The Battered Bastards of Baseball

Jan 20, 2014

1h 20m

★ 7.5

They put balls back in the game.

Overview

Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.

Genres

Documentary

The Battered Bastards of Baseball Trailers

Cast

Himself

Kurt Russell

Himself

Todd Field

Himself (voice)

Jim Bouton

Herself

Lou Russell

Himself

Ken Wheeler

Himself

Jack Faust

Herself

Carren Woods

Himself

Nick Bertram

Himself

Robert Richardson

Himself

Frank Peters

Himself

Rob Nelson

Himself

Jim Swanson

The triumphs and challenges of Negro League baseball in the early 20th century. Through rare footage and interviews with iconic players like Satchel Paige and Buck O'Neil, as well as Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, the film highlights the league's pivotal role in Black communities and the impact of integration.

6.9

The Saint of Second Chances

Jun 11, 2023

Mike Veeck, son of MLB franchise owner Bill Veeck, blows up his father's career. Exiled from the game he loves, the younger Veeck spends the next few decades clawing his way up from rock bottom, determined to redeem himself.

0.0

David Ortiz: Legend of the Fall

Oct 14, 2022

Big Papi was at his best when it mattered, heralded as the greatest playoff clutch hitter of all-time. Filmed over the course of just six weeks, David Ortiz: Legend Of The Fall documents the three time world champion's recent induction in the baseball Hall of Fame – capturing the lead-up to this momentous event, the actual ceremony and the afterglow of his enshrinement.

0.0

E60 Presents: Bonds

Nov 7, 2021

Examines the life and career of Barry Bonds as the former Pittsburgh Pirate and San Francisco Giant nears the end of his eligibility to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

8.0

Diamond Demon

Feb 1, 1947

The unusual talents of Johnny Price, a minor league baseball pitcher and trick artist, are showcased in this Pete Smith Specialty. Among other talents, Mr. Price can throw two (and, in certain situations three) baseballs simultaneously to different people. The catchers can be side by side, with one high and one low, or standing on the pitcher's mound and second base while Price throws the ball from the catcher's position. He can even perform these feats while suspended upside-down.

6.5

Still We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie

May 9, 2004

A look at the Boston Red Sox's 2003 season, from Spring Training to their meeting with the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, and the team's relationship with their fans.

8.0

2017 Houston Astros: The Official World Series Film

Dec 5, 2017

Houston Strong. The first championship for any franchise always delivers a satisfying celebration. But when it happens during the recovery from a natural disaster, it generously serves as a welcome and exhilarating distraction for its fans and city. Fresh on the heels of devastating flooding from Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Astros thrilled fans by winning the 2017 World Series championship.

5.9

Long Gone Summer

Jun 14, 2020

An examination of the 1998 MLB season and the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The two sluggers' race to hit the most home runs, later overshadowed by the steroid scandal, left a permanent mark on baseball history.

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0.0

Untitled Barry Bonds Documentary

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Narrates the life story of Barry Bonds, the single-season home run king, from his early days as the son of All-Star Bobby Bonds and godson of the iconic Willie Mays to his explosive rise in the 1990s and 2000s.

0.0

The Swingin' A's

Feb 7, 2017

MLB Network Presents this documentary on the Oakland Athletics powerhouse teams of the 1970's, winners of 3 straight World Series titles from 1972-1974.

0.0

You Gotta Love These Guys!

Dec 1, 1996

1996 Seattle Mariners 60-Minute Video Highlights - Relive the Return of Mariners Magic as the Guys in Navy and Green put together one of the most prolific seasons in Major League history!

7.2

The Beaning

Nov 11, 2017

An experimental documentary exploring a sinister theory surrounding the death of Cleveland baseball player Ray Chapman in 1920 and the subsequent rise of the Yankee dynasty.

0.0

An Amazin Era: Revised and Updated

Nov 1, 1989

From Casey Stengel to Doc Gooden, An Amazin' Era captures all the magic and mystique surrounding 25 years of New York Mets baseball.

10.0

Chicago Cubs: The Heart and Soul of Chicago

May 17, 2011

Few cities love their baseball team as much as Chicago loves the Cubs, and this documentary attempts to explain the close bond between the Windy City and their National League squad by interviewing some of the team's most-beloved players as well as celebrities who have been die heard fans of the Cubbies their entire lives. In addition to offering archival footage of many of the team's biggest stars, this program contains interviews with Bob Costas, Dennis Franz, Scott Turow, and Bud Selig.

5.9

Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story

Oct 12, 2018

The first and only Taiwanese player for the New York Yankees, Chien-Ming Wang held many titles: American League Wins Leader, World Series Champion, Olympian, Time 100 Most Influential, and The Pride of Taiwan. He had it all - until a 2008 injury forever altered the course of his career. Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story - named after the late sinking action on his signature pitch - follows the rise and fall of the international icon as he fights his way back into the Major Leagues through endless rehab programs and lengthy stints away from home, carrying the weight of the world on his battered shoulder. A poignant and intimate account of Wang’s steadfast quest, Late Life tells the story of a man who is unwilling to give up and unable to let go.

7.1

Fastball

Mar 25, 2016

Since 1912, baseball has been a game obsessed with statistics and speed. Thrown at upwards of 100 miles per hour, a fastball moves too quickly for human cognition and accelerates into the realm of intuition. Fastball is a look at how the game at its highest levels of achievement transcends logic and even skill, becoming the primal struggle for man to control the uncontrollable.

0.0

Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey

Sep 26, 2006

A documentary about former Major League Baseball player, Bill "The Spaceman" Lee. Lee was the ultimate gonzo player, a brilliant left handed pitcher who defied every manager or front office executive who tried to control him. The fans loved him and so did sportswriters who delighted in asking the usual baseball questions, only to get philosophical responses involving the relationship between existentialism and the curveball or the effects of karma on a pitcher's rotator cuff.

0.0

Seaver

Oct 13, 2019

A unique insight into Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver - a reclusive icon and his relationship with New York City.

7.4

Facing Nolan

May 24, 2022

In the world of Major League Baseball no one has created a mythology like Nolan Ryan. Told from the point of view of the hitters who faced him and the teammates who revered him, Facing Nolan is the definitive documentary of a Texas legend.

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0.0

Spyball

Jul 8, 2015

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once told the head of the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA), “Give my regards to the catcher.” The catcher was Moe Berg, who spent 15 seasons in the majors before taking up espionage for the government. Spyball tells the extraordinary story of Berg, a linguist/Ivy-educated lawyer/.243 lifetime hitter whom manager Casey Stengel called “the strangest man to ever play the game of baseball.” Berg walked in eclectic circles, counting Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, and the Marx Brothers among his friends, but it was his service to his country that truly distinguished him. His surreptitious filming of Tokyo during a 1934 baseball tour helped develop strategies for the eventual bombing of the city during World War II, and his cloak-and-dagger mind games involving a German scientist helped prove that the Nazis were failing in their attempts to develop an atomic bomb.