A League Of Its Own
July 5, 2011 9:11 AM   Subscribe

SI has written an oral history about the making of the movie "Major League". Charlie Sheen was also interviewed for this piece.
posted by reenum (39 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Missing tags: drugs, egomania, warlocks.
posted by Beardman at 9:19 AM on July 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


Metafilter: drugs, egomania, warlocks.
posted by jjoye at 9:24 AM on July 5, 2011


So the annual bikini issue is coming a little earlier this year.
posted by three blind mice at 9:28 AM on July 5, 2011


I coulda sworn Bob Uecker was dead, so I thought those were older quotes.. Nope, he's still alive and kicking..
posted by k5.user at 9:28 AM on July 5, 2011


"When I saw the script it wasn't like catnip, it was like crack."
posted by blucevalo at 9:31 AM on July 5, 2011


Charlie who?
posted by tomswift at 9:31 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


I coulda sworn that Charlie Sheen was dead... oh wait, that was his career.
posted by tomswift at 9:31 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Sheen: I didn't like the haircut because it generated so many comments in bars. I've got enough of that already. Add that to the mix and it's a recipe for a fistfight.

Hrm, what can we suppose were the other ingredients in that recipe?
posted by obscurator at 9:34 AM on July 5, 2011


Oops, didn't RTentireFA. He mentions "pre-opiates" in the next quote.
posted by obscurator at 9:36 AM on July 5, 2011


I remember when 24 first came on I was all "HOLY SHIT PEDRO CERRANO IS THE PRESIDENT" and I kept wishing he would pray to Jobu in his darkest hour but he never did.
posted by mightygodking at 9:38 AM on July 5, 2011 [18 favorites]


United States, they are sick. I cannot deal with Congress. Executive Orders I can give very much. Congress, they are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from Congress. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:45 AM on July 5, 2011 [18 favorites]


Are you saying Jesus Christ can't take the fear from Congress?
posted by spicynuts at 9:48 AM on July 5, 2011 [4 favorites]


What was weird was having Allstate commercials w/Haysbert come on during an episode of The Unit, also starring Haysbert.
posted by mrbill at 9:55 AM on July 5, 2011


All this time people have been wondering what ruined Charlie and it turns out he got strung out on the script for Major League. Eventually II wasn't cutting it. Then someone gave him a hotshot and it was all over :C

Another great actor taken down by Screwballs.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:57 AM on July 5, 2011


As a million people have mentioned over the years, Charlie Sheen achieved something very rare in "Major League." He portrayed a pitcher on the mound and was actually convincing.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:00 AM on July 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


Guy I knew served on an aircraft carrier, which meant boredom, and he said there were two movies they agreed survived repeated viewings; Apocalypse Now, and Major League.

He didn't claim to understand it, just reported the results of the tests.
posted by dglynn at 10:21 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Easily one of my favorite baseball films, if not my all-time favorite. Quotable as hell and genuinely funny. Plus, the baseball looks good.

"Hey, bartender! Jobu needs a refill!"
posted by grubi at 10:25 AM on July 5, 2011


How do you write an oral history?

That said, Major League rules.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:26 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


That was an interesting little group interview. If only Sheen and James Gammon's positions were reversed, it would be perfect.
posted by Ickster at 10:28 AM on July 5, 2011


I think to reflect the current Sheen mania overtaking the nation, all FPPs should include some Sheen regardless of relevance. Consider filthy light thief's post just below this one:

Fancy a jaunt in a dirigible, do you? Read along with Popular Mechanics and get a feel for it. Charlie Sheen was also interviewed for this piece.

See how much snappier that is?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:41 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


obscurator: Sheen also mentions doing steroids to bulk up for the film. It is tragically funny that someone has to 'roid up just to pretend to be a baseball player.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:42 AM on July 5, 2011


You know, I loved this movie as a kid, so a few months back I tried watching it again to see if it held up. It didn't. Lots of unfunny race humor. Also, the Tom Berenger character is kinda creepy and stalky. (follows her home? WTF?) Bull Durham, on the other hand, is still funny as hell, and a good story to boot.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:42 AM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Race humor?
posted by grubi at 10:55 AM on July 5, 2011


I think the race humor he's referring to is stuff like jungle drums and monkey noises when Cerrano is on the screen for a couple scenes.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 11:14 AM on July 5, 2011


Bull Durham, on the other hand, is still funny as hell, and a good story to boot.

