Professor Rick Duncan recently listed a few of his favorite baseball movies. However, he's omitted (I'm sure, unintentionally) a few of my favorites: Sandlot; The Stratton Story (starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson); Take Me Out to the Ball Game (which, admittedly, is less a baseball movie than it is a musical which lets Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly shine); and, of course, the prize-winning documentary from Ken Burns, Baseball.
And, if that's not enough for you, you can always check out: Damn Yankees; The Babe Ruth Story; The Jackie Robinson Story (starring Jackie himself); The Scout; The Pride of St. Louis (a movie about Dizzy Dean starring Dan Dailey and Joanne Dru); and Pride of the Yankess (with Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig).
But films are not really the best art form for baseball fans. Books are. And the field of non-fiction baseball books is wide and beautiful. Unfortunately, that is not the case with fiction. The most notable exception? The heartwarming, comic gem from the legendary Ring Lardner entitled, You Know Me, Al. So, for that first rainy day when your favorite team's game is called off, make sure you have a copy of You Know Me, Al to while away the hours. You'll love it.
