05-09-2019, 05:25 PM
THE BATTERED BASTARDS OF BASEBALL (2014 Netflix)
A sports documentary that transcends whether you know anything about baseball or not, and tells a so story so compelling, that if you did not know it was true you would call bullsh@t. For a brief moment in baseball history, 1973-77, the Portland Mavericks, the ONLY INDEPENDENT Minor League baseball team in the U.S., was the shining example of the phrase, "For the Love of the Game".
Founded by Bing Russell, a former protege of the New York Yankees and Hollywood actor,(and father of actor Kurt Russell) he openly recruited anyone who wanted to play, giving second chances to misfits, losers, castaways and dreamers. And together, this rag tag team of rascals would set attendance records, defeat "superior" League managed teams and make the Establishment very uncomfortable.
This stranger than fiction story has the hallmarks of almost every Hollywood sports underdog story ever made, except is it all delightfully true!
This documentary was made by the Russell family and is clearly a labour of love for them. Listening to Kurt Russell proudly share outrageous stories about his father and his accomplishments is wonderful. This is a classic feel good, the little guy wins, kind of story. I do not know much about real world baseball, my baseball is the mythology of the silver screen, but I do know this documentary made me smile, laugh and cheer.
Thumbs UP!!!
Now where is the movie adaptation!!!
A sports documentary that transcends whether you know anything about baseball or not, and tells a so story so compelling, that if you did not know it was true you would call bullsh@t. For a brief moment in baseball history, 1973-77, the Portland Mavericks, the ONLY INDEPENDENT Minor League baseball team in the U.S., was the shining example of the phrase, "For the Love of the Game".
Founded by Bing Russell, a former protege of the New York Yankees and Hollywood actor,(and father of actor Kurt Russell) he openly recruited anyone who wanted to play, giving second chances to misfits, losers, castaways and dreamers. And together, this rag tag team of rascals would set attendance records, defeat "superior" League managed teams and make the Establishment very uncomfortable.
This stranger than fiction story has the hallmarks of almost every Hollywood sports underdog story ever made, except is it all delightfully true!
This documentary was made by the Russell family and is clearly a labour of love for them. Listening to Kurt Russell proudly share outrageous stories about his father and his accomplishments is wonderful. This is a classic feel good, the little guy wins, kind of story. I do not know much about real world baseball, my baseball is the mythology of the silver screen, but I do know this documentary made me smile, laugh and cheer.
Thumbs UP!!!
Now where is the movie adaptation!!!
"... let's go exploring!" -- CALVIN.
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