Major League (1989)

What started as a simple baseball-season pick turned into a reminder of why sports movies work so well in the first place. This week we’re breaking down Major League (1989), and even the non-baseball fans on the mic ended up getting pulled in once the underdog story really starts to click. The Cleveland roster is basically designed to fail, the Yankees are perfectly hateable, and the final game is staged so clearly that every out and every risky decision makes sense, even if you’ve never cared about a box score in your life.

We dig into the characters that make the movie stick: Charlie Sheen’s chaotic “Wild Thing” energy, Wesley Snipes’ electric Willie Mays Hayes, Jake Taylor trying to squeeze one last shot out of his career, and the way the whole roster feels like a team of talented players who all have one big flaw holding them back.

We also talk about the comedy and why it still works. It’s funny without feeling loud or over-the-top, and Bob Uecker’s broadcast booth commentary adds a layer of baseball authenticity that a lot of modern sports comedies still try to capture.

Of course, not everything has aged perfectly. We also get into some of the stereotypes and the old Cleveland branding that feel different watching it today, and why those things are worth talking about when revisiting a classic.

By the end, we zoom out to the bigger idea behind it all: baseball fandom is built on psychology, rituals, and emotional attachment. One moment, one risky call, one win you didn’t see coming, that’s the stuff that sticks with you for life.

If you’re looking for a sports movie breakdown with laughs, context, and a lot of appreciation for great team chemistry, give the episode a listen. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and if you enjoy the show, drop us a five-star review.

Twitter handles:
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Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak

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https://www.youtube.com/@projectgeekology

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA

Transcript

Welcome And Baseball Season Detour

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a special episode of Project Ecology episode number 155, Teepee Talk. To all you Yahoo faithful out there, yes, this episode is going to be all about major league. And if you're thinking, hey guys, this isn't the content you usually cover, I'd say, yeah, this is just a bit outside of our normal content, but I think it's perfect for baseball season. I am one fourth of your hosts, Rich, and joining me as always this week.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I will start the rotation because this is a strange one where Rich begins the rotation. So I am Dakota. I am another fourth of the podcast hosts here tonight. We are covering Major League, the 1989 baseball comedy. It's a movie I think only one of us has seen prior to this recording. And that one person who has seen this movie has seen it many times, and could probably quote most of the film to you. But yeah, I am joined as always with Hi, I'm Jen.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

I think this is gonna be our biggest episode yet. This is about to blow us up, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

And of course, we can never forget Anthony.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

And yeah, you know, this is gonna be the uh Rich led episode. So prepare to hear tons of major league facts from him.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yeah. Anthony, Anthony didn't even bother watching the movie. He just he he just assumed it was about baseball in general. So he's just been reading up on Babe Ruth and all those guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, I thought it was just a I I thought I thought he meant to just like watch a baseball game, which I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Did you happen to watch your favorite player from the Boston Red Sox, Roman Anthony, in the world baseball classic?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

That was a good response. Guys, this is gonna be a fun show. Uh Jen, you were saying that this is gonna be our biggest podcast. You never really know what's gonna hit in podcast land because we have some episodes, some random ones. I think of like Lilo and Stitch. We did a Lilo and Stitch one, and it blew up in France. You know, like only French people listen to that, but like hundreds of them. You know, it was it was really bizarre. But you know, here we are.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

That's baseball, Susan. That's unpredictable.

Host Check-Ins And Pop Culture

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Yeah, timely. Alright, before we jump into our discussion of the Charlie Sheen 1989 baseball film, Anthony, what have you been up to, guy?

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Oh man, you know, just been um not watching baseball.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

And uh shots are already being fired.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

No, I mean honestly, do I need to watch baseball when I'm on a podcast with you guys? You guys will update me with all the information.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

That's pretty fair.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

So I can always expect Rich before and during the podcast to say something about baseball season. So I I know more about baseball than I've ever researched because of Rich. I've never researched baseball, but because of Rich, I know more about baseball.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

This sounds like most of my students. Like I don't read what he assigns, but uh he talks about it a lot. You know what? I guess I learn.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

At least they learn something. But yeah, no, this week I have been double watching One Piece, you know, the anime and then the live action that dropped on Tuesday. We're we're recording on Wednesday, so yesterday it dropped. I've kind of been savoring that that I'm not like I'm not binging it, I'm not watching it all in one one night. Um I've been really I'll just say without saying too much, I've been really enjoying it. I would say as far as this podcast, I am the rich of One Piece.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

I think that's fair to say, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Well, as rich as the baseball. But yeah, no, I've dude, I I have been just blown away by the casting so far. I've been blown away with just what they've put together. And I know that that it was I know that Oda being a part of it is a huge reason why it's been so successful, and it it it kind of it's kind of bittersweet because I really feel I really wish that we got the same treatment with Avatar. It it's such a like an amazing IP, and I just I feel like we could have gotten more from it. At least we got a really good live action one piece.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah, I'm extremely excited to jump onto season two of One Piece. I was blown away with the first season. The first season of the One Piece live action was so good that it got me into reading the manga, which is what the live action is based on. It's not based on the anime, it's based on the manga. So I started reading the manga. I got I think twenty-one, twenty-two volumes in, and I really loved it. I I just I kind of fell off, I forget what I got preoccupied with at the time. Where were you? But it's before Robin joins the crew, but I am in Alabasta.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Oh, okay. So you made it up to okay. So the this isn't gonna be new territory for you. You you're you've made it to the grand line in the manga.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have. So this but but I again I'm I'm very excited, especially now that I know a little bit more about like how this world works and everything. Um, so just a heads up, going into next week, we are covering season two of the One Piece live action. Rich, this is good news for you because that means you're going to experience One Piece live action season one and two for the first time. And I'm I really think you're gonna like it. Like, it's it's gonna blow you out of the water.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

I'm very excited that you guys trust me to watch two seasons before next week.

unknown 5:44

Rich.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Oh, I I have literally zero issue believing that you could do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Right, right, right, right. I know. Especially because both seasons are as large as the Fallout, they're both eight episodes long, and you watch that one you watch season two in one day.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I won't lie, like the but the watching of one day was was honestly just to do a flex, and I I kind of don't want to do that again. It was it felt like too much. It did feel like too much.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

No, I'm pretty sure that you could knock out season you you could knock out season one easily in like a few days. I mean, depending on how you pace it, you probably will knock it out in two days. I mean knowing you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Like four and four, but it's one of those things that I remember when we were watching it, it like the episodes just flowed into each other just because it was so like engrossing and exciting. But uh yeah, I haven't started watching the second season yet. I wanted to wait till after this podcast. But um yeah. What have we been up to, Jen? Not too much, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:43

I've been watching footage of other people play Pokopia, and it just looks like a really good game. I'm really enjoying watching the footage of other people playing because it's only for Switch 2, and so my Switch 1 is um useless, and I don't want to spend$450 on a new one right now. So I'm just gonna watch the content of other people, rich people.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

She's been sending me like reels and memes of people like like buying Switch 2s specifically to play Pokopia, and I'm like, you have a problem, we're gonna have to you know, this only ends one way, like we're gonna have to buy a Switch, we're gonna have to buy a whole console for this stupid game.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

It's like I'm so obsessed with what I can't have. And they have like Nintendo released like a plushie line, and it's a ton of different Pokemon, but since in Pokopia you play as Ditto, like all of the Pokemon have Ditto's like really stupid face on it. And Ditto is my favorite Pokemon, so it's just like it's a pretty exciting time. A lot of great stuff coming out that is uh really inaccessible to the average person.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

There is uh Wind and Waves coming out also next year, though. Um that's the the next main line Pokemon, and it it looks pretty good. Uh it it's got um it's like ocean islands kind of vibe. Like it I honestly I feel like you're on the grand line in Pokemon, essentially.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

I mean my favorite Delta game was Wind Waker.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

So oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

That would that kind of checks out for me.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

So so yeah, it it's got that vibe. So maybe eventually if you get it, you can get that too.

