Berg definitely.

Ed Delahanty has to be up there too though there is probably a lack of definitive evidence about his final hours to really do it right.

Rube Waddell would be another one that might be intriguing.

I'd love to see a movie about the 1914 Braves.
Especially if they put in a LOT of period game detail, like having a barbershop quartet of Pittsburgh miners - still smeared with coal after coming from work - entertaining the crowd from home plate before the game.

EVERYONE should be tuning in to the Proopcast

I just want them to make it clear what a pain in the rear he could be as an opponent, even if you weren't a racist bastard.

Too bad Leo Durocher wasn't around to weigh in on that subject, because he could have given them an earfull. That was a hell of a pair to watch in action, whether in the same dugout or opposing ones.

Too bad Leo Durocher wasn't around to weigh in on that subject,

I expect the movie will focus mostly on the '47 season; the stuff with Durocher came later.

Speaking of movies I finally saw the Amazing Spider-Man reboot. It was annoying.

From what I know and from the way he talked about it in his memoir, Jackie's 1960 stance was pretty reasonable in the time he made his choices. Remember that Jackie was born in Georgia where Democrats were the disfranchisers and Republicans had at times been the party that blacks voted with (and at times been a party that rolled over and turn their back.) Martin Luther King Sr was vice chair (I think) of the Atlanta Republican Party.

California was different in that California Democrats actively wooed black voters successfully. Still Earl Warren dominated the state Republican Party until he went to DC, and he was about as liberal as you can get. New York's Republican Party was very liberal.

There were reasons for black people to be wary of Kennedy. He wasn't Adlai Stevenson or Hubert Humphrey, a warrior for civil rights. He picked a Southern redneck for VP (though of course this turned out differently than anyone expected!) Nixon's record on civil rights for blacks was solid (for pinkos, less so!)

By legend Martin Luther King Sr endorsed Nixon until Bobby Kennedy helped spring Martin Jr from jail.

After that Robinson turned bitterly against the Republican Party when it nominated Goldwater in 64. I think he was a Rockefeller guy but could be turned around. But he saw that as a turning point and walked away for that election.

Saw the trailer for this in the theater today. I thought it looked good.

They also played two different trailers for Iron Man 3 for some reason.

What real life baseball story would you most like to see? I remember someone did an interesting treatment of a fictionalized-combined Rick Ankiel-Josh Hamilton story. I'd like to see the Sam Rice story.

I'd like to see a touching R-rated comedy about the exploits of Kirk Gibson and Dave Rozema, inspired by this article and other events such as the flying jump-kick of John Castino, the great career of Gibson and tough career of Rozema (including a stint in the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball League), the fact that as of 2003 Rozema was selling waste disposal services in the Detroit area (according to Wikipedia) while Gibson was on the Tigers bench in his first year as a coach on what turned out to be the worst team since the 1962 Mets, etc.

Moe Berg would make a great movie.

I expect the movie will focus mostly on the '47 season;

If true, it's too bad that it cuts it off then, since that was really only the beginning of the story. Beyond just the between the lines side, in about 1952 he got into a running feud with the Yankees over a comment he made on TV about their hiring policies, which got a lot of publicity in the media.

the stuff with Durocher came later.

Well, except for the part in Spring training when Durocher squashed a possible Dodger walkout. That and the Chapman incident were the two key turning points of his rookie season. And the subsequent blood feud between Robinson and Durocher after Durocher skipped over to the Giants was a perfect illusration of how ferociously competitive both of those two were. Once Leo got into a Giants uniform, he baited Jackie with the best of them, despite his unwavering respect for him, and Jackie returned the favor with both barrels.

The walkout is shown in the trailer linked above, as I noted in a post. The various feuds etc. came later, and I don't think a mainstream metroplex audience would really be into Robinson and Durocher bench-jockeying each other in the early 50s or the Yankees' hiring policies. There probably will be a nod to or a graphic talking about the "Jackie Unmuzzled" of later years, but I am guessing the focus will be heavily on 1947.

