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Hot Ice: Rookie Of The Year vs. Little Big League
233 Plays1 year ago
It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball so Rock & Rob decided to celebrate the only way they know how: debating two baseball movie classics of their youth - Rookie Of The Year (1993) and Little Big League (1994). This episode was too important to discuss by themselves though so they had to bring in special guest and friend of the show, Austin Bentson, to umpire the slugfest. Grab your peanuts and Cracker Jacks (do they even still make those?) as they put these movies through seven rounds of questions and discuss key topics such as the baseball actor G.O.A.T., proper Little League attire and child labor laws.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta hug. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus. I don't want your life. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. Okay, a simple wrong would have done just fine.
00:00:26
Speaker
Happy opening day and welcome to the movie showdown with Rock and Rob. My name is Rob Mansfield. His name is Alex Rockline. And joining us on the show, a 6-3 guard, originally from Branchville, New Jersey, now playing out of Beverly, Massachusetts, our friend and fellow cake eater, number 15, Austin Benson. Welcome to the show. Wow. Brought me back with that one, Rob. I was right back in Gordon College basketball arena, running onto the court. That was great.
00:00:55
Speaker
So Austin is one of Rockin' Mine's closest friends from college. He is one of my former roommates. I lived with him after I lived with Alex. He is a basketball superstar, hence
Special Episode Excitement
00:01:06
Speaker
the intro. I used to announce the men's basketball games at Gordon. And Austin was one of those players. He was legit. And so that was fun to bring that back. And we are excited for Austin to join us for this very special episode of The Movie Showdown. Super happy to be here. Great to see you guys.
00:01:24
Speaker
This is fun. This brings me back. Let's get into our guest question of the week. So Austin, we refer to ourselves affectionately as the cake eaters. How did this group form and what does cake eaters mean to you? Wow. So the group formed, I would say the beginnings of it was when obviously you two room together, but Rob, we live together your senior year, my junior year of college, along with fellow cake eater, Steve Myron, a unbreakable bond was formed that
00:01:53
Speaker
set off a lifelong friendship from there. I believe the first time I spent real quality time with Alex was at your bachelor party. And I mean, the chemistry was instant and strong. I think everything just clicked from there. We have had a running group chat for the past, I don't even know how many years, probably since that time.
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. I think the love of Mighty Ducks is kind of what brought it all together, honestly. And so, cake eaters, what does that mean to me? It's a bunch of buffoons who are just happy to be together and have that connection. Wow. Very well said. That's perfect. Yeah, I get no notes. This is an episode where Rock and I need a judge.
00:02:33
Speaker
Usually we're pretty cordial about these movies, but just going through the prep for this episode, Alex and I are on opposite sides of these two movies. Things are getting a little heated. This is definitely a movie show done first. We're at odds. I don't know about you, Rob. I'm excited to get into this one because we have a judge, because I don't think either one would have won if it was just me and you. I'm excited. I enjoyed getting to watch both movies and certainly winners up for grabs here. So your arguments will certainly play a large part in who gets the W here.
00:03:01
Speaker
Well, in honor of opening day, we decided to do two underrated baseball classics.
Movie Plot: Little Big League
00:03:08
Speaker
And those movies are Little Big League and Rookie of the Year. Well, we got a lot to cover. Let's get into these movies. So this week, I am going to take Little Big League. Little Big League is about a 12 year old who inherits the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather and thinks he can be the manager because he is good at baseball trivia.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I don't see any issues with his logic there. This movie was released June 29th, 1994, directed by Andrew Scheinman, written by Andrew Scheinman and Gregory K Pincus. This movie had a budget of $20 million. Fox Off has only brought in 12 million, kind of a flop. Little Big League has a Rotten Tomato score of 35% and a very sad Google audience score of 55%. That's one of the lowest scores we've had from an audience.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yes. And they're right. We'll get into it. Okay. So we're already starting. Here we go. Top of
Movie Plot: Rookie of the Year
00:03:59
Speaker
the first.
00:03:59
Speaker
Well that means I will be representing Rookie of the Year. So a 12 year old is Patient Zero in a new way of healing broken bones that turns his arm into the most elite pitching weapon in the MLB. So naturally the Cubs signed him to be their closer because, I don't know, why not? Released on July 7th, 1993. Directed by Daniel Stern. Yes, that Daniel Stern. Marv from Home Alone, which is a movie we covered.
00:04:23
Speaker
This movie was well received enough that after it came out, Daniel Stern was asked to direct Ace Ventura, which he wasn't able to do, and then was initially signed on to direct Varsity Blues, another movie we've covered, but that didn't work out either. Written by Sam Harper with a budget of $14 million, this movie brought in $56.5 million, pretty good. Rotten Tomatoes score of 41% and a Google Audience score of 72%.
00:04:50
Speaker
which is also surprisingly lower than I would have guessed. You know, both of these movies being quote unquote kid movies makes sense for kind of lower type scores, but I would have thought there'd be a little bit more nostalgia feel towards them. Me too. These movies are really similar, but they're also very different. Both are baseball movies with real teams and they occasionally use real players.
00:05:11
Speaker
They both feature 12 year old boys as the main character. Each of them have two best friends that they kind of abandoned during the course of the movie because they have to do their adult job. Both of these movies, the kid's mom ends up dating one of the players on the team. And the mom is a single mom. I would say the baseball action in Little Big League was way more realistic and seemed authentic. And the clubhouse in Little Big League was way nicer. I can't imagine that that was even a real clubhouse in Rookie of the Year.
00:05:39
Speaker
Actually, what's interesting about the Little Big League one, that wasn't the real twins one, but they just, they made a replica of it for the set, which I thought was really cool. Yeah, that was cool. And then like we said, Rookie of the Year is just like, it's aimed for little kids. Like Rob, you said you watch it with Wes and he was so into it. I can't imagine watching Little Big League with Evelyn. She would be, first of all, bored out of her mind. And second of all, there's some things I don't think we're ready to discuss yet. I watched Rookie of the Year with Wes and immediately after it finished, he turned to me and said, can we watch that again?
00:06:07
Speaker
That's the goal, right? I started watching Little Big League with Wes. We got to the point where the grandfather dies and then it was bedtime. And even in those like 10, 15 minutes of the movie, I was kind of like, oh, there were some lines in there that I was like, I don't, was that okay for a five year old? I'm not sure. We put him to bed. I came back down. I finished watching the movie. And as I'm going through the movie, I was like, oh, I can't show him this movie. There are parts that are great for kids. And then there are parts that it's like, I can't explain to him what the night nurses from Jersey are.
00:06:37
Speaker
I remember watching this as a kid, too, and, you know, I liked it, but I think watching it again as an adult, thinking back when I was a kid and I watched it, it was always the baseball action. Oh my God, it was so good. Like, it was so realistic, all this stuff. But I'm like, man, like, there's totally stuff that went way over my head when I was a kid. All right, Austin, I know you've been a loyal listener to the show. You know we like to do these quick drafts. I thought it would be fitting for us to do baseball movies
Drafting Favorite Baseball Movies
00:06:59
Speaker
this week. Love it. Austin, as our guest of honor, what pick do you want?
00:07:03
Speaker
You know, I want to make sure I get my face, so I like to go first if I may. Perfect. Alex, I will let you go second since you for some reason must have something off since you really like Little Big League. Like is an understatement. I love Little Big League. So quick draft baseball movies. Ready, go. I got to go with my favorite baseball movie, The Sandlot.
