Not sure if this belongs, but Billy Crystal’s “*61” is in my Hall of Fame for baseball movies
Absolutely love this movie. Billy Crystal passion project and he stacked the cast with just all the best character actors he could find
Heck, yeah. Maybe the coolest part of becoming rich and famous, is in getting to meet childhood idols. … And yeah, Barry Pepper and Tom Jane had me believing, amazingly.
Shooter McGavin as Mel Allen
Lol How about that
Anthony Michael Hall as Whitey Ford was inspired.
Which was funny when they had him as DiMaggio in The Bronx is Burning.
Anthony Michael Hall as Whitey Ford is the best part of this movie for me, hilarious in every scene he’s in.
“I like women with small hands”
Haha Omg I’m not even going to finish that comment! 😊
Edit: My tits are bigger than any Mantle’s ever seen in the world sigh lol
lol can easily see Mickey saying it tho
Yeah, definitely lol He’d make me freaking blush. Especially, if Whitey’s there and they’re buying!
My friends and I used to say this line constantly
“Makes muh D look bigger”- the Mick
Came here to say this
This movie made me think Roger Maris had a much bigger career than he did haha. Barry Pepper was also really good in the Dale Earnhardt movie “3” a couple years later, really crushed it in the niche sports roles
It’s tough comparing anyone to Mickey Mantle. Unless your name was “Mays,” you’d be playing in Mantle’s shadow. … It wasn’t easy for Maris, and Pepper did a fine job showing.
Barry Pepper is a truly phenomenal actor and I love his work
Maris had an unbelievable career, one that 99.9999999999999999% of ballplayers would envy.
38 WAR and 2 MVPs is nothing to sneeze at.
Loved this. Fantastic casting of Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane. Just excellent. I’ve been rewatching the Bronx is Burning thanks to some kind soul on YouTube. I’ll travel back in time a little further and watch this next. Glad you posted this, OP.
The Bronx is Burning is an awesome snapshot of NY in the late 70’s. Oliver Platt, Daniel Sunjata and John Turturo turned in some great performances. Love that Yankees team with great role players like Pinella, Randolph and Dent
You’re welcome and thanks; happy to oblige anyone keeping the old-school stuff still alive.
Love this movie. You can tell this was a project of love for Crystal.
Absolutely, yes.
There is a really cool mini-documentary on YouTube, on the making of the film. It’s really sweet.
https://youtu.be/ZJSSI2ZJFok?si=xGtnlPnek4E_o3lY
So many great parts in it: Crystal shows where Mickey hit a homerun during Billy’s first Yankees game, and I think on the Dina Shore t.v. show where Billy gets to meet Mickey Mantle as an adult after getting his [Mick’s] autograph as a kid.
Did not know about this, gonna watch. Thanks !
Yeah as a baseball and yankee fan ( NYer) you can see how much he loves both.
Heck, yeah. Right on.
I always thought it was funny, in “City Slickers” he wore a Mets cap. Maybe he didn’t want to be so obvious?
Enjoy the doc :)
It was worn to show his appreciation to the Mets for helping promote Comic Relief. He, Robin Williams, and Whoopi Goldberg would make a yearly promotional visit to the booth.
“He signed it Whitey Ford…”
“And Mickey hit the ball allll the way over here, where his grandma lives…”
You may have to track it down, but man do I love his one man show 700 Sundays. Just a great telling of his life growing up in NY with his extended family and of course, love for the Yankees. His voice acting and facial expressions imitating his family is hilarious. Has a bunch of heart felt moments too
He’s a heck of a storyteller, Billy Crystal. I read his autobiography, “Still Fooling ‘Em” 2013). It’s worth reading. Crystal writes a lot about becoming friends with Mantle [his hero], and Mickey is kind of a jerk to him. It was the 80s-90s, and Mantle was a drinker, in fairness.
Mantle always called Crystal, his “little bitch”, from the book. Even after being friends for years, Mantle still called Billy his “little bitch.”
If 61 is so good how come there’s no 62
You try casting an actor to play Aaron Judge. It can’t be done. He’s too perfect.
Aaron Judge starring Aaron Judge
Ba-dum-tsss 🥁
We’ve got to wait 35 years for some comedian that’s a kid now with a personal tie to Yankees fandom to make it their pet project.
I’m a Red Sox fan and I love this movie. Great film.
Honestly one of the best baseball movies ever made
Right on. It’s a good film for baseball fans. No matter what team we’re for. … Cool points, though, coming from a Red Sox fan.
Just watched this the other day. Most realistic baseball move there is.
That’s my favorite part: the realism, the attention to detail.
Amd I hate the Yankees! My dad grew up in the Bronx as a Giants fan. But I have to give it up, best baseball movie I’ve seen.
Probably the cool thing about being baseball fans is we like baseball movies lol No matter, whatever team.
Your dad made you a good fan; like it or not :)
For sure. He grew up going to Yankee Stadium even though he hated them. In his day, they let kids in free after the 5th and then if the kids helped clean up a section they got free tickets to the next day’s game. He taught me to love baseball above all else. Then love the Giants because of Willie.
