Baseball Movies-Best to Worst-With Inflated Box Office Results
73Tom Hanks in one of the most popular baseball movies of all-time 1992's A League of Their Own.
Editor's Note...since writing this hub Moneyball has been released. And moved all the way into 4th place on the rankings. A 75 million dollar box office run, a critic audience score of 88% and 6 Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture will really help out a score. 3/1/2012.
Recently fellow hubber Stevennix2001 requested a hub on Top 100 Sports Movies Of All-Time via my Movie Score ranking program. After doing some preliminary research I quickly realized....(1) there are a ton of sports movies...somewhere in the neighborhood of a 1000 movies and (2) that each sport would need it's own hub...with the best movies from each sport moving to a final hub.
Since we are in the middle of the baseball season, I decided to do the baseball movie hub first. This hub is only looking at movies that were released in theaters, so movies like Long Gone and 61 were NOT considered. If you see a movie not on the list, just put the title in the comment box and I will add the movie as long as it was released in theaters.
It is hard to argue that The Pride of the Yankees is not the best baseball movie. It sits on the top of the box office chart, on top the critics/audience chart, on top of the Movie Score chart, and it received 11 Oscar nominations to boot...pretty impressive.
The other 5 parts to this Best Sports Movie Series.
Part 2:.....Best Football Movies 49 movies
Part 3......Best Basketball and Hockey Movies 60 movies
Part 4.......Best Boxing Movies 62 movies
Part 5......Best Soccer, Golf, Olympics & Other Sports Movies 82 movies
Part 6.....Best Racing Movies 71 movies
1942's Pride of the Yankees is the baseball box office champ with 221.00 million in 2011 dollars.
Baseball Movies - Top Ten Box Office Hits in 2012 Inflated Dollars.
Movie Year
| 2012 Inflated Box Office(millions)
| Stars
|
|---|---|---|
#1 The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
| 221.00 million
| Gary Cooper
|
#2 A League of Their Own (1992)
| 205.90 million
| Geena Davis
|
#3 The Stratton Story (1949)
| 150.30 million
| James Stewart
|
#4 Field of Dreams (1989)
| 128.80 million
| Kevin Costner
|
#5 The Bad News Bears (1976)
| 120.00 million
| Walter Matthau
|
#6 The Natural (1984)
| 113.70 million
| Robert Redford
|
#7 The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
| 104.90 million
| William Bendix
|
#8 Rookie of the Year (1993)
| 103.40 million
| Gary Busey
|
#9 The Rookie (2002)
| 103.40 million
| Dennis Quaid
|
#10 Major League (1989)
| 99.40 million
| Wesley Snipes
|
The #3 baseball movie according to critics and audiences 1988's Bull Durham(83.78% critics/audience score).
Baseball Movies - Top Ten Movies based on critics and audience voting.
Movie Year
| Critics Audience Score
| Stars
|
|---|---|---|
#1 Moneyball (2011)
| 88.00 %
| Brad Pitt
|
#2 The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
| 84.25 %
| Teresa Wright
|
#3 The Bad News Bears (1976)
| 84.00 %
| Tatum O'Neal
|
#4 Bull Durham (1988)
| 83.78 %
| Susan Sarandon
|
#5 Field of Dreams (1989)
| 82.00 %
| Burt Lancaster
|
#6 Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
| 79.00 %
| Robert DeNiro
|
#7 Eight Men Out (1988)
| 78.75 %
| Charlie Sheen
|
#8 The Stratton Story (1949)
| 78.00 %
| James Stewart
|
#9 The Natural (1984)
| 77.94 %
| Glenn Close
|
#10 Major League (1989)
| 77. 00 %
| Charlie Sheen
|
Robert Redford in the #6 baseball movie according to Movie Score...1984's The Natural.
55 Baseball movies ranked by Movie Score. Movie Score is box office results + critical reception + award recognition. Perfect score would be 100.
