The Last Dance, the ESPN series chronicling the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the late-90s, captured our national attention at a time when the sports world was at a standstill.
Sports fans are desperate for meaningful content, and documentaries can help fill that void. While basketball fans will almost certainly keep returning to films like The Last Dance for their sports fix, baseball lovers should check out the following documentaries.
Fastball
Who was the hardest throwing pitcher of all time?
This feature from 30 for 30 veteran Jonathan Hock seeks to answer a question that has fascinated baseball fans for decades. The documentary examines the titular pitch from every angle, from the science behind hitting a fastball to the evolution of the technology used to measure fastball velocity.
Legendary pitchers like Bob Gibson explain how they employed the fastball to intimidate their opponent, while star hitters like Derek Jeter and Joey Votto describe the difficulties in making contact with the pitch.
Narrated by baseball movie veteran Kevin Costner, Fastball is efficiently paced and thoroughly entertaining. It also features rarely seen footage that’s sure to delight baseball history buffs, such as video from Sandy Koufax’s perfect game.
Overall, this film does a superb job exploring the “primal battle between a man with a stick and a man with a rock.”
For my full review of Fastball, click here
Baseball (Ken Burns)
When you watch a Ken Burns documentary, there are certain things you can expect. The director’s trademark use of black and white photographs, gradual camera zooms, and simple but evocative music are all present in his 1994 PBS series Baseball.
The first nine innings of this Emmy Award-winning series tell the story of America’s pastime from its infancy to the early 1990s, when issues like free agency and the formation of the players’ union dramatically altered the baseball landscape.
The Tenth Inning, which is divided into two halves (a “top” and “bottom” of the inning), first aired in 2010 and covers more recent events like Cal Ripken Jr.’s games played streak and the Red Sox breaking the Curse of the Bambino.
Burns is clearly a devoted baseball fan, and he assembled an astounding collection of talent to create the series. Actors like Billy Crystal and Anthony Hopkins bring characters to life through voiceovers, while historians such as Doris Kearns Goodwin discuss how the game was affected by wider social changes in America.
Viewers will come away from Baseball with a deeper knowledge of the sport and of American history in general. I especially recommend the fifth inning, “Shadow Ball,” which chronicles Depression-era baseball and the formation and development of the Negro Leagues.
Baseball is currently available on Amazon Prime
Catching Hell
Steve Bartman’s life changed in the blink of an eye.
The Cubs fan became the target of national derision and scorn when he accidentally interfered with a foul ball during a postseason game in 2003.
Bartman was forced into exile, but did he deserve so much hate?
Catching Hell, an ESPN documentary from prolific filmmaker Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) uses the Bartman incident to discuss the nature of scapegoating in sports. Gibney interviews the fans who sat next to Bartman to gain their perspective on the play, and even recreates the play digitally to determine whether Cubs outfielder Moises Alou would have caught the ball.
Ultimately, Gibney makes a convincing argument that Bartman was treated unfairly by the public. He also connects Bartman’s plight to that of Bill Buckner, the Red Sox first baseman who was also unjustly vilified for his role in an infamous baseball blunder.
To learn why Catching Hell is worth your time, read my full review here
Knuckleball!
Difficult to throw, harder to catch, and sometimes impossible to hit (except when it’s just waiting there to be crushed), the knuckleball is baseball’s most unpredictable pitch. As difficult as the pitch is to master, the knuckler has also saved pitchers from obscurity.
The story of two such pitchers, R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield, is the subject of the 2012 documentary Knuckleball! This film from Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg follows Dickey and Wakefield during the 2011 season.
Both Wakefield and Dickey make for engaging interview subjects whose recollections come across as thoughtful and sincere. Both are appreciative of how the knuckleball resurrected their careers, and they speak in reverential tones when discussing the knuckleballers who came before them.
This film is a must-watch because it reveals how the small but tight-knit group of major league knuckleballers has stayed in constant contact over the years. Modern knuckleballers confer with knuckleballers from the past to seek advice and emotional support.
In fact, one of the documentary’s most touching scenes comes when Dickey analyzes video with the help of one of his knuckleball forebears, Charlie Hough.
Tender moments such as this intergenerational discussion make Knuckleball! a surprisingly moving documentary.
American Masters — Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived
Ted Williams played baseball with a single goal in mind: to one day be known as the greatest hitter who ever lived. He achieved that goal, but his obsession with mastering the art of hitting made him a polarizing figure.
Williams’s extraordinary life is the subject of Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, an installment in the PBS documentary series American Masters. This documentary takes an unflinching look at a complicated man whose stubbornness was a defining character trait.
At only 54 minutes in length, this edition of American Masters is an undemanding watch that nevertheless packs a wealth of information into its runtime. Viewers will learn about the Splendid Splinter’s legendary baseball exploits, as well as his military involvement in both World War II and the Korean War.
Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived provides added context for Williams’s career highlights, but its greatest achievement is how well it explains his inner turmoil. The documentary is a reminder that our sports heroes are flawed individuals whose professional accomplishments are often accompanied by personal shortcomings.
Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived is currently available on Netflix. Read my full review here
Searle’s Final Say
I love reading about baseball history, but watching documentaries is also an excellent way to learn about the sport’s past. The beauty of documentary films is that they can stir us emotionally and reaffirm our passion for the game. As compelling as The Last Dance may be, it’s far from the only sports documentary worthy of your time.
