10. James Earl Jones? Speech in Field of Dreams
This is one that people always hated me for. Not because of the movie or the speech, but because I had the entire speech as my answering machine message in college. So, anyone who wanted to leave me a message had to listen to the amazing voice of Darth Vader rhapsodizing about the timelessness of baseball. What could be better? And, it warded off solicitations.
To be honest, in a vacuum the speech is pretty cheesy, but when you are swept up in the movie, building to the tear-jerking crescendo when Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad, there is no better 30 seconds in moviedom. Excuse me for a moment, as I have something in my eye...
9. Roger Maris? 61st Home Run
If you were a Yankee fan in the 1980s you simply loved Phil Rizzuto. He is the New York version of Harry Caray, minus the surliness. While he is nowhere near Hall of Fame worthy for his playing career, his voice was one of the most recognizable in the game. Like Caray he is as famous for his longevity as for his malaprops. If you wanted to hear Rizzuto you had to listen before the sixth inning, otherwise he was on the George Washington Bridge, leaving future NL President Bill White to fend for himself. Ah those were the days, before we had to listen to the horrid Suzyn Waldman and Michael Kay.
Of Phil's great calls, of which there are far fewer than bloopers, probably the best known is his call of Maris? 61st home run. To me, the best calls have an element of spontaneity, not the practiced home run call that so many guys use. Who wants to hear a practiced, prefabricated home run call? Not me. Here, Rizzuto telling us ?this could be it? is that little extra element.
8. Lee Elia?s Rant
For a guy who was not well known as a fiery guy, he sure could curse with the best of them. There have been a lot of great rants in baseball history, and some of my favorites include Hal McRae throwing the phone and Tommy Lasorda ranting at a reporter. But the Lee Elia rant is easily my favorite, because of the unexpected source. As Reverend Lovejoy might say, ?Never have I seen such gratuitous use of the word f*ck.?
Elia takes shots at Cubs? fans, who bear the brunt of his madness. He chides them for being ?nickel and dime,? not having jobs, booing and their general lack of support for the team. He also takes shot at newspaper editorials, his team?s play and all sorts of other things. The funny part is that he admits he is ?frustrated.? Yeah, no kidding. It makes a nice double feature with Edward Norton's rant in 25th Hour.
7. George Carlin?s Baseball versus Football
Aside from the fact that it is about baseball, this routine is quite simply one of the most insightful, well spoken and entertaining comedy routines of all time. Just listen to the way Carlin speaks in an almost child-like tone about baseball, where the object is merely to ?come home.? What is the object of football? Well, you will just have to listen and find out.
Sadly, Carlin became a shell of his former self in the last few years, so younger listeners may not know just how penetrating and universal Carlin's comedy once was.
I am convinced that George was correct about one thing; the allure of football comes largely from its warlike play. If not for the smashing of bodies and the physicality of the sport you would essentially have soccer. And we know how popular soccer is.
6. The Jackie Robinson Song
I cannot offer up a cogent explanation of why I love this song, but I do. It is catchy and has an almost unpolished sensibility to it. Sadly, I often find myself whistling it randomly. For this I blame Ken Burns,who had it in his Baseball documentary, and Tony Cincotta, wo occasionally played it for the opening of his show. This is the only time you will see Ken Burns and Tony Cincotta mentioned in the same sentence.
5. Baseball Bugs
I am including a link to this video. I am a big Looney Tunes fan, and this is my second favorite Looney Tunes cartoon ever after Duck Amuck. In his inimitable way, Bugs takes on the Gas House Gorillas, lampooning virtually every aspect of baseball in the process. The Tea Totallers are pesciently based upon the 2009 New York Mets.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oZctK3J-o4I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oZctK3J-o4I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
4. Joe Carter?s WS Ending HR
As baseball fans we all know this moment, even if some of the younger guys like Kevin Orris were still playing on their Big Wheels and having their diapers changed. The announcers for the series were big names Tim McCarver Sean McDonough. Yet, who gave us one of the great calls of all time? Who was it that injected a great, spontaneous quote that lives on in baseball history? Tom Cheek, the Jays? radio announcer, who said ?Touch ?em all Joe, you?ll never hit a bigger home run??
