Anyone who is a fan of sports movies knows all about "Major League".  The movie, which came out in 1989, dealt with a fictionalized version of Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians, a team who at the time, in real life, were in as much disarray as would be the screen one.

The Indians had a terrible run after reaching the 1954 World Series, a shot at the world championship derailed.  It seemed that Willie Mays' long, running, over the shoulder catch of a shot by Vic Wertz took all the team out of the Tribe for quite a while, as they simply went flat. 

In the movie, during the offseason, the owner of the Indians dies, leaving the team to his wife, a former Las Vegas showgirl named Rachel Phelps.  Phelps hates Municipal Stadium, Cleveland and the weather there so much she devises a plan to put together a team that tanks so badly, it drives attendance below 800,000 for the year, allowing her to break the lease with the city of Cleveland and move to Miami.

To that end, she attempts to field the worst team possible. Some players she hires includes aging catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger); incarcerated pitcher Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen); Willie "Mays" Hayes, a brash, speedy center fielder who was not originally invited but was signed after demonstrating spectacular running skills (Wesley Snipes); Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), a surly Cuban defector who possesses incredible power, but can't hit a curveball and believes in voodoo; and Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross), a veteran finesse pitcher who, without a powerful arm like Vaughn's, resorts to doctoring the ball. Already under contract is third baseman Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a high-priced prima donna who refuses to field the ball properly for fear of debilitating injury. Hired to manage the team is Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman who's managed the Toledo Mudhens in the minor leagues for years, but had never reached the majors. The only person privy to Rachel Phelps' plan is newly promoted General Manager Charlie Donovan (Charles Cyphers), the team's former field manager.

Of course, the play by play man for Tribe broadcasts is the venerable, if not perpetually drunk, Harry Doyle, played by Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker.  Doyle livens up the games, especially early on in the season, starting with the season opener against the Yankees.  When Hayes hits a check swing grounder, he calls it a "hot shot" and gives the Yankee player credit for "sacrificing his body out there, that guy's got a family to think of."  He then informs listeners that Hayes is the first Indian in fifteen years to lead off the season with a hit, and "we're not sure where Hayes played last year, but I'm sure he did a hell of a job."

Hayes is then promptly picked off, giving us "Hayes is picked off...personally, I think we got hosed on that call."    Other snappy one liners from Doyle:

-  "Rick Vaughn, a juvenile delinquent in the offseason, making his major league debut."

-  "You can close the book on Keltner."  *hand covering the microphone*  "Thank God."

-  After hitting the Yankee batter following a Haywood grand slam:  "About time, it's 8-0."

-  "Well, the Indians drop their third straight on the road trip, 6-1 to the Rangers.  For the Tribe, one run, on let's see, one hit...that's all we got, one goddamn hit?"

Monty (color man  "You can't say goddamn on the radio..."

"Don't worry, no one's listening anyway..."

As you may know, the Tribe gets it together, tying the Yankees for the AL East crown, forcing a one game playoff.  Harris gives up a pair in the top of the seventh, and after a two out single by Dorn, Cerrano, in what only happens in the movies, blasts an 0-2 fastball into the seats to tie the score.  I say only in the movies because there were two curveballs thrown to get to 0-2, and instead of going with another bender, Jackson shakes off the catcher for a fastball.

The Tribe goes on to win in the bottom of the ninth on a two out single by Hayes, who steals second.   Jake Taylor, who Doyle tells us is 0 for 12 lifetime against Duke Simpson, the Yankees ace reliever, unscored on in his last sixteen appearances, points to the bleachers like the called shot of Babe Ruth.  He's knocked down on a brushback pitch, only to get back up and do the same thing.  On the 1-1 pitch, Taylor lays down a bunt that he manages to beat out in gut wrenching slow motion, and Hayes beats the relay from Haywood to the plate to score the winning run.  This comes after Vaughn blows away Haywood with three fastballs with the bases loaded in the top of the frame.  Those pitches were clocked at 97, 99 and 101 mph.

Unfortunately, it doesn't all end swimmingly for the Tribe, as we find out at the start of Major League II that they were indeed, swept by the Chicago White Sox in the American League Championship Series. 

I found it fitting to talk about the movie as Uecker is a part of this blog, the Indians and Yankees are embroiled in a series at the moment, and of course, ESPN Classic showed the movie last night without commercial interruption as part of its "Reel Classics" Series. 

