The Indians' fanbase (along with the rest of Major League Baseball) embraced the film as the best thing to happen to the franchise in decades, and it served as an unintentional precursor to the team's real-life winning ways in the 1990s, even popularizing Rick Vaughn's climactic stride out of the bullpen into a now-common practice in MLB. Longtime baseball man Bob Uecker, an announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers who was also a comedic actor and played the Indians' snarky play-by-play man Harry Doyle, became a truly iconic, humorous figure within the sport thanks in large part to this movie. The film was a critical and commercial success, with many of its memorable quotes worming its way into the baseball lexicon ('Juuuust a bit outside!'). And when the team finds out about Rachel Phelps's scheme, they can think of no better way to spite their boss than to do the unthinkable and win the pennant no matter how many obstacles she throws in their way. However, as the team spends the season navigating personal issues, in-house rivalries, and the glaring holes in their game, they begin to slowly come together and start outperforming expectations.

With the local fans in Cleveland disgusted by the inept team who they don't know and have no connection to, Phelps seems to be well on her way to succeeding her plan. All of the above players wind up under the gruff but caring guidance of new manager Lou Brown (James Gammon), who's spent his entire career with the minor league Toledo Mud Hens note a real-life AAA farm team for the Detroit Tigers and has never managed a game at the big-league level. Lastly there's the brash and fast Willie Mays Hayes ( Wesley Snipes), who just sort of shows up at the team's training camp despite not being invited and wows the staff enough to earn a spot. The veterans are joined by off-the-street rookies with no experience or reputation, like hot-headed, ex-con pitcher Rick Vaughn ( Charlie Sheen), who's got serious control issues with both his pitches and his personal life, and the voodoo-practicing slugger Pedro Cerrano ( Dennis Haysbert), who can't hit a curveball to save his life. This includes aging, past their best veterans like catcher Jake Taylor ( Tom Berenger) whose knees and career are hanging by a thread, former star Roger Dorn ( Corbin Bernsen), who now pays much more attention to managing his investments than to baseball, and Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross), a pitcher who doesn't have much life left in his arm but makes up for it with a combination of cunning and various thoroughly illegal tricks and substances which he uses to give a little extra juice to his pitches. To accomplish this goal, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find. Despising both the dreary city of Cleveland and the terrible reputation of the team, Phelps dreams of moving the Indians to a sunnier, more glamorous location – and it turns out that she can make this dream come true, as a clause in team's contract with the city states that if attendance falls low enough she will have the right to unilaterally relocate the team. After the team's elderly owner suddenly expires, ownership passes to his much younger, ex-showgirl Trophy Wife Rachel Phelps ( Margaret Whitton), who's a Rich Bitch and Corrupt Corporate Executive. In this case, the misfits in question are the Cleveland Indians, note now the Cleveland Guardians a Major League Baseball team that hasn't made a postseason appearance in over three decades and is indisputably the most moribund franchise in the sport (which, at the time, was Truth in Television). Thing.Ī 1989 sports comedy film, written and directed by David S.

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