A few weeks ago, The Action Network posted a great image showing the ten highest-grossing baseball moves of all time.
I thought it would be fun to show sports cards that came from, represent the inspiration for, or are related to those movies.
A League of Their Own
While Larry Fritsch Cards printed a 3-series + Update set commemorating the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which inspired the movie, I thought it would be interesting to share a collectible a bit more closely related to the 1943-1954 league.
Here is a 1949 AAGPBL Grand Rapids Chicks .74-cent admission ticket.
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams was adapted from a novel called Shoeless Joe. Kevin Costner’s character heard a voice whispering, “if you build it, he will come” in the movie, envisioning a baseball field in his corn crop. He plows under part of the cornfield, and eventually, Shoeless Joe Jackson appears. There’s a lot more to the story than that, but just as the movie is a cinematic baseball classic, the 1915 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson card is a hobby classic.
Bad News Bears
A couple of cast members from the 1976 classic movie found their way into Paninis 2013 Golden Age packs, including an autograph from Tatum O’Neal, who played Amanda Wurlitzer in the film.
Moneyball
Moneyball is about the 2002 Athletics who, with a $44M payroll, re-evaluated their strategy of putting a team together with an analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric approach to be competitive. Billy Beane was the team’s general manager and the first overall selection in the 1980 MLB Draft.
The Natural
The Natural follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career was sidetracked after being shot. The story is loosely based upon a similar story involving Eddie Waitkus. A stalker shot Waitkus in June 1949; he returned to play in the 1950 season and was named the Comeback Player of the Year.
The Rookie
The 2002 film, The Rookie, is based on the true story of Jim Morris (who made his MLB debut at 35).
Major League
Major League featured a few former MLB players:
- Pete Vuckovich played Yankee’s first baseman, Clu Haywood.
- Willie Mueller played Yankees pitcher Duke Simpson.
- Steve Yeager was the third-base coach Duke Temple.
Bull Durham
The Durham Bulls are currently the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. And the movie’s main character, “Crash” Davis, was named after Lawrence “Crash” Davis, who played a few years for the Philadelphia Athletics.
You also can’t go wrong with a Kevin Costner card since he’s starred in so many of these great baseball movies.
42
The movie 42 is the film biopic about Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black athlete.
Rookie of the Year
Rookie of the Year follows the story of 12-year old Henry Rowengartner, a kid whose tendon healed too tight from a broken arm allowing him to throw the ball >100mph. The movie is based on fantasy, but the Chicago Cubs have had six Rookie of the Year Award winners in their history: Billy Williams, Ken Hubbs, Jerome Walton, Kerry Wood, Geovany Soto, and Kris Bryant.
So there you have it, a few collectibles related to the highest-grossing baseball movies of all time. If you have any other suggestions, let me know about them in the comments, and be sure to follow @PostWarCards on Twitter.