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Baseball

© Rob Harding

Summer is winding down yet again, and thoughts naturally turn to Autumn and everything Autumn means. Colorful leaves on the trees, the kids are back in school, colder nights, all the crappy new shows the networks schlep out, all of it smacks of Autumn. For Baseball fans, this is a very exciting time. The pennant races are in full swing and the playoffs are just around the corner. It's the perfect time to rent a good baseball movie. Eight Men Out and A League of Their Own are good baseball movies.

Eight Men Out tells the story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who have been infamously known as the "Black Sox" ever since. Back then baseball was something that was simple and pure. The players didn't make much money, they played for the love of the game. In fact, so mistreated were the players that, occassionally, they found alternate ways to subsidize their paychecks. In the White Sox case, it meant several star players offering to throw a few games of the World Series in return for a big pay day from gamblers connected to the mob. This forms the premise for the movie. However, once the movie begins, we see that this basic premise does not tell the whole story. This is a character driven movie. Each of the actors plays their characters so well that the viewer feels they know each one's motives intrinsically. There are players you sympathize with, and players you do not.

John Cusack and D.B Sweeney play Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson, two players the viewer sympathize with, even as they act foolishly and, as adults, are responsible for their own actions. Cusack plays Weaver perfectly, on one hand a player who is furious about the player's awful treatment at the hands of Mr.Comiskey, the owner of the Sox, and his inability to give anything less than 100% on the diamond. Sweeney plays a historically accurate portrayal of Jackson, who was an illiterate farm boy and one of the most talented ball players of all time. Jackson was pressured into agreeing to the plan, then backed out and hit over .400 in the series. Is he still guilty?

Charlie Sheen, who plays Hap Felsch, Michael Rooker, who plays Chick Gandil and Don Harvey, who plays Swede Risberg, make up the core group of conspirators. They are all good actors and do a great job of bringing out the disdain of the viewer. This is a story of morality, and the price at which people will give up their morals. Sadly, or perhaps justly, the Sox found out too late that they weren't even going to be paid what they had been promised and their ultimate fate leaves the viewer questioning whether or not justice was done. This is a movie that may spur you to learn about the actual White Sox team and the facts of the case. They have long been considered one of the greatest ball teams of all time, and the story of their demise is truly one of the best sports movies of all time.