00:07:23
Speaker
You're killing me, Smalls. Since the Sandlot was taken, I will go with my 1B favorite movie, baseball movie, which is Field of Dreams. I am going to go with Moneyball. I love the quote. It's not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash. It's incredibly hard. That is my absolute favorite line.
00:07:38
Speaker
And then I am going to follow that up with 61. Mickey Mantle is the man. Back to me. I'm going to take 42. I think that movie is an important movie and it was very well done. Chadwick Boseman's really good in that. He's phenomenal. He is. It's a great movie. With my next pick, I'm going with A League of Their Own.
00:07:57
Speaker
Women take over baseball. And for the next, I'm going with the rookie. Old guy starts playing and rocks it. I will take Major League just a bit outside. For my third pick, I am going to go with Bull Durham. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. And for my last pick, I know this movie is down on the bottom of almost every baseball movie list, but I love it. Don't judge me. I'm taking summer catch.
00:08:24
Speaker
Nice. I knew it. Of course. With Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Beale. I love rom coms. I love that time period. And you better believe at some point we're covering that movie on this show. Also, can we talk about how Bull Durham went in the last second to last round, which is like usually regarded as like the best baseball movie by everyone, which is I mean, it's great. I love that movie. For my last pick, I'm going to take the natural. I love this movie. It's just got that like old vintage baseball feel, some great characters, great storyline.
00:08:53
Speaker
My final pick gotta go with my guy and friend of the show Keanu Reeves Nice love it when you call me Big Papa this guy gets it the only other note I had on baseball movies Rob is the movie trouble with the curve came out and We wanted to go see it and when we got to the theater all we could remember Was that it we wanted to see the baseball movie and on the screen we saw pitch perfect We knew it was a movie about a picture
00:09:21
Speaker
I didn't know this one. Okay. So we were like, Oh, the movie for Pitch Perfect, please. So then we go into the theater and it like starts out with this like acapella scene. And I'm like, this does not seem like the style of movie I was expecting. And we sit through the whole thing. And it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And I'm forever grateful for that. I love that. I'm glad you brought that up, Austin. That is awesome. I never heard that.
00:09:45
Speaker
Well, I'm excited to get into these categories. I'm excited that you and I don't have to decide who wins them, Alex. Me too. That is what I am most excited about, I'll be honest. So let's jump right into it. Round one, best cast.
00:09:58
Speaker
The main character in Little Big League is played by Luke Edwards. He plays Billy Heywood. He is the aforementioned 12-year-old who inherits the twins from his grandfather and then eventually becomes the manager. You have Timothy Busfield as sweet swinging number four first baseman, Lou Collins. One of my all-time favorite baseball movie characters, and I'm just going to say that now.
00:10:18
Speaker
He is a lefty in this movie, but he's a natural right-handed hitter, and so in that scene where he bats against, spoiler alert, Randy Johnson, and they have him bat lefty, and they wanted Johnson to throw up and in on him, and they were like, we need you to make contact with one of his pitches for the scene. Can you imagine batting opposite-handed and having to make contact off of Randy Johnson?
00:10:39
Speaker
No, I couldn't. I love this kind of stuff. I think you want to know how many times, like, they had to do that. And if you're Timothy Busfield, like, what if you hit in the face and you're like, well, there goes, there goes my movie career. Rob, this one's for you. Scott Patterson as Mike McGreevy. I'll know him from the Gilmore Girls as Luke. Love me some Gilmore Girls. So he actually played professional baseball, made it up to AAA. And you could tell he's a very natural ball player. Just like Freddie Prinze Jr. in Summer Catch, you could tell that he's never touched the baseball in his entire life. Exactly. Exactly.
00:11:07
Speaker
Alright, you also have John Gordon. He plays the broadcaster, Wally Holland. What's cool about him is that he was actually the real life voice of the twins. I think he was there until 2011. You know I love this stuff. The obscure stats. The guy next to him writes it down, slides it over. I love when he reads some of them and he just like turns and gives the guy a thumbs up.
00:11:24
Speaker
That guy is like your spirit animal. Alex is the king of sending the obscure baseball trivia or baseball stats. I absolutely love it. Ashley Crow, she plays Jenny Haywood, so that's Billy's mom. What's cool about her is that last season, her son in real life made the major leagues as a player for the Cubs, which is pretty cool because Rookie of the Year features the Cubs.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, so even her son prefers Rookie of the Year. Even her son needs education into what movies are better. And then we have Chris Berman. He gives an interview with Billy before one of the games. There are so many major league players actually featured in the movie. You got Griffey, as we mentioned, Randy Johnson, Yvonne Pudge-Rodriguez makes an appearance, Paul O'Neill, Sandy Almar Jr., even Lou Penella, manager of the Mariners at the time. Watching this movie reminded me how good Griffey was.
00:12:13
Speaker
I remember I went to see the Mariners once. I do not remember the game at all. But I just remember being so excited because Ken Griffey Jr. was playing in the game in little big league. And to me, this just proves how good of an athlete and baseball player Ken Griffey was. So on that climactic tracking shot, when he's chasing the fly ball down and scales the wall, the production team had to use a small flatbed pickup truck with a camera fastened on the back because Griffey was too fast for them to film with their typical rig setup. That's incredible.
00:12:41
Speaker
I'm glad that Griffey was in it because originally that part was written for Ricky Henderson, which I mean, they do name drop Ricky Henderson in the movie, but I just wouldn't have had the same appeal. I don't think kind of funny because they sort of end up bashing Ricky Henderson. Yeah, they do. All right. In Rookie of the Year, we have Thomas Ian Nicholas.
00:13:00
Speaker
as 12 year old Henry Rowengardner. You may know him as Kevin in the American Pie movies. I did really like the part of this where the manager kept getting his last name wrong. Here are the last names that they call him. So his last name is Rowengardner. He is called Rulingfurter, Gardenhoser, Ravenboozer, Rosenbagger, Run-a-mucker, Rulingruder, and Rosenberger. I love the gag. I do like at the end when he does get it right and like the last time like nice payoff there. Yeah.
00:13:29
Speaker
Let's have the kid versus kid conversation here because you have been talking all week about how you really dislike Thomas Ian Nicholas as Henry Rowan Gardner. I think that Billy from Little Big League plays it at just one level the entire time. He doesn't really ever make you feel anything. Henry in Rookie of the Year, he is definitely way more annoying at times, but there are also parts where he's way funnier and more engaging than Billy.
00:13:56
Speaker
I tend to vibe more with Billy only because he's a little more low key and he's way drier like his humor is even drier. I prefer that to like the goofy like slapsticky stuff from Rookie of the Year. The thing that bugs me the most about Henry is he makes that surprised face so many times every time he walks into Wrigley he does it. I'm like dude you've been here every day for like three weeks and he's like
00:14:19
Speaker
every time, and his voice cracks, like, and he was going through puberty, and I know he can't control that. His voice does crack, yes. Don't you think, though, if you were going to a Bigley Clubhouse and Stadium as a 12-year-old, you would be shocked every single day? Your favorite team? I don't know. That was too much for me. Twice enough, but four or five times is too much.
00:14:36
Speaker
Both are imperfect because Billy from Little Big League, his whole personality changes in the middle of the movie when they start doing good. And it just goes against everything that his core values were when he started, like how he didn't play Lou for a couple of weeks because he was dating his mom. Lou was the one dude that had your back from the beginning. Also, you're trying to win. They lost the pennant by one game because they lost in the playoff game.
