Million Dollar Arm Headlines 12th Annual Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival Sept. 22-24 in Cooperstown

2017-09-14

21 Films Featured in Museum’s Annual Tribute to Baseball on the Big Screen

(COOPERSTOWN, NY) – When the National Pastime and Hollywood intersect on the big screen, the results can be historic. And that history can often be found in Cooperstown.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s 12th Annual Film Festival gets under way on Friday, Sept. 22 with a screening of Million Dollar Arm. The 2014 Walt Disney Pictures release tells the story of pitchers Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, who were discovered by agent J.B. Bernstein in India.

The film, rated PG, will be screened in the Museum’s Bullpen Theater at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 to start the Film Festival, which runs through Sept. 24 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Twenty-one films, with themes ranging from Baltimore baseball in the 19th century to the career path of Dodgers’ rookie Cody Bellinger, will be screened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as filmmakers and fans celebrate the timeless connection between baseball and the big screen. All films will be shown in the Hall of Fame’s Bullpen Theater.

Tickets for all films are free but must be reserved in advance by calling 607-547-0397 weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

Films will be shown during nine blocks throughout the weekend. A complete list of the films to be screened during the weekend includes:

Special Feature Film

Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m.
Million Dollar Arm (124 min.; Rated PG)
In a last-ditch effort to save his career, sports agent J.B. Bernstein plans to find baseball's next star pitcher. He heads to India to find a cricket player whom he can nurture into a major league star. With the help of a scout, J.B. finds teens Dinesh and Rinku, who haven't a clue about baseball but throw powerful pitches. As the boys adjust to American life, J.B. learns valuable lessons about teamwork and family.

Session 1

Saturday, Sept. 23, 9:30 a.m.
Have Malleta Will Travel (15 min.)
Join filmmaker and Cuban baseball fan Phil Selig as he explores Cuba’s passion with its national game. Cuban ballplayer Alexander Malleta and his subsequent loan-out to the Canadian team, the Ottawa Champions, bookended Phil’s experiences.

A Long Way from Home (42 min.)
Years after Jackie Robinson’s courageous stand against racism, African American, Afro-Caribbean and Latino players were still taking the field as “firsts” in minor league towns like Daytona, Little Rock, Charleston, and Macon, but without fanfare, without protection, and without the promise of a chance at the major leagues. A Long Way from Home tells the story of those black and Latino players who worked to bring down the color barrier across the minor league circuits in the 1950s and well into the 1960s.

Session 2

Saturday, Sept. 23, 11 a.m.
A Lion in Winter (9 min.)
Los Angeles Times reporter Ron Rapoport conducted one of the last interviews Jackie Robinson would give before his passing in the fall of 1972. Ron shares the story behind this extraordinary interview and Jackie’s thoughts on baseball, race and his place in history.

Crime of the Big Leagues (11 min.)
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and broke the color ban in baseball. But few know that Lester Rodney – the sports editor of the Daily Worker, New York's Communist Party newspaper – helped prepare the ground, repeatedly calling the ban “un-American” and “the Crime of the Big Leagues.”

Raceball on the Inside Corner (40 min.)
Jim “Mudcat” Grant shares his journey from growing up in the Jim Crow South in the 1930s to a championship career that spanned the 1950s to the 1970s. The first African American to win 20 games in the American League, Mudcat overcame overt racism in the professional ranks to become one of the finest pitchers of his era.

Session 3

Saturday, Sept. 23, 12:30 p.m.
A Man with an Eye for Baseball (32 min.)
If you had Topps baseball cards from 1973-1994, you’ve held Doug McWilliams’ work in your hands. A master photographer and baseball historian documenting the game since the early 1950s, Doug’s work is featured in the Hall of Fame’s extensive photo archive. In this episode of The Sweet Spot: A Treasury of Baseball Stories, Doug takes us behind the scenes of the wondrous slabs of cardboard that have long served as a passport to the country of baseball.

Session 4

Saturday, Sept. 23, 2:15 p.m.
One More Game for You, Mom (10 min.)
Ryan Powell's playing career ended four years ago, but the former minor league catcher made a transition to scouting that keeps him close to the game he has loved and lost. He also wanted to give his cancer-stricken mother, Wendy, one last memory of his playing days.

E:60 The Perfect Moment (18 min.)
This E:60 feature recounts the most touching moment of the 2016 Cincinnati Reds season, when Michael Lorenzen hit his first major league home run – a three-run shot against the Los Angeles Dodgers – in his first appearance back with the team after his father's passing.