SPEAKER_04 8:21

I think this is a good one. Yeah, that's true, that's true. I think this is I've also been promised that I'll be getting cable in the near future. I'd like the podcast to document that I may be receiving cable to watch Yankees baseball. Very exciting. Nice. Cable is in the works for me.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Rich, we keep cutting you off. What are you trying to say?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

I was gonna say the switch too is an investment in future happiness and current happiness. I uh yeah, no, I think it's uh it'll pay dividends. I don't see how it's a mistake.

World Baseball Classic And Baseball Joy

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Okay. Fair enough. We will we will see what happens. Uh Rich, what have you been up to this past week?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Well, as you may know, baseball's coming up soon. I just honestly, I just want to sit in a seat, eat a hot dog, and uh watch baseball. I I just do. But I've been watching the World Baseball Classic, which is kind of like basically baseball doesn't participate, the baseball players don't participate in the Olympics, so this is kind of like their quasi-Olympics, where players from Major League Baseball who have some sort of connection to a country will play for that country and a small tournament. Wait a minute, there's no baseball in the Olympics? Not that the players can participate in because of the time of year it takes place in. So basically no major league players participate in the Olympics.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Oh, p okay. Alright, so it it it lines up with the Olympics. Oh yeah, they're like the season. Oh, that sucks.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So this um this is like a preseason type thing. So it's it's been fun. Uh there's crazy things like the Italian team after they hit a home run, they they literally have like espresso, um espresso machine in the dugout, and they like brew it and they're ready. So when the guy finishes his home run, he puts on his like Gucci like suit jacket. Uh he takes some espresso and then they double, you know, they they double kiss cheek cheek. Uh so like super cute.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

So they so they use yeah, there's some like uh fun things.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

That's really cute. You know, and the Dominican team, the Dominican League and the Korean League are both known for being very uh showboaty in terms of celebrations and stuff. So when they hit home run, it's just kind of ridiculous. They have a jacket. I think they were like curling a barbell made of plantains, just because like yeah, we're Dominicans, so we're gonna curl plantains.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

Classic riggy.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yeah, so I just uh that's been fun. I downloaded uh I randomly downloaded uh one of the free games of the month for PlayStation, like PGA golf 200 2K25. I don't know, I guess from my my Mario golf kick, I started playing this. So I was on the screen right now. Yep, I've defeated uh Tiger Woods and I um I have won every tournament this season. I am disgustingly good at this game. However, I've never felt so judged by my wife as she walked in and looked and said, This is what you're doing. She's like, at least when you're playing Fallout, it makes sense, but golf? And then I'm telling you, she got transported. She's like, Whoa, that's a nice shot. Wow, look at that. And I was like, it's not so bad. But uh, I'm really just in a holding pattern for baseball to come out Friday. And yeah, I haven't uh yeah, that that's because of all of the shows like uh Knights of the Southern Kingdom ended and Fallout ended, so I've just kind of I think that's what's been going on with me lately. I don't have uh I don't have a a North Star that to kind of get me back on track. I kind of finished Red Dead again, so and I will uh pass it over to Anthony, but first uh you know Dakota. Some people might go, oh look, he's got a background in Major League because he's got a nice team shot. But eagle-eyed people would know that's from Major League 2, because that is Omar Epps, and that is not Wesley Snipes who randomly reprised the role of Willie Mays Hayes.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

No, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

I didn't even know that there was a Major League Two. Sorry, yeah, usually guys, uh for the obviously you guys don't know, we sometimes will grab random stills from move from movies or promotional stills and use it as like our Zoom backgrounds while we record something in that topic, you know. So I I chose a team pick for the Indians from this movie, thinking that it was from this movie. I guess it's not. I didn't look hard enough. I guess.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

There are three movies, sir. Maybe, you know, Anthony I'm sure would love one day to cover the other two, but uh but Anthony, what were you up to this week?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, you maybe on the weeks that you know I'm unavailable, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

There we go. Yeah, all right, so I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, yeah. Put those put those in your pocket.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Yeah. Hey, Anthony already said what he's up to.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Oh, I'm sorry. I spazed.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

Right? One piece?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, you've been given.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

Oh, wait, am I wrong? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

He's moving. Rich is trying to pass it over to me for the two-piece.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Alright, guys, I think we should jump into our discussion of Major League, the 1989 film. I think Rich, you should probably lead the discussion today because No, actually, you know what? Before we go too hard into that, I want to know what Anthony and Jen thought about the movie as a whole first. You know, like were there did you like it, did you not like it, were there parts that got you into it, or whatever? Uh we'll start with Anthony.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I think it it it's a fun, you know, underdog movie. It's always it to me j generally, I think it it's a fun time to like watch movies about like an underdog kind of achieving like Mighty Ducks.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

It did have a Mighty Ducks feel, yeah. I'd love to cover Mighty Ducks one day, actually. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. Rich has given us two thumbs up for that, but not next week, Rich. You got a double team one piece. Alright? No problem. You got two pieces of games.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

I got I can handle it. I can handle it.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Yeah, yeah, I I too liked the fact that it was an underdog movie. You know what I what I really liked? I think a lot of people don't get baseball. Just as a concept, like they they watch it and they get bored or whatever. What I yeah, Anthony's Anthony's like pointing at himself here. So what I liked about this movie is that it it made the excitement around that final game really easy to follow and easy to get involved with. You know, like there was no questioning like where they were in in like the the scope of the game. It was able it was easy to follow. Um, and I think that anyone who doesn't know baseball can learn a thing or two about how it's played and and the rules of the game just by watching a very realistic game uh that that's played. I I I feel like I've seen games like that, you know, that uh end in that way, and it's very exciting sometimes. That's what I will say about the movie that that I like the most is that it just makes baseball a little bit more accessible while not like dumbing it down for the sake of laughs.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

There is the there is my favorite like ridiculous baseball things though is at the end when they decide on the final play, basically, right? Like the fact that Jake's at the plate and he's just touching his brim, you know, he's you know, and then the coach is like, Well, that's a heck of an idea, right? Like I I just love that so much was communicated in like those, like you know, and it and it's a it's not a normal play to to try to bunt and take two bases. And I don't know if like the pointing in the in the move uh him pointing the left field was part of that signal, right? But I like to believe that somehow there's a signal for like I'm going to pretend to point to hit a home run like Babe Ruth did in the 1937 World series. That's do that, and someone gets something that specific, you know, is a that's the only thing I think in the entire movie that they kind of hand wave away and they go, like, you gotta accept this.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Yeah. Jen, did you like the movie? What did you like?