00:14:59
Speaker
If he had played Lou, maybe they win one of those games. I mean, Lou's an all-star player. And I think the way that both characters were played makes sense because you have Billy, who's trying to prove his merit for the role. He's kind of got a role because he feels he's earned it. He's the baseball trivia whiz who.
00:15:14
Speaker
some savant who becomes a manager at 12 versus a kid who's thrust into playing for a professional team just cause he had some freak accident that allows him to throw super fast. So I kind of get the one is a little more polished and even keeled versus the other who is shocked every time he walks on the baseball field.
00:15:30
Speaker
The one thing I'll say about Henry that was annoying to me is he was way too cocky, too fast. And he would go through spurts of being really down on himself. And then he'd be on bass or whatever. And he'd just be like taunting people. And I'm like, what are you doing, man? Like you wouldn't be acting like that.
00:15:46
Speaker
No, I get that. But at the same time, it was kind of funny because you're like, and this happens kind of in both where their little league background influences, which I liked. Like it's very different because like Billy does that play like over and on third, the guy walks like sprint to second. We did that every time when I was like 10 or 11, but then like Henry being on base doing like the, you know, like the taunting, like to me it was that I actually enjoy that. Cause I'm like, they're each taking like a part of their little league game and trying to infuse it. All right, Austin. So you heard it. He's agreeing that he likes the rookie. I am trying to be the bigger person here, Rob.
00:16:16
Speaker
Alright, so we've got Gary Busey as Chet Rocket Steadman. Check out our Black Sheep vs Tommy Boy episode for info on Gary Busey. But guys, wasn't Clemens known as Rocket during this time period? Yes, Clemens was known as Rocket. It's interesting that they couldn't just come up with a different nickname. This is also an era of baseball. All the greats had nicknames. I kind of miss that, like a big unit for Randy Johnson. The Big Hurt.
00:16:40
Speaker
The warrior, Paul O'Neill. The captain, Derek Jeter. Everybody had a cool nickname. We know Rob. You like Derek Jeter. The kid, Ken Griffey Jr. So director Daniel Stern appears in the film as Phil Brickma, the pitching coach. And I know it's childish, but his parts were my absolute favorite parts of this movie.
00:16:57
Speaker
When you think about baseball movies, you kind of have like kind of the same cast of characters, you know, like the bumbling manager, the old veteran who's beat up. But I like the, like this kind of coach, like specifically, because it's like, I feel like we've all had this kind of coach before. Yeah. Who's like a pitching coach, but not really. Like he's just there. He just loves life.
00:17:15
Speaker
We also have John Candy as announcer Cliff Murdoch. So Candy's role is uncredited. He happened to be visiting nearby the set and asked Stern if he could play a small role. And Stern was like, yeah, sure. Play this role. Candy was really good as an announcer. I love baseball announcers and movies, and he is definitely one of the one of the top ones. If you think about like Bob Euchre and Major League was awesome. But John is great. And he had that great line after they win their second game. And with that, Rowan Gardner extends the Cubs to their longest winning streak of the season.
00:17:45
Speaker
He's unbelievable. We also have Colby, I think that's how you pronounce her name, Jacobson, as Becky Fraker, who plays Julie the Cat Gaffney in Mighty Ducks. I gotta say, Mighty Ducks might be coming up on the pod later this season, so. I think it should be. Let's have this conversation right now, too. I think that the friends in Rookie of the Year are way better than the friends in Little Big League. They both have two friends. I find the friends in Little Big League to be just like Wet Blankets.
00:18:14
Speaker
They do like one funny thing and that's when they replace Billy with new Billy But they're just like so monotone like they were nothing as the friends in rookie of the year I thought actually had some really funny parts in a span of one minute These lines are uttered by the friends in rookie of the year We have wood in the vague shape of a boat
00:18:39
Speaker
They follow that up by saying she's stacked just look at her sipping that milk milks done that body good Which is ridiculous for a kid that age to say but so funny now They had some funny parts I agree with that the thing is like their storyline like all sudden they're mad at Henry I don't know. I just didn't believe any of that kind of stuff
00:18:59
Speaker
Isn't that the same storyline in Little Bigly? No. The friends in both movies are pretty similar. Well, they make a point to being like, hey, we have these plans. Can you do it this day? No, I have this. Okay, let's do it this day instead. He has lunch with Reggie Jackson, stands them up. And then from there on, they have the conflict that they have to get over. The thing I like about the friends, I know you say they're wet blankets, but to me, they are so just like Midwestern. They have the one kid with the dark hair. I think is funny. Again, super dry humor. And we've already talked about the difference between our humor preference, Rob, and I like this better.
00:19:28
Speaker
The other kid is just so dumb. And he's like, do you think Batman eats at McDonald's? Just like the stupid stuff that kids talk about. And then like the whole thing, like you should have started a Wedman. I love that. That whole bit that goes through the whole movie. And then in the wild card game, they start them. It's great. I do like the, you should have started a Wedman part. But the whole thing with the fishing too. It's like, they're like, I hate fishing. This isn't fishing. We have never caught a fish. What are we doing? We're just sitting around like. I love that line.
00:19:50
Speaker
What are we doing? He delivered it so perfectly. There's a couple MLB cameos. We got Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Pedro Guerrero, but the last actor that I want to talk about, and this is 100% why I'm going to win this round. You can't pull this out. Hey, Austin, what was our favorite TV show that we used to watch every single night in college? Wow. I mean, one could argue that it is the thing that brought us together. That would have to be Scrubs. Yes.
00:20:16
Speaker
And so in Rookie of the Year, we have the janitor from Scrubs, Neil Flynn, playing Stan Okey, who has almost the same personality as what his character would end up being in Scrubs. And you can't watch that and not be brought back to all of those fun times, just sitting there laughing at one of the greatest TV shows of all time.
00:20:40
Speaker
Listen, I'm an impartial judge. I'm going to go by what I feel here. So while I appreciate the reference, I'm going to keep my integrity. All right. Yeah. Thank you. This is not scrubs and Ricky the Everest little big league.
00:20:51
Speaker
Couple casting what ifs, so the studio originally wanted Daniel Stern to cast Joe Pesci as either Chet Stedman or in the role of the baseball commentator, but Stern felt if Pesci was cast everyone would compare the movie to Home Alone. I love Joe Pesci, can you imagine him as Chet the Rocket Stedman? I don't see that. Maybe a catcher, like he could have played a catcher. Yeah, Gary Busey looked like a pitcher. He didn't really throw like one, whatever I can overlook that by. He just like, he looked like a veteran.
00:21:17
Speaker
They also wanted Stern to cast Macaulay Culkin as Henry. They then suggested Fred Savage, who Stern worked with on the Wonder Years, but Stern thought he was too old and Savage wanted to take a little break from acting. I would've loved Fred Savage. You would've been good. Alex, what connections do you have this week?
00:21:32
Speaker
There aren't too many friends Seinfeld but I wanted to talk about another connection and that is actors who have appeared in multiple baseball movies and you have a few. Timothy Busfield is in Field of Dreams and in Little Big League. You have Charlie Sheen is in the Major League movies and he's in 8 Men Out. Christopher Lloyd is also in 8 Men Out and he is in Angels in the Outfield. James Earl Jones is in Field of Dreams and the Sandlot which is pretty
00:21:55
Speaker
Pretty impressive. And then we have Kevin Costner, who appears in four baseball movies. So I think we can crown him the baseball movie goat. Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Chasing Dreams, and For Love of the Game. He's the goat. It's not even a question. Great movies, too. Getting everything he's in. All right, Austin, who wins round one?
