The 15 Best Baseball Movies of All Time

Batter up! As you wait for the first pitch of the new season to be thrown, check out this list of hit films you can watch right now that are home runs with moviegoers and baseball fan alike. So get ready to play ball with some of the most popular baseball movies ever, ranked by audience score at Rotten Tomatoes. What is your all-time favorite?​

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1. The Sandlot (1993)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 89%

Hold on to your PF Flyers—this coming-of-age story set in the 1960s about a group of boys who play ball in a local sandlot tops the list of fan-favorite baseball movies. (Rated PG)

 

2. The Natural (1984)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 88%

A classic for a reason, Robert Redford stars as Roy Hobbs, an unknown who comes seemingly out of nowhere to become a legendary baseball player with almost divine talent. (Rated PG)

 

3. Field of Dreams (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 86%

Have a catch with dad, then watch this movie about Iowa corn farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), who builds a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the 1919 Chicago White Sox come. (Rated PG)

 

4. Moneyball (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 86%

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) successfully attempts to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players. (Rated PG-13)

 

5. 42 (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 85%

Hero is a word we hear often in sports, but heroism is not always about achievements on the field of play. 42 tells the story of two men—the great Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) and legendary Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford)—whose brave stand against prejudice forever changed the world by changing the game of baseball. (Rated PG-13)

 

6. A League of Their Own (1992)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 84%

There's no crying in baseball! But there just might be in director Penny Marshall's wartime-era film inspired by the true story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: two sisters (Geena Davis, Lori Petty) join the new AAGPBL and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. (Rated PG)

 

7. Major League (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 84%

In this classic '80s comedy, the new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. But when the plot is uncovered, they start winning just to spite her. (Rated R)

 

8. Bull Durham (1988)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 82%

A blend of comedy, drama and romance, Bull Durham follows the intertwining of three lives brought together by the great American pastime. (Rated R)

 

9. The Bad News Bears (1976)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 80%

The success of this underdog comedy from director Michael Ritchie helped spawn the kids' sports film boom of the 1980s and '90s. When beer-breathed ex-minor-league ball player and professional pool cleaner Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) agrees to coach a little league team in the San Fernando Valley, he soon finds he's in over his head, having inherited an assortment of pint-sized peons and talentless losers. (Rated PG)

 

10. For Love of the Game (1999)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 75%

This film takes a provocative look into the professional and personal passions of Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner), a legendary baseball pitcher nearing the end of his career who is forced to re-examine his priorities when confronted with unexpected circumstances. (Rated PG-13)

 

11. Hardball (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 70%

Keanu Reeves stars as sports gambler Conor O'Neill, who agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend. (Rated PG-13)

 

12. The Rookie (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 70%

Based on an inspirational true story, this family film follows a Texas baseball coach (Dennis Quaid) who makes the major league after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs. (Rated G)

 

13. Million Dollar Arm (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 68%

A sports agent (Jon Hamm) stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Indian cricket players to play Major League Baseball in this Disney movie based on true events. (Rated PG)

 

14. Trouble With the Curve (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 66%

A daughter (Amy Adams) tries to remedy her dysfunctional relationship with her ailing father (Clint Eastwood), a decorated baseball scout, by helping him in a recruiting trip which could be his last. (Rated PG-13)

 

15. Fever Pitch (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 60%

Nick Hornby's acclaimed memoir got an Americanized rewrite for this film, which stars Jimmy Fallon as a man trying to balance his love of a woman (Drew Barrymore) with his love for the Red Sox. Fun fact: Fever Pitch was filmed during Boston's historic 2004 post-season run, and prompted directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly to change the ending of the film to include the team winning the World Series for the first time since 1918. (Rated PG-13)

 

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