SPEAKER_04 16:00

I actually really liked the movie. I've been like struggling to focus on stuff in general lately, and this was a movie that I just was like sitting, like focused on, not sleepy at all, even though I actually was quite sleepy, it just kept me really interested. I liked that the comedy wasn't in your face, like it was I mean, it's it's like I don't know. I have a hard time defining slapstick to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Yeah, well, it's not slapstick, that's not like nothing.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

I was expecting it to be more like in your face, stupid humor.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

I was expecting more of like an anchor man sort of thing.

SPEAKER_04 16:34

Yeah, but I was like, oh, this is really like cute. And I like to go with what Anthony was saying, I it's not like that the team are just underdogs. It's like each individual player on the team is an underdog, except for the one that's kind of a jerk. And then when he becomes an underdog, we actually like him better. You know, when his wife cheats on him, you're like, like, and he, you know, he kind of becomes part of the team by taking a hit.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Roger Dorn. I thought we were high-priced talent. We don't. He's just high-priced. So that's the line about Dorn.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Why did um Charlie Sheen's character give me like the baseball version of the longest yard like vibes?

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah. Because he was he was playing in the California Penal League before uh, you know, he he joined up with the Red Sox. Oh, with the you got me confused because of that cursed Red Sox thing, Anthony, because of the Indians. By the way, uh just shout out to he's never gonna listen to this, but shout out to our our coworker Greg, who when I uh I asked him about Marvel. You know, isn't like Guardians of the Galaxy your favorite movie? He's like, I liked it better when it was Indians of the Galaxy. And uh it it really it hit both, it hit uh it hit uh a Marvel thing, it hit baseball thing, and it really warmed my heart. You know, I just because it the Indians and not the Guardians.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

So they changed the name and the logo of the Indians into the Guardians because it's considered really great. I see what you're saying. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

So uh there was a couple lines in there that are like just things in general, where I was just like, that would not go today, like you know, hit it out of the reservation or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

I was just like Yeah, off the reserve, and that's like tame, right? Because there's that is tame, that's fairly tame because there's one run where he's like, Oh, he hit that one to South America, he's gonna need a visa to catch that one. But um, like the yeah, off the reservation, like you know, and then the fact that the weekly show is called TP Talk, and uh there there are a lot of they do lean into but in baseball they still kind of reference it.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

Like, I think it was last season that the Yankees beat the Guardians and they posted on their Instagram a picture of them like all together, and the caption was this land is your land, this land is our land. It's like, man, they're they're just gonna like get away with whatever they can, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

I like how they made the Yankees the bad guys of the movie. Um, just it's just they're the bad guys in in baseball in general, just because everybody hates everyone that doesn't live in New York hates them, basically. Even some people who live in New York hate them. Who could do that? That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

I I started watching it and I was like, of course, Rich's favorite movie has the Yankees as the villains.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

That's probably why it's his favorite.

SPEAKER_04 19:19

Like, I didn't know that in advance and I'm a Yankees fan, and so I started playing. I'm like, of course we're the villains. Like, why didn't I see this coming?

SPEAKER_02 19:26

I I love that the Yankees' like outfits have not changed whatsoever since this movie.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

There was one scene in like in like the last game, I think, where I accidentally rooted for the Yankees, but I forgot I'm supposed to be rooting for the Indians. And they like, I think they like get a guy out and I was like, ah, and then it's just that the uniforms are the same, so I got confused in the heat of the moment.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Yeah, it's happened to me before. I I've embarrassingly, if the Mets are wearing a different uniform, I've I have Oh, it gets so confusing. I've been in like, you know, it started clapping. I'm like, oh crap, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_04 20:04

When you're in the stadium and do that, it's super embarrassing.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

So embarrassing.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

It's really embarrassing. I've done that where like sometimes I just can't see well, and then I start clapping at the wrong moment. I'm like, wait, and Dakota's like, you you you're confused. You're confused, stop.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

I loved Michael Sheen's glasses. Uh they're just like like book reading glasses that he brought to the pitch. I loved it. It was so Wait, Michael Sheen? Charlie Charlie Sheen. Sorry, sorry. Is there a Michael Sheen? There is Michael Sheen. Is his brother? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Or is that his dad?

SPEAKER_01 20:31

No, his one of them. No, his brother is Charlie no, he's Charlie Sheen. His brother is his father is Martin Sheen. And his brother is Emilio Esteves. Who's Mighty Ducks?

SPEAKER_04 20:43

I've never seen Mighty Ducks either. And I didn't I didn't know anything about that whole situation. Like Dakota was explaining this to me the other day that it started as a movie and then they made a team. Or did they start as a team?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

They made the movie and then they started the team.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Which is so cute. That's really cute.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

And their logo is really cute. And then they they like I think Disney Soul. We're we're going way off topic. Yeah, let's reel it back in. But yeah, I I liked the I liked his look. Like it he had like a really cool look. And that era of Charlie Sheen, he's just such a like a handsome dude. It's he just has such a gravity on screen and it's it's really I don't know. I get such like a nostalgic vibe whenever I see Charlie Sheen from that time period that it kind of gives me like um Ferris Bheelers Day Off vibes.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Uh he looked a lot better in this movie than Ferris Breelers Day Off. Yeah, well I mean it's a character, but I one thing that I liked about this movie was that it captured like the little traditions, I I don't know the word I'm looking for, of baseball where like every season you kind of like come up with inside jokes for the team, and then you can then they'll have like merch for it, and people will hold up signs for it, so like for Charlie Sheen's character, it was wild thing. And I just I love that he was famous for being a wild picture, but then he actually, you know, like he gets good later, but it's just really funny. Like, like, I don't know, I feel like baseball, there's always just little inside jokes among the team. Like, I remember the Yankees had Luke Voigt a few years back, and like the joke the inside joke was that like all of the men wanted to go build a log cabin with him, and it was an oddly specific joke, and then it or they wanted to go like live in a log cabin with Luke Voigt. Yeah, and then like it was like a whole thing, and if you weren't a fan, you wouldn't have known like that this was actually going on, but it was just a ridiculous joke.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

There's actually a player on the Phillies, long probably in the late 90s, who took on the name M Wild Thing. He was Mitch Williams, and he was actually so sometimes wild that there are actually shots of like the starting pitcher sitting with a towel over his head, so he didn't have to watch what was going to happen on the mound.

Characters, Running Jokes, And Aging Lines

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Anthony, did you have a favorite character or characters from the story?