00:22:13
Speaker
All right. Great job guys. Uh, hard fought battle starting with little big leagues, some great performances, pretty strong cast. The cameos were definitely better in a little big league, but just looking at the rosters on paper. I mean, the names that come up in rookie of the year, every single one of those lead cast members, hard hitting the ones that carry the performance, the main characters of the movie. I got to go with rookie of the year on this one.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yes. Alright.
Little League Beginnings
00:22:41
Speaker
Rookie of the Year takes a one to nothing lead heading into round two. Best moments.
00:22:49
Speaker
Both movies kind of start similar. So in Little Big League, we started the Little League scene. I love that when Billy gets up, they're like, try to hit a homer. And then they're like, remember what happened last time? And he's like, oh yeah, just try to get hit by the pitch. I love that part. And then there's that kind of disagreement on the base. They don't know, the umpire doesn't know, so they ask Billy to come out. And that's when we really learn, all right, Billy might not be the most gifted of athletes. He's got this knowledge of baseball, the rules, the history, the trivia that will be present throughout the movie. But he was wrong.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah, he will. We'll get there. All right. We'll get there. It just was a great scene. What did you think of the Little League uniforms? They were very nice. They were like custom. Yeah. Do you know what I like, too, about Billy? He wore baseball pants and not jeans like a moron. All right. We can talk about that another time. All right. What a dink. We're stepping on some a later thing, but we got to mention it. It's atrocious. Just put a pin in it. We'll address it later.
00:23:42
Speaker
So in the beginning of the movie too, we get introduced to his grandfather. We learned that the grandfather owns the twins. I love the scene when he calls the mom and he's trying to get Billy to be able to go to the Red Sox game. Cause Roger Clemens is pitching and he's in town and she's like, you know, the rules, no games on school nights. He makes that pitch. He's just like, but it's the rocket and he's never seen a pitch. This is a one time thing. I love that. Yeah, it was good. I feel like I've been to baseball games where I probably should not have been to, but this guy was pitching or these are the seats we have, man, like that's so cool.
00:24:12
Speaker
I had my own Ferris Bueller moment once. In college, skipped classes to go to the Yankees we're playing. It was 2009, the Yankees were playing in the playoffs. And it was the first round of the playoffs, C.C. Sabbathie on the mound. So I left school, went to New York, went to the game, awesome game, get back to school. And one of my professors saw me out on the quad, like, Austin, you missed class the other day. I was like, yeah, I couldn't make it. And they were like, how's the game? I had been on TV.
00:24:42
Speaker
and it aired and the professor saw me. That's so good. Is that the best game you've ever been to? What about you Rob too? I want to know. Best game I've ever been to was 2009 World Series game four. So that same season when the Yankees won it and it was in Philly and I'm wearing my Yankee stuff and they said to me like you are a brave man for wearing that into Philly and I was getting harassed.
00:25:07
Speaker
In Philly? What? No. You know, who would have thought Philly fans, right? No way. A-Rod ends up having a huge hit to give him the lead, and that was when Johnny Damon stole second, and they had a shift on it, and Nolan was covering third, and then he stole third in the same play, and then as soon as the Yankees took the lead and they won that game, the entire stadium went silent. That's the best. Nobody said anything to me after that. I was worried about getting jumped afterwards, but
00:25:33
Speaker
That's great. I went to one playoff game where they like clinched to go to the next round. You know, that's always awesome being at those games. It gets super loud. That's cool. That's awesome. Getting back to your moments. You know what part I like from the grandfather when they're eating the ice cream and he says eat as many of these as you possibly can for the next 15 years because after that you can't eat anything that tastes good for the rest of your life.
00:25:53
Speaker
As a kid, you don't even get what that means, but now that I'm 36 years old, I feel that. I do too. I love the grandfather. Like I understand why his character had to die for the movie plot, but like, man, he was so good. He was such a good grandfather character. I love the grandfather. I really did like to the little detail they put into the movie of how they had all the players have the TH patches on the arm that could have easily have been overlooked. But it's a real baseball thing that they do if somebody from the organization passes away.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah, and just like that extra detail, like the authenticity, just like the uniforms were great. I'm like such a baseball uniform nut too. And the stadiums, the cameos, just like everything baseball related, just love. Even like the cinematography of like the baseball shots were so good. We'll talk about like the montages. Like there were two montages. One of them was like catching fire, getting on a winning streak. Got these like phenomenal plays. You got some big hits. You got the pitcher with the big wad, you know, he's wrapping it up with the gum, the pump in the glove.
00:26:51
Speaker
That was great. That's a class because it was working. Yeah, that was like classic baseball. The first two outs like were hit hard and he's like pumping it harder. He's like, what do we got to do to get this out? I love that. Even some lines before like when Billy is going to become the manager, but they have to talk to the commissioner. They ask like, what does your mom think? And he's like, well, it's okay with her if it's okay with you. I just remember that line from asking for sleepovers. And that was the line. It was like, well,
00:27:15
Speaker
their bum said it was okay if you say it's okay. And then even like when his friends were like talking about like how hard it's going to be. And then the friend is like, well, it's the American league. You got the DH. How hard can it be? I love that line. And even like when they put them through that little test, like in the office, like, all right, here's a scenario. What would you do? But he's like, Oh, well, what's the score? How many hours? Where are we? I love that kind of stuff that they worked into the movie that made it feel more authentic.
00:27:36
Speaker
I like that he had to answer one question to convince everyone that he was ready to take over the team. I wish that was my job interview. Not only to like just get a job, but to manage a professional baseball team as a 12 year old. Yeah, it didn't seem as rigorous as maybe the show then. That's ridiculous. I can't knock it. I mean, both movies premises are ridiculous.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah, they are both absolutely ridiculous. There's a disturbance at the hotel and Billy's eating dinner with some of the other coaches and he's like, I'll go check on it. And it's the players dropping the water balloons. And so, you know, he's joining in and, you know, it's kind of like there where he's influencing the team to have more fun. Cause he's like, this is a kid. I love the speech he gives.
00:28:13
Speaker
He's like, you guys are on baseball cards. Like everyone looks up to you. This game is supposed to be fun. And like, that's really like the turning point for them in the season where, you know, they kind of get a little looser and yeah, okay. Our manager's a 12 year old kid, but hey, this is fun. We were all 12 once. Let's go have some fun. I love those moments. Like they do a good job in both these movies of.
00:28:30
Speaker
bringing you back to being a kid and remembering the most nostalgic parts, like your dreams of like, when you're a kid, you dream of being a baseball player or having a part of a major league team and kind of reminding the players of like, Hey, this, this is like a special thing that you get to do that everyone dreams they could do. I do love the parts, speaking of that, like when they're, it's just them on the field and they're playing and he's like, I'm going to go to third. I'll make the throw. He gets it there in like 20 bounces. It's so funny.
00:28:57
Speaker
There's so many more good scenes to me. One, that's, Amy, it's not funny at all, but it is emotional. It's a scene where his favorite player of all time is struggling and he has to release him. He calls him into the office and he's like, I gotta, I gotta let you go. And the guy flips out and he's like, well, you're my favorite player. I have your baseball card. And then he's like, that's supposed to comfort me. Like.
