Major League and IMDB

[BoomerSooner]

I was reading the "goofs" sections found on IMDB.com for all three of the Major League movies and found it interesting that many of the baseball myths that are discussed here and are spread by fans and coachs can be found on IMDB.com as well.

My two favorites were that Pedro Cerrano should have immediately been called out for leaving the base path when going into right field to help the bird hit by his ball. The other is that Willie would have been tagged out for turning to the left after overrunning first.

Gotta love the spreading of these myths. Its hard enough that the common fan considers them truths.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Go back there and set them straight if it's a discussion. Don't just see it and think it's all cute and everything. Do your part to educate these dumas$es and use you title of umpire to legitimize it.

[BretMan]

I'll have to give that site a look-see...something, anything to pass the time in these frigid regions that have an actual "off-season" between fall and spring.

Maybe I'll even add one to their list. When Madonna uses her cap to catch the fly ball in "A League of Their Own", that should have been a three-base award, not an out. Not only is there no crying in baseball, there ain't no legal catches with detached equipment, neither!

[briancurtin]

you can make corrections to those submissions on IMDB - it's all user submitted stuff by people that sign up. i've submitted goofs and trivia things for other movies, you just have to have an account and there is a process by which people who work for IMDB or are moderators will validate what you enter. they dont know baseball rules so thats probably how those things got in there.

[BoomerSooner]

I tried to correct it, but as you said you have to have an account to submit stuff. I didn't want to go through the hassel, but since brian has an account I'll defer to him to submit corrections. I did like the idea about Madonna catching the ball with her hat.

[bluezebra]

FIELD of DREAMS:

Shoeless Joe Jackson bats right, throws left. I have never seen a baseball movie (or TV show) without some MAJOR mistakes.

Bob

[TussAgee11]

In The Rookie the umpires are wearing black uniforms, but the movie takes place before the combo of AL and NL umpires I believe.

[greymule]

I have never seen a baseball movie (or TV show) without some MAJOR mistakes.

Ditto. In a TV movie about some ballplayer, the guy shows up for a tryout, and the manager yells to the batting practice pitcher, "Hey Lefty, throw this kid some pitches." "Lefty" was a right-hander.

In a Bugs Bunny cartoon, the batter slams a ball out of the stadium, and Bugs takes an elevator to the top of the "Umpire State Building" to make the catch. It's an out in the cartoon. I think he might have caught it in his hat, too. Two mistakes on one play.

In one of my old Superman comics, Superman hit the ball so hard that it went around the world and landed back in the stadium. I can't remember how they ruled on that, though. I think the OBR code and the Comics Code differ on this play.

There was a Twilight Zone episode in which a robot was ruled an illegal player because he didn't have a heart. I guess that was the correct ruling, should this ever come up.

Incidentally, have you ever seen an artist's rendering of a baseball scene in which home plate was drawn correctly?

[jimpiano]

Originally Posted by greymule

I have never seen a baseball movie (or TV show) without some MAJOR mistakes.


In a Bugs Bunny cartoon, the batter slams a ball out of the stadium, and Bugs takes an elevator to the top of the "Umpire State Building" to make the catch. It's an out in the cartoon. I think he might have caught it in his hat, too. Two mistakes on one play.

It is a freaking cartoon. I hope you are being facetious here because, if you are not ,you need some help.

[SanDiegoSteve]

The fat as$ed umpire in the ALCS final game in Major League was so bad that to this day I laugh my butt off when I see him. He set up in his very bad stance way too early, verbalized and sold swinging strikes, and basically hammed it up beyond belief. He reminds me of Frank Drebbin in Naked Gun.

Now, I know I'm better than that "major league" umpire!

[greymule]

I registered on the imdb site long ago and have sent in many revisions and corrections, often from my father, who was a TV and Broadway actor from 1947 to 1954.

This is from the imdb page regarding Major League:

"Factual errors: In Cerrano's last at bat in the playoff with the Yanks, when he hits the homerun, he rounds the bases with his bat. This was, and still is, illegal, and he would have been immediately ejected from the game, as he turned toward second base with the bat still in hand."

Anyone desiring to be nauseated by a Hollywood portrayal of an "umpire school" should obtain the DVD of Kill the Umpire, with William Bendix. In one scene, the umpire calls an out at 3B and the entire team comes out of the dugout and stands around the bag while the manager argues. On the positive side, the disc also contains the classic Safe at Home, with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and a few other recognizable Yankees.

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

I was reading the "goofs" sections found on IMDB.com for all three of the Major League movies and found it interesting that many of the baseball myths that are discussed here and are spread by fans and coachs can be found on IMDB.com as well.

My two favorites were that Pedro Cerrano should have immediately been called out for leaving the base path when going into right field to help the bird hit by his ball. The other is that Willie would have been tagged out for turning to the left after overrunning first.

Gotta love the spreading of these myths. Its hard enough that the common fan considers them truths.

Have any of you guys ever visited moviemistakes.com? Another interesting website that has a huge database of just about every mistake made in every movie. I have not looked over any of the baseball movies, however.

Before I watch a movie (usually on DVD) I sometimes check with moviemistakes.com to see what mistakes there will be and it's kind of fun looking for them - because they are often very hard to spot.

I particularly liked the one in the movie "Gladiator" (with Russell Crowe) where one of the stage hands can be scene in the background of the Roman army wearing a Polo shirt and jeans. Funny!

David Emerling
Memphis, TN