Take me out to...the movies!

With the Hot Stove burning, the winter meetings over, and Scott Boras alienating every team in baseball, the game of inches is inching closer by the day. In a month's time, pitchers and catchers will report to their teams for some long-toss and bullpen sessions. Soon after, spring training games will attract the speculation of experts, as Peter Gammons and Co. return to prominence. That's right! Baseball will be back before you know it, and what better way is there to whet the past-time appetite than enjoying a funny, compelling or enticing baseball flick?

Among my favorite movie genres, the baseball movie is second only to the western. There are no baseball-westens, as far as I know, but there are many great baseball movies. Here are ten that are sure to entertain.

The Sandlot (1993). Where it all begins. Who can forget the countless hours, as a kid among your friends, striking-out one another, Big League Chew, calling your shots, planting the seeds of a wilderness of smack-talk—usually sunflower seeds. Sandlot baseball is one of many rites of passage, and this movie is about all of them. Scotty Smalls is the new kid in the neighborhood who makes friends and learns to play baseball. After defeating the bullies, kissing the girl, and throwing up the real tobacco, the gang lands itself in the biggest game of pickle they've ever faced. It's the peachy PG baseball movie. A good time for everyone. Special appearances by James Earl Jones and Dennis Leary. "FOR-EV-ER."

Field of Dreams (1989). For a while, if you needed an actor fit to play baseball on screen, Kevin Costner was your leading man. He made two important baseball movies in the 1980s, Bull Durham (the player to be named later) and Field of Dreams. Ray Kinsella (Costner) is the farmer who reads the signs of a cosmic coach to embark on a mystical mission of discovery to bring back the ghosts of baseball's past and learns something about his own in the process. If Henry David Thoreau had a favorite baseball movie, this would be the one. It's about baseball, yes. But it's about much more than that. "The one constant is baseball," James Earl Jones' character summarizes in the end, as he notes how the great game has "marked the time" in the lives of us all. This the most "movie" of baseball movies.

Eight Men Out (1988). Shoeless Joe Jackson is definitely the most famous of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, known as the "Black Sox" for allegedly taking gamblers' money to lose the World Series. This movie is a dramatization of those eight players accused. It is a great baseball movie. The plot twists and turns and involves a wealth of recognizable acting names. This is the "Outsiders" of baseball films, whose cast includes: John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Charlie Sheen, David Straitharn, John Mahoney (the dad from Frasier), D. B. Sweeney and many other familiar faces. See also 61* (directed by Billy Crystal, HBO Films 2001), and Pride of the Yankees, (staring Gary Cooper, 1942) for historically-based dramas.

Ken Burns' Baseball (1994). If hardcore baseball history is in your wheelhouse, then this boxed set featuring the 1140-minute PBS documentary series is for you. It's the 7-game series of baseball films. It's long, detailed, and full of amazing baseball footage and interviews of the most famous players and prominent historians. It fetches a Mark Texiera price tag, but unlike a certain free-agent, this set is definitely worth it.

Rookie of the Year (1993). "Gardenhoser!" the Chicago Cubs' manager yells as he calls into the game his new 12-year old phenom, Henry Rowengartner, who after a freak arm injury, has become the hardest throwing pitcher in the game. This seventh-inning stretch of a film is a great middle school comedy. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the movie is that it marks one of the last pre-total-insanity appearances of Gary Busey in a major role. The voice of The Wonder Years' Kevin Arnold and supreme Cubs' enthusiast Daniel Stern also gives a convincing performance.

Bang the Drum Slowly (1983). In a battery of buddy film and tear jerker, Robert De Niro plays Bruce Pearson, the average Joe catcher to his team's ace pitcher. The two of them are great friends, and in the off-season, Pearson learns he is terminally ill. They do their best to make the most of Bruce's last season.

A League of Their Own (1992). Another all-star roster of cast members embodies one of the most oft-quoted of baseball films of all time. "There's no crying in baseball!" reprimands manager Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) to one of his women players, a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, put in place to retain revenues during the years of the U.S.'s involvement in World War II. This dramatization of true events is definitely one of the most entertaining of these selections.

Major League (1989). Ah, Charlie Sheen. He's only made a few movies that warrant recommendation, and this is one. Cheesy soundtrack aside, this is a essential on the baseball movie must-see list. If one thing is true about the 1980s, it's that teams with Native-American mascots were terrible. The Cleveland Indians was by far the worst (I'm biased), warranting the production of this comedy of errors.

The Natural (1984). If Robert Redford is in a movie, it's usually very good. This one is no exception. Roy Hobbs is that iconic mythical figure, who's legend is only superseded by his actions. A rookie past the prime of his youth, he returns to dominate the game and battle the shadowy figures of the front office. I like to think "Wonderboy" by Tenacious D is a direct derivative of this modern fable.

Bull Durham (1988). While this is not a traditional "top ten" list, I've chosen to save for last what I submit as the best baseball movie of all time. Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is the all-knowing seasoned veteran catcher, bounced around the minor leagues until he's hired to corral and tutor his foil, the young, reckless and undeniably talented pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins). Torn between the two of them is the local slump-buster Annie Savoy (Susan Surrandon). The great thing about this movie is the chronicled life of the minor league player, far from the spotlight and fame. The other great thing is, it's the date-movie of baseball movies, one you can convince your lady to watch. She'll enjoy it and thank you for it—hopefully in an appropriate fashion. There's baseball, and there's sex. Then there's Bull Durham, which finds the balance between both. Bull Durham also contains one of the best monologues in movie history.

So...what have we learned? Probably less than expected, which was little. You've probably seen most of these movies before, but have you seen them lately? Have you forgotten the majesty of The Beast? Do you remember how to use your "Hat-to?" (What the heck was he taking about?) Have you gone home lately and given your wife a pickle tickle? Maybe you need a reminder, or maybe you just need something to tide you over between bowl games, both super and otherwise, and spring training. Along with the Swatch, Eurythmics, greed and The Noid, these ten baseball movies are among the best things to come out of the 1980's and 1990's. They're worth extra innings.