But the greatest baseball movie of all-time fulfills none of the three, and because of this, it fell all the way to No. 36 on Fantasy Baseball Dugout's Top-50 baseball movie list.
Though unlike Field of Dreams, this film actually plays out the fantasy of every nerdy 12-year-old kid that just wants to be close to the game he/she loves.
Little Big League is the most fascinating baseball film in existence. It follows the story of Billy Heywood, a 12-year-old baseball nut who is awarded ownership of the Minnesota Twins after his grandfather, the former owner, passes away.
One thing leads to another, and Billy ends up tossing out the fiery skipper and takes over as manager. And even though he's 12, and still has to create projects for his seventh grade science class, Major League Baseball still allows this.
But who cares? Billy takes a rag-tag group of unseasoned youngsters and washed-up veterans and gets them within one game of reaching the postseason. And on the last day of the season, the Twins face off against none other than Ken Griffey, Jr. and the Seattle Mariners.
"Junior" steals the show at the end of the movie, as he's portrayed as the villain you just can't seem to dislike. The Twins have one final shot to beat the M's, when Minnesota star Lou Collins steps up to the plate to face legendary (and real) Mariners lefty Randy Johnson with a runner on first and all the marbles at stake.
Collins blasts one the opposite way, but Griffey makes his patented 1994 leap to the fence and robs Lou, Billy and the Twins of a trip to the postseason.
From a trio of montages, to quite possibly the best soundtrack in the history of cinema (featuring classic songs like "Runaround Sue" by Dion), to Billy's unseen oh-so-imaginable lunch with Reggie Jackson at Houlihan's, Little Big League delivers from angles never seen before in American filmmaking.
But the best part about this movie is the awesome amount of real major league ballplayers that make cameos. Of course, former big leaguers Leon "Bull" Durham, Brad Lesley (as John "Blackout" Gatling) and Kevin Elster all take on pivotal roles in the film — but several other former stars are in the movie as well, including Johnson, Griffey, Jr., Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Carlos Baerga, Sandy Alomar, Jr., Paul O'Neill, Tim Raines, Dave Magadan, Lou Piniella, Alex Fernandez, Mickey Tettleton and Wally Joyner.
There's pretty much no question about it — Little Big League is the best baseball movie of all time, and rivals Gone With the Wind for the premier film in the history of American cinema.
What do you think is the best baseball movie of all time? Leave your thoughts below.