SPEAKER_00 23:06

You know, I I thought it was funny. You see, like especially like earlier in the movie, there's like those three guys that are like mega fans, and I was like, that's rich right there. That is rich. I was like, that is rich. I said the Mets could be like two and one eighty, and like they'd be I don't know how many games do they play now? I think they like cut it down, right? Since then 162. And it was it was a little bit less. It was that much, right? Like 180, right back then at one point.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

I think at this, and I think they said 106. No, I think they said 162. Yeah. Was it 162? Yeah, it was still it was still 162 here. But before that, I think it was more.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Oh, okay. But yeah, like ri Rich ri Rich would still be going to those games.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

I mean, there's the one when he hits the one home run, he goes, Oh, it's too high. And he's like, What do you mean too high? Let's freaking out of here. But like I can see myself being like, no, oh, you know, fighting like logic and being like, no, that ball's just too high, it's gonna die before it gets out of the park, you know? And yeah, I mean, there's actually uh we'll you know, we'll never watch it together, but there's ran is it uh Dennis Quaid? No, no, Rand no, Randy Newman is the yeah, I think it's one of the Quaid brothers, Randy Quaid. He's the the brother from National Lampoons, so he's in the second one, and he's like a diehard who then snaps. Like they're so bad that he like can't take it anymore, and he like becomes like a hater and he comes and he boos them for like games and games, and then finally they win him back over and he like rips off his like anti-Indians attire and he's like, I am back, you know. Like, and that's the guy who, if you ever, Anthony, just wanna see what would happen, what's gonna happen to me one day, I'm gonna snap, you know, deride the team, but still go to the games to deride them, right? Like, I won't stay home and just yell for my TV. No, I'll go inside and I'll be like, I hate you, you know, and then one day they'll literally Neil's on you.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

Just shows up to the game and like roasts his own team the entire time.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Jokes on you, they got your money. Well, true.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Yeah. But um uh speaking of the those three or four fans uh in the beginning, I also really thought that they were funny, and it it didn't like hit me at first like why they were all dressed up like that, and then I realized, oh, because they're fans of the Indians, they had like drums and they had chieftain hats and everything and warping. I was I started dying laughing when I when it clicked. And I think a lot of the jokes in this movie are not necessarily jokes at like at face value, but they are ironically funny. Oh and I think it gets I would imagine that this movie gets funnier the more you watch it. Because I wasn't like laughing like crazy, but there were a couple moments where I was laughing out loud, you know?

SPEAKER_01 25:56

So Bob Eucher, I think. The uh he's so Bob Euchre, his name in the movie is Harry Doyle, but Bob Eucher is a legitimate broadcaster. He has been, he recently died a couple years ago, but he had been broadcasting for the Brewers for like 60 something years. He was uh they called him Mr. Baseball, but he was a terrible baseball player. Like just absolutely putrid. And he um he just played himself, I mean he played a drunk version of himself, but he would drop lines like, you know, uh, and the Indians lose drop a heartbreaker seven to one, you know, like uh or like you know, just got nipped, you know, like nine-two. Like he would like really sugarcoat like some of and like that for me, watching it a thousand times, like that's the small stuff that gets me, right? When he because the language of like, you know, dropped a heartbreaker seven to one, that's not a heartbreaker, you know? And then when he finally snaps and he's like, What do we get? We got uh one run on one goddamn hit. Like all we got was one goddamn hit, you know. Like I just uh I don't think you could say goddamn.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah, yeah, you can't say goddamn in this podcast, Rich.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Oh, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

I never said anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Uh but no, he he like I think the fact he's like, I don't think anyone's listening is I laughed out loud at that.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Yeah, that part was when the uh he's like, hey Monty, you got anything to add? And he's like, they don't call him the best color game in the business for nothing, folks. It's just completely unironically, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

What do we think about the uh the Cuban guy, the Cuban voodoo guy with the terrible Spanish accent?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Okay. As some of you may know, I am uh of Cuban descent, and I have been lied to a lot in my life. Okay? I have been told that someone was Cuban when they weren't. My favorite wrestler is not Cuban. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, but I believed that he was a Cuban from Miami, and he was my favorite wrestler for a long time. And uh I loved Pedro Serrano. I um I have my own Jobu, which I showed to the uh the other members of the podcast today. I uh I have my own Joe Boo in my house. I sometimes do uh put liquor in the shot glass in front of him, and then sometimes I do say I was wondering why the shot glasses in front of him. I I do uh will say um F you Joe Boo um do this myself.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

I or no, I would I actually So Serrano So Serrano are we to understand that because he kind of says like please Joe like he's like appealing to Jobu, and then he says, if not then F you I'll do it myself. That that uh that run that he actually like hit, is that are we to believe that was by the power of Jobu or his own power? His own power for him. Because he was missing every I was a little bit confused.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

But uh also I interpreted that differently because I thought like we've already seen the power of Jobu because like that guy got hit in the head with the bat, and then later it's like if you don't help me, then like I'm gonna do it myself. But like I I thought it was supposed like he said if you don't help me, then I'm gonna say F U Joe Boo. He never says it. We don't see him say it.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

No, yeah, no, he says it's kind of no no no he no, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 29:08

I mean I just watched this like 20 minutes ago one time, so Rich knows more.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

He's he's I understand, yeah. So he's going like, oh, you know, help me know Joe Boo, so now I say I do it myself. Like he it's bad, it's supposed to be bad like bad grammar. Like he's a Hispanic baseball player, okay so he doesn't like express it correctly, because for some reason, although he's Cuban and they're implying the voodoo and santeria background of Cuba, which is you know, whatever offensive, but like I love stereotypes, so I I'll embrace it.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

But I love that stereotypes exist for a reason. It's not that it's not something that doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

I love that he doesn't curse out Joe Bu, his deity that he brought from home in his home language. Not once. Not once. You know, like that's true. Like uh actually it's uh he curses you know other people out, but I mean he doesn't uh he doesn't do that. So Serrano, I believed kind of, you know, because I was like 10 guys. Like I was 10 when I first watched this movie. So I I believed he was Cuban. I uh I had no reason to believe other people. So sorry that uh what is his name? That's not Dennis Haskins, but it's it's he's the guy from the State Farm commercials. Uh we do get some like little appearances. Uh there's the janitor from Scrubs, he's the construction worker who's like, uh, who's this team? You know, like just I love those. Those little vignettes of like people complaining about the roster, and then like as they get better, like, oh well, they're still crappy or whatever. You know, like I uh yeah, I really I could have the one thing, and I'm not sure if this is because like I'm such a I could take out the whole storyline with Lynn, which is you know, the more you watch it, disturbing the worse it gets like disturbing, you know.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

I like how she never like nobody ever locks their door and he just like walks in without knocking.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

He just follows people home and the fact that he was able to go into an elevator, just click a floor, and then he's on someone's he's in someone's house, like with no key, no like special code or anything, amazing. It's the 80s. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

It's the 80s. It's like I don't even think that that's like you know what's more unbelievable to me that Pedro Serrano in a baseball movie hit a home run and carried the bat past first base and they didn't call him out. Like that is illegal. You cannot do that. Uh you cannot do that in baseball. It is so accurate for baseball most of the movie, but no, no, man just runs around with a bat. Like you're that is so highly illegal. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Wait, I love that Lynn's license plate is read. It's just as a read. And I like that it implies like she lost herself to the books, and like he's helped her find herself by bringing her back to sports, because that's like her true calling.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