Imagine being forced to go to a Yankees game lol I’m with him. I’m with you. Even as Giants fans, we gotta’ respect the Yankees. If nothing else, just to see Yankee Stadium. … No way was this Polo Grounds era (?)
Are we feuding?
Oh, no. Absolutely not.
I’m sorry, I must have missed something (?)
One of my favorite lines from the movie. Reporter is going on about how there’s an intense feud between Mantle and Maris and they’re watching it on tv in the apartment together. Mickey goes: “Are we feuding?” Maris: “guess so” Mantle: “well fuck you then” Maris: “up yours”
Oh, shoot. D’uh. Lol. You got me.
How about you pass me some more of them black eggs, huh. Maybe get me out of this slump.
Edit: I didn’t quote the movie exactly.
That’s the first thing I think of when I think of this movie.
What’s the deal with the asterisk? Is it the extra 8 games that were added since Ruth’s day?
I screwed up in my post.
The asterisk should be after the number, and not before.
It was 1961 that MLB went from 154 games to 162. Ford Frick was commissioner of Baseball in 1961. It was his idea to add the astericks to any new record that breaks a record, separating the old and new.
There were no actual asterisks. Frick proclaimed at the time that unless the record was broken within 154 games, then it would be a separate record for a 162-game season instead. But it wasn’t really remembered that way because - until 1998 - no one else passed 60 home runs in a season anyway. So that wasn’t really a separate home run record list for 162 games anyway.
Of course, it’s the best one.
:)
This is one that I tell people is a just an amazing movie that happens to be about baseball.
So good.
It’s a great movie that just so happens to be about baseball.
Almost like “Rocky” (1976), but with more bats and baseballs.
Amazing how much stress and hate Maris got breaking Babe’s record. Also, makes you think about the biggest if in sports. Imagine if Mantle took care of himself and dedicated himself to being the best ball player. Also, if he never got his knee tore up. He would own so many records and have so many WS rings…..
The knee is the big one for me, it’s what started all the other problems…
Best baseball movie there is. I need to watch this again soon
it was well casted.
For sure, yeah. I’m guessing the film was casted by a woman. Most films, the casting is done by women.
Can’t believe I haven’t watched this.
It’s a great baseball movie, for sure. It’s an absolute-must-watch, along with “The Pride of the Yankees,” “42,” “Field of Dreams,” and “Moneyball.”
^^These are the best Baseball Movies. ^^https://youtu.be/uXG6WHfs5uE?si=6DOmv0roD1AGqhxT
Here’s a link to watch “*61”. It’s on YouTube for free.
The Pride of the Yankees
I’m reading Baseball: The Movie right now and Pride of the Yankees is the first movie that is talked about in the book. I watched it and it really is great.
Wish it was more well known. Probably my favorite baseball movie.
I love this movie. I grew up in Fargo. Roger Maris was the first professional athlete I knew of and could put a face to. I hated watching his record get broken. Then realizing it was broken by cheaters made me hate baseball as a teenager. My dad died early in my life but one of my favorite memories was going to the Roger Maris Museum with him and looking at all the old memorabilia.
Love this movie
The casting of Maris is absolutely incredible
Thanks for reminding me about this movie. Putting it on my list
All timer. Such a good film.
You go get that fat fuck.
I hate the Yankees and even I love that movie. It really humanizes both players, I think. Both Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane were great.
It was a nice movie, but I think there are a lot of better baseball movies.
Man this movie is a big reason I was a huge baseball fan as a kid. It came out when I was like 8 on HBO and my dad let me and my brother watch it with him. I was Mickey Mantle for Halloween that following year lol. Also thought it was so cool they played the Twins on opening day
This came out right as I was REALLY getting into baseball as a teenager transitioning from playing to purely spectator and helped me better appreciate the history of the game. So, I have a soft spot for it.
Great movie. Only thing I wonder about since in the DVD there’s extensive explanations by Crystal for why he chose to shoot scenes the way he did, was why he had Maris stare at his home run that broke the record. Crystal tried to generally imitate real life but in that climactic scene, Maris watches his home run leave the field instead of going quickly into his home run trot which he did in reality.
It made it seem like Maris was pimping the moment which few players did back then and would have been out of character for the very humble, workmanlike Maris
I rented this so many times from Blockbuster. I think of their breakfast montage all the time. So good.
My dad passed away about a year and a half ago, but this is my favorite story about him.
My dad group in Mandan, North Dakota. And every summer when he was a teenager, there was a kid who would stay at his grandmother’s across the street. This kid was about 2 years younger than my dad. No one would play baseball with him, because he threw too hard, ran too fast, and hit the ball too far…
Nobody in the neighborhood would even play catch with this kid. Except for my dad.
The kid’s name was Roger Maris.
Underrated baseball movie! Glad that Roger Maris finally got the positive spotlight he never got
He almost played for my alma mater until we cancelled baseball
An incredible homage to NYC, Yankees and baseball from an artist who passionately loves them all.
My hot take. This was fine, they made the commissioner out to be way too cartoonishly villainy.
Absolutely one of the underrated baseball movies! Fully agree with you.
67 is haunting me