E:60 Homer at the Bat (9 min.)
Twenty-five years after its debut, ESPN’s E:60 takes an inside look at The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat”, which featured major league voiceovers from several major leaguers, including Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, Wade Boggs and Jose Canseco.

The Simpsons: Homer at the Bat (23 min.)
Mr. Burns bets $1 million that his softball team can beat a competing plant's softball team. In order to do so, he replaces the regular softball team with professional baseball players, giving them jobs at the plant. As a result, Mr. Burns receives a new security guard (Roger Clemens), a new janitor (Wade Boggs), a lunchroom cashier (Ken Griffey, Jr.) and a variety of new employees.

Session 5

Saturday, Sept. 23, 4 p.m.
Small Ball (3 min.)
A humorous essay looking back at the spectacle of Little League told from the perspective of a Little League parent. Small Ball is taken from excerpts of the book “Little League Confidential” written by humorist Bill Geist and narrated by the iconic voice of Rob Reiner.

The Ripple Effect: Mariano Rivera to Aaron Judge (4 min.)
At each year's MLB trade deadline, organizations swap players in hopes of building a championship caliber team. Some trades have an immediate impact while others take longer to bear their fruits. The Ripple Effect traces the New York Yankees’ “trade tree” spanning nearly 30 years and linking Mariano Rivera to Aaron Judge.

Rickey Goes North (4 min.)
Rickey Henderson has always had a flair for the dramatic on the field. The same can be said for his off-the-field happenings at the 1993 trade deadline. Rickey Goes North tells the unlikely story of how the “man of steal” ended up in a Blue Jays uniform and may have played a bigger part in their World Series win than anyone realized.

Cody Bellinger: Williamsport to the Bigs (5 min.)
Los Angeles Dodgers rookie first baseman Cody Bellinger has taken the major leagues by storm, putting the Dodgers into World Series contention. But this wouldn’t be Bellinger’s first World Series appearance; Cody led his 2007 Little League all-star team from Chandler, Ariz., all the way to Williamsport.

The Man in Orange (7 min.)
Laurence Leavy may be a successful lawyer by trade, but today he’s known to sports fans coast to coast by another name entirely: Marlins Man. The moniker has stuck and turned him into one of baseball’s most celebrated fans because of the iconic bright orange Miami Marlins jersey he wears to hundreds of high-profile sporting events every year.

Zack Hample vs. The World (13 min.)
Zack Hample isn’t a professional baseball player, but for over 25 years he’s been racking up stats as if he was one. The self-described “tenth fielder” has attended thousands of Major League Baseball games at every stadium in the big leagues and has caught some of the biggest home runs in recent memory.

Session 6

Saturday, Sept. 23, 5 p.m.
The Forgotten Birds Seven Straighters (40 min.)
Before the St Louis Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954, there were other teams who carried the Orioles name. The minor league Orioles played in Baltimore from 1903 through 1953 and had some of the best teams and fans; they led the International League in attendance for more than 25 years. But something special happened from 1919 through 1925. Jack Dunn put together what many historians claim was the best minor league team ever.

Session 7

Saturday, Sept. 23, 7 p.m.
Reign Men (51 min.)
This CSN Original Production chronicles and unveils new tales of the journey that was Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, the game that saw the Chicago Cubs end “the curse” and win their first title in 108 years. Through exclusive interview footage, country music star Brett Eldredge narrates what some have called the greatest Game 7 in professional sports history.

Session 8

Sunday, Sept. 24, 10 a.m.
Baltimore Baseball: Before the Birds 1958-1881 (84 min.)
This is the curious story of everything that happened before the Baltimore Orioles. In 1859, George Beam founded the Baltimore Excelsiors. A year later, they beat the Washington Nationals, spawning a lasting rivalry. The Civil War divided the city, but with peace came an explosion of new baseball clubs. Through riots, war and fire, baseball in Baltimore survived many struggles before the Orioles took flight.

Session 9

Sunday, Sept. 24, 11:45 a.m.
Town Teams: Bigger than Baseball (43 min.)
A documentary short that shines the spotlight on the game in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It examines why amateur and semi-pro baseball exploded in popularity. The film explains how baseball became the “social media” of its time, connecting people through athletic competition.

For Million Dollar Arm on Sept. 22 and movies shown during Session 6 and Session 7 on Sept. 23, visitors must use the entrance to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Library building located in Cooper Park.