Major League (film)

Major League
The official movie poster for Major League.
Directed by	David S. Ward
Written by	David S. Ward
Produced by	Mark Rosenberg Chris Chesser Irby Smith
Starring	Tom Berenger Charlie Sheen Corbin Bernsen Rene Russo Wesley Snipes Chelcie Ross Dennis Haysbert Bob Uecker
Music by	James Newton Howard
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 7, 1989
Running time	107 min.
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000

Major League is a 1989 American comedy film written and directed by David S. Ward starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for US$11 million, Major League grossed nearly US$50 million in domestic release. The film deals with the exploits of a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and spawned two sequels (Major League II and Major League: Back to the Minors), neither of which could replicate the success of the original film. A fourth movie has been discussed and pre-production is to start soon.

Plot

The film opens by showing the history of misfortune for the Cleveland Indians, beginning with the last World Series victory in 1948, followed by their stunning Series sweep at the hands of the New York Giants in 1954, and then the futility that followed for 40 years. When Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), a former Las Vegas showgirl, inherits the team from her late husband, it doesn't look like their fortunes will change any time soon. The greedy Phelps hates Municipal Stadium and the city, and sees an opportunity to get out of Cleveland: if the team's attendance falls below 800,000 paid customers, she can legally void the Indians' lease with the city and move the team to Miami, Florida.

To that end, she attempts to field the worst team possible. Some players she hires includes aging catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger); incarcerated pitcher Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen); Willie "Mays" Hayes, a brash, speedy center fielder who was not originally invited but was signed after demonstrating spectacular running skills (Wesley Snipes); Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), a surly Cuban defector who possesses incredible power, but can't hit a curveball and believes in voodoo; and Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross), a veteran finesse pitcher who, without a powerful arm like Vaughn's, resorts to doctoring the ball. Already under contract is third baseman Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a high-priced prima donna who refuses to field the ball properly for fear of debilitating injury. Hired to manage the team is Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman who's managed in the minor leagues for years, but had never reached the majors. The only person privy to Rachel Phelps' plan is newly promoted General Manager Charlie Donovan (Charles Cyphers), the team's former field manager.

Spring training in Tucson does not go well. Vaughn's fastball is clocked at 96 miles per hour, but he has problems throwing it in the strike zone. Hayes, who thinks he has home-run power but hits pop flies instead, is told by Brown that he should hit the ball on the ground and "leg out" base hits. On the final cut-down day (teams can keep 25 players active through most of the season; those who don't make the team are sent to the minor leagues or released outright), a tag in his locker tells Vaughn that he's been demoted; it turns out to be a prank played by Dorn, who thinks Vaughn is a show-off due to his flashy appearance.

Taylor takes Vaughn and Hayes out to dinner, where he sees his ex-girlfriend, Lynn (Rene Russo), dining with her current beau. Noting that she "would have been (my wife) if I hadn't messed things up," Jake decides to try to win her back. Lynn brushes off his advances, announcing instead that she and her fiance are getting married.

Vaughn, meantime, is struggling. In his season debut on opening day, against the New York Yankees, he walks the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches, causing fans to quickly dub him "Wild Thing". His next pitch is a grand slam to the team's slugger Clue Haywood (Pete Vukovich) (though Brown looks at the bright side: Vaughn finally threw a strike). This is followed by hitting the next batter, prompting the umpire to eject Vaughn from the game. Vaughn's subsequent appearances have similar results, and it is discovered that Vaughn's vision is the root of his problems. Brown gives him a pair of glasses, and his next appearance is a complete-game victory.

After a sluggish start, the Indians show signs of being competitive, compiling a won-loss record of about .400 -- far better than Phelps, or any analysts, expected. Deciding that the players are being "coddled", Phelps guts the medical staff and equipment, turns off the hot water in the locker room, trades in the team airplane for a propeller-driven Douglas DC-3 barely big enough to hold the team, and later dumps the plane in favor of a bus similar to those used by minor-league teams. Still, the Indians keep winning, and a confident Brown tells his general manager, "all we need is something to bring it all together." Donovan ruefully confesses Phelps' plans, and when Brown tells his team, Taylor says the only thing left to do is win it all. As added incentive for each victory, Brown peels a section of clothing from a life-size cutout of Phelps from her days as a showgirl.