Now for some Major League trivia, facts and oddities:

The film's opening montage is a series of somber blue-collar images of the Cleveland landscape synchronized to the score of Randy Newman's melancholy "Burn On": an ode to the infamous night in Cleveland when the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River literally caught fire. The filmmakers chose the Cleveland Indians as their example of a notorious losing franchise because the actual Indians had a very similar history of futility— the franchise was the butt of many jokes and fit in perfectly with the premise of the film. Within five years of the film's release, however, the team had a new stadium (Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field) and had entered into a period of success: from 1995 to 1999, they won five division titles (with two more in 2001 and 2007) and two American League pennants. They came within two outs of winning the 1997 World Series against the Florida Marlins, but ultimately fell in extra innings in game seven.

Despite being set in Cleveland, the film was principally shot in Milwaukee because it was cheaper and the producers were unable to work around the schedules of the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns. County Stadium, then the home of the Milwaukee Brewers, doubles as Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the film, although several exterior shots of Municipal Stadium were used, including some aerial shots taken during a rare sellout game. Both facilities have since been demolished: the playing field of County Stadium is now a Little League baseball field known as Helfaer Field, while the rest of the former site is now a parking lot for the Brewers' new home, Miller Park; the new Cleveland Browns Stadium—a football-only facility owned by the City of Cleveland and used by the Cleveland Browns—sits on the site of its predecessor.

Life imitated art in the 2007 season, when continuous snowfall and cold led Major League Baseball to transfer an entire three-game series between the Indians and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, including the Indians' home opener, to Miller Park, forcing the real-life Indians to play three "home games" in Milwaukee. When Cleveland closing pitcher Joe Borowski entered in the ninth inning of the first game of the series, "Wild Thing" was played in the stadium, much to the delight of the 19,031 fans in attendance, as a tribute to the situation.  In a bizarre coincidence, this game was originally scheduled to be Rick Vaughn Glasses Night in Cleveland.

Relief pitcher Mitch Williams, whose speed and control problems were similar to Vaughn's, was nicknamed "Wild Thing" after the film came out. Instead of fighting the image, he switched his uniform number from 28 to Vaughn's 99, and wore it for the rest of his career.

The film also featured former Major League players, including 1982 American League Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich as Yankees first baseman Clu Haywood, former Oakland A's and Atlanta Braves shortstop Walt Weiss as A's player Mike Rexler (whom Taylor distracts into popping up for the last out of Vaughn's first career complete game), and onetime catcher Steve Yeager as reliever/third-base coach Duke Temple. The names of several crewmembers were also used for peripheral players.

After hitting the game-tying home run against the Yankees, Cerrano carries his beloved bat around the bases. There are no MLB rules which prohibit a baserunner from carrying a bat while running the bases, so long as it does not hinder, confuse, or impede the defense. (Rule 9.01 c)

There are several connections to the city of Milwaukee in this film in addition to County Stadium. The appearance of the scoreboard (located in right field) was not changed during filming of the movie. It contains the logo of local television station WTMJ. WTMJ-TV, locally Channel 4, is used as a "local" Cleveland station using the same call letters and word/logo style for interviews and other press appearances. Longtime Brewers broadcaster and Milwaukee native Bob Uecker played Indians broadcaster Harry Doyle. As noted previously, 1982 Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers when he won the award. In the stands of County Stadium during Ricky Vaughn's Wild Thing entrance in the final game, there is a female fan dancing; she is wearing a Quad/Graphics shirt, which is a major printer for national magazines based in the Milwaukee area. Several local Milwaukee businesses are also used in the filming including Major Goolsby's (bar scenes), Gritz's Pzazz (now closed) where Rick, Jake, and Willie have dinner, and Harry Tann Tires (Lou Brown's office).

Interestingly, the last time the Indians won a World Series, they had to win a one-game playoff to reach the Series. The Indians finished the 1948 season in a first-place tie atop the American League with the Boston Red Sox and defeated them in a playoff game at Fenway Park to advance to the 1948 World Series. They would then defeat the Boston Braves in six games.

In the final playoff game against the Yankees, Hayes makes a tremendous catch in center field, leaping above the railing to rob a batter of a home run. The scene is an exact copy of the catch made by St. Louis Cardinals' center fielder Willie McGee in Game 3 of the 1982 World Series; coincidentally, since the scene was filmed at Milwaukee County Stadium, it's the same wall and the same railing for both the real-life and fictional catches.

Major League...you can't go wrong for a funny baseball movie with "Mr. Baseball" in it.  Check it out if you haven't already, or feel free to point out your favorite scenes, clips, one liners or actions.