We might need to show this to the librarian because I think because the best part is is that it sounds like Lynn is a dedicated athlete up until three years ago. And once you're not sure, I never liked books, but let me try them. And now she's like, I have amassed the most amazing collection in the every li any library in the United States here in Chicago. It's like, what? Oh Cleveland.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

I I feel like if, and this is what I was saying to Dakota when watching the movie, like, if Lynn has any friends, they hate her right now. They hate her so much for going back to him after he they like she threw a birthday party and like one of his mistresses came to the door to surprise you know what I mean? Like there was just so much wrong. And then he disappears in Mexico where he's hooking up with random chicks, as we saw in the beginning of the film, and then he comes back and is like, I'm obsessed with you, I'm gonna ruin your engagement. What? And I like that his key like personality trait is that he's manipulative. Like, even in baseball, he's also manipulative. Like the way that he wins is by just like bullying and like making fun of people, and his last call was him manipulating the picture into going for him first because he hates him so much.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

You know what the most unrealistic thing about the movie for me was? What? She said that the wedding was on October 3rd, which which lands on a Tuesday in 1989. Um if they're really like wealthy, like why would they ever choose Tuesday for a wedding? Uh it just it it baffles the way.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

I have watched this movie. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that like you could like you could take the script and just read me a line and I know what the next line is, okay? And I have never once ever considered that.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

That's I'm so excited for you to tell that detail to Lauren so she can judge Dakota.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

So I'm gonna I just want to share a couple. So I got so I've watched the movie so many times that I decided I was gonna watch the director's cut uh before we had the podcast. So I kind of found out some interesting tidbits about the filming.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

So first there were only like there were like 400 extras uh that they brought in to be the stadium people. So they just had to keep it.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

I was really impressed, I was impressed with the the the amount of like stadium.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

They keep them around basically. Okay. All right, so that's hilarious. Um I do have favorites in the crowd. I will say wild child, and there's also a guy who I have. Yeah, like I have like I've watched it so much that we would like point to the screen and would be like, here comes the guy with the glasses, here comes the wild child. Like we know the crowd people, but yeah, I I really so that was really cool. Like that they were just shifting everything around, you know. Like obviously the big stadium shots were of like an actual baseball game and not this. But uh, I thought that was really cool. I also uh so the original ending is different. They actually changed okay, so you know the story is that Rachel Phelps is a former playgirl or a dance, like a exotic dancer or something, whose husband died, and she wants to move the team to Florida, and she does so by she wants to do it. She the loophole with the city is if the attendance gets low enough, I can move them. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

And then she's so is that why there's like a like they were able to find a picture of her essentially naked? Yes. I was confused. I was like, where did they get?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Yeah, no, so she's like the ex she's like the ex like showgirl wife of this guy, and he died, and now she doesn't want to live in Cleveland, so she wants to move the team to Miami. So they get, you know, they she invites what she thinks are like the worst people in baseball to be on this team so that they'll lose and be so bad that nobody comes to watch them.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

So like so I actually did learn something, Rich. Yeah. I did learn something. I was so confused. I was like, wait a second, didn't they already have a Florida team? No, this actually happened before the expansion. So I was like, oh, okay. I was like, that's why.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

So it was, you know, learn, see? It made sense. The the the other cool thing is that the Indians were legitimately a not a bad they were legitimately a bad team. So it was a great, you know, like it was a it was a great choice for them. But so essentially there's a scene that's cut from the movie and they that she admits, she actually says, you know, the truth is like that I wanted these guys to win, and that basically that her husband had tied their money up, so she actually grabbed a roster full of guys who had like a talent but a flaw. So like you know, Charlie Sheen's a great pitcher, but he's in prison. Serrano's an amazing hitter, but uh uh with fastballs, but he can't hit breaking pitches. Roger Dor, like so basically all of these pieces she admits she selected because that was the only way for her to kind of put this good roster together at the with the money she had.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

Oh, so she wasn't the villain in the end.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Well, apparently test audiences hated that so much that they're like absolutely not.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

It does it does completely go against her motives throughout the entire movie.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

So if if they just manipulating them to give them a common enemy and like unite the team. And that's what she kind of says in the scene. Like it's like psychological manipulation.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

I can see it, I could see it.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

But I could see why people, especially back then, would hate that. If you were like told hate this character this whole time, and then in the end it's like, oh, they were the good guy. That kind of happens with Darth Vader, though, like in a way. Like he but it's a comeback, like he was genuinely terrible. It's not that he was secretly unterrible.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

I think it's a different like story altogether, but really I thought I thought she and Darth Vader had so much in common.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

And the Jedi are like removing his clothes. It's the scene where he like wakes up in bed from his nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Yeah. Alright, so I'm gonna I'm gonna let's see. I'm gonna ask you guys a couple of uh of questions, see uh how you guys March March 1st.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

Yeah, I like how you were like, Rich is gonna leave this one, and that hasn't happened yet.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

So March to answer your question, March 1st was the first day of spring training.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

So I know I've watched uh a lot of uh I've watched this many times. You know, I did hear you guys say that like the characters' names weren't really sticking too much.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

I kind of got um by the end. What when you say them out loud, I I remember, oh yeah, okay, that's that character, that's that character. But uh yeah, they they it wasn't there was a couple of the guys that I thought kind of looked alike at the beginning, and I was kind of having a hard time telling them apart, like uh Taylor and Doyd? Doid whatever his name is Dorn they kind of have similar builds and faces, so I I was a little bit confused. I I kept getting those two mixed up, but uh I figured it out in the end.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Anthony, did you have any uh any issues with the characters?

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Yep. I don't remember any of them.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Why do you say that like Eeyore?

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Yeah, actually, he did.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Uh I don't know. No, I mean I just know a couple of the I just know them by like their actor names. Like I just know Wesley Snipes and then Charlie Sheen.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

I did like Wesley Snipes' character a lot. Like he's got so much charisma on screen, and what I what I kinda another thing I liked was just the fact that all of these actors seem to be fairly competent at baseball. You know, I don't I'm sure some like cutting was involved and editing to make them look better than they were, but they they looked like they knew what they were doing, which I was kind of surprised by.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

So Charlie Sheen legitimately did pitch and he what they did was I believe they moved the mound ten feet. So the mound is currently I think if I'm right, it's like 60 point 66.1 inches or something like that away from the plate. They moved it ten feet so that when he threw it seemed much faster. So that's why the way they they kind of angled it was to make sure that you never kind of saw the distance. You know, it was either behind the catcher or like behind they really didn't show like a wide shot to show how close he was because then he wouldn't line up with third and first base.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Did they use any actual baseball players? Like for the the the Yankees team, were any of those like actual players?