00:29:16
Speaker
I feel like there's moments in this movie where they have to prove that he deserves the job, but then they also at times bring you back to like, he's a 12 year old kid. He still has this favorite baseball player and this is emotional for him. And so I think that they do a good job of at times showing that he actually deserves the role. And at times he's just still a kid. Like when he gets ejected and then the umpire goes and tells his mom. You're a dork.
00:29:38
Speaker
I love that. It's so good. But then before that last game, Billy's got to get his homework done. And then like, they're all trying to help him. Just something like the one liners they have, like takes me three hours to paint a house. It takes you five. How long to do it together? What color paint? I should know this. My uncle's a painter. Why don't they just get a house that's already painted?
00:29:56
Speaker
I love that kind of stuff. But then, you know, the team comes together to solve the problem and they're like, oh, yeah, we got a game to go play. Getting into rookie of the year, the opening day scene with the game day prep. I mean, there's nothing like opening day. There's nothing like being a kid going to an
Nostalgia of Attending MLB Games
00:30:11
Speaker
MLB game. And I think they captured that really well. They gave me all the feels. I will say the first time I ever went to Yankee Stadium and I walked through the concourse and then up through the tunnel and I got the full experience. I definitely did the Henry face where I was like, yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
I love all of the broken arm gags in rookie of the year. So he's got his arm out the window. Then he has his hand raised in class and he's walking past the team. The team's like, hi, Henry. Bye, Henry. I thought that was funny. I love that part. Wes absolutely lost it when he gets his cast off and he's doing the test in the doctor's office and he snaps the arm forward and I don't know if I've heard Wes laugh louder at anything in his life. Funky butt loving.
00:30:54
Speaker
This movie is a really good time capsule of 90s parents that mom just literally let those kids ride the train to Chicago by themselves. Yeah, no worries. Yeah. Was Chicago safer in the early 90s? I can't imagine.
00:31:08
Speaker
You know, so they're at the game, Roan Garner's in the outfield, he's yelling about, throw him the high, stinky Limburger cheese. Rocket hears him, which is ridiculous. Like if you're on the mound, you're not hearing someone yelling something from right field. So then the ball comes to the Alpha, they say throw it back and he fires at 435 feet on a line to home plate, leads into his tryout where he's throwing the ball 103 miles an hour. 103 seemed way faster in the nineties than it does now. Nowadays, if they were to like remake this, that would have to be like 110.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, I actually did some math on the throw from center field. We like math on this podcast. I mean, I didn't do the math, the internet did it. So I gave some estimations, you know, he was in the bleachers in the outfield. Let's say the ball was released from about 20 feet off the ground, thrown to about three feet off the ground, because he threw a strike to home plate on the line. So the center field wall in Wrigley field is 400 feet. Let's say he was 425.
00:32:00
Speaker
Right. So 425 feet on a line from 20 feet in the air to three feet. That is 2.29 degree drop from the point of release. He would have had to throw the ball 150 miles an hour in order to make that. I love this. I'm going to listen to the show before because I mean, that is just.
00:32:19
Speaker
I love that. That is right on the money. I'm happy you did the work to figure that out. Me too. So there you go, all you physics majors out there. That one's for you. Someone's going to fact check me on that now. No, it's true. It's true. My absolute favorite parts of this movie is everything that Brickma does. So he chokes on the seeds, which is just like, oh, that's funny. Then when they're trying to put Henry in, he's swatting at the fly and people are like, what is he doing out there? That leads to the conversation of,
00:32:43
Speaker
Heat of being a big league pitcher is the three R's. Readiness, recuperation, and conditioning. You see, after the game, a lot of guys like to ice up their arm. Still other fellas think that heat is the way to go, but I have discovered the secret, Henry. Hot ice. That's right, hot ice. I heat up the ice cubes. It's the best of both worlds.
00:33:05
Speaker
That's an amazing baseball scene. He's so good in this movie. He's so good. I feel like none of his lines are scripted. I just feel like he's just like doing his own thing. Oh, yeah. I love when he's taken batting practice, which I don't know why the pitching coach is taking batting practice, but he's taking batting practice and he keeps fouling the balls off his head. He's like, let the big dog eat. It looked like he was actually doing it too, like on purpose, which is pretty impressive.
00:33:28
Speaker
Then he gets stuck between the two doors in the hotel, which is a fun gag. And then he gets stuck in the cage during the last game and he's just like shaking it. He's a classic character and I loved every second of it. And it's recurring like in those situations. Oh boy.
00:33:44
Speaker
So good. Another scene when Henry is batting for the first time and he's standing and the umpire's like, you need to get in the box, son. He's in the back corner. The pitcher's arguing because he has no strike zone. I love his away jersey. The name goes from the belt on one side to the belt on the other.
00:34:01
Speaker
That's a good scene. And then the whole last scene when he's on the mound with a big dude from the Mets, which like, have we ever seen a more typical description of like what you imagine a Mets player to be like than that dude? Hido is his name. This is the best time of baseball, the juiced out players. And yeah, mommy, mommy. That's my favorite line, I think, in the whole movie. So those were my scenes. Anybody want to chime anything else in?
00:34:27
Speaker
I mean, I think Alex may have missed a couple of good ones from Little Bigly. I mean, I loved while a sad moment after the funeral, they're kind of going over, they're about to hand believe the team. Grandpa had taped a video for him. First of all, taped. I mean, it brings you back. Then it starts out. It's a Knicks Bulls game at the Garden.
00:34:45
Speaker
You taped over an explosive. I thought that was great. I think when the kids take the field, when Billy first takes ownership of the team, I mentioned what you did to Alex, like the throw from third to first, but also just like that moment when you always dream of just getting on the field. I had the absolute joy of being able to go on the field at Old Yankee Stadium before they tore it down. It was opening day of the new stadium and I got to go on the field at Old Yankee Stadium and just like
00:35:10
Speaker
Was a little kid. This was when I was in college, but I just became a little kid. I ran the bases. I walked the outfield. There was like some tufts of grass left over and I took one and put it in my pocket, kept it there through the game. Then the next day traveled back to Massachusetts, bought a pot and dirt.
00:35:29
Speaker
planted it, kept it alive in my dorm room the remainder of the year and brought it home with me that year. So I had Yankee grass all that time. We had like a basketball summer trip and go on this summer trip and I come back and I'm like, where's my grass? Did you guys water it to my parents? My dad's like, you're gonna love this. Come back with me, take a look. He takes me out to the backyard and I'm like, what am I looking at? He's like, your grass, I planted it in the yard. Isn't that great? I have like these hopes and dreams of like keeping this grass. And now it is just somewhere in my dad's.
00:35:58
Speaker
Backyard.
00:36:00
Speaker
to this day. So, but anyway, getting to go on the field, like that's awesome. I love the scene when they're talking about, you know, a kid taking over the team and one of the players is like, I don't know, man, kids these days are amazing. I played winter ball down in Venezuela and they had a bunch of kids down there and every one of them was speaking Spanish. That's a hard language. That was a good line. Yeah. They all speak Spanish down there. That's what I'm talking about. Well, sorry, who you got. All right. So for this one, this is really tough. You guys brought me into each of these movies, but ultimately I got to give this one to
00:36:29
Speaker
Little Big League. Give me a lot of the feel. They had a lot of big moments. I feel like a little bit more serious. Rookie of the Year did have a lot of like brought me back to my dreams as a kid. But from a standpoint of like best moments, I feel like Little Big League takes that one. Well, I mean, it makes sense when a movie is as ridiculously long as Little Big League that it would have more options to have better moments. So that's fine. Here we go. So we are tied one to one going to round three. Better title or soundtrack.