As the regular season ends, the Indians and the Yankees are tied for first place in the division, leading to a one-game playoff. During a news broadcast from the team's hotel, Dorn's wife, Suzanne (Stacy Carroll), sees him leave with another woman. Mrs. Dorn meets up with Vaughn—sitting in a bar, distraught after learning that he would be passed over in the pitching rotation in favor of the veteran Harris—sleeps with him, and tells her husband just before game time. Vaughn doesn't know who she is until she gets up to leave.

Harris gives up two runs in the top of the 7th inning, but Pedro Cerrano hits a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, immediately after rejecting the help of his voodoo idol Jobu, to tie the game up. When Vaughn is called in to relieve Harris with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Dorn runs to the pitchers' mound, but, instead of fighting with Vaughn, implores him to strike out Haywood, which he does on three pitches.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Hayes legs out a hit and steals second base. At the plate, Taylor signals a suggestion to Brown, then points to the bleachers and calls his shot. After a brushback pitch, Taylor points again, then bunts instead, barely beating the throw to first by the surprised third baseman, who had been duped into playing deep. Hayes is waved home by the third-base coach and slides in ahead of the tag, safe, sending the Indians into the playoffs with a 3-2 win. As they celebrate, Dorn finally punches Vaughn for sleeping with his wife, though they celebrate after. Harris and Cerrano celebrate together as well. In the end, Taylor looks up in the stands and sees Lynn there. She shows that she has shed her engagement ring, a signal that she is ready to reunite with him.

Despite making it to the playoffs, it would be revealed in Major League II that they were swept in the American League Championship Series by the Chicago White Sox, who went on to win the World Series.

Alternate ending

In the theatrical release, the Indians are shown winning to a stunned Rachel Phelps, who now is presumed to not move the team to Florida due to increased attendance fueled by the team's success. In the alternate ending, a scene is added after the celebration...Lou is seen handing in his resignation, telling Phelps that he knows of her intentions and no longer wants to be a part of it.

Phelps tells Lou that she never intended to move the team. When she inherited the team from her husband, the Indians were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, with no money for quality players or even creature comforts which mandated the switch from commercial jet flights to chartered turbo-prop planes. She continues by telling Lou that if she felt there was a manager who could motivate a team to succeed under such conditions, it was him.

Phelps however, re-exerts her authority by telling Lou that if he shares any bit of their conversation with anyone, she will fire him. She does succeed in getting Lou to take back his letter of resignation as he leaves her office.

Casting

Major League was notable for featuring several actors who would go on to stardom: Wesley Snipes and Rene Russo were relative unknowns before the movie was released, while Dennis Haysbert remained best known as Pedro Cerrano until he portrayed US President David Palmer on the television series 24, and now as Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the television series The Unit.

The film also featured former Major League players, including 1982 American League Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich as Yankees first baseman Clu Haywood, former Oakland A's and Atlanta Braves shortstop Walt Weiss as A's player Mike Rexler (whom Taylor distracts into popping up for the last out of Vaughn's first career complete game), and onetime catcher Steve Yeager as reliever/third-base coach Duke Temple. The names of several crewmembers were also used for peripheral players. Former catcher Bob Uecker played the Indians broadcaster Harry Doyle.

Charlie Sheen himself was a pitcher on his high school's baseball team. At the time of filming Major League, his own fastball topped out at 85 miles per hour. His delivery in Major League is frequently noted as far more realistic than others depicted in films.

Facts

The film's opening montage is a series of somber blue-collar images of the Cleveland landscape synchronized to the score of Randy Newman's melancholy "Burn On": an ode to the infamous night in Cleveland when the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River literally caught fire. The filmmakers chose the Cleveland Indians as their example of a notorious losing franchise because the actual Indians had a very similar history of futility— the franchise was the butt of many jokes and fit in perfectly with the premise of the film. Within five years of the film's release, however, the team had a new stadium (Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field) and had entered into a period of success: from 1995 to 1999, they won five division titles (with two more in 2001 and 2007) and two American League pennants. They came within two outs of winning the 1997 World Series against the Florida Marlins, but ultimately fell in extra innings in game seven.

