10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time

No sport in the world has supplied as much to cinema as baseball. America’s fascination with the sport in the 20th century gave us not only some excellent baseball movies but some of the best sports movies of all time.

And while baseball doesn’t hold its place in the American canon the same way it used to, that’s part of the sport’s appeal. It’s a sentimental game where the off-field pageantry - the sights, sounds and smells - is just as much a part of the game’s appeal as the on-field action.

That’s true in this list, too. The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All-Time is hardly an objective list. There’s no such thing. A few items left off below are sure to rile some feathers and if you asked on a different day, some of these might even fall out of the 10, replaced by others. The history of baseball movies is that deep.

We tried, anyway.

Honorable Mentions

• The Natural (1984)
• Eight Men Out (1988)
• The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
• 61* (2001)
• 42 (2013)

10. Little Big League (1994)

It’s silly. It’s childish. The story is typical of 1990s kids baseball movies, so much so that you might be wondering where “Rookie of the Year” and “The Sandlot” are. Those two have a greater place in most Gen X and Millennial memories. But what they don’t have is legitimate baseball.

Several of the Minnesota Twins players and dozens of their opponents in the movie have legitimate baseball backgrounds, a good chunk professionally. It makes the montage of on-field footage sing in much the same way the on-court action does in “Blue Chips” on our 10 best basketball movies list.

9. The Bad News Bears (1976)

Look, another kids movie. Sort of. Personal anecdote: this movie played cable a lot in the 1980s and early 90s and as something of a latchkey kid, I watched it probably 10 or 15 times before I was even 10 years old.

I showed it to my son when he was eight and my wife came in from the other room, wondering what I was doing. The language isn’t for most kids. The movie isn’t even, really, about the kids. Walter Matthau carries “The Bad News Bears” in maybe the funniest movie on this list filled with several hilarious pictures.

8. A League of Their Own (1992)

You could argue that “A League of Their Own” is the most iconic of the 10 movies here. Maybe eclipsed by one or two later on the list, but it could be argued. It’s simultaneously funny and touching in ways that never feel contrived or forced. Tom Hanks and Geena Davis have legitimate chemistry and the various plot threads, while maybe too many in number, don’t feel like throwaways, either. 

7. Moneyball (2011)

In some ways, you should just ignore how meme-able “Moneyball” has become. If you’ve spent any time on social media in the last few years as a sports fan, you’ve seen them. But, on the other hand, it’s nice they exist because this ultra-talkative movie that features very little baseball action otherwise would have been forgotten by non-cinephiles or hardcore baseball numbers nerds.

6. Bull Durham (1988)

“Too low,” some will say. It might be. Director Ron Shelton wrote six movies that came out in the 1990s and all six were sports-related. “Bull Durham” was his first baseball movie and his directorial debut.

It’s a blend of comedy, drama and romance that looks like it would appeal to most adults. But it’s also very much inside baseball, telling the story of a career minor-leaguer who has comes to realizations about his future while antagonizing/mentoring the next generation. If it sounds cheesy, it’s not. Shelton knows what he’s doing.

5. Eephus (2024)

The newest picture on this list is also probably the least seen and not just because it’s a 2024 release. “Eephus” is very much a non-sports sports movie. Two men’s recreational league teams in Massachusetts in the 90s are playing the final game on a local baseball diamond. These aren’t baseball stars. They’re just guys, guys hanging out, playing baseball and reminiscing.

But “Eephus” also isn’t a hang-out movie, a baseball movie or treacly. It’s a unique watch for most sports fans who may be far more used to the “Bull Durhams” of the world. Give it a shot.

4. Sugar (2008)

If “Eephus” isn’t the least seen, then “Sugar” certainly is. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s 2008 second feature together goes in a different genre direction than their debut “Half-Nelson” and much different than their recent output of “Captain Marvel” and “Freaky Tales.” On a basic level, “Sugar” is about a Dominican pitcher trying to make it to The Show to save his poverty-stricken family.

If you know minor league baseball, especially minor league baseball from 15 to 20 years ago and before, you know how much the road itself is a struggle for even those who come from well-off families. And getting there is a nearly impossible task where the good guys don’t necessarily win.

3. Major League (1989)

If you’re of a certain age and a sports fan, there’s that one movie with lines that stick in your head forever. Personally, I’ll be on my deathbed asking my visitors “How’s your wife and my kid?” because “Major League” left that sort of mark on me. It’s far from a perfect movie and it’s very much of its time. But, man, it just works and it was a necessary pre-cursor what will come in at No. 1 on this list.

2. Field of Dreams (1989)

Nothing can be written about “Field of Dreams” that someone hasn’t already written. If somehow you’re reading this list and haven’t seen it, stop reading and go watch it, instead. It is the quintessential movie for baseball fans who ever had a catch with their father.

1. Everybody Wants Some!!! (2016)

A baseball movie almost exclusively made for baseball players. Richard Linklater’s 2017 flick doesn’t have a ton of mass appeal. It takes place at a Texas college in 1980 just ahead of the start of classes in the fall and follows the members of the school’s baseball team.

Calling it the baseball version of “Dazed and Confused” is reductive, but it’s also an appeal to those of you who have seen and enjoyed that movie but haven’t bothered with this one. It’s especially important if you played any baseball beyond the high-school level. It might have been 1980, but you are going to know these characters.