00:37:00
Speaker
So in Rookie of the Year, we've got the Bill Conti score. You may know Bill Conti from masterpieces such as Rocky and The Karate Kid. I think Little Big League has better songs as the center field wipe out. A couple of the montage scenes have some better songs in it.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, Little Big League that you mentioned, the montages are, there's two of them, they're pretty central parts. Runaround Sue, there's a great montage song. Stanley Clark did the score for Little Big League. I don't think it's this one that you really remember as much, it is more about the songs. Yeah, they're like classic baseball songs, I feel like.
00:37:33
Speaker
The Rookie of the Year score is better. I mean, it's Bill Conti. He's phenomenal. In terms of titles, they're both okay. You know, Rookie of the Year is interesting. He definitely wasn't Rookie of the Year. I don't think you can... If he was Rookie of the Year, they didn't say it. I don't know if you can win Rookie of the Year if you're only playing in August and September. I think you could. I don't think you would if you had like 10 saves. Yeah, I don't think you would.
00:37:57
Speaker
Did he win Rookie of the Year? I don't know. It doesn't say. I'm not really sure why it's called Rookie of the Year. It's just like a fun play on a baseball thing. Yeah. Same thing with Little Big League. It's a fun play on a word. Exactly. I don't entirely love it. I mean, really, this stuff just comes down to personal preference. They both make sense to me. They're both fine. They both could have been called something completely different, and it would have been just as fine. Austin, just settle it. I mean, honestly, this is not an easy one to judge, because really, I wouldn't say
00:38:24
Speaker
either score or soundtrack jumps out.
Judging the Movies: Rookie of the Year
00:38:27
Speaker
I feel like for me, the edge on this one goes to Rookie of the Year because I just think the title works a little better. I'm gonna take that win. So we have a two to one lead for Rookie of the Year heading into round four. Plot holes, cringiness, random questions.
00:38:42
Speaker
So just as a preface, we can't go into all the baseball things wrong with these movies. We'll cover some of the bigger ones, but we'd be here for three hours if we tried to break down all the baseball stuff. But in Little Big League, the plot holes that I have, and here's a big one. You guys ever hear of something called child labor laws? Never heard of it. You can't be a 12 year old working as many hours as Billy was in this movie.
00:39:06
Speaker
Also that pick off play, it's great. I love the scene. Everyone pretends like the ball's rolling to the outfield. They tag out Griffey with it. You can't do that. It is a legal to fake the throw to first base. I've seen that play done to second base, but you can't do it to first base.
00:39:21
Speaker
Now you can do it to first, but it depends on how you step off. Like if you step off behind the rubber, you are now an infielder, but they don't show his feet. But to me, it looks like he does a classic pick-off move, which would be a Bach. Also like involving the stadium employee to get in on it. I feel like it's probably crossing some sort of line too. Some cringiness. The grandpa says to the mom, I'm sure you can think of a couple of things to do with a man. Yeah.
00:39:47
Speaker
That's weird. I get your sentiment, but come on. That's your daughter-in-law. That's weird. They do say the R word in Little Big League. Yeah, don't like that. That's a 90s thing, but they didn't do it in Rookie of the Year. Okay. Some random questions. How did the grandpa die? Yeah, I mean, he was old. I mean, he was in pretty good shape. He was. I don't like it in movies when they get you invested in someone and they're just like, he died.
00:40:10
Speaker
What? So we mentioned this earlier, but in the Little League game, when all the three players are standing on the base and like, Billy, what do you do? He is correct. The lead runner gets the base. However, the players still need to be tagged. Yeah, no one tagged anyone. That's what I didn't get. So they're technically all still safe.
00:40:25
Speaker
Also, you mentioned the jeans, which I'm sure you'll bring up, but Billy, he didn't have a shirt tucked in. And it was like, come on, man. You spend enough time around the major league, you need to tuck your shirt in. That did bug me. Basically, Billy decides to manage the twins after some peer pressure from his friends. I mean, I didn't even mention the biggest plot hole, which is they would never have a 12 year
Reality Check: Managing a Baseball Team
00:40:43
Speaker
old manage the twins. I just think that's assumed. We're not even going to get into those. But his friends were just like, oh, you're smart at baseball. Why don't you manage the twins? And he's like, I don't know. And they're like, you should do it. He's like, I'll do it. I think this is where being 12 is kind of like, yeah.
00:40:55
Speaker
Sure. We all like have that conversation as kids like how I could manage. Don't we still have that conversation? Yeah, so the Ricky Henderson demands you can't sign a guy mid season that's already on another team unless he gets cut from that team. They say he signs with the Yankees. That whole thing didn't make sense.
00:41:14
Speaker
That was weird, because it was just the timing of it. Like, yeah, why would Ricky Henderson, one of the best players, you know, a Hall of Famer not have a team? And yeah, I mean, they could have easily had written that as he wanted to get traded to exactly for a movie that was so like gung ho on baseball authenticity and accuracy. That part sticks out to me that I'm like, that's weird. You guys should have known better. This is marketed as a kids movie, but I don't feel that this is entirely a kids movie.
00:41:41
Speaker
There are moments that are very kid movie-esque, but then they touch on a bunch of stuff that does not have the tone of being a kid's movie. Most importantly, the whole night nurses from Jersey hotel movie thing. That just takes you right out of this being appropriate for a six-year-old to watch, because now I have to answer that question. It's just a movie that he really liked. Dad, you're from Jersey. What do you know about Jersey?
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah, that could fit into cringy as well as yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. What do you got for Rookie of the Year? How much time do we get? Just kidding. Just kidding. So I don't know if either of you guys are doctors. I can't remember. No, probably no. No, we're not. Can your tendons be fused with your humorous like is the whole arm healing injury thing? Is that like actually possible in this plot? I'm going to guess no.
00:42:29
Speaker
I mean, your tendons can heal naturally as someone who's torn their Achilles. You do not actually have to have surgery for the tendons to heal together, but it is impossible for it to do it in the way that it happens in this movie. And certainly you're not going to be like a better athlete after it happens. Yeah.
00:42:46
Speaker
I mean, I get it, you know, it's a ridiculous plot point, but it has to be brought up. Another thing we talked about with Little Big League is just the age. You cannot be a professional baseball player at 12, even if it is a gimmick at first, you have to be a teen. Also, just having a fastball would not be something that would set him apart. No. Oh, he throws fast. These are the best hitters in the world. Like, they'll tie me up. If they know all you're throwing is a fastball, you're going to get shelled.
00:43:11
Speaker
You know, we talked about the other hidden ball trick. Is it a Bach? I believe the first one with the rosin bag is also a Bach. So you're correct. They do a mound visit and it's a time out for a mound visit. After you break from the mound visit, the umpire has to put the ball back and play, which doesn't happen until you're standing on the rubber with the ball. Right. And you can't be on the rubber without the ball. That is a Bach. Yes. So the whole thing just wouldn't have happened. There are ways to do a hidden ball trick. That's not one of them.