Rank
| Movie Year
| 2012 Inflated Box Office (Millions)
| Movie Score
| Critics Audiences Score
| Nom / Win
| Actor
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st
| The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
| 221.00
| 85.40
| 84%
| 11 / 01
| Gary Cooper
|
2nd
| A League of Their Own (1992)
| 205.90
| 66.59
| 76%
| 00 / 00
| Tom Hanks
|
3rd
| Field of Dreams (1989)
| 128.80
| 65.26
| 82%
| 03 / 00
| Kevin Costner
|
4th
| Moneyball (2011)
| 75.60
| 61.34
| 88%
| 06 / 01
| Brad Pitt
|
5th
| The Stratton Story (1949)
| 150.30
| 59.08
| 78%
| 01 / 01
| Jimmy Stewart
|
6th
| The Natural (1984)
| 113.70
| 56.25
| 78%
| 04 / 00
| Robert Redford
|
7th
| Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949)
| 135.90
| 53.43
| 75%
| 00 / 00
| Frank Sinatra
|
8th
| The Bad News Bears (1976)
| 120.00
| 53.22
| 84%
| 00 / 00
| Walter Matthau
|
9th
| Bull Durham (1988)
| 98.60
| 49.72
| 84%
| 01 / 00
| Kevin Costner
|
10th
| The Rookie (2002)
| 103.40
| 49.09
| 76%
| 00 / 00
| Dennis Quaid
|
11th
| Major League (1989)
| 99.40
| 46.83
| 77%
| 00 / 00
| Charlie Sheen
|
12th
| Damn Yankees! (1958)
| 75.50
| 44.62
| 76%
| 01 / 00
| Tab Hunter
|
13th
| The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
| 104.90
| 41.09
| 58%
| 00 / 00
| William Bendix
|
14th
| It Happens Every Spring (1949)
| 75.50
| 38.80
| 66%
| 01 / 00
| Ray Milland
|
Rank
| Movie Year
| 2012 Inflated Box Office (Millions)
| Movie Score
| Critics Audiences Score
| Nom / Win
| Actor
|
15th
| Rookie of the Year (1993)
| 103.40
| 36.95
| 47%
| 00 / 00
| Gary Busey
|
16th
| The Sandlot (1993)
| 62.00
| 36.19
| 68%
| 00 / 00
| Denis Leary
|
17th
| Bing Long's Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
| 43.70
| 35.34
| 76%
| 00 / 00
| Billy Dee Williams
|
18th
| Angels in the Outfield (1994)
| 97.80
| 35.30
| 45%
| 00 / 00
| Christopher Lloyd
|
19th
| Angels in the Outfield (1951)
| 49.30
| 34.18
| 70%
| 00 / 00
| Janet Leigh
|
20th
| The Pride of St. Louis (1952)
| 51.70
| 32.98
| 63%
| 01 / 00
| Dan Dailey
|
21st
| The Winning Team (1952)
| 54.10
| 32.98
| 63%
| 00 / 00
| Ronald Reagan
|
22nd
| Fever Pitch (2005)
| 52.50
| 32.54
| 63%
| 00 / 00
| Jimmy Fallon
|
23rd
| The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
| 35.00
| 31.50
| 70%
| 00 / 00
| Jackie Robinson
|
24th
| For Love of the Game (1999)
| 55.60
| 31.41
| 58%
| 00 / 00
| Kevin Costner
|
25th
| The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977)
| 68.40
| 31.35
| 51%
| 00 / 00
| Jackie Earle Haley
|
26th
| Fear Strikes Out (1957)
| 25.40
| 31.32
| 75%
| 00 / 00
| Anthony Perkins
|
Rank
| Movie Year
| 2012 Inflated Box Office (Millions)
| Movie Score
| Critics Audiences Score
| Nom / Win
| Actor
|
27th
| Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
| 15.90
| 31.26
| 79%
| 01 / 00
| Robert DeNiro
|
28th
| Kill the Umpire (1950)
| 29.40
| 30.38
| 70%
| 00 / 00
| William Bendix
|
29th
| Eight Men Out (1988)
| 11.10
| 29.86
| 79%
| 00 / 00
| John Cusack
|
30th
| Hardball (2001)
| 56.40
| 28.43
| 49%
| 00 / 00
| Keanu Reeves
|
31st
| Sugar (2009)
| .80
| 26.58
| 76%
| 00 / 00
| Algenis Perez Soto
|
32nd
| Bad News Bears (2005)
| 40.50
| 26.30
| 52%
| 00 / 00
| Billy Bob Thornton
|
33rd
| The Benchwarmers (2006)
| 72.30
| 26.01
| 33%
| 00 / 00
| David Spade
|
34th
| Mr. 3000 (2004)
| 27.80
| 25.15
| 56%
| 00 / 00
| Bernie Casey
|
35th
| The Babe (1992)
| 33.40
| 24.88
| 52%
| 00 / 00
| John Goodman
|
36th
| Big Leaguer (1953)
| 13.50
| 24.05
| 61%
| 00 / 00
| Edward G. Robinson
|
37th
| The Fan (1996)
| 33.40
| 23.47
| 48%
| 00 / 00
| Robert DeNiro
|
38th
| Cobb (1994)
| 1.60
| 22.89
| 65%
| 00 / 00
| Tommy Lee Jones
|
39th
| Major League II (1994)
| 59.60
| 21.54
| 28%
| 00 / 00
| Charlie Sheen
|
40th
| Safe At Home (1962)
| 16.70
| 20.84
| 49 %
| 00 / 00
| Roger Maris
|
41st
| Game 6 (2006)
| 0.00
| 20.81
| 60%
| 00 / 00
| Robert Downey Jr.