Director Cut Trivia And Alternate Ending

SPEAKER_01 40:16

They may not have been Yankees, but like they seemed professional. I do not believe so, to my knowledge, none of none of the actors in the movie were professional players, not in the first one. But I might be wrong. Because I don't know the Yankee squad as well as I do, but like they're not they're not as like a there's nobody there that was recognized, like the big bad guy was kind of supposed to be like a Don Mattingley-esque character. So I I think a lot of the casting I love uh by the way, the Duke. Uh the Duke was the closer for the Yankees, and uh here comes the Duke. You know, this guy uh he hit his own kid in a father-son game, you know. So I think I love that that little fact about like I honestly think that I wouldn't like this movie if it weren't for it's Bob Euchre. I think like he is he's a real broadcaster, but I think he's effortlessly good at being in this movie, you know? It's just uh I love when he takes the mic and like listen to the fans in Cleveland roar, and it's just him and the guy like clapping, like, yeah, let's go, rock at different voices, you know. Like I think that it's him. Like for me. I you know, I like obviously I like that it's baseball, but like Dakota said, it it really isn't as much baseball as you think it is. So like you know, you don't really you have to just a cursory understanding of the game to be able to watch it, which I think you know it but it doesn't feel like it's a movie about tons of other stuff either. Where I feel like sometimes you go to watch a movie about baseball and it's you know Jimmy Fallon getting married, you know, and you're like, hey, I wanted to just watch a movie about baseball guy, you know? Uh and I think Well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

I I thought there was the theme of baseball can help us overcome religious divides between Cuban voodoo and Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Oh, yeah, no, no, that that was they hugged at the end. If you guys only know, like I was like, what's up with that that Cuban stereotype that he's gotta be dabbling in Santeria?

SPEAKER_04 42:15

Uh don't worry, because it Yeah, we should just bring baseball over to Iran and that'll fix all of the religious divides going on.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

He becomes um, just so you guys know, he becomes a Buddhist in the second movie.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

So he kind of Wait no, wait, who?

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Oh no, Joe Boo is gone.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

Like I he he actually genuinely quits his religions. Okay, my interpretation of this film is way off. I thought it was like he was like, don't give up on me now, and then Joe, and then Joe Boo helped him. No, man. Then he like hugged his Jesus friend at the end.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Alright, so there was there was a major league player on the Yankees. He was the Yankee in the movie, his name was Clue Hayward. Oh my goodness, that's the big bad guy with the mustache. Yeah, his name is uh Pete Vukovic in real life. He played for the Cardinals and Brewers, and he was a 1982 AL Cy Young award winner.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Okay, so see that's uh wait, did you say Cy Young award winner?

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Yeah. American League.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Well, that's weird. Unless I'm misinterpreting it, I thought Clue Haydward was the batter, not the pitcher. So it's weird that he would have been a Cy Young winner, but he they had him play a batter.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

But maybe that just gave him he was playing a slugger in the movie. Oh yeah. Uh he was he's a pitcher in real life.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah, he he um he spits tobacco exactly twice before the final pitch comes through.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

Yes, it was so gross. I hate the way he did that.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

And that's what that's one of those moments where I was just like, this guy seems like a real baseball player.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

Seems legit.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Like you I don't know. We got our hands on this when we were like 10 or 11, and basically we would watch this like we would get together in the summer and watch this, and then we'd go play baseball for like an hour to a couple hours, and then we would come home and we'd watch it again, like eating sunflower seeds. So, like, I've just seen this movie so many darn times, man. Like it's

SPEAKER_00 44:00

San the sandlet would have been more up your alley since it involves kids playing baseball and then kind of going around and then going to play baseball.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

I think it was the feeling of this is an adult movie. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't it it wasn't a movie aimed for kids, so it felt like I shouldn't be watching this, but I was kind of getting away with watching it because like my parents didn't know my grandfather wasn't paying attention to the movie, you know, so he just saw baseball on the screen. So I think that it felt a little bit like like I was breaking the rules, and I think that's kind of part of why I liked it too, because you know there was cursing, and you know, like if my mom had sat down and watched it, she would have been like, you can't watch this, but she never did, so I was able to watch it thousands of times.

SPEAKER_00 44:46

Man, I don't know what to tell you, but I I I definitely watched the Austin Power movies when I was a kid, so those are worse. Yeah, I mean, like it's worse, it but it like it doesn't show anything, it's just bad in like hey, is that a giant Johnson?

SPEAKER_01 45:07

What are you doing? You know what's on that screen?

SPEAKER_00 45:09

Like that whole the visuals and like the innuendos, that's what made it like Fuke Me and Fuk You. Oh yeah, yeah. Like that was actually it was it they they have a moment like that in um was it in in one of the Rush Hour movies? Oh my gosh. Yeah, dude, it's like who are you? I am you. Those movies are good too.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

I love them.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

This was an interesting choice to cover. I don't I I know for a fact it's something that Anthony and I alone would have never come up with. You would have if you would have given us if every week we had five choices for movies and this movie was like in that five movie list every week for a hundred episodes, we would not choose this movie. So it's it's so out of our wheelhouse. But ultimately I I got to see a new movie and I got to have a good time with it. I it was a very exciting final act, and I am I'm glad we covered it uh just because I do want to cover stuff that I would not normally choose, just because you know there's only so many things that I would that that I've grown up with or that I consider like like my realm of geeky. But this is it was fun. I I had a good time.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

I'll say like I probably found this because you know, before Blockbuster even, I used to my mom would have memberships at like three or four local video rental stores, and I had a very close relationship. I was in there so often renting video games and stuff like that that I would also I'd rent wrestling, uh I would that's where I got all my wrestling videos because back then you couldn't just like watch old videos, you know, old stuff online or whatever. And uh I think it would just literally walked around the store and saw a movie about baseball. And like this guy, despite the rating, said, Yeah, whatever, I know your ma and uh let us take it. You know, and I think I think I watched an interesting video before we uh started recording, and it's this guy talking about how uh boredom is kind of the uh the push, the motivating drive for us as humans to like go out and try things and do things. And you know, like now that we have so much technology at home, we don't try things as much. But I I mean it got to the point where like you know, you'd go to these rental stores and they were only so big. So like you just ran out of options for movies almost, you know. And I I think that was kind of a I don't think that this is a movie that I would have fallen upon. Like my dad has never told me that he likes this movie. This isn't because my dad said, hey kid, let's watch this baseball movie so you can get into baseball. Like this was all me. Like this was just I found it, I thought it was like kind of hilarious. I've watched it, and I think that it has intelligence and nuance uh in like the humor like that's embedded in there. I don't I don't, you know, I like that it's not I feel like rookie of the year, for example, like if I'm gonna be comparing baseball movies or uh you know, it it's a little bit more kiddy, and this felt like it wasn't a movie that was marketed towards kids, you know, at all. But um it was definitely something that I thought, you know, you didn't have a lot of options, and it felt real, it felt a little bit more gritty than let's say say you probably have a better grasp on what I'm trying to vocalize, but I'm sure there's plenty of baseball movies out there.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

I've only seen a handful. When other people rank their favorite baseball movies, does this rank among them?

