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"

9. Mr. Baseball (1992)

1992 had quite the baseball boom in the movie theaters huh? 

This Tom Selleck classic is built around an aging superstar that didn't know when to give up the game. There's a great scene where Selleck's character watches his replacement take batting practice. Team management is around the batting cage watching the new guy hit bomb after bomb after bomb. 

His team (the New York Yankees) trade him to the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central baseball league, and that's where all the hilarity ensues.

Famous Quote: Tom Selleck's character Jack Elliot, " We're not athletes, we're baseball players!" 

8. The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977)

Now the first Bad News Bears is a classic movie. It should have made the list, but it didn't. In fact this is a rarity in movies. There was the original that was great. Then it had the sequel that was just as good, if not better. Then there was the last in the franchise, where the kids went to Japan. 

The movie is based around the Bears coming from California to Houston, Texas to play in the Astrodome. The game runs long and the umpires decide to stop the game half way through, because the Astros of the Major Leagues need the field. 

Famous Quote: William Devane's character Mike Leake who was the Bears manager, "LET THEM PLAY, LET THEM PLAY, LET THEM PLAY!"

7. Eight Men out (1988)

The story of the 1919 Chicago White Soxs is told in this classic with an all-star cast. John Cusak, Christopher Lloyd and Charlie Sheen make up this roster of talented actors that play the team that threw the 1919 World Series. 

Famous Quote: John Anderson character Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis Baseball Commissioner, "Regardless of the verdict of juries... no player who throws a ball game... no player who undertakes, or promises to throw a game... no player who sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a ball game are discussed, and does not promptly tell his club about it... will ever play professional baseball again." 

6. The Rookie (2002)

This movie is based on a true story about a Texas High School Chemistry Teach and coach of the baseball team, Jim Morris. Morris at one time had pro aspirations, but an injury put an end to his dream. After a bet he loses with his high-school team, he heads to a professional try-out with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Morris makes the team after throwing 98-miles per hour. He flounders around the Minor Leagues before being called up to the Majors against the Texas Rangers.

It's a heart warming tale of never giving up when you try to follow your dreams.

Famous Quote: Dennis Quaid's character Jim Morris, "You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball." 

5. The Natural (1984)

Robert Redford plays one of the most famous baseball characters Roy Hobbs. Hobbs is a middle-aged baseball player who at one time was a young promising prospect as a pitcher until he is shot by a woman. 

Hobbs takes a losing ball club to the top of their league with his bat that he carved from a lighting struck tree. 

The movie has one of, if not the most famous scene in movie history, as Redford's character hits a home run that hits the lights above the stadium. As Redford is rounding the bases the sparks from the lights come raining down on him. 

Famous Quote: Alan Fudge character Ed Hobbs, "You've got a gift Roy... but it's not enough—you've got to develop yourself. If you rely too much on your own gift... then... you'll fail."

4. The Sandlot (1993)

If you were a kid growing up in the late '80s to mid '90s you LOVED this movie. Playing baseball as a kid is something that every child does at one point in their lives. 

The movie is based around a new kid in town, Scotty Smalls, who is shy. He makes his way out to the local ball park where he finds a group of kids who love the game of baseball. The summer goes great for Smalls as he falls in love with the game of baseball and finds eight best friends.

Famous Quote (and there are a lot of them): Mike Vitar's character Benny Rodriguez, "Man, this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking. Just have fun."  

3. Field of Dreams (1989)

Field of Dreams is one of those movies that you have to see. Kevin Costner stars in this role as Iowa farm owner Ray Kinsella who hears a voice off in the distance, "If you build it......he will come."

He takes the message that he must build a ball park in his corn field. Once the ball park is built, the ghost of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson appears from the corn field, as does other dead baseball players.

Games are held on the ball field and a magical scene comes with Costner and one of the ball players.

Famous Quote: This is between Ray Liotta's character Shoeless Joe Jackson and Kevin Costner's Ray Kinsella, Shoeless Joe: "Is this Heaven?" Ray: "No, it's Iowa." 

2. Bull Durham (1988)

This classic movie is based around Kevin Costner's character Crash Davis playing for the Single-A Durham Bulls. Davis is in his final years of playing and has to take the role of mentor to the big prospect rookie, played by Tim Robbins, Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh.

LaLoosh is the typical hot-shot rookie who thinks the world should bow down to him. But Crash is there to set the rookie straight while preparing him for his eventual super stardom in the Major Leagues.  

Famous Quote: Crash Davis, "Come on, Rook. Show us that million-dollar arm, 'cause I got a good idea about that five-cent head of yours. 

1. Major League (1989)

Look, any of these movies listed before Major League could be number one on your list. But, Major League is one of the best sports movies ever made. 

It's a comedy that is centered around a no-name Cleveland Indians team that bounds together in their hate of their owner who wants to move them to Florida at the end of the year. The city rallies around this brand of no-name misfit players as they string together a magical 1989 season.

The movie sparked a sequel that was good, but not as good, as the original.

Famous Quote (and there are too many to list): Dennis Haysbert's character Pedro Cerrano, "Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come."

Thanks for sharing in the fun with me today on this list of great baseball movies. Follow me on Twitter: @tjmcaloon