|
Rank
| Movie Year
| 2012 Inflated Box Office (Millions)
| Movie Score
| Critics Audiences Score
| Nom / Win
| Actor
|
42nd
| The Perfect Game (2009)
| 0.80
| 20.80
| 59%
| 00 / 00
| Cheech Marin
|
43rd
| Pastime (1991)
| 0.80
| 20.80
| 59%
| 00 / 00
| William Russ
|
44th
| Little Big League (1994)
| 23.80
| 20.51
| 45%
| 00 / 00
| Timothy Busfield
|
45th
| Everyone's Hero (2006)
| 17.50
| 20.46
| 49%
| 00 / 00
| Rob Reiner
|
46th
| Mr. Baseball (1992)
| 39.80
| 19.86
| 34%
| 00 / 00
| Tom Selleck
|
47th
| Mickey (2004)
| 0.00
| 19.07
| 55%
| 00 / 00
| Harry Connick Jr.
|
48th
| Talent for the Game (1991)
| 0.80
| 18.53
| 53%
| 00 / 00
| Edward James Olmos
|
49th
| The Final Season (2007)
| 1.60
| 16.23
| 46%
| 00 / 00
| Sean Astin
|
50th
| Summer Catch (2001)
| 27.80
| 14.82
| 27%
| 00 / 00
| Freddie Prince
|
51st
| The Scout (1994)
| 5.60
| 13.19
| 35%
| 00 / 00
| Albert Brooks
|
52nd
| Major League: Back to the Minors (1998)
| 6.40
| 12.13
| 31%
| 00 / 00
| Corbin Benson
|
53rd
| The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978)
| 23.80
| 10.18
| 16%
| 00 / 00
| Jackie Earle Haley
|
54th
| The Slugger's Wife (1985)
| 4.00
| 10.07
| 27 %
| 00 / 00
| Michael O'Keefe
|
55th
| Ed (1996)
| 8.00
| 5.79
| 12%
| 00 / 00
| Matt Le Blanc
|
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Hey Steve....don't worry the Highest Grossing Soccer Movies is coming....I actually think there are more Soccer movies than USA Football movies.....and we can not forget the Rugby movies.....I think you will like Pride of the Yankees....11 Oscar nominations is pretty impressive....as for your favorite Field of Dreams...4th is a pretty good showing. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my baseball hub.
Hey cogerson this is a very creative hub!! Makes me wanna go to a ballgame!! Great timing for baseball with all the talk of Jeter!! :) Nice work. Thank you!
Field of Dreams stands out in my memory as my favorite of this list...but I think if I ever see The Natural,I might have another favorite....taking note.Awesome stuff Cogerson.;)
Great job! I appreciate all the work you put into this!
Thanks Sunshine625.....Mr. Jeter had a very good weekend......I appreciate the compliment.....and as always I appreciate you checking out the hub as well.
Hey mentalist acer....The Natural is a pretty good movie with a great Hollywood ending. Field of Dreams is a classic as well....thanks for the compliments.