00:43:37
Speaker
Both, though, fun scenes. All right, moving on to Cringy, the Little League coach calling the kids morons. Yeah, that stuff. I've had coaches like that. Not in Little League, but. Not when you were 12, hopefully. Not when I was 12. Maybe that's what happened to you. Maybe that is what happened to me. Different times. He's in that Pepsi ad, which was just very, I don't know. A little too sexual for a 12 girl? Just a little too handsy there. Yeah, a little weird.
00:43:57
Speaker
Just moving on to some questions. Opening day, was it too warm for a Chicago opening day? I would think so. Nobody had long sleeves on. Nobody had jackets on. I will say I was just in Chicago two weeks ago and I was able to be there with no long sleeves. It was actually warmer than it is here. Alright, so maybe it was a freak warm day. So once again, Austin, picking apart your arguments.
00:44:21
Speaker
Wow, umpires are on your side, Rob. The whole Little League sequence is just insane. Yes. I will never get over this. He's wearing jeans to the game. And not only is he wearing jeans to the game in the final scene, he's also wearing jeans to the game. He's the only one. Everyone else is baseball fans. And they never comment on it.
00:44:39
Speaker
And also, like, he finally gets in, misses the fly ball, can't find it because his hat's pulled down, then he picks it up and throws over the fence. I love this movie. That is frustrating. I don't like it when people refuse to just do the intelligent thing and he's like searching for the ball with his hat over his eyes. Just tip your cat back and pick up the ball, throw it where it's supposed to go.
00:44:58
Speaker
One of the bigger plot points was Jack is going to negotiate a deal where Henry is sold to the Yankees. I didn't really understand this part. I didn't know what that meant. And this kind of is very similar to the little big league Ricky Henderson thing that we talked about. How do you sell a player who's on your roster to a team? Isn't that just trading him? I was confused about that, too. To me, it seemed like it was after the season. So it seemed like he was finishing the season and then his contract maybe was being sold off to the Yankees, which would be tampering. And that's also very. Wouldn't put it above Jack.
00:45:28
Speaker
It was just weird. Like, I don't know. It felt unnecessary. It felt kind of just like they had to throw in some sort of like conflict. OK, so then final game or whatever that they show him in, he gets injured and kind of like reverts his arm backwards and then he can't throw. But then they just leave him in. He can't even reach the plate. Yeah, I'm pretty sure any MLB manager is immediately pulling that guy if he's doing that.
00:45:49
Speaker
I'm sure that some Red Sox fans will remind us of Grady Little, and I'm sure there's some other fan bases out there that'll say, oh, managers leave pitchers in way too long all the time. Not when they can't reach the plate and they're throwing underhand. Yeah, not when they're clearly in exactly.
00:46:05
Speaker
Also, he joins the team and he's the closer and all of a sudden they start winning. Are they like, oh yeah, they're a good team, but they always blow it in the ninth or whatever. When your star pitcher has a 300, he also can barely reach the plate. Yeah. If they didn't score runs, his presence isn't allowing them to score runs. Yeah. Right. Right. After he picks off the guy with the hidden ball trick and the next guy gets on, do you think there's any way that guy is going to fall for the run to second? You're a chicken and like fake, they'll throw the ball in the air. Absolutely not.
00:46:31
Speaker
My one argument to that is he is on the Mets, so I could see it. Okay, totally fair. When he throws underhand, his hand is like, it's weird. He's like doing like a bocce throw or whatever. Yeah, right? Going for the ground ball out. Who put a little backspin on it? Yeah.
00:46:47
Speaker
They tried to play it up like he thought his father was the pitcher when really it was the mother. So then his mom makes the symbol to him from the stands, the underhand thing. So then he does that. Which is a pitch and softball. He didn't know his mom was a pitcher. So anybody normal throwing a ball underhand is going pom up.
00:47:04
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, they were trying to go for the mystery of the big reveal that it was the mom who was the pitcher But I think it almost would have made more sense if they had like talked about Oh, my mom was a good softball pitcher had this secret like so that he would know I will say did like when he has the glove and he peels the tape That was a cool scene
00:47:19
Speaker
And this bugs me, they were saying, if we win this game, we win the division and then we go right to the World Series.
Critique of Movie Endings
00:47:25
Speaker
You immediately skip all of the playoffs. Like that was just confusing to me. I can't defend. I mean, you do find out at the end, they won the World Series because he got the ring on, which was cool. It was a cool ending. They both kind of end the same way with like the freeze frame. He's got the fist and the other guys get the hat, right? When he comes back for the curtain call.
00:47:39
Speaker
Yep. Austin, what didn't we mention? A couple of things that I noticed that I just thought were funny. Um, not necessarily plot holes, but at one point in rookie of the year, the owner is sitting with, uh, his family and friends and they order hot dogs. And, uh, the owner is shocked at the fact that hot dogs cost $3 for hot dog. They ordered four hot dogs. So at $3 per hot dog, that's $12. The vendor says you're $11 short, which means he paid $1 for four hot dogs.
00:48:07
Speaker
I was doing that same. I'm like, am I off here? It's pretty great. One of the best Salisbury steaks the rocket ever had in his life was on a United Airlines. Said no one ever. All right. So winner of this round for me. I mean, obviously both of these movies I feel are.
00:48:26
Speaker
pretty riddled with plot holes. So you can kind of poke a lot of holes in each of them. For me, this one comes down to the watchability and the cringe factor. And ultimately at times I have trouble determining who the audience of Little Big League is meant to be. So for that reason, I have to give this round to Rookie of the Year. That is great. Okay. Rookie of the Year takes a three, two, one lead. I don't know why I said it like that.
00:48:53
Speaker
It's a seven game series. Let's all remember that. Heading into round five, miscellaneous question of the week. Which kid was set up better for their future?
00:49:04
Speaker
Before we get into it, I know you're probably thinking, Henry isn't gonna play professional baseball anymore, like that was it. But, so in 1993, he would have made the league minimum, which was $109,000. So in 2024, if you adjust for inflation, that's about $200,000. So if he was smart about it, he could have invested that correctly. He also had endorsement deals and things like that, bringing in even more money.
00:49:28
Speaker
He's definitely going on appearances. He's probably gonna be in some movies. He's probably gonna write a book someday about it. Whereas Billy did own the Minnesota Twins, which is probably decently lucrative as well. However, we don't know if he would have run them into the ground or not.
00:49:46
Speaker
Wouldn't Henry's contract would have been prorated too? So you wouldn't have made as much. I mean, yes, it would have been prorated. Do you think he went back and had use that money, have surgery? Just to keep... No. Fuse those. I think he was done. I don't even think he would keep playing baseball because everyone would have expected him like, oh, like, think of all the trash he would have been talked going back to Little League and just being normal Henry after being this guy. Like, I think he probably doesn't play baseball, but I do see a potential career in the entertainment.
00:50:16
Speaker
industry for him or he sells his life story and they make a movie about it or he sells used cars that's the other thing too like he's just like a local legend in his town and in Chicago he led them to a world series because of him apparently I mean he's never buying a meal in the city of Chicago he's making so much money off of that for the rest of his life
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, he ended the curse in Chicago. That's probably a pretty big deal. Billy, though, being the owner of the twins, I feel like he would have had enough people to safeguard him from anything too outlandish. I can see him respecting the game too much. Who was more likely to end up a drug addict? Henry Roengardner. Definitely Henry. Definitely Henry.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Austin, who you taking here? You tried your best Rob to give some good points here. I would say that Henry in this one is more akin to maybe an upscale version of like, you think West Texas, like high school football player who gets like, you know, they're the big high school football players famous after high school, but that's really all it does. And he gets his meals for free maybe. And he's a legend in the town, but doesn't do much with his life. I don't know. I kind of see Henry going that way. Billy hands down being set up as the owner of the twins.