3. Lou Gehrig?s ?Luckiest Man? Speech
What more can you say about a speech that has transcended baseball and become part of Americana? Gehrig?s speech is right up there with Jim Valvano?s as the greatest sports speeches of all time, and there are some obvious similarities between them.
Gehrig is the epitome of handling adversity with grace, class and dignity. Recognizing his good fortune and his happiness at the worst time of his life, he reminded everyone that despite his sickness he was the Luckiest Man on The Face Of the Earth. I only hope that when my day comes I can handle it with such grace.
You cannot hear that speech without thinking of the movie, Pride of the Yankees, and Gary Cooper?s truncated rendition. I am always amazed at how much Cooper resembled Gehrig, and if you want to see Bill Dickey and Babe Ruth in action here is your chance, since they both play themselves. The scenes of heartbreak by Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig, as she tries to hide her grief for Lou?s benefit are some of the schmaltziest in any movie. But who doesn?t love great schmaltz once in a while? For what it's worth, Gehrig is my Favorite Yankee and I wear a Gehrig jersey when I go to teh games, so perhaps I am biased.
2. Who?s on First?
Probably the most famous comedy routine of all time, and easily one of the most metaphorical, Abbott and Costello?s Who?s on First still makes me laugh. There are so many different versions of it floating around, as they performed it so many times that they lost count.
If you are around 40, you probably recall seeing Abbott and Costello?s old movies on TV. I sure do, watching them on WPIX in New York, Channel 11. Abbott and Costello made 39 movies together, but Who?s on First, from their film The Naughty Nineties, is their greatest work.
Sadly, nowadays the comedy duo is probably remembered more for making movies with the monsters from Universal Studios (Dracula et al.), which is a slight to the talented tandem. They are far better comedians than to be know for slapstick humor while running from the Wolf Man.
Lou Costello uttered one of my favorite movie lines of all time in Abbott and Costello Meet The Wolf Man. In those days a ?wolf? was a guy that was a womanizer. Lon Chaney, who was the Wolf Man, approached Lou and was trying to tell him about his ?problem,? to no avail. So Chaney finally said, ?You don?t get it?at night I turn into a wolf.? Answered Lou, ?Yeah, you and a thousand other guys.? Watch the movie and tell me that it doesn?t make you laugh!
1. The Shot Heard Round The World
Ahh, for true genius in sports announcing one need go no further than Russ Hodges? iconic call of perhaps the most important home run in a non-World Series game. The Giants and Dodgers were bitter rivals, and the Giants at one point were so far behind that Dodgers? manager Charlie Dressen announced in August that ?The Giants is dead.? The Dodgers had a 13 game lead in mid-August and, like the Red Sox in 1978, proceeded to blow the lead. Whoops.
To get there the Giants went 37-7 over their last 44 games, and tied the Dodgers, leading to a three-game playoff. Game three was decided by Thomson?s home run off Ralph Branca.
Even today the game has resilience and staying power, and the story of the game includes sign stealing, as Ralph Branca, who gave up the home run to Bobby Thomson, said that he thought the Giants were stealing signs.
Branca claims that the Giants were using a high powered telescope and buzzers to signal hitters what pitch was coming. One would think a high-powered telescope would be easily identifiable, but not to Branca. Branca also claims that he knew of the sign stealing in 1954 but kept his mouth shut. For a while at least, until he blabbed about it in 2001.
I am proud to say that I have a picture of Ralph Branca mock choking Bobby Thomson, autographed by both players. Such is the power of the game, as I never saw either team play and didn?t know the players.
Aside from the game, Hodges? call is simply the greatest sports call by any announcer in any sport. His elation at the Giants? win, getting caught up in the moment as if he were a complete homer, drives the enormity of the comeback home and cements both his place and this game?s in baseball lore.
--Written by Patrick DiCaprio
___________
any others you enjoyed?
