The Battered Bastards of Baseball
“The Battered Bastards of Baseball”
I’ll start this review by stating that I LOVE Movies, Music and Sports. All three of those things are on full and glorious display in this moving documentary from 2014 that can currently be streamed on Netflix. The Battered Bastards of Baseball is the tale of Hollywood actor Bing Russell and his lifelong love for the game. It chronicles Bing’s crazy childhood in Florida. The real meat and potatoes of the flick is Bing’s apparent midlife crisis (1973-1978) in which he buys and starts a truly independent Minor “A” League ball club in Portland, Oregon free of MLB affiliation. It is chock-a-block full of fascinating interviews of family,friends and of course members of Bing’s beloved Portland Mavericks team.
To say I found this documentary entertaining is an understatement. It is masterfully paced and executed. The docs score slowly builds from almost no sound then it starts to feel like a beating drum that just gets louder and more emotional as the film makers (Bing’s Grandsons) build this AMAZING story and the score crescendos at the end with an amazing hook line “Give us a Show”. After you watch this doc that is exactly what you will realize Bing did. He gave the people of Portland a show one they'd never forget. He showed them how to love the game again by giving them a team they got to know and loved.
The cast of characters in this doc will make you smile from beginning to end. Bing the mastermind assembled a rag tag team of characters that shouldn't have worked but did. Bing obviously knew what he was doing. It shows what love of the game and teamwork can accomplish. This team full of has beens and never would bes didn't play because the pay was good. They were boys holding onto a dream as long as they could because they loved playing the game and wanted to just as long as they could.
You see this story is so appealing because its what we all love to see. Its the little guy taking on the establishment regardless of how high the odds of failure are because deep down the little guy knows he’s right regardless of the outcome. In this story Bing is the strange cowboy in the white hat that wonders into town. When he shows up the town is skeptical but by the end of the tale he leaves a legend the town would never forget. I noticed Bing wore the #4 on his jersey. I found this utterly poetic because in the footage of him walking away his jersey technically reads 4 Russell. I have a feeling after watching this that without a doubt in my mind every Portland Maverick would have done “ANYTHING” 4 Bing Russell.
This movie gets 5 out of 5 Yellow Suckers!!! It is a must see for any lover of film and most importantly Baseball!!!
*This movie review was originally published in The Current River Observer as the River Reels article written by Jeffrey Riggs