Baseball movies I would like to see:

A made-for-cable flick about Jim Brosnan, focusing on 1959 and 1961, using excerpts from the books as voice-overs
A film adaptation of The Echoing Green

I think Ball Four would be perfect for an extended Cable series. A TV series in the '70s starring Bouton failed miserably. The time wasn't ripe; it is now. Although, I guess it would have to be fictionalized to some extent in order to avoid nuisance law suits.

I think Ball Four would be perfect for an extended Cable series. A TV series in the '70s starring Bouton failed miserably. The time wasn't ripe; it is now. Although, I guess it would have to be fictionalized to some extent in order to avoid nuisance law suits.

and make sure ESPN doesn't get its hands on it, lest they do to it what they did to playmakers.

Baseball movies I'd like to see:
1. I echo the call for a really well-done version of "Ball Four"
2. A movie about the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings or similar film about the very early days of professional base-ball
3. A nonfiction version of "Moneyball"

Yeah, but who's going to direct all these films?

I see the Sam Rice story as a Terence Malick film with haunted midwestern landscapes.

The Rube Waddell biopic would need to be quirky, funny, and touching at the end -- msybe Michel Gondry.

A film on Rube Foster and the early days of the Negro National League by John Sayles would be fun.

The Gibson-Rozema story sounds like something Ron Shelton could tackle.

How about the 1914 Miracle Braves by Spielberg?

Wait, there are people who don't like Point Break?

Bill James wrote somewhere (I think in one of the HBAs) that any one day in the life of Ban Johnson would make a good movie. The Black Sox Scandal from Johnson's point of view and how he tried to use and manipulate it for his own purposes--and how that backfired into his losing prestige and position would make an interesting Barbarians at the Gate, Wall Street, type of movie

As would The 1890 baseball season, the rise of the Players' League from the Brotherhod, the business jockeying for position that went on, culminating with Albert Spalding wheeling and dealing and finessing to the advantage of the National League and the disadvantage and downfall of the Players' League and the American Assn.

make sure ESPN doesn't get its hands on it

This is always good advice.

67 - Yes, Point Break sucked. If Point Break were a baseball player you would happily trade him for Jeff Francoeur.

They also played two different trailers for Iron Man 3 for some reason.

I'm worried about Iron Man 3. The trailer I saw made it seem like it was going to be dark and gritty. That's not what I want Iron Man to be!

A biopic of Ted Williams, hero and anti-hero, no holds barred, arrogance and temper, angry/bitter gunslinger magnetism and all, Salvation Army fanatic of a mother, bum #### of a father, two wars to overcome, a tale of spitting in the face of a fate that would destroy him. Casting would be important. It's a It's A Wonderful Life story going from hopeful optimism to bitter disillusionment with ultimate redemption possibilities--or does it end like The Searchers. It would take some kind of actor--with range and power. A Yeatsian Circus Animals Desertion thing--character isolated by a deed.

A story about Ted Williams would likely be very boring or not focused at all about baseball in order to be interesting.

Not necessarily, but, yes, it would have to be about character, which led to accomplishments and to downfalls. But, yes, you could make a great story about Williams without ever showing any on-the-diamond footage. Hell, you could make a good movie out of Williams in retirement--a few days fishing for Sears at Toledo Bend Reservoir, say.

A biopic of Ted Williams, hero and anti-hero, no holds barred, arrogance and temper, angry/bitter gunslinger magnetism and all, Salvation Army fanatic of a mother, bum #### of a father two wars to overcome, a tale of spitting the face of a fate that would destroy him. Casting would be important. It's a It's A Wonderful Life story going from hopefug optimism to bitter disillusionment with ultimate redemption possibilities--or does it end like The Searchers. It would take some kind of actor--with range and power. A Yeatsian Circus Animals Desertion thing--character isolated by a deed.

Cast Boris Karloff for the final scene, and it sounds like a winner.