00:51:25
Speaker
and honestly, you know, shows that he has some merit for the role that he was in, except for life. Yeah. Okay. I take it. We have a three to two lead for rookie of the year heading into round six. Better trivia.
00:51:39
Speaker
Alright, in Little Big League, the last game was a one game playoff between the twins and Mariners that went 12 innings. In 2009, during their last season at the Metrodome, the twins actually played a one game playoff, which would last 12 innings. Interestingly, that was also a season during which their owner
00:51:56
Speaker
Karl Pollard died and left the team to the family members. I like that one. So when Henry has to take his first at bat against the Dodgers, the pitcher in that scene is Tim Stoddard. Stoddard was a technical advisor for the baseball scenes in the movie, but he actually also was a pitcher for the Cubs in real life. And he pitched on the 84 Cubs team that won the NL East title. I will not put stock into how well his baseball advising was for the movie, but
00:52:24
Speaker
Somewhere along the same lines, in addition to the numerous real-life baseball players who made cameos in the film, which we talked about earlier, the shortstop in the movie, Pat Corning, is also played by a real Major League Baseball player named Kevin Elster. Now, Elster played for the Mets, the Yankees, the Phillies, the Rangers, the Pirates, and the Dodgers, and his best season statistically came in 1996 when he was with the Rangers. He hit 252 with 24 homers and 99 runs batted in.
00:52:51
Speaker
Also, he holds the record for consecutive games at shortstop without making an error, which is ADA games. It's pretty impressive, ADA games without an error at shortstop. So following the film's release, Thomas Ian Nicholas threw out the first pitch and sung Take Me Out to the Ballgame multiple times for the Cubs. During the 2015 National League Championship Series where the Cubs faced the Mets, as they did in the movie, he attended game four in a Roan Gardner number one jersey. Unfortunately, the Cubs lost eight to three, knocking them out of the postseason. So he couldn't bring that rookie year magic with him.
00:53:21
Speaker
They did end up winning it, though, at some point. They won the next season. Yeah, good for them. All right, Austin, which one you like better? I got to give this one to Little Big League, especially the one tying in the transfer of ownership and the way those each season ended in a 12-inning game. I really thought that was great. So we are tied, Alex. Wow. Game seven. Coming down to a divisive round seven. Better story, script, more fun.
00:53:45
Speaker
I do think both movies are too long for what they are. Rookie of the Year is an hour and 44 minutes and Little Big League is almost two hours long. Which like, if you account for today's movie inflation, that's like a three and a half hour movie in 2024.
Pacing Issues in Both Movies
00:54:00
Speaker
And at times it felt it.
00:54:01
Speaker
Austin, you had mentioned this earlier, my biggest issue with Little Big League is I just don't know if it knows what type of movie it is. The first 15 minutes, the last 15 minutes, really good, have some like fun kid movie stuff. It's marketed as a kid movie, but then they're making adult entertainment jokes, but it's also not edgy enough to be PG-13. So that's just kind of what like takes me out of it. Whereas Rookie of the Year, like it's not a perfect movie.
00:54:24
Speaker
by any means. By most people's standards, it's probably not even a good movie. I find it extremely fun, though, and going into it, I'm just looking for fun, what's gonna make me laugh, what's gonna give me funny situations. I agree, Rob, with all those points, and I know Little Big League, you know, we joked about this before, like, I love this movie, and I've always loved this movie, but, you know, watching it as a kid, watching it as an adult is very different. It does drag at certain points. I feel like they could have cut some stuff or a storyline or whatever and kind of tightened things up a little bit
00:54:54
Speaker
For me, Little Big League is, yeah, it's a kid's movie because there's a kid who stars in it, but it's more like a coming of age story about a kid who's thrust into this world where he should not be, but he needs to go back to being a kid. And the same can be true for Rookie of the Year, I can see that connection. I think for me, and this can happen a lot, when you like
00:55:12
Speaker
a movie or a show or whatever when you're a kid and you got that nostalgic factor. Maybe it's not the best movie, but for some reason, I just really connect with it more. I appreciate the authenticity. The montages are great. The stadiums that they show are great. The cameos are awesome. The kids having free reign of the stadium because he owns the team like
Kids' Dreams of Major League Baseball
00:55:31
Speaker
that. I'm like, man, that is the dream. Like, of course, like playing Major League Baseball was was it too, but
00:55:35
Speaker
Like being in the dugout, being with the guys in the locker room. For me, it still holds up. But I do agree that if it maybe picked a lane a little bit more, it could have landed a little bit better with the audience. All right, Austin, up to you. Which movie wins? Well, I really enjoyed getting to watch both these movies. They both really bring back that nostalgic feeling of your dreams of a kid.
00:55:55
Speaker
Little Big League being a little more romantic towards baseball and Rookie of the Year having those, you know, those big dreams and being a little goofier. For me, Rob, you know this, any movie for me is, it's all about the fun. And what do I have the most fun watching? And so for me, the one that I'm really excited to watch with my son someday is going to be Rookie of the Year. So for me, Rookie of the Year is going to win this one. Let's go. Walk off wind.
00:56:19
Speaker
That was a good battle. Alex, I appreciate your impassioned connection to Little Big League, the nostalgia it brings you. But Rookie of the Year is the victor. That was a lot of fun. It was fun. I will say, people who know me, know I love baseball and all this stuff, will know that going into this. I have said many times, I hate the movie Rookie of the Year.
00:56:38
Speaker
I will say that has changed. I do not hate it after rewatching it. I think it is better than I remember. But I will still always have Little Big League. Let's get into our rankings. I'm going to do something I've never done. And I feel like this is appropriate for this episode. I am going to give both movies the same exact score. Oh, all right. Both of 75.
00:56:57
Speaker
I went Little Big League 61. Of course you did. Rookie of the Year 71. I'm not over rating Rookie of the Year. I'm just putting Little Big League not as high as... Oh man. Austin, what do you got for your ratings? For Little Big League, I have a 70 and for Rookie of the Year, I have 75. Nice.
00:57:19
Speaker
Alex, you have anything you want to say before we get out of here? I love baseball movies and I wish they would make more movies like this again. That's all I'm going to say. I agree. Austin, it has been an honor to have you on this episode. We 100% could not have done this without you. It's true. You were the perfect guest judge and we will have to have you back for another episode. Absolutely, guys. This was so fun. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to see you in person rather than just through.
00:57:45
Speaker
you know, words on a phone. So really had a great time. I would love to come back anytime. Yeah, I will say baseball is the reason Rob and I met and technically baseball is the reason you
Friendship and Baseball
00:57:54
Speaker
and I met. So if I didn't meet Rob, I wouldn't have met you. That's true. So baseball just brings us all together. It's probably 75% of what we talked about. Tony Gwynn stats and how much we hate the Yankees, our favorite team. Yeah.
00:58:05
Speaker
That is true, yeah. Well, this has been The Movie Showdown with Rock and Rob. Make sure to like, subscribe, rate, and review all that fun stuff. And follow us on all the socials at Rock and Rob Show. Until next time, peace. I'm out of here. The Dodgers had a saying, wait till next year. That's a wrap.