Small things about this movie that bother me
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Major League
karifoster — 11 years ago(March 28, 2015 05:55 PM)
This is probably my very favorite baseball movie, and definitely in my top-10 favorite movies, but there are just a few things that as a baseball fan, really bother me. I know, "Get a life, let it go, it's just a movie."
- Position players show up at Spring Training the same time as pitchers and catchers.
- Dorn can hit the ball - just can't field it. Then why isn't he the DH? Surely there was someone else who could've played in the field and he could've been the DH.
- On the bus, before the final game against the Yankees, Lou tells Vaughn he's starting Harris tomorrow. Why would he tell the closer that he's starting a starter tomorrow? And why would the closer even think he might be starting?
- Ricky and Willie both go straight to the Major Leagues, and this is never even mentioned in the movie? Having 2 guys on your roster that jumped straight to the Majors is a pretty big deal!
- The first game is at 10:40 or 10:45am. Regular season games do not ever start that early.
anyone else bothered by any of these things or am I just a weirdo? lol
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PainlessPapyrus — 10 years ago(April 04, 2015 09:22 PM)
- This is a nitpick. A valid one, but one that can be forgiven for the sake of casual movie viewers. This movie wasn't made for just hardcore baseball fans.
- There's an entire team of players and only a small group of them are stars. Aside from Harris and Vaughn, there's Cerrano and Hayes in the outfield, Dorn on 3rd, and Taylor behind the plate. That leaves 19 players we know nothing or very little about. There could have been an even more useless player on the field with a solid bat to take the role of DH. Given the fact the team was handpicked to be a losing team, I think that's pretty likely.
- It's a misconception that Vaughn was the team's closer. He was actually a starter as seen earlier in the movie when he was gassed out on the mound and Dorn tanked that play. They also mention that he's leading the league in strike outs with over 200 at one point. No pitcher from the pen is going to be leading the league in K's or have anywhere even close to 200 strike outs. Lou likely used him in the pen for the final game where everything was on the line, as is common practice in the Major Leagues today.
- Yeah, this one just doesn't happen no drafting, no minor leagues just straight to the majors. Not going to happen.
- There's a very small handful of games that start around 11:00am every year, like the Red Sox annual Patriots' Day game. I'm not old enough to remember if this was a more common practice around the late 80's, but I doubt it it is pretty strange. Especially 10:40.
If I can add to your list, I'll add
What bother's me is that Harris looks to be about 50 years old. He's not going to be pitching and winning 9 inning games even with crisco, vagisil, bardol or snot on the ball.
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cadeduelg — 10 years ago(April 13, 2015 05:38 PM)
Even worse, the actor that played Harris is only 7 years older than Berenger. He looked about 15 years older than him in this movie.
Now, 26 years later, they look more around the same age, but in 1989, nope. -
kjones1067 — 10 years ago(May 20, 2015 09:03 AM)
Some other things to nit pick, no way major league players stay in an army barracks in spring training. Also, when Chuck Sheen gives up a game winning homer, the one that was heading toward South America, you see the runner on 2nd tag up, waiting to see if it was caught. The runner would go half way to 3rd.
But its no big deal. As far as baseball movie comedies go, its one of the best. -
DjokerFan — 10 years ago(October 04, 2015 07:32 AM)
There could have been an even more useless player on the field with a solid bat to take the role of DH.
Watching the clips of Dorn trying to field grounders IDK how he was ever a major league ballplayer, regardless of how he swung the bat. -
johndonovan-00688 — 9 years ago(August 05, 2016 09:08 PM)
What bother's me is that Harris looks to be about 50 years old. He's not going to be pitching and winning 9 inning games
In 1988 Charlie Hough was 40 years old and pitched 252 innings including 10 complete games. He also pitched over 200 innings as a 45 year old in 1993. Phil Niekro pitched 210 innings with 5 complete games in 1986 at age 47. And it wasn't just knuckleballers either. Nolan Ryan was 41 in 1988 and pitched 220 innings. Tommy John pitched 3 complete games in 1987 at age 45. Pitchers today are incredibly soft compared to the pitchers from the era this movie was released. -
bote — 9 years ago(October 27, 2016 11:51 AM)
Speaking of Charlie Hough, he started the first ever game for the 1993 Florida Marlins, who were probably pretty close to the talent level depicted as this Indians team in Major League. A collection of has-beens and never-wases.