After reading the latest in the OTP thread, I'm curious about a movie where Jackie Robinson carries a gun everywhere. That might be a short movie though. Or maybe it's the aforementioned Tarantino movie.

I'm worried about Iron Man 3. The trailer I saw made it seem like it was going to be dark and gritty. That's not what I want Iron Man to be!

Heh, that's one reason I'm sort of looking forward to it.

Yes, it was a cowardly error in judgment for Branch Rickey to counsel Jackie to engage only in temperate response. Djackie Unchained from the beginning would have been a winner, yeah.

Yes, it was a cowardly error in judgment for Branch Rickey to counsel Jackie to engage only in temperate response. Djackie Unchained from the beginning would have been a winner, yeah.

But you have to admit that a Shibe Park shootout scene between the Dodgers and the Phillies would make for great entertainment, with tommy guns blazing while fans behind the two dugouts were ducking for cover behind their fedoras.

Of course the sequel might be a bit problematical, but that's what resurrections and short attention spans are for. Maybe Joe could write the screenplay.

The expression "alligator mouth, hummingbird ass" was created for Kehoskie.

After that Robinson turned bitterly against the Republican Party when it nominated Goldwater in 64. I think he was a Rockefeller guy but could be turned around. But he saw that as a turning point and walked away for that election.

Good post, and makes sense. My parents were Rocky Republicans, and even voted for Nixon in '68. Viet Nam woke them up and they were die hard Democrats for the last 30 years of their lives. It was the GOP's racism that made them permanent converts. That, the ever increasingly insane foreign policy of the right (Latin America in the 80s, the Iran-Contra fiasco), and its hatred of labor rights made it impossible for them to ever again vote R in national and statewide elections.

All of which is to say, it's easy to forget where the parties were 40 and 50 years ago.

It's easy for them to forget, too.

"The Bad Guys Won" about the 1986 Mets, directed by Seth MacFarlane.

A biopic of Ted Williams, hero and anti-hero, no holds barred, arrogance and temper, angry/bitter gunslinger magnetism and all, Salvation Army fanatic of a mother, bum #### of a father, two wars to overcome, a tale of spitting in the face of a fate that would destroy him. Casting would be important. It's a It's A Wonderful Life story going from hopeful optimism to bitter disillusionment with ultimate redemption possibilities--or does it end like The Searchers. It would take some kind of actor--with range and power. A Yeatsian Circus Animals Desertion thing--character isolated by a deed.

The footage of Williams in the Ken Burns documentary always reminds me of Gene Hackman.

Moe Berg seems like a good one. (Has there been a movie about him?)

i've never heard of one, but if you've read the bio written about him by dawidoff in 94, and if a movie was made that was true to the bio, it would be pretty creepy. the guy was kind of weird. no doubt he was smart and well-educated; he did do some good work for the US gov't and the CIA just before and during WWII, but after that he didn't do much of anything. CIA even paid him to do some freelance spying at one point, but he didn't produce anything, just spent the money they paid him. he became a wandering mooch. he lived with his brother for a while, but did not hold down a job. his brother kicked him out of the house, so he moved in with his sister. he never married, he hinted around to people that he met that he was still a spy long after the CIA had decided he was not worth keeping around. i remember reading in Dawidoff's bio that he mostly lived out of a suitcase for years, keeping a set of drip dry shirts that he'd hand wash and hang in the bathroom of whoever he was staying with.

I've covered a few events in the last 5 years that Rachel Robinson - Jackie's widow - attended.

She's now 90, and was going to attend the Brooklyn Nets' first game last fall before Hurricane Sandy postponed it and she couldn't make it to the new 'opener.'

I'm usually pretty cynical, but there is something about her. Class, Dignity, Grace - I don't know what to call it.

I realize if you're 30 years old or younger, you probably can't believe she's still even alive and alert and - last I saw - quite engaged.

If she's still as hale as when I've seen her when this is released - and if it works - I suspect she'll bring down the house at the premiere like you've never seen before.