Thank you Radioguy....the hard work is worth it when all the numbers make the list. I appreciate you reading the hub.
I love watching baseball although I am horrible at sports. My favourite baseball movies tend to star old actors either as the lead or supporting role, although an exception to this is Bull Durham. My favourite scene is Tim Robbins singing his own lyrics to Try a little Tenderness:
new:
"They will get weary.
Young girls, they will get weary.
Because of all the stress, yes.
When they get weary,
Try a little tenderness."
Drives Costner crazy.
Of course, A league of Their Own is great too, but the older actors are only seen reflecting back on the time of the women's league.
Here are my favourites in alphabetical order:
Bull Durham
Damn Yankees-ooh, another musical!
Field of Dreams
A League of Their Own
Pride of the Yankees-must be inthe proper mood or I get all teary
near misses on my list but not included because I could n't decide on ten are: The natural, Angels inthe outfield (1951) and The Stratton Story. I love Stewart and Allyson together
Nice list, my favorites would be the new Bad News Bears, Eight Men Out and Summer Catch. I see Summer Catch is way down the list, but I really like that movie. I agree that Ed is one of the worst movies ever made. Voted up and useful.
Hey Flora....thanks for stopping by....knowing how much you like the classics....I am glad that the older movies did so well in the rankings....1st, 3rd and 10th...not too bad. Before doing this hub I was not even aware that there had been a Angels in the Outfield in the 1950s. Robbins and his singing is indeed one of the funnier parts in Bull Durham. I am wondering how I will react to Field of Dreams the next time I watch it(since my father passed away)....the main theme of that movie is sons missing fathers....should be interesting....as always thanks for the comments.
Hey AlabamaGirl86.....I think Eight Men Out is an excellent retelling of the Black Soxs of 1919.....I have only seen a few minutes of Summer Catch, but I will gladly go with your recommendation on the movie. And finally Ed is indeed a horrible movie....one of the movies were you go....why did they make this movie? Thanks for your comments.
Hey Cogerson, you know I have heard about the Pride of the Yankees all my life, but I have never watched it, after reading this hub I think that might be the final push to final watch this movie. I agree that Eight Men Out is outstanding, but 27th seems a little. It really only made 11 million dollars? Other favorites would be Bull Durham and Hardball. Thanks for an interesting hub. Voted up and useful.
Interesting list, you have mentioned some of the movies from the past. But where is Safe At Home with the great Mantle and Maris? In more recent times I do not see the Slugger's Wife, which was about a Atlanta Braves slugger. Just letting you know.
Now we are talking, Yankees at number one, number ten and number eleven. Thanks for giving the Yankees their due, I knew there was a reason I like you so much, lol. We will not mention that horrible John Goodman movie that finished 32nd. Voted up and awesome. Go Yankees.
I have to say you did a great job putting this hub together, as I'm very impressed to see how many baseball movies were listed here. Thanks again for writing this, as I look forward to reading your third hub on this topic. By the way, are you planning on doing a hub on boxing films too? I would love to see which films ended up in that category. :)
hey hinton1966.....if you have not seen Pride of the Yankees then I can tell you that you will not be disappointed. As for Eight Men Out....excellent movie but it did not make any money at the box office. It actually was a low budget film and has earned most of its money on DVD sales and now Blu-Ray. Thanks for the compliment and the comments.
Hey manwholovesbaseball....I will add the two movies you mentioned....on the first go around I did not find any box office information on Safe At Home, and I thought The Slugger's Wife was average at best...but I will add them very shortly. Thanks for the suggestions.
Just like a Yankee fan...only talking about the good stuff....meanwhile John Goodman's The Babe is one of the worst movies ever.....and he is wearing that Yankee uniform for most of the movie...lol....thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Hey Stevennix2001...the boxing hub has just been published....60 movies on that hub.....now on to soccer, racing(all kinds) and smaller sports....I think it looks like between 400 and 500 movies that will be whittled down to a Top 100. It is taking awhile...but I think the end result is going to be pretty cool.
I agree, as I'm kind of curious to see which films will be lucky enough to end up in the top 100 for the sports movie hub.