This is one that people always hated me for. Not because of the movie or the speech, but because I had the entire speech as my answering machine message in college. So, anyone who wanted to leave me a message had to listen to the amazing voice of Darth Vader rhapsodizing about the timelessness of baseball. What could be better? And, it warded off solicitations.
To be honest, in a vacuum the speech is pretty cheesy, but when you are swept up in the movie, building to the tear-jerking crescendo when Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad, there is no better 30 seconds in moviedom. Excuse me for a moment, as I have something in my eye...
9. Roger Maris? 61st Home Run
If you were a Yankee fan in the 1980s you simply loved Phil Rizzuto. He is the New York version of Harry Caray, minus the surliness. While he is nowhere near Hall of Fame worthy for his playing career, his voice was one of the most recognizable in the game. Like Caray he is as famous for his longevity as for his malaprops. If you wanted to hear Rizzuto you had to listen before the sixth inning, otherwise he was on the George Washington Bridge, leaving future NL President Bill White to fend for himself. Ah those were the days, before we had to listen to the horrid Suzyn Waldman and Michael Kay.
Of Phil's great calls, of which there are far fewer than bloopers, probably the best known is his call of Maris? 61st home run. To me, the best calls have an element of spontaneity, not the practiced home run call that so many guys use. Who wants to hear a practiced, prefabricated home run call? Not me. Here, Rizzuto telling us ?this could be it? is that little extra element.
8. Lee Elia?s Rant
For a guy who was not well known as a fiery guy, he sure could curse with the best of them. There have been a lot of great rants in baseball history, and some of my favorites include Hal McRae throwing the phone and Tommy Lasorda ranting at a reporter. But the Lee Elia rant is easily my favorite, because of the unexpected source. As Reverend Lovejoy might say, ?Never have I seen such gratuitous use of the word f*ck.?
Elia takes shots at Cubs? fans, who bear the brunt of his madness. He chides them for being ?nickel and dime,? not having jobs, booing and their general lack of support for the team. He also takes shot at newspaper editorials, his team?s play and all sorts of other things. The funny part is that he admits he is ?frustrated.? Yeah, no kidding. It makes a nice double feature with Edward Norton's rant in 25th Hour.
7. George Carlin?s Baseball versus Football
Aside from the fact that it is about baseball, this routine is quite simply one of the most insightful, well spoken and entertaining comedy routines of all time. Just listen to the way Carlin speaks in an almost child-like tone about baseball, where the object is merely to ?come home.? What is the object of football? Well, you will just have to listen and find out.
Sadly, Carlin became a shell of his former self in the last few years, so younger listeners may not know just how penetrating and universal Carlin's comedy once was.
I am convinced that George was correct about one thing; the allure of football comes largely from its warlike play. If not for the smashing of bodies and the physicality of the sport you would essentially have soccer. And we know how popular soccer is.
6. The Jackie Robinson Song
I cannot offer up a cogent explanation of why I love this song, but I do. It is catchy and has an almost unpolished sensibility to it. Sadly, I often find myself whistling it randomly. For this I blame Ken Burns,who had it in his Baseball documentary, and Tony Cincotta, wo occasionally played it for the opening of his show. This is the only time you will see Ken Burns and Tony Cincotta mentioned in the same sentence.
5. Baseball Bugs
I am including a link to this video. I am a big Looney Tunes fan, and this is my second favorite Looney Tunes cartoon ever after Duck Amuck. In his inimitable way, Bugs takes on the Gas House Gorillas, lampooning virtually every aspect of baseball in the process. The Tea Totallers are pesciently based upon the 2009 New York Mets.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oZctK3J-o4I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oZctK3J-o4I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
4. Joe Carter?s WS Ending HR
As baseball fans we all know this moment, even if some of the younger guys like Kevin Orris were still playing on their Big Wheels and having their diapers changed. The announcers for the series were big names Tim McCarver Sean McDonough. Yet, who gave us one of the great calls of all time? Who was it that injected a great, spontaneous quote that lives on in baseball history? Tom Cheek, the Jays? radio announcer, who said ?Touch ?em all Joe, you?ll never hit a bigger home run??
