Retroist Major League Podcast

May 20, 2019

This week’s show is all about the 1989 sports comedy classic, Major League. I start off by talking about my time as a not so great third baseman in little league baseball, then I move onto the move itself. I discuss the plot of the film, the cast, the alternate ending, the music, and much more.

As a young man, my father played baseball and my mother’s family were big fans, often gathering around to listen to it on the radio together. So as I approached little league age, I had this idea that I might try to play baseball.

Oddly enough, no one in my family had an opinion about this. They weren’t pro, they weren’t against. So as a young person, I was driving this entire decision, which also meant I was a little in the dark about equipment. What I did know is that in the basement was a baseball glove, the one that had belonged to my father. And I took it with me to the tryouts.

This glove would be with me for probably the first month and a half of playing. And I remember this well because the various coaches thought it was the funniest thing in the world and would reference baseball players from the past who I had never heard of in relation to my ancient glove.

So I would make a play and I would hear way to go, Snuffy Stirnweiss! I didn’t understand the reference, but they seem to get a kick out of it. And of course, this meant everyone on the team started to get a kick out of my old glove.

Of course, you could only be called Hank Majeski so many times before you finally say, “who the heck is Hank Majeski?” So I would go over to the library and try to find these people. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a big baseball-reference section at our library.

So the easier solution was for me to get a new glove and after playing for about six to eight weeks, which is way into the season at this point, my family got me a new glove and as soon as they did I had to relearn how to do everything because the old glove didn’t have as much give and I had to do certain actions to hold onto the ball.

This new glove was much higher tech and it worked a lot better. So in the long run it was a better deal for me. Although I could see that the coaches were a little depressed, not seeing the kid with the antique glove running around.

I had a great time in little league. It taught me the basics of baseball and it’s a sport I’ve enjoyed watching ever since. I also happened to enjoy baseball movies and on today’s show I’d like to talk to you about one of them, “Major League.”

Major League is one of just a few great baseball movies and it is filled with great actors. So if you like baseball or not, I think you will enjoy it.

Now I know someone is going to ask me what I think the best baseball movies are, so here is my list. Not exactly in order…

The Bad News Bears (1976)
The Sandlot (1993)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Major League (1989)
Bull Durham (1988)
The Natural (1984)
Moneyball (2011)

Listen and download the Retroist Major League Podcast

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Production Notes

This was only my second time recording this podcast. The first time was a few years ago and it was considerably longer. I had just read this amazing article that someone had written speculating on team stats and I got into that during the recording. I didn’t even touch that this time around.
I cut a bit where I discuss my favorite Bob Uecker moments from the film. For the life of me, I could not remember the name of the guy who works the booth with him, who gives a great performance.
I cut a bunch of stuff where I was a little harsh about the romantic comedy aspect of the film. I just don’t think that stuff works well in this film. It works even worse in this podcast.
I cut a lot of the cast. This movie has a huge cast. I tried to focus on a handful that I think are worth mentioning.
I cut some stuff about the box office the week this was released and talking about how two great movies came out in 1989.
I cut some stuff from my story about the team and my playing. For those interested, I mostly played 3rd base in little league. I never played baseball beyond little league. No team I was ever on was a “winning” team, but we did win games and get free pizza.
I cut out a section where I talked about being an umpire briefly. I will probably hold onto that story for a Bad News Bears podcast.
Audio includes the Major League Amex and Mattel Electronic Baseball commercial. Removed a Big League Chew commercial since I had already used that in a past episode. Although I do love Big League Chew.
Music under my story is “Sad Toys.” Music that closes the show is “Power Closing.” Both are by Peachy

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great week.