We spent a beautiful evening at the Rockies game Friday night with a delightful 10-year- old baseball fan, the son of a college friend who was in to see his beloved Twins. The chattering crowd, the chirping 10-year-old crammed full of statistics, the crunching peanut shells — all made for a three-hour commercial for the wonders of baseball.
Hockey and basketball are winding down, and soon baseball will be all your family has left on sports TV. So this week I’m recommending a melancholy story of baseball love and loss, “Eight Men Out,” as your family’s movie ticket to the ballpark atmosphere.
“Eight Men Out” was writer/director John Sayles’ tribute to a long-lost era, but Sayles is far too complex a thinker to merely sentimentalize his subject. He paints a rich portrait of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who had a magnificent season only to later be accused of throwing games to the eventual champions, the Cincinnati Reds.
Sayles carefully sets up why so many White Sox hated owner Charles Comiskey, and how the team divided along education and class lines during the scandal. David Strathairn as embittered pitcher Ed Cicotte is the soul of the movie. The film shows us how long baseball has been deeply embedded in American society, without destroying our notion of what is great about the game.
Caught up in the mess is teddy bear outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, who some believe was too illiterate or “simple” to really understand the betting scam. Watching his downfall in “Eight Men Out” will help you appreciate “Field of Dreams,” another great baseball movie we’ve discussed in this space. After watching either film, you may enjoy a detailed discussion of Jackson’s potential guilt or innocence in a Wikipedia article on the Black Sox Scandal.
“Eight Men Out”
Rated: PG, for mild language and mature themes.
Best suited for: Baseball fans of all ages.