Hey Stevennix2001...the movie I am concerned about is Hoosiers....it makes everybody's Top 5....currently it is sitting 43rd on my overall list....it's box office run was very very weak....which really hurts its score in my ranking program.....I just hope it stays in the Top 50....but it will probably not do that....we will see.
Ok manwholovesbaseball....the two missing movies have been added to the hub....Safe At Home comes in at #37....while The Slugger's Wife comes in next to last at #51....thanks for the suggestions.
Nice list, I love Bull Durham. I could never get into Field of Dreams. But my favorite Costner baseball movie is For Love of the Game, it has a great love story. As for your worst movie, Ed, I agree 100% I got stuck watching that piece of garbage years ago during the peak of my best friend's love crush on Matt LeBlank.
Hey KellyE, wow not sure how many people rank For Love of the Game over Field of Dreams and Bull Durham...but I respect your opinion. As for Ed, I am sure anybody that had to watch that movie wants to at least get that time back. Thanks for the comments.
Great lines from the number 2 movie, my favorite is no crying in baseball, as well as one of the longest bathroom scenes ever. Major League is classic as well. charlie Sheen also shines in 8 Men Out. Voted up.
I don't know why I forgot about this movie. But you are missing one of the three musical movies that Sinatra and Kelly made together:
Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Kelly and Sinatra are minor league baseball players from the championship team who perform on the vaudville stage in the off season. Esther Williams inherits the team but everyone is expecting a man because her name is CJ. Williams is the love interest for Kelly. BEtty Garret is the love interst for Sinatra-something that happened more than once.
Hey ShaunBronco Man.....A League Of Their Own has some great moments.....it pretty much turned Tom Hanks career around.....he had lost some of his luster at the box office....but this movie but turned things around for him....Charlie Sheen was excellent in his three baseball movies....probably the steroids that he was taking...lol...thanks for the comments.
Hey Flora, as I try and wrap up this whole best sports movie hub....this morning I went to IMDB and typed in sports movies...and 1608 movies popped up. As I was scanning through their list....Take Me Out To The Ball Game showed up....and I was kicking myself for not including it....but I will be added the movie to the list very shortly.....another one I forgot that might interest you...1965's This Sporting Life with Richard Harris. Thanks for suggesting the baseball musical.
Hey Flora.... Take Me Out to Ball Game has been added ....it moves all the way to #6 on this chart hard to believe that I left off the 13th biggest hit of 1949 off the charts...once again thanks for the heads up.
Ncie baseball list, I will be checking out some of your other lists.
Thank you interesting....I hope you enjoy the hubs...as always thanks for stopping by and checking out my hub
How does Genna Davis beat out Tom Hanks for the STARS slot?
Hey BryRog57.....not sure I understand your comment. But thanks for stopping by and checking out this baseball hub.
"Pride of the Yankees" "The Natural" and "Field of Dreams" are my three favorites. I had not heard of the Jimmy Stewart movie—the only one you listed with which I am unfamiliar. I will check that out. Thank you for an excellent Hub. I enjoyed it!
Thanks for checking out my baseball movie hub...The Stratton Story is excellent and based on a true story...I highly recommend watching it....it ended up in the Top 25 of all sports movies...in my Top 100 Sports Movies of All time....glad you enjoyed the hub.
"Field of Dreams" for wistfulness, "Bull Durham" for romance and "Bad News Bears" for fun. I'm a big baseball fan so I will try to see the others in your compilation. Really enjoyed this hub. Cheers!
Hey Jools99....glad you liked my baseball hub....this was a huge project as I did a sports movie hub on all the major sports. The three movies you mentioned did very well on the final Top 100 Sports movies of all-time hub...they finished...Bad News Bears #35, Bull Durham #44, and Field of Dreams #13...that was out of about 1600 movies. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Steve Lensman Level 7 Commenter 10 months ago
What's keeping that "Highest Grossing Soccer Movies" hub Conanson? :)
Whoa I never knew there were so many baseball films! Very Interesting... I have to admit it's not one of my favourite sports and back in my school days I was more into cricket than soccer but I digress... looking at your list I've seen... one, two, three, four... five films out of the 50 you listed. Not bad eh?
Pride of the Yankees the best of the best is it? I have to check it out.
I suppose my favourite has to be Field of Dreams.
Voted Up and Useful.