3. Lou Gehrig?s ?Luckiest Man? Speech
What more can you say about a speech that has transcended baseball and become part of Americana? Gehrig?s speech is right up there with Jim Valvano?s as the greatest sports speeches of all time, and there are some obvious similarities between them.
Gehrig is the epitome of handling adversity with grace, class and dignity. Recognizing his good fortune and his happiness at the worst time of his life, he reminded everyone that despite his sickness he was the Luckiest Man on The Face Of the Earth. I only hope that when my day comes I can handle it with such grace.
You cannot hear that speech without thinking of the movie, Pride of the Yankees, and Gary Cooper?s truncated rendition. I am always amazed at how much Cooper resembled Gehrig, and if you want to see Bill Dickey and Babe Ruth in action here is your chance, since they both play themselves. The scenes of heartbreak by Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig, as she tries to hide her grief for Lou?s benefit are some of the schmaltziest in any movie. But who doesn?t love great schmaltz once in a while? For what it's worth, Gehrig is my Favorite Yankee and I wear a Gehrig jersey when I go to teh games, so perhaps I am biased.
2. Who?s on First?
Probably the most famous comedy routine of all time, and easily one of the most metaphorical, Abbott and Costello?s Who?s on First still makes me laugh. There are so many different versions of it floating around, as they performed it so many times that they lost count.
If you are around 40, you probably recall seeing Abbott and Costello?s old movies on TV. I sure do, watching them on WPIX in New York, Channel 11. Abbott and Costello made 39 movies together, but Who?s on First, from their film The Naughty Nineties, is their greatest work.
Sadly, nowadays the comedy duo is probably remembered more for making movies with the monsters from Universal Studios (Dracula et al.), which is a slight to the talented tandem. They are far better comedians than to be know for slapstick humor while running from the Wolf Man.
Lou Costello uttered one of my favorite movie lines of all time in Abbott and Costello Meet The Wolf Man. In those days a ?wolf? was a guy that was a womanizer. Lon Chaney, who was the Wolf Man, approached Lou and was trying to tell him about his ?problem,? to no avail. So Chaney finally said, ?You don?t get it?at night I turn into a wolf.? Answered Lou, ?Yeah, you and a thousand other guys.? Watch the movie and tell me that it doesn?t make you laugh!
1. The Shot Heard Round The World
Ahh, for true genius in sports announcing one need go no further than Russ Hodges? iconic call of perhaps the most important home run in a non-World Series game. The Giants and Dodgers were bitter rivals, and the Giants at one point were so far behind that Dodgers? manager Charlie Dressen announced in August that ?The Giants is dead.? The Dodgers had a 13 game lead in mid-August and, like the Red Sox in 1978, proceeded to blow the lead. Whoops.
To get there the Giants went 37-7 over their last 44 games, and tied the Dodgers, leading to a three-game playoff. Game three was decided by Thomson?s home run off Ralph Branca.
Even today the game has resilience and staying power, and the story of the game includes sign stealing, as Ralph Branca, who gave up the home run to Bobby Thomson, said that he thought the Giants were stealing signs.
Branca claims that the Giants were using a high powered telescope and buzzers to signal hitters what pitch was coming. One would think a high-powered telescope would be easily identifiable, but not to Branca. Branca also claims that he knew of the sign stealing in 1954 but kept his mouth shut. For a while at least, until he blabbed about it in 2001.
I am proud to say that I have a picture of Ralph Branca mock choking Bobby Thomson, autographed by both players. Such is the power of the game, as I never saw either team play and didn?t know the players.
Aside from the game, Hodges? call is simply the greatest sports call by any announcer in any sport. His elation at the Giants? win, getting caught up in the moment as if he were a complete homer, drives the enormity of the comeback home and cements both his place and this game?s in baseball lore.
--Written by Patrick DiCaprio
___________
any others you enjoyed?