Despite being set in Cleveland, the film was principally shot in Milwaukee because it was cheaper and the producers were unable to work around the schedules of the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns. County Stadium, then the home of the Milwaukee Brewers, doubles as Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the film, although several exterior shots of Municipal Stadium were used, including some aerial shots taken during a rare sellout game. Both facilities have since been demolished: the playing field of County Stadium is now a Little League baseball field known as Helfaer Field, while the rest of the former site is now a parking lot for the Brewers' new home, Miller Park; the new Cleveland Browns Stadium—a football-only facility owned by the City of Cleveland and used by the Cleveland Browns—sits on the site of its predecessor.

Life imitated art in the 2007 season, when continuous snowfall and cold led Major League Baseball to transfer an entire three-game series between the Indians and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, including the Indians' home opener, to Miller Park, forcing the real-life Indians to play three "home games" in Milwaukee. When Cleveland closing pitcher Joe Borowski entered in the ninth inning of the first game of the series, "Wild Thing" was played in the stadium, much to the delight of the 19,031 fans in attendance, as a tribute to the situation.[1] In a bizarre coincidence, this game was originally scheduled to be Rick Vaughn Glasses Night in Cleveland.[2]

Influence

In the film's climactic one-game playoff with the Yankees, Indians pitcher Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, relegated to a relief role, dramatically enters the game to an X cover of the The Troggs' hit song "Wild Thing" as the crowd cheers wildly and sings along. Today many real-life closers walk or run in from the bullpen accompanied by loud and imposing hard rock or heavy metal. [3]

Relief pitcher Mitch Williams, whose speed and control problems were similar to Vaughn's, was nicknamed "Wild Thing" after the film came out. Instead of fighting the image, he switched his uniform number from 28 to Vaughn's 99, and wore it for the rest of his career.

Actor Corbin Bernsen, who played Indians third baseman Roger Dorn, stated in interviews relating to the film (including those for ESPN Classic's Reel Classics series) that Major League had an indirect effect on the real-life Indians, as the Tribe became perennial playoff contenders within five years of the film's release. Since 1994, Cleveland won seven American League Central division titles (1995-1999, 2001, and 2007), two American League championships (1995 and 1997), and made two World Series appearances (the 1995 loss to the Atlanta Braves, and the 1997 loss to the Florida Marlins).

During the beginning of the 2006 season, Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Jonathan Papelbon donned a haircut similar to that of Rick Vaughn's from the movie. Although Papelbon sported a mostly shaved head with a mohawk, he had a "zig zag" pattern in the back, beginning behind the ears and leading down to this neck. He reportedly won a friendly bet with teammate Kevin Youkilis, and in doing so, was forced to cut his hair.[4] Even though he no longer resembled Rick Vaughn, Papelbon continued to enter home games from the bullpen to "Wild Thing" blaring from the Fenway Park sound system

Production notes

• Charlie Sheen has been credited by some Major League Baseball players as having one of the most realistic pitching deliveries of any actor. This is largely due to the fact that Sheen was a pitcher in high school, and was still throwing the ball in the high 80 mph range during filming.
• In the climatic final game Jake Taylor calls his shot just like Babe Ruth did in 1932. There is some speculation on if Ruth was actually calling his shot. Charlie Root, who gave up the famous homer to the Babe, claimed that if Ruth had in fact called his shot, he would have thrown the next pitch at Babe's head. In the movie that is exactly what the Duke does to Taylor.

