Judas Priest, I liked the movie! It was emotionally pleasing. Maybe the reason the movie got all these things wrong is that it didn't set up to be the anti-Moneyball. No one obviously was very smart about baseball; there are too many idiotic nuances you've pointed out to suggest anyone really understood actual baseball here. They were making a romantic movie with baseball in it and wanted Clint as the lead. Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake were the eye candy! There are so many mistakes; perhaps it shouldn't even be considered a baseball movie?
And quite apart from all these valid complaints about the movie's logic and presentation is the fact that its plot had the Rex Sox and Braves as the holders of the top two picks in an MLB Draft! Which means in this movie's universe those teams were very bad in the previous season and those annoying front office guys really should have been feeling like they were on the hot seat.
The movie was probably filmed in 2011 or very early 2012, and at the time Boston was 14 years removed from its last losing season. Then in 2012 (the year TWTC was released) the Red Sox finished 69-93, their worst record in a 162-game season since 1965. Atlanta having a top-2 pick was equally implausible at the time. The Braves had been bad in the late 1980s and the beginning of the 90s, but from the MLB Drafts of 1992 to 2011 their first pick was in the top 20 only twice, and never higher than #7 overall (Mike Minor in 2009). Realistically, in a 2012 movie whose plot involves a top prospect being scouted by the teams holding the top two picks in the draft, those scouts should have been working for the Pirates and Mariners, not the Braves and Red Sox. But it's not as if they were going for realism in any other part of the story.
I always thought that “Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys with a Major League Scout” by Mark Winegardner was a very good book and would make a good movie about a scouts life.
That’s a lot of words to say, “ I didn’t like the movie.”
I like baseball movies, but I just think TWTC was a romantic movie, so I’ll give it a thumbs up.
Now I really want to hear the discussion between Joe and the screenwriter! I want the answers to all these questions!!!
Other than that, it was good
Judas Priest, I liked the movie! It was emotionally pleasing. Maybe the reason the movie got all these things wrong is that it didn't set up to be the anti-Moneyball. No one obviously was very smart about baseball; there are too many idiotic nuances you've pointed out to suggest anyone really understood actual baseball here. They were making a romantic movie with baseball in it and wanted Clint as the lead. Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake were the eye candy! There are so many mistakes; perhaps it shouldn't even be considered a baseball movie?
And quite apart from all these valid complaints about the movie's logic and presentation is the fact that its plot had the Rex Sox and Braves as the holders of the top two picks in an MLB Draft! Which means in this movie's universe those teams were very bad in the previous season and those annoying front office guys really should have been feeling like they were on the hot seat.
The movie was probably filmed in 2011 or very early 2012, and at the time Boston was 14 years removed from its last losing season. Then in 2012 (the year TWTC was released) the Red Sox finished 69-93, their worst record in a 162-game season since 1965. Atlanta having a top-2 pick was equally implausible at the time. The Braves had been bad in the late 1980s and the beginning of the 90s, but from the MLB Drafts of 1992 to 2011 their first pick was in the top 20 only twice, and never higher than #7 overall (Mike Minor in 2009). Realistically, in a 2012 movie whose plot involves a top prospect being scouted by the teams holding the top two picks in the draft, those scouts should have been working for the Pirates and Mariners, not the Braves and Red Sox. But it's not as if they were going for realism in any other part of the story.
I guess I’ve never been more wrong about a movie. Why did I find it so interesting? lol.
I always thought that “Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys with a Major League Scout” by Mark Winegardner was a very good book and would make a good movie about a scouts life.
Excellent column. This was Pos at his absolute peak.
Yes. It was a big disappointment.
Most baseball related movies are flawed but at least they have some good dialogue or endearing characters.
This one was really bad.