Little Big League (1994)

There are a few clever scenes in this movie, but mostly, it's play by the numbers. I don't know if it would appeal to a 12 year old, but it could have appealed to a guy of any age who dreams of what he could do if only he were allowed to manage a baseball team.But it would have been far more effective in that way if, instead of having the players played by actors who developed the usual collection of quirky characters, the producer had managed to convince the real players of a real losing team to appear in this movie. Then it truly would have been fantasy baseball at its finest, and more realistic.Not a bad movie, but not a memorable one.

In 1994, Little Big League went pretty unnoticed by most film goers and critics. What some characterized as a cheap ripoff of Rookie of the Year, was nothing of the sort. Time has given us the distance and wisdom to take a second look at this little gem. And with that vision we can see a modern day American tragedy. A pure classic in all terms of the word.Little Big League tells to story of 12 year-old Billy Haywood and his adventure of managing the Minnesota Twins baseball club. The prepubescent Billy has a rocky start at the beginning of the film, struggling to earn his players' respect and trust. But the turbulent times steady themselves and Billy leads the team to a winning record and a chance at the AL Wild Card. Intertwined into the ball season is the love story between 1st baseman Lou Collins and Billy's mom Jenny.Partway through, Billy grows encumbered with the pressures of managing a major league baseball team and his growing oedipal jealousies. Things spill over onto the ball field and results in Billy benching star Lou.Not to worry because Billy finds his way again. Right where it was the whole time. A magical scene shows him joining in a neighborhood stick ball game and reconnecting with the reasons he became a major league manager in the first place. Things are set right soon after when Billy reinstates Lou and gives his mom a big hug. With a renewed Billy at the helm, the team finds their stride just in time to finish the season tied for the Wild Card. The only thing standing in their way is a playoff game with Ken Griffey Jr's Seattle Mariners.Personally, I was on the edge of my seat through the whole playoff game scene. The battle goes back and forth into extra innings. Finally, the film climaxes with a duel between Randy Johnson (himself) and a last ditch at bat by Lou.Just when we think Lou Collins shot to deep left will clear the fence and we'll see the team we've grown to love run out onto the field as winners and Little Big League will give us what we want most, Ken Griffey Jr. jumps up to rob us all. For every story of champions, is the another story. The story of the losers. Essentially, that is what Little Big League is; a story of loss. A tragedy.But like Shakespeare's Hamlet and Arthur Miller's Willy Loman, LBL drags us kicking and screaming to the awful truth. We cannot all win the 1994 AL Wild Card. Someone has to be Billy Haywood. Somebody has to walk back to the clubhouse with their head down. But just when Billy thinks the last light is about to go out, he is informed that the fans are still there. They are still...cheering. And just when we think the emotional roller coaster ride of LBL has gone over it's last hill, it climbs to a momentous conclusion. They are still cheering.It's an essential part of the human drama. And LBL lets us know. It's O.K. We can still cheer for the loser. For what is more noble then knowing that we left it all on the field. The infield dirt has been mixed with blood and sweat, and it has not been forgotten. Bravo, Little Big League, bravo.

Luke Edwards is incredible as Billy Heywood. I cannot believe how many people don't know about this movie. It has a bit of everything and has some big laughs as well as a very touching and a story the general audience can relate to. You don't have to be into baseball to like the movie! Bowers is hilarious as the relief pitcher and the road trip sequence in the hotel is also unreal. I loved the riddle in the movie too, "A cowboy rides into town on Friday, leaves three days later on Friday, how did he do it?" If you haven't seen this movie do so. If you love baseball this is an absolute must...(you can stop reading now the rest is filler to get to 10 lines) It's also cool how the first basemen is from Field of Dreams, a good movie but not half as good as this one. Rookie of the year was alright, and the Sandlot is another classic of our time. We have not had a really great baseball movie in a long time...

I remember that I didn't want to see this movie at the theater (or as a rental for that matter) because of the marketing of the movie and what I thought would be a dumb story. However, I was pleasantly surprised. For what it was worth, it was a pretty good movie. Yeah, the story-line was not believable and it was cheesy at times, but the basis behind the story was pretty solid, it had some pretty good lines, and it was pretty entertaining the whole way through. Word of warning, though - Don't let Randy Johnson scare you. That guy had to have fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every single branch on the way down, THEN bounced and hit every single branch on the way up. Plus he's called the 'Big Unit'; scary! 6.5 out of 10.