Yeah, but Tim Robbins pitches like he's playing catch with a toddler.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:15 PM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Well, the use of "warlock" certainly means that was a current interview....
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:52 PM on July 5, 2011


One of my mother's favorite movies, which is a little weird because she's not into sports AT ALL. We used to rent the tape (!) at least once every summer to watch when the weather was too damn hot to go outside. Hmmm, it's summer now, maybe I'll have to get it from Netflix.

I totally never realized that the president from 24 was the Jobu guy from Major League. How did I never notice that?!
posted by epersonae at 1:22 PM on July 5, 2011


Lots of unfunny race humor.

More than just the team's logo?
posted by asterix at 1:40 PM on July 5, 2011


Bull Durham, on the other hand, is still funny as hell, and a good story to boot.

Totally true. And it came out the year before Major League, too.
posted by CCBC at 2:09 PM on July 5, 2011


Sheen had the advantage of actually being a good player in high school, and has even talked about dreaming of becoming a pro, but he was starting to get into the drugs and hookers even as a teenager.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:24 PM on July 5, 2011


I always took the jungle drums (no monkey sounds -- go back and listen again) to denote how he was a voudoun-worshiping Cuban.
posted by grubi at 2:40 PM on July 5, 2011


(See, he's exotic.)
posted by grubi at 2:48 PM on July 5, 2011


Best baseball movie. Ever.
posted by zardoz at 3:00 PM on July 5, 2011


Also, I like this bit:

James Gammon? You want to talk about an absolute f------ warlock? This guy shows up one morning, and he's so hung over that he has the bar still attached to his head. I've never seen a man in this much pain trying to make a cup of coffee. He was an awesome dude.

Charlie Sheen may be a megadouche these days, but anyone who shows love for James Gammon is ok in my book.
posted by zardoz at 4:57 PM on July 5, 2011


Race humor?

Cerrano and Willie Mays Hayes were the only two black characters in the movie, and they were both fairly cartoony and caracaturish. I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into it. But I didn't think the movie stood up. Too many 80s comedy tropes. It's very much of its time.
posted by Afroblanco at 9:49 PM on July 5, 2011


Willie Mays Hayes was a caricature of a certain type of baseball player that became really prominent in the 80's, and then faded when steroids hit. Vince Coleman is who comes to mind, someone who couldn't really hit but could steal 100+ bases.

I don't know if Hayes was a cartoonish character (any more than most in the movie - it was a pretty goofy comedy as much as I did enjoy it), but I imagine they cast a black actor in that role at least partially because most of the prominent base stealers in the 80s were black - Tim Raines, Rickey Henderson, Coleman, Eric Davis, even Tony Gwynn in his early years.
posted by imabanana at 11:14 PM on July 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Cerrano was a Cuban exile with an exotic religion and Hays was a super-fast runner who snuck his way into camp... race was never a factor in the movie, either directly or in any joke. They were never seen as any more ridiculous than the white players. Yeah, I think you are reading too much into it.
posted by grubi at 6:00 AM on July 6, 2011


From page two of TFA, for those of you too lazy to R it:

The characters were combinations of real players. Willie Mays Hayes, who Wesley Snipes played, was a little Willie Mays with the basket catch and Rickey Henderson on the base paths. Dennis Haysbert's Cerrano character was based on the Alou brothers and some of the Latin ballplayers who were known to be a little superstitious. Wild Thing was Ryne Duren, who I knew as a Yankees reliever, a big guy who wore these Coke-bottle glasses and threw the ball really hard. There might have been a little Al Hrabosky in there too.
posted by antifuse at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2011


One of the only movies I can qoute a line from that appeared in the tv trailer/commercial but not in the movie.

[Main characters seated at table in bar. Sheen is distraught over having pitched a game-winning-homerun]

Berenger: "Oh, don't be to hard on yourself. There are plenty of parks that ball wouldn't have been hit out of."
Sheen: "Name one."
Berenger:"... Yellowstone?"
posted by P.o.B. at 8:56 PM on July 6, 2011


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