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Yeah. I mean generally you have like Field of Dreams as like you know a lot of people's favorite because of the kind of Field of Dreams is is more about like the you know the way baseball makes you feel in your heart, you know, like and how it it kind of fosters relationships between like fathers and sons, kind of essentially, um, in some ways, you know, like but um I think that most people would have this in their top five easily for baseball movies. I mean, you know, some people really like the natural. I'm not a huge fan of the natural to be honest with you, you know. Uh with Robert Redford, it's a good one, but you know, it's it just wasn't my cup of tea. I think there was something about this happening in the nineties. You know, and what's interesting about the movie is I don't know if you guys realize it, all they they win a one-game playoff in this structure, and I bel I if I'm correct, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think at this time it was basically the first place team from the American League East and the first team the first place team from the American League West, and they would face off against each other in the American League Championship, and then that team would go to the World Series. So it wasn't there weren't a lot of steps, but you know, the movie ends with the celebration is that they won first place and they're gonna move to the championship, but we never get to see that. You know, it it's a lot of times you see these movies and they win the championship, and here they don't. It's just about the fact that these lovable and then of course, I mean, sadly, the next movie brings us to the championship series and then ends. Okay, it ends, that's it. And then the third one, you're so excited because you're like, they're finally gonna do it, right? Major league back to the minors, where randomly they're like they have like other people. It's like very there's almost nobody from the original movie, and it's like they're a m he's coaching a minor league baseball.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Is it like one of those like straight to DVD sequels?

SPEAKER_01 50:48

Yeah, I believe that would that was the case. Yes. Okay. So the franchise took a big nosedive. I won't lie to you. If if you watch this movie, I I can't say that you're gonna walk away and be like, my time was definitely wasted. If you watch Major League Back to the Minors, the third one, do not complain to me. I am telling you openly, it is only for people who deeply love the franchise. Alright, and even number two, the only thing I can tell you about number two that might make you want to watch it, is that my favorite governor, and I hope some of yours, Jesse the Body Ventura, who of course was governor of Minnesota and was formerly a wrestler and also in Predator, makes a pre appearance in the second movie because the Wesley Snipes character becomes too big for his britches and believes that he's now destined to become a Hollywood star. Like the movie is legitimately Charlie Sheen becomes like a pretty boy, like like who's like dressing nice and like advertising for right guard deodorant, uh, and he kind of loses his way. It's not there's a big drop-off. So I would just tell everyone who's listening to this watch Major League, but if you go forward, do so at your own peril.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

Well what Wesley Snacks wasn't wrong because he goes on to become Blade at some point, and then you know, eventually joins the MCU in a way.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

And uh as far as like Charlie Sheen being like the pretty boy and everything, we do see that he's on that uh that cover of People's Magazine from September 13th, 1989. So sorry.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

Like you guys need to understand that my life is watching movies with a Dakota, and like every time there's a paper on the screen, he paused, he goes back and pauses.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Wait, so did you look at the newspaper clippings? Did you look at the dates when the next slide? Yes, I did. Yes, he did.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

I did, but it wasn't the dates were anachronisms, so like anything there wasn't it didn't really add to the my understanding of the timeline. But I thought it was cool still. I I like when movies do do the newspaper clippings just because it feels like you're getting chunks of history thrown at you at a time, and I like that they kind of did that in the beginning where they they just kind of showcase like the Indians suck, guys. They are really bad. And this is why there's nobody on the team. This is starting from scratch. So I I thought that that was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

They're so bad that they have two Japanese men emphasize it every time.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

There's actually a uh a video game, Kinkerfree Junior Baseball, that came out for Super Nintendo, and I want to say the first one came out in '91. And I think it's stole from this movie because their way around of not having great graphics and stuff while you were like, you know, at the end of a game was that it would have the newspaper clipping. And like it would have like what happened in that game kind of, like a like a kitschy like a result thing, you know, like Indians beat the Yanks 4-2, you know, like or whatever. And I uh I I kind of almost always thought that it kind of reflected that, the fact that this movie did, because I think it's such a great way to it's such a we great way to not keep you bored, you know, like the two guys sliding into home plate, he tags them out, because it's always the what I'll call the the bang bang plays, you know, the big plays, and then they I I realize that as a as if you're not a baseball fan, I s I think that it it does a good job of just you know keeping you hooked.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

Another scene that I really liked, some of the earlier introductions to the characters, like Wesley Snipe's character, when they they realize he was never invited, so they they take his bed frame while he's still asleep, and he wakes up outside and he goes, I'm already off the team. Something like that.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

And then he just like they're doing those sprints and he's like sprinting in his his pajamas.

SPEAKER_01 54:39

And the fact that he highlights the fact that his name is Willie Mays Hayes, right? So like he's trying to reference that, you know, essentially like he's got the skill set of Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. You know, like you can easily say that Willie Mays is like top 25 of all time, and this guy walks into training camp not invited, and basically and he says, I I run, I I hit like Maze, but I run like Hayes. So like you know, it's just uh and I love uh I like didn't understand what that meant.

SPEAKER_04 55:06

I was like, Yeah, I hit it. It's literally like I didn't know what that meant.

Fandom, Team Chemistry, And Real Emotion

SPEAKER_01 55:09

I'm just as good as one of the best batters of all time, but I'm faster than him, you know, like also. So like or uh man, the beginning of the movie where like it's like it's been 15 seasons, or the beginning of the season, it's been fifteen seasons since an Indian has let off with a hit, you know, and there's like a little bit of enthusiasm, and then he gets picked off because he's standing off first base, and the first baseman is like, Hey meet, how you're gonna run with your shoes untied, and he looks down, and uh I also think that it also uncovers a little bit of uh what I'll call the CD side of baseball, you know, like little kind of cheap tricks that uh that players like do use against each other, you know, and they'll try to like you know kind of trick rookies and things like that. So I I I kind of yeah, I'm not gonna say it's like inside baseball, but I I I do like a little bit of that peak behind the curtain where like these guys aren't so nice to each other. There are times where you see them, you know, shake hands and whatever, but just the other day, two teammates that played together in Seattle last year and did very well are playing against each other in the Word Baseball Classic. And Randy O'Rosa Arena goes to basically dap up his one of his boys who's on his team, who's playing against him in this tournament, and the catcher just no he's like, nope, he just doesn't he doesn't dab him up. He's like, No, I'm not gonna basically we're we're enemies now, you know? And it's like they have to go back to the same team, you know, like that's crazy, you know. But there is like this dra there's this little kind of drama in baseball that I enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

I I gotta say, like, psychologically, that's gotta be so weird. Like if you've been because when Jen and I started watching the Yankees around like 2018, you get really attached to a certain team, a certain lineup. And then the next year, it's us it's it's somewhat similar, or it is pretty similar to the the previous lineup, but some of your favorite players have been traded. It's it must be so weird for players who literally live their lives with these people for three whole seasons every single year to suddenly be traded to another team and just expected to not be friends with the people on who who you have been like playing with for the past like who knows how many years, you know. I think it's such a strange culture in that respect where like it's gotta be awkward.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

And then the fans expect like chemistry, which is like the worst. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_04 57:34

I I feel like sometimes too when they leave like to other teams, like you kind of realize that they weren't actually friends. Like when the Mets got Soto, you know, when they were when they were playing with the Yankees, you would have thought like Judge, Soto and Stanin were all like the best of pals. And then as soon as he left the team, he immediately started making digs at Judge. So like you could tell like they hated each other, but they you know, you kind of have to put on this air that the team has chemistry because you want the fans to believe that the team has the magic to make it. And if there's bad chemistry, like they won't. But but sometimes you can tell when a team does have chemistry or when it's and that's and that's what I like about this movie is that it does capture, like, for me, a lot of as an English teacher, a lot of the reasons why I like baseball is it's very psychological, and also there's a lot of characterization. Each year we get a little lineup and you start to get to know the characters. Like, I know how certain characters can eat an entire banana in like one bite. Like you learn weird facts about these guys and you get attached to them. But then when they get traded, I get like when we lost Didi Gregorius, I was really upset. I really liked Didi. He was one of my favorite players on the team. He's uh Or when I was a kid, I loved Alfonso Soriano. He was just like a player I really got attached to and liked, you know, and then they leave and you're like, what the heck? That was my person.

