Gino Cimoli was a Galileo High
baseball star who played
for seven MLB teams

This summer, the movie Moneyball, based on the book by Michael Lewis, will hit theaters. With Brad Pitt as the A’s general manager Billy Beane, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as former A’s manager Art Howe, Moneyball was filmed last year in and around the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and many local A’s fans got a chance to be extras in the film. As an avid baseball fan, I have always loved baseball movies. The problem is that many of them are completely unwatchable (examples: the Major League and Bad News Bears series of films).

Here are five, however, that I believe are worth seeing. None of them is an Academy Award winner, but I think each has something to offer those who love this great game. If you’re jonesing for the MLB season to start as much as I am, maybe viewing one of these movies will ease your pain.

No. 5: Bull Durham (1988) – A funny, well-written movie produced by Ron Shelton, the king of sports films, this movie deals with things that have never been addressed before or since about life in the minor leagues. The love triangle between Susan Sarandon (Annie) as the baseball groupie with a soul, Tim Robbins (Nuke LaLoosh) as the wild pitcher with a good arm and no brain, and Kevin Costner as the career minor league catcher named Crash Davis, is priceless.

No. 4: Eight Men Out (1988) – John Sayles is a great filmmaker and this movie truly captures the era and the story of the Chicago Black Sox throwing the 1919 World Series. Memorable performances by Jon Cusack as Buck Weaver, Charlie Sheen as Oscar Felsch, John Mahoney as Kid Gleason, and David Strathain as Eddie Cicotte make this a special period piece that will always have a place in the history of great baseball movies.

No. 3: The Natural (1984) – Although this movie is more of a fable than anything else, it is fun to watch, and even though I always know how it will end, I still love to watch it every season. People complain that it is too mythological and not realistic enough, but I don’t care. Robert Redford, playing Roy Hobbs, is a character based on real-life ballplayer Ed Waitkus, who was shot in 1949 by an obsessed fan named Ruth Ann Steinhagen. When Hobbs names his favorite bat Wonderboy, it’s a takeoff on Shoeless Joe Jackson’s renowned bat, Caroliney. Redford is perfect in the role of the washed-up underdog who makes a spectacular comeback, and Michael Madsen as the cocky Bartholomew Bump Bailey is great, as are Richard Farnsworth as Coach Red Blow and Wilford Brumley as the embattled manager, Pop Fisher.

No. 2: A League of Their Own (1992) – Penny Marshall’s creation about the Women’s Baseball League of the 1940s is a wonderfully balanced and poignant story about a group of women asked to entertain those at home on the baseball fields of small-town America while the boys are off at war. Tom Hanks plays the washed-up drunk manager, Geena Davis is excellent as the best player in the league, and awesome performances by Lori Petty, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell make this film a must-see for fans and nonfans alike.

No. 1: Field of Dreams (1989) – This film has it all: reincarnated ballplayers, a ball field in Iowa that people are mysteriously drawn to, the story of one man’s search for truth and his pursuit of something pure. It is so unique that nothing else can compare to it. Once again, Kevin Costner (Ray Kinsella) is there to tell the story, along with great performances by Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Burt Lancaster as Midnight Graham, and James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann, all of whom make this a one-of-a-kind baseball movie. This film coined the phrase, “If you build it, they will come,” which has been used and overused to describe so many things nonbaseball that it’s become part of our culture.

Farewell to a Local Baseball Hero

Gino Cimoli was a Galileo High School baseball star who signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949. He played for seven teams during a 10-year MLB career and started for the victorious Pittsburgh Pirates for two games in the 1960 World Series. He was known for having a clutch bat and a slick glove as an outfielder. On April 15, 1958, Cimoli was the very first batter to step up to the plate as a major league player in San Francisco, when the Giants and the Dodgers played their first contest at Seals Stadium. After retiring from baseball, Cimoli worked as a delivery driver for United Parcel Service, where in 1990 he won an award for 21 years driving accident-free. At age 60, Cimoli was still carrying heavy boxes and delivering packages to the Marina and North Beach. His fellow employees called him “The Lou Gehrig of UPS.” He passed away on Feb. 12 at age 81.

Ed Attanasio is an author who loves his wife, two dogs, and just about any sport that’s on TV – except competitive sudoku. He would have been the Segovia of Scrabble, but he couldn’t handle Qs. E-mail: [email protected]