Main article: Babe Ruth's Called Shot

• In the DVD commentary, Dennis Haysbert says that he actually hit the ball over the left-field fence while filming Pedro Cerrano's game-tying home run against the Yankees in the playoff game. The ball didn't go as far as it does on film, but it did clear the fence.
• After hitting the game-tying home run against the Yankees, Cerrano carries his beloved bat around the bases. There are no MLB rules which prohibit a baserunner from carrying a bat while running the bases, so long as it does not hinder, confuse, or impede the defense. (Rule 9.01 c, [5]
• There are several connections to the city of Milwaukee in this film in addition to County Stadium. The appearance of the scoreboard (located in right field) was not changed during filming of the movie. It contains the logo of local television station WTMJ. WTMJ-TV, locally Channel 4, is used as a "local" Cleveland station using the same call letters and word/logo style for interviews and other press appearances. Longtime Brewers broadcaster and Milwaukee native Bob Uecker played Indians broadcaster Harry Doyle. As noted previously, 1982 Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers when he won the award. In the stands of County Stadium during Ricky Vaughn's Wild Thing entrance in the final game, there is a female fan dancing; she is wearing a Quad/Graphics shirt, which is a major printer for national magazines based in the Milwaukee area. Several local Milwaukee businesses are also used in the filming including Major Goolsby's (bar scenes), Gritz's Pzazz (now closed) where Rick, Jake, and Willie have dinner, and Harry Tann Tires (Lou Brown's office)
• Interestingly, the last time the Indians won a World Series, they had to win a one-game playoff to reach the Series. The Indians finished the 1948 season in a first-place tie atop the American League with the Boston Red Sox and defeated them in a playoff game at Fenway Park to advance to the 1948 World Series. They would then defeat the Boston Braves in six games.
• The "library scene" with Tom Berenger and Rene Russo was shot in Northwestern University's picturesque Charles Deering Library, built between 1931 and 1933. The Deering Library now houses Northwestern's Music, Art, and Special Collections.
• During several of the day game scenes, the clock on the scoreboard is visible and shows that it is actually mid-morning.
• In the final playoff game against the Yankees, Hayes makes a tremendous catch in center field, leaping above the railing to rob a batter of a home run. The scene is an exact copy of the catch made by St. Louis Cardinals' center fielder Willie McGee in Game 3 of the 1982 World Series; coincidentally, since the scene was filmed at Milwaukee County Stadium, it's the same wall and the same railing for both the real-life and fictional catches.
• In the film's original ending, Rachel Phelps admits before the final game that her bitchy persona was all an act in order to fire up the players. She says had they not had a good season, the team might have gone bankrupt. Audiences preferred the bitchy Rachel, so the ending was re-shot to show her misery when the Indians won. The alternate ending appears on the Wild Thing Edition DVD.
• The locker room scenes were filmed at Nicolet High School in Glendale, a northern suburb of Milwaukee.
• In Germany the movie is known as "Die Indianer von Cleveland" ("Cleveland Indians").
• Some of the bar scenes were filmed at a still open local bar/restaurant that is near the old County Stadium in Milwaukee called "The Fourth Base". Another local famous tavern includes the Safehouse, a James Bond themed bar in downtown Milwaukee.
• A scene in which Charlie Sheen throws a pitch, and then yells "That's a perfect strike, and you know it!" was used in a Direct TV commercial. In the first part of the scene, Sheen is wearing a 1988 style jersey, with a collar on the end of the sleeve, but when the scene switches to a close-up, Sheen is very clearly wearing a circa 1989-1993 jersey, with vertical stripes up the side of the sleeve.

Comparisons with Bull Durham

Although the film is generally considered one of the better baseball films, its release within months of the release of the more highly-regarded Bull Durham made evident several similarities between the films, to Major League's detriment (with the Bull Durham aspect being listed first):

• An aging, broken-down catcher: Kevin Costner's Crash Davis and Tom Berenger's Jake Taylor.
• A wild young pitcher, with a wild nickname, that the catcher mentors: Tim Robbins' Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh and Charlie Sheen's Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn.
• An intellectual girlfriend: Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy and Rene Russo's Lynn Wells.
• A Hispanic slugger who believes in voodoo and wants to sacrifice a live chicken to bring about a desired result: Rick Marzan's Jose, to remove a curse his girlfriend placed on his glove, and Dennis Haysbert's Pedro Cerrano, to be able to hit a curveball.
• A born-again Christian trying to express his faith, and being ridiculed for it: William O'Leary's Jimmy and Chelcie Ross' Eddie Harris (though Harris, much older and more cynical, is clearly more in need of divine inspiration than Jimmy).

External links

• Major League at IMDb
• DVDTalk.com Review of "Major League - Wild Thing Edition"