SPEAKER_01 58:53

I don't we probably shouldn't get into that, but um, I may have uh shared earlier at some point in the show that uh Peter Morgan Alonso is uh my favorite, Met, and uh he he just left. And uh it was bad, guys. It wasn't good. It was bad. Jen had to buy me emergency hot dogs. It was uh it was not good. It was it was not a good thing I literally I walked into a room with him just weeping.

SPEAKER_04 59:18

Yeah, mind you, like I was his friend when his grandfather died, and we didn't get such emotion. And I walked into a room and he was weeping, and I was like, like like ugly crying. It wasn't even a casual, it wasn't like a single tear, it was like an ugly sob. And I was like, was it Pete? And he was like, then I just turned around and left to go get the dogs.

SPEAKER_01 59:38

I will not torture Anthony with much more of this, but I will tell you that Peter Morgan Alonso hit a home run to win a playoff series in the top of the ninth inning while myself me, I was it was me, my wife, and my son, and one of my close friends who's a Mets fan, and we were at Citi Field. We had basically paid five dollars to go watch the game on the freaking screen in October, and uh instead of staying at home, we drove to the stadium to watch it with like 10,000 other fans. I had never ever been because you go to baseball games and you know, like people are into it, but this was weird. This was a watch party, all right. So the people that are there are the diehard of the diehards. You could be on your couch, and when he hit that home run, yeah, my and I I'm gonna get a little bit choked up, but I got to see my son happy, like all the four of us were just it was jubilation, and then not obviously not just the four of us, everybody in that stadium was sad, we were about to lose, and he turned it around, and I'll never forget the look on my wife's face and my son's face, legitimate joy, and as a Met fan, that's not guaranteed, like that's not they didn't even win the World Series, that was just one playoff series, and then they lost they ended up losing before they got to the World Series. But I don't know, I just think that that's the beauty of baseball, you know, like that it can it's a magical moment that you can share with the people around you, and it's a moment where you disconnect from everything and there's just pure joy, and that's what I felt at the end of Major League when they win every time I watch it, when Willie Mays slides home and his foot drags ever so slightly behind him and he touches that base, and the guy yells, Safe, safe, the Indians win it. It's this jubilation that everybody there has put everything away for that happiness.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:46

Wait, I have a follow-up question to your story. So you were like me and my family, and seeing the joy on our faces, and you kept saying the four of us, are you including Pete as a member of your family?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

No, my friend Craig. Who's the fourth member of the city? No, grumpy so it's grumpy Greg from Brooklyn. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:03

I was like, I know that there's three members of his family. But you know you know multiple Grumpy Greg.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

So wait, so to be fair, it's Craig and oh I have a friend named Craig and I have a friend named Greg, and they're both slightly grumpy, and they're both teachers. So I did not include Peter, but I did not include Peter more.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:22

I was literally like, this is absurd. I have to call him out on this. There's three members in his family. I feel like Dakota, I'm like, are we gonna rewind this and like pause for a minute?

Final Takes And Five Star Review

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

Alright, let's uh let's bring tonight's podcast to a close. Uh Jen, final thoughts on Major League.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:38

I really liked it. I thought it was actually really fun and entertaining to watch. I liked seeing all the 80s hair, and I I think it did capture what I'm here for when I watch baseball, which is like getting to know the players and like the weird quirkiness of your favorite team and how you get like super into all their little intricacies.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:59

Anthony, what was your takeaway? What are your final thoughts on Major League?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:05

It was a fun movie. Not something that I would normally watch. When it sometimes, you know, uh covering an episode or covering something for the podcast brings me to stuff that I've never seen before. So but yeah, it was a fun watch.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

I also agree. Uh it was a fun watch. It's not something that I would have ever chosen, but I'm glad it was chosen, I guess, because it kind of took me out of my corner of things that I'm into. And it also kind of like showed me that baseball hasn't changed all that much in the past 30 years. You know, like it's it's still very, very much the same game. Um and it's played the exact same way and it has the same culture, which is really impressive. Um, yeah, I liked it. Uh Rich, final thoughts on the Major League.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:53

I honestly just want to thank everyone who's listening and everyone who is on the show for participating in this this week. Uh, this is not our normal cup of tea. I uh this is my I you know, it's my favorite movie of all time. I know it. This is the Macbeth of Shakespeare for me. Uh this is it's my favorite. It's something I think that is I wouldn't quite call it timeless. I think it's cool like to peel back and and see how something's changed. Uh as you said, that things don't change, but uh what uh the one thing that I think is that this does change as uh time goes on, right? And I don't know, maybe it's not it's not in this movie. I think it maybe in the second movie they start selling advertising space on the uh the outfield walls, which was like at that time garish and like uncouth for teams to do, you know, and like uh you know, but I and I think that it shows the evolution sometimes of the capitalistic portions of the game. But at the end of the day, I think it's it's a part of what makes me me. I I think this movie in many ways uh defines me, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It you know, it can laugh at itself, it can admit that sometimes it's just terrible like the players do, you know. But uh that and I think that the heartwarming message of the underdog story is something that's always gonna resonate with me because I only root for underdog.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

Nice, yeah. And you know what? One final thought. I liked that the like the broadcaster, what was the guy's name?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:25

Harry Doyle.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:26

Harry Doyle, yeah. I like that he kept putting a little juice into his drink, into his concoction. You know, he kept he had his bottle of Jameson nearby, he put a little juice in there, and I I think that added a little bit of character because it kind of told you the mindset of all these the the the people watching the games. But uh to you listeners, how how would you feel about giving us a juicy review? Specifically a five star review, wherever you're listening to your podcast, know Rich is showing me his video in the most appropriate plug ever, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:58

As you guys remember, we are Officially sponsored by Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA. And it is appropriate because, as you know, Serrano was into a bit of voodoo, it seems, Santaria. So Voodoo Ranger is official beer podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

Still not our unofficial beer of the podcast. Unofficial. But uh very unofficial. Guys, please be sure to give us a five star review wherever you listen to your podcast. Make it juicy, guys. And if you want to check out any of our socials, be sure to click into the show notes down below. But this is me, Dakota, signing off for episode one hundred and fifty five. Next week, we're covering One Piece Season Two.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

Live action. Bye. Bye.