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puddleglum5999 — 10 years ago(July 07, 2015 09:27 AM)
As far as position players showing up at the same time as pitchers and catchersI don't remember how it was in 1989, but now I think teams give their position players the option of coming at the same time as pitchers and catchers.
I know with my favorite team (Braves), it's fairly commonplace for most of the players to arrive "early." In fact, I seem to recall one year when a couple of backup players took some (minor) heat for waiting until the day position players were "supposed to" arrive, simply because the rest of the team was already there.
As for the rest of your objections, I'm right there with you, but I guess it's a sign of how the team was supposed to be set up for failure.
In fact -
NxNWRocks — 9 years ago(April 29, 2016 06:33 PM)
- Good point but as others have said, you don't know what the rest of the roster was like. These guys were bottom of the barrel, handpicked to finish last, so I doubt there was any gold glovers on the roster.
- Vaughn is not the closer. The manager tells him "even though it's your turn in the rotation." Also, Taylor expresses surprise when the manager signals for Vaughn - something he wouldn't do if Vaughn was the closer. I'm surprised you missed this since you've obviously paid attention to other aspects of the movie.
- This is valid in the movie's universe because Phelps picked what she thought was a bunch of deadbeats who would guarantee last place. She wants to move to Miami now, not in a few years.
"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!"
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Rockhound6165 — 9 years ago(May 09, 2016 08:48 PM)
- Ricky and Willie both go straight to the Major Leagues, and this is never even mentioned in the movie? Having 2 guys on your roster that jumped straight to the Majors is a pretty big deal!
- Yeah, this one just doesn't happen no drafting, no minor leagues just straight to the majors. Not going to happen.
We have to remember that this is just a movie so they took a lot of creative license here. The real question is how did an established franchise come to resemble an expansion team.
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M_Exchange — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 09:19 PM)
- Position players show up at Spring Training the same time as pitchers and catchers.
I called into a radio show once years ago and said something about Matt Kemp (outfielder at the time with the Dodgers). I said that I usually got to spring training when the pitchers and catchers reported, and I always saw him at that time and spoke with him. Neither talk host called me on it because I think that they knew that he arrived during the first day with the pitchers and catchers, but as soon as I hung up the phone I almost felt like I needed to clarify to the audience that I knew that he wasn't a pitcher or a catcher.
I know that
most
players don't arrive that early, but
- Position players show up at Spring Training the same time as pitchers and catchers.
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Rockhound6165 — 9 years ago(October 26, 2016 07:25 PM)
1: Some position players show up early. Usually it's players rehabbing injuries or who want to work on a few things. not that unusual.
2: There are players like this. In 1964, Dick Allen of the Phillies(
that
infamous Phillies team), hit .318 with 29 homers and 91 R'sBI but had 41 errors at 3rd base so it's not unprecedented.
3: As was said, Vaughn was a starter. He was put into the bullpen for the 1 game playoff. Again, this isn't unusual. If you remember in 2001, both Curt Shilling and Randy Johnson pitched game 7 of the World Series(Johnson got the win in relief) even though Johnson had just pitched in game 6.
4: Jim Abbott(a 1 handed pitcher), Bob Feller, Catfish Hunter, Harmon Killibrew, Al Kaline, Sandy Kofax, Mell Ott, George Sisler, Dave Winfield(the latter 8 are hall of famers) all went directly to the majors. There are over 100 players who went right to the majors, some from high school. True it doesn't happen often but it does happen. One you probably heard of playing recently is Xavier Nady.
5: You're right but don't say never. The Red Sox play every year at 11am on Patriots Day because of the Boston Marathon.
So, my friend, never say never.